Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949

As we approach the 60th Anniversary (October 1, 2009) of the victorious Chinese revolution of 1949 I believe that it is probably a good idea to review how that revolution happened. China, one way or another, has become a major player on the world economic scene since that time. Moreover, it represents the last major expression, in some recognizable form, of the Marxist idea of a workers state that drove the international politic of the 20th century. Although I would characterize the revolutionary upheaval in China in first half of the 20th century as predictable the victory of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was not so, rather it was a near thing. I would argue, and will do so at another time, that without the Russian revolution and the lessons learned there, even if not directly applied in China, the Chinese revolution would not have had the leadership necessarily to produce even an agrarian-centered revolution. Professor Bianco, the author of the work under review, would not necessarily agree with that conclusion. He nevertheless wrote an important book that while rather academic for the time of publication (late 1960s) is a very good primer for those who want a first gloss of what the Chinese revolution was all about. There is, moreover, a certain method to my madness in choosing this book rather than another later one to introduce the various pre-revolutionary stages of the Chinese revolution. The period, as noted above, when Professor Bianco was writing his boo was a period of intense ideological struggle in the international left about which road to take to socialism- the Russian or Chinese? Moreover, this was the heyday of the `armchair' guerilla revolutionary theorist, in the wake of the Cuban, Algerian and Vietnamese revolutions. Thus, Professor Bianco's presentation of the stages of the Chinese revolution had a timely aspect in intersecting those disputes. Furthermore the professor book reflects some very different lessons from those that would be drawn today from a look at that same information. For examples, the well-touted vanguard role of the peasant in world revolution and the strategy of guerilla warfare in the fight against international imperialism have fallen off the political map. So what has Professor Bianco to tell us as we struggle with the Chinese question today? Most importantly, that in the age of world imperialism as it emerged in the very early 20th century and the international expansion of the capitalist system ("globalization", for you more modern terminological types) down to the "third world" farms meant that the old-fashioned Chinese "feudal" system with its archaic and hide-bound class structure that had survived helter-skelter for millennia was doomed. The fight to modernize China in the post-Empire period (1915), Western-style, led first by the intelligentsia as a class, then by various military types including Chiang-Kai-shek and his Kuomintang (KMT) (old style, as used in the book), and ultimately by M

This concise and lucid book is essentially a series of essays on events and trends the led to the Chinese Revolution of 1949. It is not a narrative history, though the essays are arranged in a chronologic manner. Bianco starts with a chapter on the 19th century decay of the Manchu state and covers the events leading to the dissolution of the Qing state. This is followed by chapters on intellectual developments leading to the dominance of Marxist thought among Chinese intellectuals, the abortive efforts of the Communist Party to follow Marxist orthodoxy in developing a revolutionary state, and following the near destruction of the CCP by the Kuomintang, its flight to the countryside. Partly because of necessity and partly because of intelligent leadership by the men - Mao, Chu Teh, etc., - who would be become the leaders of Communist China, the CCP adopted a distinctly unmarxist strategy of capitalizing on peasant grievances as the motor of their revolution. Bianco discusses the failure of the Kuomintang to effect significant reforms, the powerful stimulus of nationalism under the pressure of Japanese imperialism, and the ability of the CCP to meld nationalism with their social program in the countryside. After the war, the incredible incompetence of the Kuomintang and the skilful leadership of CCP resulted in the creation of Communist China and the destruction of traditional Chinese society. Bianco does very well in analyzing the role of Marxist ideology and provides a comparative perspective as well. Though this book was written about 40 years ago, it continues to be valuable.

Lucien Bianco's work is just as valuable now as when it first appeared nearly 40 years ago. It is packed with shrewd insights on policies and personalities, though the concise nature of the text does not permit a detailed narrative. It helps explain the complex intellectual currents, political developments and socioeconomic conditions that led to the People's Republic of China. Bianco stresses throughout the contingent nature of this process, rather than its inevitability, giving due attention to non-Communist actors. The annotated reading list, though dated, remains as enjoyable as it is helpful. No other work has supplanted it, but key recent titles of similar length include D. Qing, "Wang Shiwei & Wild Lilies," J. Spence, "Mao Zedong" and L. Feigon's provocative "Mao: A Reinterpretation."