In the two-decade period from 1928 to 1948, the proletarian themes and issues underlying the Chinese Communist Party’s ideological utterances were shrouded in rhetoric designed, perhaps, as much to disguise as to chart actual class strategies. Rhetoric notwithstanding, a careful analysis of such pronouncements is vitally important in following and evaluating the party’s changing lines during this key revolutionary period. The function of the “proletariat” in the complex of policy issues and leadership struggles which developed under the precarious circumstances of those years had an importance out of all proportion to labor’s relatively minor role in the post-1927 Communist led revolution. [1, 2]

Based mainly on Russian and Chinese archival sources that have become available only since the early 1990s, the authors of this collection explore the main aspects of the Chinese Revolution in the crucial period of the 1920s, such as the United Front policy, the development of communism, the Guomindang perspective, institutional issues and social movements. The various approaches and interpretative methods employed by the contributors from seven countries have resulted in a collection of articles representing four very different and until now almost independent discourses: the European, the American, the Chinese, and the Russian.

The story of how China's modern development rests on the tragically supressed struggle for true socialism.

Analyzes the internal pressures and social crises that fostered the beginnings of the Chinese Revolution

Based mainly on unknown Russian archival sources which have previously been unobtainable, this book analyses the Bolshevik concepts of the Chinese revolution and their reception in China. Issues include the role of the three Bolshevik leaders, Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky in trying to lead the Chinese Communists to victory, the real nature of the Trotsky-Stalin split in the Comintern, and a dramatic history of the Chinese Oppositionist movement in Soviet Russia.

This collection of documents covers the rise to power of the Chinese communist movement. They show how the Chinese Communist Party interpreted the revolution, how it devised policies to meet changing circumstances and how these policies were communicated to party members and public.

This title was first published in 1982:

The Communist aim of proletarian hegemony in the Chinese revolution was given concrete expression through the Canton Commune—reflected in the policies and strategies that led to the uprising, in the makeup and program of the Soviet setup in Canton, and in the subsequent assessment of the revolt by the Comintern and the Chinese Communist Party. “Proletarian Hegemony” in the Chinese Revolution and the Canton Commune of 1927 describes these developments and, with the further ideological treatment given the Commune serving as a backdrop, will then examine the continuing evolution and ultimate transformation of the proletarian line and the concept of proletarian leadership in the post-1927 history of Chinese Communism. [3]

During its fifty years of existence the People's Republic of China has seen dramatic changes, from the proclamation of the independent state through the period of the Communist Revolution, the Cultural Revolution, the Reform Period. These changes are analysed from the political, economic and social points of view, chllaenging accepted orthodoxy. Throughout, the emphasis is on change in the context of contemporary China, and as part of the Chinese Communist Party's search for paths to development.

Arif Dirlik's latest offering is a revisionist perspective on Chinese radicalism in the twentieth century. He argues that the history of anarchism is indispensable to understanding crucial themes in Chinese radicalism. And anarchism is particularly significant now as a source of democratic ideals within the history of the socialist movement in China. Dirlik draws on the most recent scholarship and on materials available only in the last decade to compile the first comprehensive history of his subject available in a Western language. He emphasizes the anarchist contribution to revolutionary discourse and elucidates this theme through detailed analysis of both anarchist polemics and social practice. The changing circumstances of the Chinese revolution provide the immediate context, but throughout his writing the author views Chinese anarchism in relation to anarchism worldwide.