Mao's Early Years

[Apoi_Viitor]

A few months back we had a thread where a number of users alleged Mao was an opportunist and a left-wing nationalist who didn't even "support" Marxism until Chiang Kai-Sheik and the Kuomintang launched a war against the Communist Party. If someone remembers the thread, can they post a link too it? Otherwise, is this true or false?

[Red Commissar]

Mao describes his early years to Edgar Snow in Red Star Over China. Here is the biographical portions that he related to Edgar Snow. Of course it is coming from him but I think it gives a good sketch of his life.

http://replay.web.archive.org/20060703114714/http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/faq/bionotes.html

In it he says that his youth was spurred on by two figures:


But my mind was not on the Classics. I was reading two books sent to me by my cousin, telling of the reform movement of K'ang Yu-wei. One was by Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, editor of the Hsin-min Ts'tung-pao [New People's Miscellany].

Kang Youwei (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kang_Youwei) was a reformer in China who advocated for a constitutional monarchy as opposed to a Republic. The other, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liang_Qichao) was also a reformer and advocate of a constitutional monarchy. Mao recalls his confusion in the matter when in school he says that "in my article I advocated that Sun Yat-sen must be called back from Japan to become president of the new government, that K'ang Yu-wei be made premier, and Liang Ch'i-ch'ao minister of foreign affairs!". He tells this to Snow with humor since it didn't really link up to him that Sun Yat-Sen was a Republican and Kang Yuwei and Liang Qichao were monarchists. At that point he was more of a generic nationalist concerned for China.

He says that he wasn't really into Marxism until 1920. He recalls to Snow:


In the winter of 1920 I organized workers politically for the first time, and began to be guided in this by the influence of Marxist theory and the history of the Russian Revolution. During my second visit to Peking I had read much about the events in Russia, and had eagerly sought out what little Communist literature was then available in Chinese. Three books especially deeply carved my mind, and built up in me a faith in Marxism, from which, once I had accepted it as the correct interpretation of history, I did not afterwards waver. These books were the Communist Manifesto, translated by Ch'en Wang-tao and the first Marxist book ever published in Chinese; Class Struggle, by Kautsky; and a History of Socialism, by Kirkup. By the summer of 1920 I had become, in theory and to some extent in action, a Marxist, and from this time on I considered myself a Marxist...

He goes on to describe the evolution of the Party as Comintern policy evolved and his time with peasants, and the 1927 crackdown. He doesn't really indicate though that he made his final move in 1927 but rather in 1920. His experience within the party evolved him more. That's the gist I'm getting from the parts after that selection when he describes the debates over party policy.

[RedStarOverChina]

A few months back we had a thread where a number of users alleged Mao was an opportunist and a left-wing nationalist who didn't even "support" Marxism until Chiang Kai-Sheik and the Kuomintang launched a war against the Communist Party.
That's ridiculous. Mao played a role in the formation of the Communist Party in 1921. A minor role, but he had been a communist ever since. How could he "not support Marxism" when he's a founding member of the Communist Party?

ALL of the communists at the time were left-wing nationalists who wished to save China from the jaws of foreign imperialism, so calling Mao a left-wing nationalist is appropriate, I guess. But he was definitely not an opportunist.

[RedStarOverChina]

Yes, Mao was heavily involved with the KMT during the first KMT-Communist alliance. The KMT was rather progressive and very much pro-Soviet at the time. In 1924 Mao was elected into a minor position during the First KMT National Congress. He delivered a memorable speech there. Later on he was appointed deputy Minister of Propaganda of the KMT Party (Ironic, I know).

In 1927 when the KMT-Communist alliance broke down during a devastating massacre against Communists by the KMT, Mao was rather hardline. Refuting communist top dog Chen Duxiu's surrenderist postion, he promptly armed peasants that was to become the core of the Chinese Red Army.