Buchbesprechungen | 117
fascist in uences within the political re- Maggie Clinton: Revolutionary gime. While the CC Clique (an acronym Nativism. Fascism and Culture in referring either to the leading brothers China, 1925–1937, Durham: Duke Chen or meaning “Central Club”) was a University Press 2017, 268 p. civil think-tank and political faction, the Blue Shirts (ocially the “ ree Princi- ples Society”) were a backhand militia. Reviewed by Clinton makes clear that both groups es- orben Pelzer, Leipzig tablished and disseminated an anti-con- servative, anti-communist vision of state rule and social order. e author further provides biographic introductions to their When Commandant Chiang Kai-shek actors. Among these are Chen Guofu (1887–1975) formalized the reuni ca- (1892–1951), Chen Lifu (1900–2001), tion of a fragmented China in 1928, he Dai Jitao (1891–1949), and Xu Enzeng led a regime that observers have struggled (“Enceng” in Clinton’s transcription; to classify. Neo-Confucian authoritarian, 1896–1985). She gives an overview of as- corporatist, militarist, Leninist, fascist or sociated journals, such as Sweat and Blood fascistic are just some of the attributes that Weekly (Hanxue zhoukan), Cultural Con- academics have bestowed upon National- struction (Wenhua jianshe), and New Life ist China’s one-party rule. Author Maggie (Xin shengming), and contextualises their Clinton, associate professor of history at themes against the political background of Middlebury College o ers a closer exami- the post-Sun China. nation of the eponymous Revolutionary Chapter two is a careful analysis of the Nativism disseminated by fascists within conservatism within pre-war fascism. As the party and around the party’s vicinity Clinton later summarises, the ideology in during an extended pre-war Nanjing dec- question was “a regional variant of fascism ade (1925–1937). Clinton uses the term that […] named Confucianism as the na- “fascism” in the singular form, thereby tion’s cultural core” (p. 194). e “Janus- arguing for similarities and synergies be- faced” ideology – alluding to Chinese tween di erent forms of militarist and traditions while hailing progressiveness technocratic ideologies. To her aim, she – allowed for the utilization of a Confu- utilizes primary sources consisting of pam- cian-derived system of thought which op- phlets, articles, speeches, and memoirs of a posed the emancipation of genders and selected group of fascist authors. She also classes while at the same time envisioning frequently remarks on relevant secondary a “modern,” industrialist future (p. 64). literature and theories. Clinton then discusses links between fas- Clinton divides her study into ve chap- cism and the thought of a revered “father ters. In the rst chapter, she elaborates on of the nation” Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), the background of the fascistic groups, and how the latter was made compatible which, though not formally institutional- through fascist interpretations. For Clin- ized by the Nationalist party, spearheaded ton, Chinese fascism was “revolutionary,” 118 | Buchbesprechungen
but replaced Marxist class struggle with a enjoy images that they deemed unhealthy propagated harmony between the classes. for others” (p. 176). Clinton’s most compelling arguments can e book would have pro ted from ad- be found in the following chapter. It cen- ditional editing. e “conclusions” ending tres on the othering and dehumanization each main chapter often introduce new in- of communist insurgents. She links these formation instead of discussing the chapter e orts to cultural con icts of gender, sexu- (e.g. pp. 96–97, 188–189). A few quotes ality, and social orders. Communists were lack citation or are miscited (e.g. Sun on framed as inhibiting a “compromised mas- p. 166; p. 182, footnote 63), prominent culinity”, as sexual libertines, and as ideo- terms are absent from the list of characters logically foreign (p. 112). eir immoral, (e.g. Wenhua jianshe), indexed page num- beast-like behaviour would eventually jus- bers are not properly ordered (Xu, p. 268), tify purges, executions, and assassinations. inconsistently linked and italicized, and e non-secretive nature of their punitive persons and terms are introduced more con nement “normalized the idea that po- than once (e.g. Dai, pp. 27, 79; Xu, pp. litical dissent was criminal” (p. 126). 31–32, 114; Confucian bonds, pp. 86, e author then discusses the policing of 130, 133). Latter repetitions are owed to the public, concentrating locally on the the (otherwise reasonable) structure of the city of Nanchang, and thematically on the book. Because chapters are arranged loose- 1930s New Life Movement (Xin shenghuo ly by theme rather than groups or actors, yundong). Fascist commentators criticised threads are often abandoned and picked dancehalls and promoted uniforms. Ra- up later on. e Duke University layout tionalization and subordination aimed at further tarnishes the readability as there is the nationalisation of labour. Clinton ar- little aid to distinguish between unnum- gues that the movement targeted “maxi- bered subheadings and sub-subheadings. mal eciency by concentrating power in While Clinton compares her ndings to the hands of experts” and describes the international forms of fascism and fre- ideal citizens as “cogs in a well-oiled na- quently contrasts them to left-wing voices tional machine” (pp. 137–138). in China, there is a lack of information e nal chapter examines the fascist about dissent by moderate, conservative, stance on popular culture. Chen Lifu au- and cosmopolitan capitalist actors within thored a pamphlet on cinema and its use the Nationalist camp. While communism for mass propaganda. Clinton also explores was arguably fascism’s most iconic coun- the failed logic behind the 1933 kidnap- terdraft, it was hardly the only model fas- ping of socialist author Ding Ling (1904– cists had to deal with. 1986). While the chapter remains a little Clinton’s study serves as an important re- short on actual examples of fascist popular minder that what Chinese historiography ction, it includes some of the most inter- usually refers to as the “Republican era” esting visual material of the book. Fascist was more complex and contested than the publications often drew on imaginations term conveys. It is insucient to charac- of a degenerate lifestyle for their magazine terise Nationalist politics as either frag- covers, “grant[ing] themselves license to mented and incompetent or to focus solely Buchbesprechungen | 119
on the development of economy and in- frastructure. e author’s cultural ap- Ralf Banken / Ben Wubs (eds.): The proach of identifying and analysing fascist Rhine. A Transnational Economic elements while resisting the temptation of History, Baden-Baden: Nomos 2017, imposing the label on the entire govern- 384 S. ment will help us in developing a more dif- ferentiated understanding of China’s rst incarnation of one-party-rule. Reviewed by For readers outside the eld of Chinese Christian Henrich-Franke, Siegen history, the study provides a state-of- the-art overview of Nationalist China’s fascist endeavours and invites for further comparative studies of fascist theory on a global, non-Eurocentric level. Clinton e volume is a summary of scienti c de- lays out a starting ground through recur- bates that took place at the rst period of ring references to Hitler Germany, Fascist conferences organized by the transnational Italy, and US Fordism. Her portrayal of ‘RHIN(e)’ network. Since 2009, this net- Chinese fascism as a rule of experts, with work brought together scholars from dif- some leading gures coming from an edu- ferent disciplines in order to bring togeth- cational background in engineering, may er research on the economic history of the also act as a basis for future comparative Rhine. e Rhine has been an economic research on technocratic governance or in axis, a borderline of empires, and a place reference to C. P. Snow’s “two cultures” di- for trade since ancient times. It has been chotomy. e general brevity of both the and still is important for large parts of studied period and the study itself will al- Western Europe. It was even so important low for future researchers to focus on par- for its surrounding economies that the rst ticular actors and publications in detail or international organization of modern style to expand in time by exploring Chinese – the Central Commission for Navigation fascism’s precursors and legacy. on the Rhine (CCNR) – was sat up to reg- ulate inland navigation on the Rhine and to enhance trade alongside the river. Still today, these regions are among the most economically advanced in Europe. e RHIN(e) network put a number of research questions on its agenda, which were also relevant to the volume to be dis- cussed here. What exactly is the Rhine re- gion or the Rhine economy? What are its spatial dimensions? What are its borders and did they change over time? Was the Rhine one single or di erent heterogene- ous regions? Were the di erent regions like