The Origins of Chinese Communism

by Arif Dirlik

Book Overview

Based on a wealth of archival material released after Mao's death, this book offers a revisionist account of the introduction and triumph of Marxism in China. Dirlik shows that, in 1919, at the outset of the May Fourth Movement, anarchism was the predominant ideology among revolutionaries and intellectuals and Marxism was virtually unknown. Three years later, however, the Communist Party of China had emerged as the unchallenged leader of the Left...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195054547
• ISBN13: 9780195054545
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A profound description of the origins of Chinese Communism

This is a masterful and indepth look at the emergence of Chinese Chinese communism. This book is not an easy read, but it is facinating and well written. Dirlik argues that Marxism and Communism were merely another couple of Western ideas that Chinese radicals were examining at the begining of the 20th century. Dirlik examines the influence of anarchism and other philosophies on Chinese thinking, and then tracks how Marxism and then Communism came to dominate radical thinking. He arguse that Marxist philosophy did not cause the creation of Communist groups, but rather that groups formed to study and then to propigate Bolshivism while they were still struggling to understand Marxism. If one wants to REALLY understand the how Communism sprouted in China, this is the book to read.