A Class Revolution to Bridge Empire and Nation-State

• In Event: 285 - Regular Session. Historical Sociology 2. Changing China: Political Upheaval and Societal Transformations in the 19th and 20th Century

Abstract

The Chinese Communist Revolution has been explained by Moore and Skocpol as result of economic underdevelopment and state breakdown. Deriving insights from Liliana Riga’s research on Russian Bolsheviks, my approach interprets the Chinese Revolution as response of a late-developer imperial polity to its difficulties in transiting to a modern nation-state. Based on the biographical data of the members of the CCP’s 7th Central Committee, this article explores how the revolution leading makers’ conversion to communism was shaped by the vacuum wherein empire had gone but nation-state had not arrived. By their conversations, many radicals had found nationalistic mobilizations did not work. A commonly accepted civic definition of nation was lacked among elites, while for illiterate masses even a very crude notion of nation could not be comprehended. Both led to rampant localism and factionalism working to disintegrate radical movements. Furthermore, continuous military defeats had demystified China’s imperial political traditions and rendered the intellectual work of crafting a modern nation extremely difficult. This fact compelled many radicals to seek for alternative ideologies. Class-based Marxism captured them by showing potential in transcending sub-national fragmentation, targeting individuals’ concrete interests and suspending embarrassing nation-crafting problems. Originating from low-class families, these elites were more affinitive to this ideology. They were also further convinced via intellectual reasoning and practical trials. While Riga interprets classism as response to multiethnic politics, my research extends that this ideology was appealing to broader late-developer context wherein empire was declining too rapidly while nation-state was growing too slowly.

Author

• Luyang Zhou, McGill University