Mobilization of Workers: Labour Education and Publication in Chinese
Revolution: 1919-1927
ABSTRACT
Chinese proletariat was young and numerically weak in the 1920s. These workers
nevertheless played a decisive role in the great strike wave culminating in the
mid-1920s. Western scholars have provided conflicting narratives of the Chinese
labour, but they mainly worked within the same paradigm of social class, with
emphasis on workers’ socio-economic and cultural lives as precondition of their
emergence as a political force. This paper looks at a different dimension of Chinese
labour movement through examination of workers’ activism and militancy in the
context of Communist and nationalist movements. More specifically, it explores the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s propaganda and educational work as a key
component of Communist labour unions’ organizational and mobilization strategy.
This paper will first look at Shanghai workers’ anti-imperialist strike in 1919 as
stimulation to left-wing May Fourth intellectuals’ embrace of Marxism and
identification with workers. Then it traces the mass education campaign popular at the
beginning of the 20th century as the prelude of the CCP’s education drive among
workers. Further, two main components of CCP’s mobilization strategies—labour
periodicals and workers’ school--will be discussed to show their contributions to
workers’ unionization and militancy. Little work has been done on this theme both in
China and in the West. Finally, this paper tries to shed light on the relation between
intellectuals and workers in reference to Lenin and Gramsci’s theories on the issue.
Introduction
In comparison to their Western counterparts, Chinese proletariat was young and
numerically weak in the 1920s. These workers nevertheless played a decisive role in
the great strike wave culminating in the mid-1920s. In his pioneering analysis of
Chinese workers’ emergence as an organized and class-conscious force during the
period from 1919 to 1927, French Marxist historian Jean Chesneaux sees the
development as “a direct result…of the organizational activities, the propaganda, and
the leadership of the Communist Party.” 1 Although Chexneaux’s conclusions on
Chinese working class formation were enthusiastically embraced by labour historians
in China, they were challenged by a body of scholarships, mostly coming out in the
United States, which insightfully shows that traditional cultural forms were
instrumental to Chinese workers’ unionization and workers as a class was deeply
1
The English translation of the book was published in 1968.
Movement: 1919-1927 (Stanford 1968) 393.
See Jean Chesneaux, the Chinese Labour
1
divided along the line of gender, skill and location.2 In spite of their often conflicting
narratives, Chexneaux and his critics have mainly worked within the same paradigm
of social class,3 with emphasis on workers’ socio-economic and cultural lives as
precondition of their emergence as a political force.
Of course a sound knowledge of socio-economic conditions of workers is
absolutely crucial to understanding their political activism and revolutionary militancy.
Yet, frustration caused by hardship and social injustice alone may not bring people
together in collective action. As social historians have repeatedly argued, “collective
action requires leadership, organization, mobilization, and integration, that is, a body
of people to orchestrate the activity”.4 Following this line of thinking, this paper
looks at a different dimension of Chinese labour movement through examination of
workers’ activism and militancy in the context of Communist and nationalist
movements. More specifically, it attempts to explore the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP)’s propaganda and educational work as a key component of Communist labour
unions’ organizational and mobilization strategy. Chexneaux’s thesis about how
Chinese workers evolved from a class “in itself” to a “class for itself” in the 1920s
may have lost ground, but his work has correctly highlighted the fact that unlike its
counterparts in Europe and North America, Chinese labour movement was largely an
intimate part of nationalist movements in response to Communist politics that swept
across the country in the early 20th century. This paper will first look at Shanghai
workers’ anti-imperialist strike in 1919 as stimulation to left-wing May Fourth
intellectuals’ embrace of Marxism and identification with workers. Then it traces the
mass education campaign popular at the beginning of the 20th century as the prelude
of the CCP’s education drive among workers. Further, two main components of
CCP’s mobilization strategies—labour periodicals and workers’ school--will be
discussed to show their contributions to workers’ unionization and militancy. Little
2
See, for instance, Lynda Shaffer, Mao and the Workers: The Hunan Labor Movement, 1920-1923 (M.E. Sharpe
Inc. New York and London 1982); Emily Honig, Sisters and Strangers: Women in the Shanghai Cotton Mills,
1911-1949 (Stanford 1986); Gail Hershatter, The Workers of Tianjin, 1900-1949 (Stanford 1986); Elisabeth Perry,
Shanghai on Strike: the Politics of Chinese Labor (Stanford 1993).
3 S.A. Smith, Like Cattle and Horses: Nationalism and Labour in Shanghai, 1895-1927 (Duke University Press
Durham and London 2002), 1.
4 Odoric Wou, Mobilizing the Masses, Building Revolution in Henan (Stanford University Press, 1994), p.
2
work has been done on this theme both in China and in the West. Finally, this paper
tries to shed light on the relation between intellectuals and workers in reference to
Lenin and Gramsci’s concepts of the issue.
From May Fourth Intellectuals to the Early Communists
On 4 May 1919 students in Beijing walked on streets in protest against Japan and
the injustice of the Versailles decision. Students successfully spread the patriotic
turbulence to major urban centers across the country, and in Shanghai, a broad social
movement involved students, merchants, industrialists, workers and shopkeepers
culminated in a general strike that shut down the largest city in China for 7 days in
June. A number of specific features distinguished the June strike of 1919 from
previous labour conflicts.
First, workers no longer concentrated on economic issues,
and they were mainly stimulated by patriotic and nationalist sentiments. As a foreign
reporter observed, the strikes were “clearly political…. hundred thousand coolies
crawled out of their dingy factories and protested, in the open streets, most cheerfully
and most emphatically.”5 Second, not merely followers of students and bourgeoisie,
workers displayed strong autonomy.
While factory owners intended to restrict
strikes to Japanese owned enterprises, workers were determined to stir conflicts in all
foreign owned establishments. After the students arrested by warlord government in
Beijing were released, and the three pro-Japanese government ministers were
dismissed, Shanghai students returned to classroom one after another, and most
shopkeepers opened their stores.
The cotton mill workers, however, decided to
continue the strike because the injustice of the Versailles decision had not been
redeemed. More than 9,500 workers at the Japanese owned Naigai Wata Company
threatened to quit their jobs. Last, the June strikes created solidarity among workers
who had been normally divided by region, skill, gang affiliation, and gender.6
The Chinese labour historians have highly estimated the significance of the May
Fourth in the making of the Chinese working class, seeing the June strike as having
“prepared the conditions for intellectuals to import Marxism into the working class,
5
Hauser, Ernest O. Shanghai: City for Sale (Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1940) 139.
Shen Yixing, Jiang Peinan and Zheng Qingsheng, Shanghai gongren yundong shi (The Labour Movement in
Shanghai) (Liaoning people’s press, Liaoning 1991). Vol. 1, 53-7.
6
3
and therefore indicated the beginning of the Chinese working class to be transformed
into a class-for-itself.” 7 The western narratives are various but in general more
cautious, viewing the 1919 strike wave as Chinese workers’ first entry into the arena
of national politics.
8
This paper emphasizes May Fourth anti-imperialist
demonstration as crucial inspirations for left-wing intellectuals to embrace Marxism,
to identify with workers, and to launch an education and propaganda drive to mobilize
workers.
When Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, well-established academia highly influential
during the New Cultural Movement,9 were dismayed by Versailles treaty, they lost
faith in western republicanism. Russian Revolution in 1917 offered a different
solution to China’s problems.
According to Marxist explanation, China’s poverty
and backwardness were caused not so much by its culture than by foreign imperialism
and feudal warlords. Russian experience promised that Marxism could work in an
industrially backward country, and furthermore, it demonstrated that the revolution
should be led by a politically active intelligentsia. In October 1918, Li Dazhao
published an article entitled “The Victory of Bolshevism” in New Youth to hail the
Russian Revolution, and in May 1919 he edited an issue of New Youth entirely
dedicated to Marxism. The June strike in Shanghai further convinced Li Dazhao and
Cheng Duxiu of workers’ potential to transform China, and their zeal in mass
education began to concentrate on labouring classes as a vehicle to build up labour
movement.
In 1920 Li established Marxist Research Society to study and discuss Marxism at
Beijing University. Deng Zhongxia, 10 Mao Zedong (who audited courses at the
university at that time), Zhang Tailei,11 and Zhang Guotao12 were members of the
7
Ibid., 37.
Smith, Like Cattle and Horses, 92.
9 The May Fourth Movement has two components.
It is a cultural enlightenment advocating for democracy and
science that lasted from 1915 to 1925 (May Fourth Era). It is also a nationalist movement culminated in the May
Fourth demonstrations in 1919 that was triggered by the Versailles Treaty. After 1921, when the CCP was
established, the May Fourth or the New Cultural Movement was divided. The CCP laid emphasis on national
salvation, which determinately overshadowed its cultural enlightenment component.
10 Deng was a Beijing University student, a leading figure of the patriotic demonstration in May Fourth, 1919. He
was one of the students who burned down the pro-Japanese minister Cao Rulin. Deng would because a
well-known Communist organizer in the 1920s.
11 Zhang Tailei was a student at Beiyang University in Tianjin, who took part in the May Fourth demonstration in
1919. In 1920, he joined the Marxist Study Society at Beijing University and became a member of Beijing
8
4
group. With the secret help of a Comintern agent, Beijing Communist Group was
formed in the same year. Chen Duxiu, after three months of prison term due to his
part in the May Fourth demonstration, left Beijing for Shanghai, and initiated a
Marxist Research Society in the city in May 1920. Several months later he formed
Shanghai Communist group. The group published Chinese Communist Manifesto to
declare its members’ idea and goal, stating that they were determined to organize a
revolutionary party to lead proletarians against the capitalism, seizing power… and
placing it in the hands of workers and peasants, just like the Bolshevik did in 1917.”13
The CCP was formally established in Shanghai in 1921, with Chen Duxiu as its
secretary general.14
Mass Education Campaign during the May Fourth Era
As early as the 1910s, intellectuals devoted to social reforms argued that the
newly established republic should cultivate citizens so that they could have healthy
personhood. To these mass educators, literate and enlightened citizenry was the key to
a strong nation based on democracy.15 Cai Yuanpei, the first education minister of the
republican government was a strong promoter of mass education. With his support,
public libraries, museums, and schools for illiterate adults appeared in urban centers.
Mass education got momentums during the May Fourth Era, as intellectuals and
students believed only the people could save the nation, but first they had to be
enlightened.
After Cai assumed the position of Beijing University chancellor in
1916, Chen Duxiu was appointed as the dean of Faculty of Letters, and Li Dazhao as
the director of Beijing University library.
They both wrote in length about the
miserable lives of the labouring people. Showing high respect for labourers, they
appreciated their potential as an important political force to change China, and
Communist Group in the same year. Zhang was killed in 1927 as the leader of the CCP-led Guangzhou Uprising,
which fought against the right-wing Nationalists under Jiang Chek-shek. Zhang Tailei is memorized as a
revolutionary martyr in China.
12 Like Deng Zhongxia, Zhang Guotao was a Beijing University student and May Fourth demonstration leader in
1919. He joined the Marxist Study Society as well as Beijing Communist Group in 1920. Both were set up by
Li Dazhao. Zhang had been a CCP leader until the 1930s. After he lost his dispute in military strategy and
power struggle with Mao Zedong, Zhang defected to the Nationalist Government, and therefore is seen as a traitor
of revolution in China.
13 Shen, Jiang, Zheng, Shanghai gongren yundong shi, vol. 1, 73.
14 Ranbir Vohra, China’s Path to Modernization (New Jersey 1992) 121-122.
15 Shaffer, Mao and the Workers, 24.
5
actively advocated to educate and enlighten workers.
In an article on International Labour Day celebration published in 1920, Cheng
Duxiu wrote: “What are the most invaluable people in the world? …I see labourers as
the most invaluable people.”16 Li Dazhao maintained that everyone should have
equal opportunity to education; he put forward the idea of work-study, encouraging
labouring people to study after work: “you can read more when you save more time,
doing two things at the same time. A real person should live in this way.” 17 Cai
Yuanpei promoted popular education based on the idea of human equality. Talking
about Beijing University, Cai remarked, “all working in the university, whether
chancellor or janitors, are equal; no one is more honourable than another. They
receive different pays because some do more difficult work than others.” The first day
on his post, Cai stunned university staff and students when he took off hat and made a
bow to the guards who had saluted to him. All his processors had taken others’
respect for granted, paying no attention to them at all.18 Cai set up a night school for
university janitors and guards before 1919, and in February 1919, he enthusiastically
supported Deng Zhongxia’s plan of popular education.
In March 1919, Deng and
several other Beijing University students formed an organization called Beijing
University Mass Education Lecture Corps.
Its manifesto emphasised mass education
as the “foundation of republicanism” and the means to obtain social equality:
There are two types of education, one of which is provided through schooling, and
another is to reach out to the masses through open lectures and journal
publications….Only children from well-to-do families can go to school, and children
from poor families cannot as they have to make a living….If we don’t solve the
problem, people’s intelligence varies greatly and inequality appears everywhere. The
foundation of republicanism is therefore collapsed. What is the solution to the
problem? We can reach those without schooling through open lectures and
publications. Since most people are illiterate and only a small minority are able to
read, open lecture is the best way to reach everyone equally.19
From March 1919 to 1925, the year when it was disbanded, the Mass Education
Zhu Yan, “On the Mass Education Movement during the 1920s” Studies and Teaching in CCP History (2005: 2)
59.
17 Ibid., 59
18 Ibid., 59.
19 Liu Xiaoyun, “Beijing University Mass Education Lecture Corps during the May Fourth Era,” The
16
Journal of Heilongjiang Education College (May 2010: 29:5) 8.
6
Lecture Corps offered more than 400 lectures to residents in Beijing and surrounding
areas. Speakers showed slides and played gramophone to attract audience.
According to Beijing University Daily published in 1919, open speeches delivered by
lecture corps were warmly welcome: in April, “sand storm turned sky yellow, and
people could not open their eyes”, but surprisingly, so many showed up in the Peach
Palace where lectures were given. Six speeches were delivered in Tongxian, a county
seat near Beijing, and “500 people in total attended them”.20 Before the May Fourth
demonstrations, speakers mainly talked about citizenship knowledge and common
knowledge. But afterwards, topics on anti-imperialism and nationalism became
dominent. Students turned away from general enlightenment to concentrate on
patriotism and national salvation instead.21 Furthermore, several reading rooms were
opened and a night school for railway workers was set up in Changxindian, a town
about 17 miles from Beijing.
In addition to Beijing University Mass Education Lecture Corps, other social
groups were also active in the mass education campaign. When the key members of
the Lecture Corps were converted to Communism, and abandoned education as a
means of social transformation, others carried on this tradition, trying to spread
literacy across massive countryside and expand education drive to a broad rural
reconstruction mission.22
Beijing is certainly not the only city where mass education campaign was
vigorously launched. In Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province, mass educators
were similarly active. In the spring of 1917, the staff of Hunan First Normal School
where Mao Zedong studied set up a night school for illiterates. Soon a student
20
21
Ibid., 9.
Ibid., 9.
Three education groups played a leading role in Beijing’s Mass Education campaign during the May
Fourth era--Beijing University Mass Education Lecture Corps, Popular Education Society based in
Beijing Normal University, and China Mass Education Promotion Society headed by patriotic
educators Yan Yangchu (Jamese Yen, a Yale graduate affiliated with YMCA) and Tao Xingzhi. After
leaders of the Lecture Corps turned to Communist revolution, the other two groups continued with their
mission of mass education as a means to change China. Since 1926, Promotion Society focused on
rural regions, expanding their activities from literacy drive to a broad plan of rural reconstruction, with
emphasis on education for citizenship, public health service, and scientific improvements in crop and
animal breeding. See Sang Donghua, “the Evolution, Division, and Development of the Mass
Education Drive during the May Fourth Era,” Studies and Teaching in the CCP History (2004: 4), 71-5.
22
7
association called the Student Friends’ Society took over the project, and Mao, an
activist of the society, became the director of this night school. Mao “saw the night
school as an opportunity to overcome the great educational, social, political, and
ideological gap that separated the radical students from the mass of the citizenry.”23
In his opinion, China could not develop as long as the majority of its
people—workers and peasants—remained illiterate and resentful to the elite-led
reforms. Furthermore, Mao claimed that school education did little to improve the
situation as the existing system produced “effete pedants”.24 The night school would
not only provide senior students with an opportunity to educate workers, but also
allow them to revise their course materials and improve teaching pedagogy. The night
school had around 120 students, and lasted for about one year.25 After Mao had been
converted to Marxism in 1920, he turned once again to the mass education movement,
but for a different purpose. The night school established in 1917 was to turn workers
into supporters to the modernization reforms led by social elites. In 1920, the goal of
labour education was to enable workers to fight for the interests of their own class.26
Wuhan is the capital city of Hubei, a province located next to Hunan. Dong Biwu,
Shi Yang, and Yun Daiying were energetic promoters of the mass education in the city
before they turned to Communism. Shi was a noted lawyer, who set up a primary
school in his home village as early as 1912. Dong received education in Japan and
participated in the 1911 revolution. He harshly criticized traditional education system,
advocating mass education as a crucial component of education reform. Yun wrote for
New Youth and Oriental Magazine, the mouthpiece of the New Cultural Movement,
strongly arguing for democracy and science.
In a letter he drafted on behalf of
Wuhan Student Union, Yun listed “mass education for the labouring classes” as one
of its guiding principles.27
With their facilitation, Hubei Popular Education Society formed in 1920 as the
23
Shaffer, Mao and the Workers, 25.
Ibid., 26.
25 Ibid., 26.
26 Ibid., 36.
27 Zhang Jicai & Cheng Hongfeng, “On the Relationship between the Early Marxists and the Mass Education
Movement in Wuhan,” Journal of Ankang Teachers’ College (March 2000: 12-1) 24.
24
8
leading organ of mass education; about 7 Commoners’ Night Schools started in the
city one after another under its leadership. Some of these schools were set up inside
charitable institutions, offering beginning classes only, with purpose to teach students
“600 characters in total”.
In addition to promote literacy, inspiration of nationalist
sentiment was a main focus of the schools. Graduates were encouraged to form small
groups when they visited their home village during holidays, giving speeches to
peasants on patriotic themes. Out of the totally 7 schools sponsored by Hubei Popular
Education Society, one was for women specifically.28
The mass education campaign contributed to the CCP’s educational drive among
workers on two aspects.
First, tactics and approaches developed by mass educators
were continued by the CCP labour organizers although now they were used for a
different purpose. Second, the communists used mass education to disguise their
political goal in order to gain the legal status for the schools they established.
CCP’s Labour Publications
For the early Communists, enlightenment was not an end in itself, but rather a
means to organize the masses. This “instrumental view”29 was emphasized by the
party’s resolutions repeatedly.
The “First Resolution of the CCP” passed in July
1921 regarded the establishment of industrial unions as party’s central task, and called
on workers’ schools to be set up in industrial districts to prepare workers for
unionization.30 The “Resolution on Union Movement and the Communist Party”
passed at the CCP’s second Congress in 1922 urged to turn unions into effective
schools for union member, so that “workers could be imbued with socialist and
communist ideas”.31 The Secretariat of Labour Organization in China was formally
inaugurated in August 1921, as the leading mechanism of the Chinese labour
movement. It’s headquarter was located in Shanghai first, with Zhang Guotao as its
director, and moved to Beijing about one year later, when Deng Zhongxia succeeded
28
Ibid., 24,
Steve A. Smith, “Workers, the Intelligentsia and Marxist Parties: St Petersburg, 1895-1917 and Shanghai,
1921-1927,” International Review of Social History 41 (1996) 37.
30 Huang Baochun, “The Education Guidelines issued by the CCP from its first Congress to the Sixth Congress as
well as their implementation,” Contemporary Education Forum (2010: 3) 61.
31 Ibid., 62.
29
9
Zhang to head it.
One of the earliest efforts made by the CCP at mobilizing the working masses fell
to the category of publishing journals and magazines. Shanghai Communist Group
published Laodong Jie (World of Worker) in August 1920. Shortly after, Laodong
Yin (Voice of Worker) was issued by Beijing Communist Group in November, and
Laodong Zhe (Labourer) came out in Guangzhou in October. Laodong Yin and
Laodong Zhe were under influence of anarchist idea of laborism,32 but all the three
catered for workers, trying to raise their consciousness, and promote working class
solidarity. In the editorial of Laodong Yin, Deng Zhongxia explained that the purpose
of publishing the journal was to enable workers to engage in “class struggle…for the
betterment of social organization.” 33 These journals neither lasted for long, nor
reached a large readership.
They ceased publication within a few months, and the
circulation of Laodong Yin was estimated as about 2,000 copies per issue. As the
party’s first attempt to reach workers, they made invaluable contributions
nevertheless. All articles appearing in these journals were explicit, concise, written in
simple language and full of vivid examples; they were therefore easy to understand
by semiliterate readers. Laodong Jie in Shanghai was dominated by Marxism, and it
was also the most widely circulated one out of the three. We therefore take this
journal as a study case to clarify how the early Communists in China tried to
indoctrinate workers with Marxism.
Laodong Jie was edited by Chen Duxiu and Li Hanjun, who also contributed to
the journal frequently, and its other major contributors include Li Da and Chen
Wangdao. Most of them were involved in the establishment of the CCP in July 1921.
This group of intellectuals has several things in common. First, they largely studied
abroad, and some were introduced to Marxism through well-known Japanese scholars
32
Laodong Yin was published by Beijing Communist Group, but some of its editors and contributors were once
influenced by anarchism. See Kwan, Marxist Intellectuals, 23; Laodong Zhe is conventionally regarded as one of
the three earliest periodicals published by the CCP, but a recent research claimed it an anarchist journal, with no
communists being involved in its publication. Laodong Zhe ceased to exist in spring 1921 when its editors could
not reconcile themselves with Cheng Duxiu, the leader of Shanghai Communist Group. See Lu Miqiang, Wang
Yadi, Mao Yarong, “Laodong Zhe is an anarchist journal,” in Shanghai Party History and Party Construction
(2001:8) 62.
33 Kwan, Marxist Intellectuals, 23.
10
and their works.
Li Hanjun and Cheng Wangdao, for instance, were strongly
influenced by famous Marxist economists Hajime Kawakami and Yamakawa Hitoshi
when they were students in Japan. Li was fluent in four foreign languages—Japanese,
English, German, and French, and Chen had excellent mastery of Japanese and
English.
Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and Li Da studied in Japan as well.
Besides, active in the New Cultural Movement, these early communists had
searched hard and compared different “isms” thoroughly before they were finally won
over by Communism. As established scholars, they enjoyed the privileges and social
status like their processor gentry-scholars.
Chen Duxiu was a literature professor
and dean of the Faculty of Letters at Beijing University. Li Dazhao was economics
professor and director of library at the same university. They turned to radicalism to
save China, not to change their personal destine. Li Da is memorized as a Marxist
philosopher, being translator and author of a large number of works on Marxist
historical materialism, economic theories, and social analysis.34 Chen Wangdao is
famous for his translation of Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels into Chinese
in 1920. The Chinese version was eagerly accepted and 17 editions printed by
1926.35 Li Hanjun authored 38 out of 50 articles on Marxism that appeared in Weekly
Critics, a widely circulated radical journal published in Shanghai from 1919 to
1920.36
Thirdly, not only being experts in different areas, they were also experienced
editors, with excellent propaganda skills.37
Chen Duxiu was the chief editor of New
Youth, the mouthpiece of the New Cultural Movement, which turned to preaching
Marxism in the 1920. Li Hanjun sit on the editorial board for Weekly Critics. Li
Da took responsibility for publishing the monthly Gongchandang (The Communist
Party) released by Shanghai Communist Group in 1920. Chen Wangdao worked on
the popular supplements of Minguo Ribao (Republican Daily), the official organ of
34
Ning Shufan, “Chen Wangdao and the Establishment of the Chinese Communist Party,” Anhui University
Journal (Edition of Philosophy and Social Sciences) (2011-11-10), 10.
36 Miao Tijun, Dou Chunfang, “Li Hanjun and the Spread of Marxism in China,” Overview of the CCP History,
2008: 2) 25.
37 Yang Rong, Tian Ziyu, “Laodong Jie: the Beginning of Indoctrination of Marxism to the Masses,” Journal of
Adult Education College of Hubei University (2010: 28: 1) 12.
35
11
the GMD.38
In conclusion, unlike Mao Zedong and other CCP leaders who brought the party
to power in 1949, these early Communists, in spite of their espousal of radical politics,
were essentially knowledgeable scholars and articulate writers, rather than skilful
politicians. Living in foreign countries and expertise in foreign languages worked
against xenophobia that often stained later CCP leaders.
Liberalism and
individualism that prevailed during the May Fourth era continually affected them in
the 1920s, after their conversion to Leninist party construction that emphasised on
authoritarian control, secrecy and discipline. Neither good at political trickery, nor
being willing to make shifts following orders from Comintern, few of them survived
political turmoil and power struggles in the 1920s; they either left the party
voluntarily or were deprived of the party membership.39
They sincerely believed
that only people could save the nation and held deep sympathy for their misery.
But meanwhile they were proud of themselves as leaders, considering enlightenment
of labouring people as their duty.
Nourished by these early Communists, Laodong Jie was released from August
1920 to January 1921 and had produced 24 issues in total. As active newspaper men,
these early communists trusted the power of press. They not only tried to convey
messages through the journal, but also encouraged readers to talk.
In the first issue
of the periodical, Li Hanjun explained their purpose to publish the semi-monthly.
Li
began with elaboration of workers’ toils and sufferings in contrast to people with
money who led an idle and luxuriant life, and then he asked “why the world was ran
in this way”. He further clarified that “we publish the journal to teach Chinese
38
39
Ibid.,
In 1923, Chen Duxiu reluctantly accepted the idea that the CCP should ally itself with Sun Yat-sun’s
GMD, urged by the Comintern. After Chiang Kai-shek’s anti-communist coup in April 1927, he was
labeled as an opportunist and blamed for the failure of the United Front. He was eventually expelled
from the CCP due to his critique of the party policies, and died in obscurity in 1940. See Li Feigong,
Cheng Duxiu, Founder of the Chinese Communist Party (Princeton University Press 1983); Li Hanjun
withdrew from the party in 1922 due to his disagreement with Chen Duxiu and Zhang Guotao. In
1924 he was expelled from the CCP formally, and prosecuted by Chiang Kai-shek anti-revolutionary
coup in 1927 due to his opposition to Chiang’s betray of revolution; Chen Wangdao quit the CCP in
1923, but remained as a pro-Communist scholar. See Ning, “Chen Wangdao,” 11-12； Li Da left the
CCP in 1923 due to disagreement on party policy. He focused on theoretical studies and kept close
ties with the party however. Li Da was tortured to death during the Cultural Revolution in 1966.
12
workers the things that they should understand; so they might endure less hardship.”40
At the beginning of the second issue the editorial board made a special announcement
urging working class readers to send “whatever they wish to say to the journal”, and
promised to “publish them quickly”.41
Many writers wrote about the labour theory of value conceived in Marx’s
masterpiece On Capital.
These discussions perhaps were also influenced by
anarchist labourism and motivated by authors’ desire to challenge Confucian doctrine
that saw manual labourers as ruled by gentry-scholars. An article stated, “In one word,
our food, houses and clothes are all men made. So we claim that ‘the labour is
sacred’.” Another essay entitled “Money and Labour” explained that it was the labour
of workers and peasants that has created house, food, and clothing. People should
not show respect for money therefore; instead, the labour of workers and peasants
deserves respect. In contrast to a belief among workers that their cursed fate was
responsible for their hardship, contributors make efforts clarifying Marxist theory of
surplus value in plain but vivacious writing, stressing capitalist exploitation as the
root of workers’ poverty: “Don’t believe that we are doomed to suffer….our bitter
experience is caused by the capitalists who oppress us and mistreat us. They require
us to produce goods worthy of one dollar, but pay us one dime only. They took nine
dimes away from us.”42 Finally, writers predicated that capitalism was destined to be
replaced by socialism, which would abolish private property, putting factories,
machines, and resources in the hands of workers.
They called on workers to join
unions and, following the example of Russian proletariats, smashed the government
and build a society governed by workers and peasants. While clarifying the final goal
of proletarian revolution, writers did not forget that labour movement must improve
workers’ living conditions.
6 working day per week, 8 working hours per day, and
small wage increase were listed as the basic demands in workers’ struggle agenda.43
Laodong Jie devoted considerable space to exploring workers’ pain under the
40
41
42
43
Yang and Tian, “Laodong Jie,” 13.
Ibid;
Shen, Jiang, Zheng, Shanghai Workers, 85.
Yang and Tian, “Laodong Jie,” 14.
13
triple oppression of imperialism, feudal warlords, and capitalism. Workers’ life is
described as “worse than that of cattle and horse”; reports on their wage, working
hours, and political rights were published; instances of their resistance and
unionization in different locations were given detailed coverage.
Not limited to Shanghai, the journal was distributed among workers across the
country.44 It was said to be the best seller at the Cultural Book Store run by Mao
Zedong, located in Changsha, Hunan Province. We have neither the journal’s
circulation number, nor the number of worker readers, but we could assume its impact
on labouring masses based on the fact that about 30 articles and letters authored by
workers appeared in the 24 issues. A worker named Wen Huan wrote to chief editor
Chen Duxiu, whose letter came out in issue five:
Laodong Jie has released 3 issues already, and I bought several copies for my
co-workers. We workers like to read your journal very much. We are bullied around
and taken advantages by our bosses, but we could turn to nobody before. Because of
your journal we workers can speak out and voice our grief now. Your journal is
workers’ mouthpiece, and you are the star to save us. Long live to your Laodong
Jie….45
In addition to support the journal, workers actively participated in the theoretical
discussions. Articles such as “Where does Our Sweat Go?” “Boss and Tiger,” “Today
Labours’ Responsibility” were written by workers.
Workers’ School and Labour Militancy
If periodicals played a role in awakening the labouring masses, we have
discovered direct connections between worker’s schools and their unionization/
protests. Three cases are investigated in this section to demonstrate the contribution of
labour education to the Jinghan Railway workers’ general strike in 1923, the Anyuan
Mine workers’ mobilization in the mid-1920s, and Shanghai labour uprising during
the same period of time.
Changxindian Labour Continuation School and Railway Workers
Changxindian was a Jinghan railway junction about 17 miles west to Beijing. A
traffic artery from Beijing to Wuhan, the capital city of Hunan Province, the railway
44
45
Shanghai Gongyun shiliao, The Chronicle of Shanghai labor movement (1957) vol. 1, 24.
Yang & Tian, “Laodong Jie,” 13.
14
was critical to the economic activities of Northern and Central China. Qing
government operated a Rolling Stock Plant in Changxindian by the end of the 19th
century, and after 1911 revolution, the factory was affiliated to Transportation
Ministry, noted as one of the largest manufactories in northern China. In 1919 Beijing
University Mass Education Lecture Corps began to give lectures in Changxindian; in
1920, a Rolling Stock Plant mechanic named Shi Wenbin set up a night school as the
first step of unionization of workers. The night school offered two courses only, one
in Chinese Language and another in Math, in which about 20 to 30 illiterate workers
enrolled. Shi and two other co-workers not only taught classes, but also made
donation to cover the cost. Soon the night school was forced to merge with a mass
school ran by government due to lack of funding.46 At this time a worker member of
the Marxist Study Society ran by Li Dazhao sought help from Li to establish a
workers’ school in Changxindian, and his appeal was warmly accepted. Deng
Zhongxia, Zhang Guotao and Zhang Tailei were sent to fulfill the task. 47 The
formation of the Changxindian school not only marked the beginning of the CCP-led
labour movement among Jinghan railway workers, but also Deng Zhongxia’s
life-long commitment to labour organization.
Changxindian Labour Continuation School formally opened in December 1920.
The official Enrolment Guideline stated that the school was catered to all workers and
workers’ children regardless of age and education level, “for the purpose to improve
their knowledge and cultivate their “noble personhood”. The daytime classes were
offered for children, and night classes for adults.
Curriculum included Chinese,
French, Common knowledge in Science, Common Knowledge in Society, and
Factory/Railway knowledge. The school was not only free of tuition, but subsidized
course materials for those in need. A part of the budget was covered by donation of
several social elites concerned with mass education; Li Dazhao contributed $100 on
monthly basis to make the ends meet. All teachers were sent over by Beijing
Liang Xuyi, “Things related to the Great Strike of Changxindian railway workers in 1923,” Beijing Bulletin of
the CCP Historical Materials (1985: 27: 5) 11-12.
47 Kwan, Marxist Intellectuals, 22.
46
15
Communist Group, and school facilities were provided by workers.48
In an article published in Morning Daily in 1920, Deng Zhongxia related
students’ early contacts with railway workers, remarking that “workers in
Changxindian are knowledgeable and closely-united.” 49 He also mentioned a
widely-respected foreman who had sponsored a girls’ school in the town for several
years, and local residents presented a banner to show gratitude for his generosity. To
answer the question why Changxindian needs another school, Deng and his comrades
expounded that the existing schools were for children only, so a school for adults
should be set up to awaken workers’ class consciousness:
Why do we workers toiled day and night, but cannot feed and shelter us well? Why
do officials, politicians, and capitalists lead an extravagant life without having to
move a finger? From where did the rich get their money? From where did they get
their house, food and clothing? They are all made by we workers’ blood and sweat
and we live in poverty. In order to enjoy happiness we must obtain knowledge first.
This is the reason for us to set up the school. Besides, everyone is entitled to equal
education opportunity…. As Adam Smith said, ‘Human beings are born equal’, so
workers and their bosses should equally enjoy education and happiness.50
Both the school Enrolment Guideline and Deng’s openly made statements
downplayed the political goal of worker education to appeal to the general public and
gain a legal status for the school. In his work The Concise History of Labour
Movement: 1919 to 1926 published about 10 years later, Deng explained the party’s
instrumental purpose clearly: “our party uses the school as a springboard to make
inroad into the labour masses in Changxindian; our goal was to unionize workers.”51
After hardware had been put in place, the major challenge these communist
educators faced was to recruit students.
A common view among tradesmen saw
schooling as useless as they had learned skills through years of apprenticeship: “I
make a living relying on my skills, and I don’t want to curry favours from my bosses.
Why do I need to go to school?” “If the school serves food, I will go.
Otherwise,
why should I?”52 Deng and his comrades made painstaking efforts to explain why,
48
Liang, “1923 nian,” 13-14.
49
50
51
52
Deng, The Collected Works, 5-6.
Deng Zhongxia, The Collected Works of Deng Zhongxia (Beijing 1983) 435-6.
Li Shi, “Deng Zhongxia and Changxindian Worker Continuation School,” 15.
16
without
education,
workers
would
be
easily
duped
by
their
bosses.
Since working class mobilization was the main goal, they refused to adopt popular
primers as textbook, and they instead compiled teaching materials based on workers’
daily life.
53
indoctrination.
students.
Teaching subject knowledge was closely linked to political
In Language class, the name of tools and equipments were taught to
When students learn the word “labour”, teacher explained why “labour” is
the greatest, most glorious, and most sacred deed in the world; when they learn the
word “railway”, teacher elucidated that all China’s railways were owned by
imperialist powers; so we must fight against foreign powers. To fight effectively,
workers needed to be united, thus students learned the word “solidarity”. In
knowledge courses, the basic concepts of “political party”, “class struggle” and
“unionization” were elaborated, and stories about foreign workers’ struggles were
narrated. 54 Besides, the school subscribed periodicals and purchased books for
advanced students, including Labour Weekly55 and Voice of Workers published by
Beijing Communist Group, the Communist Party released by the CCP, and the
Chinese version of the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels.
The efficiency of the early communists’ mobilization was demonstrated by the
formation of Changxindian Labour Union of Jinghan Railway in May 1921. Shi
Wenbin, the Rolling Stock Plant mechanic, was elected to the union president, and the
union “opens its door to all Changxindian workers”.56 Although Chinese labour
historians hailed the event as the first great success that the CCP achieved in
organizing workers, the union was in fact an inter-class organization at first. Railway
police and shop floor bosses received membership and its founding principle did not
go beyond economism.57 By late 1921, union leaders and many key members joined
Li Shi, “Deng Zhongxia and Changxindian Workers Continuation School,” The Records of Beijing (2011: 11)
15.
54 Liang, “1923 nian,” 14-15.
55 The Labor Weekly was issued by Beijing Communist Group, and in August 1921, it was taken over by the
newly established Secretariat of Labour Organization.
56 Liu Xiaoyun, “May Fourth Period,” 10; Liang., “1923 nian,” 16
57 Deng, The Collected Works, 436; Fan, “Changxindian,” 56; Studies have showed the ambivalent relation
53
between workers and their shop floor overseers. An intimate relation and personal loyalty forged
between the two groups conditioned working class formation in a way that accentuated troubling
tendencies toward accommodation. Yet at times it also triggered industrial disputes that overcame
divisions among workers and inter-class ties between them and their overseers contributing to
17
the CCP, and Changxindian union attracted attention of the party center. At the
party’s first congress convened in Shanghai in July 1921, the CCP urged workers to
remember that the goal of unionization was to fight against employers and intensify
the class warfare. News on Changxindian workers’ school and union activities were
publicized through journals published by the CCP. After a successful strike in August
1922,58 Changxindian union gained the fame of labour activists’ Mecca.
In April 1922, when its membership surpassed 1,800, the union was reorganized
to exclude non-worker members and changed its name to Changxindian Workers’
Club.59 In addition to the 16 stations of Jinghan Railway, other major railway lines
sent representatives to its inaugural meeting chaired by Deng Zhongxia. A resolution
was passed to form the General Union of Jinghan Railway, and Zhengzhou, the
capital city of Henan Province and hub of the railroad, was selected to host the
general union. Warlord Wu Peifu nevertheless turned to against workers, giving order
to ban the union.
A general strike was called on 4 February as a protest, which
completely paralyzed the traffic artery. To support the railroad workers, sympathetic
strikes were held in Zhengzhou, Wuhan, and Changxindian, and strikers stated that
they did not fight for wage and working hours, but for human rights and freedom.
Two days later the warlord government, with the support of foreign powers, sent
troops to crack down the labour militancy in the three locations. Over 40 were
executed and several hundred badly wounded. The bloody incident was recorded as
“February 7 massacre” in China’s labour history and CCP history.60
Red Education among Anyuan Miners
Anyuan Coal Mine began operation in 1898. Originally named Pingxiang Coal
working-class solidarity. See Shiling McQuaide, Shanghai Labor: Gender, Politics, and Traditions in the
Making of the Chinese Working Class 1911-1949 (PhD dissertation, Queen’s University, Kingston, On 1995)
190-204.
58 In February 1922, the Changxindian Union actively supported the Hong Kong Seamen’s strike, and in August
of the same year, it called on an economic strike for wage increase, which was granted by the railway bureau.
Until 1922, labor activism in Changxindian was granted by warlord Wu Peifu who, because of power struggle
against another Warlord Zhang Zuolin, claimed to “protect laborers”. In the favorable climate, workers of all 16
main stations along the Jinghan Railroad had been unionized by the end of 1922. See Xu Guangshou, “Deng
Zhongxia and China’s early Labor Movement,” The Journal of Anhui Education College (1989: 22: 1) 74; Kwan,
Marxist Intellectuals, 30, Lu Shenyou, “The Great Strike of ‘February 7’,” 134.
59 See Liang, “1923 nian,” 20; Fan Jixian, “Changxindian: the Birthplace of Labour Movement in North China,”
Theory and Practice of Trade Unions (2003: 17: 2) 56.
60 Lu, “The Great Strike,” 136;
18
Mine, it was affiliated with Hanyeping Corporation, a combine comprising steel
factory, railway, iron and coal mines. Located in Jiangxi province, close to the border
of Hunan, Anyuan employed 13,000 miners, being one of the largest and earliest
modern enterprises in China that adopted foreign imported technologies. In 1921,
after Mao Zedong was appointed to the secretary of the Hunan Labour Secretariat61
and the Hunan Branch of the CCP, he pursued a strategy of using the mass education
movement to organize workers. Mao made a trip to Anyuan in September, and in
January 1922 Li Lisan was sent to the mine as the first Communist organizer. 62 A
Hunan native, Li came from a town close to Pingxiang, the location of the mine.
After completed middle school, he went to France as a work-study student, and joined
the CCP there.
Following Mao’s instruction, Li used mass education as a cover for his
mobilization work, and submitted an application to magistrate office for opening a
school to “increase knowledge and promote moral conduct”. The community suffered
from gambling and opium smoking at that time, so Li obtained permission quickly
and a Commoner School opened.63 Although he distributed the school recruitment
notice among residents, and spread words through acquainted workers, the school
was not successful at first due to the same challenge that Deng Zhongxia faced in
Changxindian. Workers struggling for survive could not see why they needed
schooling. The first recruits of the school were two or three dozen of children; few
adults showed up. Li Lisan began to visit workers’ home on the pretext of meeting
pupils’ parents, persuading them to come to school. He spent so much time in and out
the workers’ dorm that he got the nickname Wandering Teacher.64 Finally, about 60
workers showed up for the two classes, one for beginners, and another for students of
medium level, both of which were offered in the evening. Their official name was
61
Since 1922, the CCP Secretariat of Labour Organization had headquarter in Beijing, five branch
offices in Shanghai, Jinan, Guangdong, Wuhan, and Hunan. As secretary of Hunan branch, Mao was
in charge of the labour movement in neighbouring Jiangxi Province as well.
Huang Le & Huang Yang, “The Rise, Development and Features of the Red Education during the Labor
Movement in Anyuan,” Journal of Pingxiang College (2005: 1), 28.
63 Lai Zhikui, “The Special Features and Historical Significance of Workers’ Education in Anyuan,” The Journal
of Jiangxi Teachers’ College (1980: 4: 1) 2.
64 Jiang Ping, “The Historical Facts of Anyuan Workers’ Strike,” Bulletin of Jiangsu Association of Social
Sciences (May 1981); 36; Shaffer, Mao and the Workers, 87.
62
19
Citizen Classes of Commoner School, but were referred to as Anyuan Worker
Continuation School by the CCP labour organizers, and recorded as such in all
historical documents. Most of these early students were railroad hands, who, more or
less, had some skills and previous schooling. Two more party members were sent to
teach in the school.65
In comparison with Changxindian school, Anyuan workers’ education lasted for a
longer period (January 1922 to September 1925), enrolled a larger number of students,
implemented a better-developed schooling system comprising of various levels, and
trained a bigger group of talented leaders for labour movement and Chinese
revolution.
Like in Changxindian, teachers integrated knowledge cultivation with Marxism
indoctrination, and the school functioned as a vehicle for Li Lisan and his comrades
to organize workers.
Two sets of teaching materials were used in the classroom, one
was a four volume People’s Reader composed by a well-known mass educator Li
Liuru,66 and another was put together by Li Lisan, being a number of lecture notes in
the form of mimeograph, on purpose to advocate “the theory of sacred labour”, and
awaken workers’ class consciousness.
A song matching new words with old music
notes was composed by Li to extol workers, which became popular in the mine.67 On
May 1, 1922, Anyuan Railroad and Mine Workers’ Club was established.
It
obtained the legal status due to Li’s skilful manoeuvre among mine officials who
were locked in an intense power struggle. Li was elected to the president of the club,
and Zhu Shaolian was the vice president.68
Zhu was a train driver, one of the
earliest students of Anyuan school, and was introduced into the party by Li Lisan.
Upon the club’s formation, the Continuation School became subordinated to the
club; students were required to give public talks and performances to publicize it and
recruit members. In July, club membership rose to over 1,000 and Anyuan mine had
more than 30 CCP members. In September, directed by Mao Zedong, Li Lisan and
65
66
67
68
Jiang, “The Historical Facts,” 36.
Lai, “The Special Features and Historical Significance,” 4,
Jiang, “The Historical Facts,” 36.
Ibid., 37.
20
Liu Shaoqi,69 who were sent to Anyuan to strengthen the party’s leadership, called on
a strike involved most of the 13,000 Anyuan miners to press authority granting
workers’ demands. The strike won victory after shutting down the mine for four days,
and a treaty of 13 points was signed, including acknowledgement of the club as
workers’ legal representative, increase of workers’ wage, and improvement of their
working conditions.70
The red education in Anyuan entered a period of rapid growth, becoming
increasingly regularized and standardized after workers’ club had expanded its
influence through winning the strike. The mine authority was forced to make monthly
support to the club, and 2/3 of which, estimated as 1,000 yuan,71 were dedicated to
education.
In the beginning of 1923, two more schools were opened, and by the late
of that same year, in total seven schools operated in different locations, and enrolment
number reached 2,000 at the peak time. Incomplete statistics show that within the
period of less than 4 yours, 50 classes were taught, and the total graduates were
estimated from 3,000 to 4,000.72
Out of the 13,000 workers in Anyuan, 1/4 were illiterate. In 1923, workers’ club
drafted “education regulations”, making schooling mandatory for workers and their
descents; clearly defined goals were publicized for different categories of students.
For male adults, the education was to 1) provide basic skills in reading, writing, and
other common knowledge that daily work needed, 2) promote class awareness, and 3)
facilitate courage and determination to fight for the liberation of the working class. 73
For juveniles under 17, the school curriculum was aimed to “promote intelligence,
develop knowledge, and cultivate citizens who were sound in mind and body to meet
the demands of the society.” Occupational classes were offered for women, on
purpose to “entail them with necessary skills and knowledge to make a living as the
69
Liu Shaoqi joined the CCP in 1921, when he was studying in Soviet Union. Upon returning to China in 1922,
he was assigned to work at the Secretariat of Labour Organization. Liu held the post of communist China’s
president after 1949, and was tortured to death during the Cultural Revolution in 1968.
70 Jiang, “The Historical Facts,” 39-40.
71 Lai, “Anyuan Workers’ Education,” 6.
72 Fu Yulan & Li Shuliang, “Preliminary Research on the Organization and Management of the Red Education in
Anyuan during the Period of Early Labor Movement,” Journal of Pingxiang College (2008: 25: 2) 41.
73 Lai, “Anyuan Workers’ Education,” 3; Hu Fuxing and Yang Quanhui, “On the ‘Continuation Education Reader’
used by Workers’ Continuation School Sponsored by Anyuan Railroad and Miner’s Club,” Education Research of
Jiangxi (1984: March) 52.
21
first step for women’s liberation”.74
In adult continuation schools, specific requirements were formulated for students
to ensure education quality.
In Chinese language course, for instance, the graduates
of beginner class were required to learn reading 1,000 words, and grasp the usage of
nouns and verbs that were frequently used in day to day work. The graduates of
medium class should be able to read 2,000 words, and express simple opinions in
writing. Since the red education was implemented with explicit goal to train labour
activists, teachers attempted to indoctrinate the basic theories of class struggle with
students, broaden their political vision, and develop their ability to organize social
gathering and give public speech. Class was often a combination of lecture and
seminar; after teacher’s instruction, students actively engaged in group discussion.
Speech and debate session was held on weekly basis in which students give public
talk and dispute with one another on different topics to improve analytical ability and
oratorical tactics.
Participation in political activities such as public gathering,
demonstration, protest, and memorial assembly held in Anyuan and neighbouring
areas was a part of curriculum, at which teachers and students were required to
function as organizers, orators, or handbill distributors. They provided good
opportunities for both teachers and students to gain experience in struggle, and apply
what they learned in classroom to practice.
Around 50 party and Communist Youth League (CY) members taught at Anyuan
schools. In 1923, Chen Qinghe, an Anyuan school teacher, was assigned to compose a
four volume textbook for students. Although only Volume One was kept until today,
we could get a general idea about the content of other volumes through reading its
introduction. Volume one covers common knowledge and narrates stories to enlighten
workers. The second volume relates labour history of different countries and analyzes
various social theories, with emphasis on the Russian Revolution in October 1917.
Volume three elaborates China’s social, economic and political situation, labour
movement and CCP’s revolutionary strategy. The last volume deals with Marxist
74
Hu and Yang, “On the “Continuation Education Reader”,53.
22
theories and communist activities in other countries.75
Volume one comprises 25 lessons; the length of each lesson various, ranged from
60 to 600 words, trying to integrate political enlightenment with common knowledge
instruction. From Lessons Six to Eight, Chen elaborated how and why warlords,
government officials and capitalists collaborated to crack down radical workers and
students. In Lessons Nine and Ten, the dialectical relation between labour and
knowledge was discussed, indicating that “knowledge is the most cherished asset of
human society….
In order for workers to defeat the powerful ruling class, they must
get education immediately.”76 Lessons 15 to 24 expounded Marxist basic concepts as
the beginning step of introducing Marxism to workers. To mobilize women against
feudalist traditions, four lessons were devoted to discussions on gender equality and
freedom of marriage. Other lessons briefly present fundamental scientific
knowledge.77
In August 1924, the club reformed the educational system, and drafted clearly
defined goal for each of the three levels of schooling.
Level one focused on literacy
education and lasted for 6 months. Level two instructed fundamental knowledge that
workers needed in day to day work and struggle.
Level three aimed to train gifted
and talented workers with political consciences to become labour organizers and
revolutionary cadres. At this level, curriculum laid emphasis on political strategy,
labour movement, and oratorical skills. A party school on purpose to train party
cadres formally opened in Anyuan in the end of 1924, and a class specialized in
cultivating teachers began in 1923 to meet the growing demands for teachers.78 As
early as 1923, a number of reading booths were set up for miner readers,79 and in the
early 1924, the first library catered to Anyuan workers’ club members was formally
established, providing revolutionary books and journals.80
75
Ibid., 53.
Ibid., 53-4
77 Ibid., 54.
78 Fu & Li, “The Preliminary Research on the Red Education,” 41; Huang & Huang, “The Rise, Development and
Features of the Red Education,” 29-30.
79 Lai, “Anyuan Worker Education,” 3.
80 Zhou Xinjuan, “The Library during the Period of Anyuan Labour Movement,” Library Construction, (2006:4)
17.
76
23
While red education directly contributed to the growth of Anyuan labour
movement, powerful labour organization and working class solidarity after the victory
of Anyuan strike in October 1922 created a favourable environment for the
development of labour education, providing it with teachers and financial support.
Labour movement nationwide fell to low ebb after the February Massacre in 1923,
and Anyuan was seen as a haven for CCP members and labour activists. In the face of
the strong union of 13,000 members, the Anyuan Bureau of Mine and Railroad was
hesitated to adopt radical strategy as it might paralyze the production. 81
Thus
workers’ club continued to function; educated young revolutionaries took refuge in
Anyuan one after another, many of whom taught at schools. In 1924, Anyuan’s party
members reached 200, accounting for 1/5 of the total CCP membership in China.82 In
September 1925, assisted by warlord troops, the authority suppressed the workers’
club and terminated the red education. During the period of merely 3 year and 8
months, a large group of workers received revolutionary enlightenment. After the
crackdown,
“some of them flee to Guangdong, the revolutionary base at that time; some
went to other provinces and dedicated to labour movement; some were
involved in mobilization of local peasants. It was said that in Hunan Province,
all peasant movement organizers and promoters were former Anyuan miners.
A group of Anyuan miners joined the Autumn Harvest Uprising in 1927,
constituting a miner regiment. They retreated to Jinggang Mountain
following Mao Zedong after the insurrection failed.83
Two of the earliest Anyuan students Zhu Shaolian and Cai Shufan were memorized as
revolutionary leaders and martyrs.
Zhu was elected to a member of the CCP’s
central committee in 1923, and fought in Jianggang Mountain as a regimental
commander of the Red Army after 1927.
He was executed by the Nationalist
government in 1929. Cai survived the wars against Japanese and Nationalists, but
lost a arm. Best known as “single arm general”, he held a number of key posts in
army and government under Maoist regime before his death in an air crash in 1958.
Organic Intellectuals and Labour Education in Shanghai
81
82
83
Deng, Collection of Works, 517.
Fu & Li, “The Preliminary Research on the Red Education,” 40.
Lai, “Anyuan Worker Education,” 5.
24
By far the leader of Chinese industrialization, Shanghai hosted 18% of China’s
factory workers in 1920. 84 Since light industries dominated the city’s economy,
female accounted for more than 50% of factory labour force in Shanghai.
Reputable labour movement leaders such as Liu Shaoqi, Li Lisan, and Deng
Zhongxia worked in Shanghai in the 1920s, but in this paper we will look at less
well-known labour organizers. Some of them were workers themselves; their
eagerness for learning and zeal for working class liberation perhaps best testify the
role played by organic intellectuals to bridge the gap between the two
groups—professional intellectuals and labours. As they neither became famous in
Maoist China, nor produced bio for decedents, we have to reconstruct their life and
work based on fragmented records.
In the fall of 1920, a spare time school opened in Xiaoshadu, Shanghai’s
working-class suburb.
This was the earliest school for workers run by the CCP in
the city, and it was initiated by Li Qihan, a Hunan native.
The History of Shanghai
Labour Movement compares Chen Duxiu and Li Qihan in this way: “…Chen Duxiu
made the first attempt to spread Marxism among Shanghai workers…through writing
and lecturing, while Li Qihan…was the first one who went down amongst workers,
opening schools and forming unions.”85
Li came from a poor peasant family; he had to quit schooling after finishing four
years of elementary school due to poverty. While farming, he picked up some
knowledge in Chinese medicine and practiced marshal arts, being fond of helping
needy people. His talent and ability incidentally caught attention of a county official,
who intended to have Li as his son-in-law.86
prestigious high school.
The county official thus sent Li to a
In the spring when Li completed his high school, the May
fourth demonstration wave swept through China; Li Qihan got involved, and thus
became acquainted with Mao Zedong and Deng Zhongxia. In early 1920 Li went to
Beijing, participating in the activities of Beijing Communist Group. Encouraged by
Deng Zhongxia, he left for Shanghai as a labour organizer in the summer of that year.
84
85
86
Shen, Jiang, Zheng, The History of Shanghai Labour, 19.
Shen, Jiang, Zheng, The History of Shanghai Labour, 61.
Lu Fangwen, “Li Qihan,” Journal of Xiangtan University (Edition of Social Sciences) (1983:4). 103.
25
Xiaoshadu school, however, was not successful.
student recruitment.
Several factors handicapped
First, Li’s Hunanese accent was difficult to understand, since
most students came from Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. Moreover, many workers
did not realize the importance of education. And lastly, long working hours and
changing shifts often hindered workers from attending classes regularly.
with the situation, Li transformed the school into an entertainment club.
To cope
He bought
a gramophone, and often organized football games. Meanwhile, he made efforts to
learn the Shanghai dialect, trying to establish personal contact with workers.
It was
said that through his contact with a woman cotton mill worker who attended the
school, Li was accepted by the Green Gang, 87 a powerful semi-clandestine
association in the city, whose influence widely penetrated into different social circles,
including workers. Relying on his gangster connections, Li forged ties with workers
in British and American Tobacco Company (BAT) Pudong factories, and reopened
workers’ school under the name of Shanghai No.1 Workers’ Continuation School in
early 1921.
About 30 odd students showed up for school, which was divided into morning
and evening sessions to accommodate to workers on different shifts. In class topics on
politics and the labour movement were presented and discussed. Li Qihan and other
communists taught in the school in turns.88 Li used different tactics to encourage
workers to be brave in defence of their right and interests. A saying was popular
among workers which admonished working masses to be docile based on the
pictograph of the Chinese word “work”: “Workers should not hold up their heads;
once they do, they will be buried in grave.” Li responded quick-wittedly, also based
on the pictograph of the Chinese character:
“Please look, if we put the two words
“work” and “person” together, they turned into the character “heaven”.
This means
that we workers will become the masters of the whole land under heaven (world). Is
that great?”89
87
Bao Huizeng, Memoirs of Bao Huizeng (Beijing, 1983). 67.
Cheng Weimin, An Analytical Discussion of the Shanghai Labor Movement under the Guidance of the Newly
Established Communist Party, in Hong Ze, et al., Shanghai: Gateway to the World (Shanghai 1989) vol. 2, 2.
89 Lu, “Li Qihan,” 104.
88
26
In July 1921, 8,000 workers in BAT Pudong factories walked out spontaneously
in protest against foreign supervisors’ abuse.
victory under Li Qihan’s leadership.
indispensability of organization.
The strike of three weeks ended in
Through the battle, workers realized the
The Shanghai Tobacco Workers’ Union was
officially formed a few days later, whose office was located in the same building as
that of the newly established CCP Secretariat of Labour Organization, indicating that
the union was under close guidance of the CCP. Being one of the leaders of the
Secretariat, Li also sit on the editorial board of Labour Weekly, the mouthpiece of the
secretariat, and contributed a number of articles on workers’ education and
unionization.
At the same time, he enrolled in a Russian language class sponsored
by the CCP, working on translating simple and popular Marxist literature for working
class readers. Contemporary Media referred to Li Qihan as “a Bolshevik
advocator….who had gained support from over 20,000 workers.”90 In June 1922, the
police of Shanghai’s international concession arrested Li on the charge of instigating
post workers’ strike, and shut down the Secretariat of Labour Organization.
Li was
jailed for over two years. When he was released, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Zhongxia met
him at the prison gate; Deng “shed tears of joy”, praising Li as “the first comrade who
endured the tremendous hardship for our party”.91
More ambitious and effective attempts to indoctrinate the working class with
Marxism began in 1924, when the newly formed United Front between the
Nationalist Party (GMD) headed by Sun Yet-sun and CCP opened up a brighter future
for the labour movement in the city. The GMD was reorganized with the help of the
Soviet advisor Michael Borodin, and a labour department was set up by the GMD
party committee at all levels. The labour departments were normally headed by the
CCP members who joined the GMD in their individual capacities. The labour
secretaries of the Shanghai committee were Deng Zhongxia and two other
communists. Xiang Jingyu, the most famous communist feminist in China, was
appointed as the director assistant of the Youth and Women’s Department of the
90
91
Lu, “Li Qihan,” 104.
Ibid., 107.
27
Shanghai committee.92
The alliance with the GMD gave the CCP a framework within which it could
mobilize workers legally. Over a dozen common people’s schools were founded in
working people’s districts of Shanghai in the name of spreading education among the
masses.93 Most instructors of these schools were concurrently students of Shanghai
University, a recently established educational institution for the CCP to train
revolutionary cadres and labour movement organizers. After the Shanghai General
Union was established in 1925, it collaborated with the student union of the city to set
up 11 more schools in the working people concentrated neighbourhoods. The
statistics issued in September 1925 show that altogether 1,570 students enrolled, and
of them over 450 were women. Shanghai University itself also had an attached
commoners’ night school. Its first classes started in April 1924.
In total 360 students
enrolled, most of whom were child labourers under 14 years of age. The next classes
began in the autumn of the same year, and as many as 460 students were recruited.94
In deference to the deeply-rooted traditional ethical code, separate schools were
established for women in order to attract more female students.
The first women
workers’ night school was opened by the female Shanghai University students in the
Chadaijiao neighbourhood. The Yangtzepu Commoners’ School started in June 1924
was divided into two sections, one for men, and another for women. In total over 150
students enrolled in the first term.95 The nearby New Yeho Cotton Mill owned by the
British had over 100 workers studying at the Yangtzepu School, of whom a large
group were females. The CY secretary at the mill was a graduate of the women
section of the school.96
The gender division in workers’ education was promoted by Xiang Jingyu, the
Communist director assistant of the Youth and Women’s Department of the GMD
92
Xiang went to France as a work study student after the May Fourth demonstration in 1919, and joined the CCP
when she returned to China in 1922. She successfully organized women workers’ strikes in silk reeling factories in
1924, becoming the first female member sitting on the party’s central committee. She was executed by Chiang
Kai-shek government in 1928.
93 Deng, The Collected Works, 525.
94 Institute of History, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Historical Materials on the May Thirtieth Movement
(Shanghai 1982) vol. 1, 274, 287; vol. 2, 681-2.
95 Ibid., 274.
96 Shanghai No. 1 Woolen Top Mill, The Labour Movement at Shanghai No. 1 Woolen Top Mill—the Former Yew
Yeho Cotton Mill (Beijing, 1991) 32.
28
Shanghai Committee at that time.
In 1923, Xiang drafted the resolution on the
women’s movement which was adopted by the third congress of the CCP held in June
of that year.
The resolution proposed to establish contact with female factory
workers through setting up schools particularly for them.97 Several months later
Xiang published an article in Women’s Weekly, one of the supplements of Republican
Daily, to comment on the issue systematically. Xiang indicated that mass education
hardly affected women because of Confucian moral code of gender segregation. She
therefore appealed for separate schools for women as perhaps the only means to boost
the extremely low rate of female enrolment and to address women’s special
oppression.98
In 1924, the CCP launched its second major campaign to organize workers thanks
for the favourable climate created by its collaboration with the GMD. In Xiaoshudu
neighbourhood, where Li Qihan sowed the seeds of revolution a couple years ago, the
Western Shanghai Workers’ Club was formed under the direction of Deng Zhongxia;
a Shanghai University student Liu Hua was sent to help run the club. Liu was born
into a poor peasant family in Sichuan Province, and merely completed the elementary
school before coming to Shanghai and working as an apprentice printer at the
Zhonghua Book Company in 1920.
Working in the city allowed Liu opportunities to
continue education after work, read widely, and finally decided to “dedicate his life to
struggles for workers’ happiness.” 99 In August 1923 Liu enrolled in Shanghai
University as a part-time student. Seeing it as the beginning of his revolutionary
career, Liu referred the change as “a great blessing happened in his life”.100
During
his study at Shanghai University, Liu joined the CY first, and then the CCP in the end
of 1924.
Meanwhile Liu wrote for newspapers, and his articles assailed on
corruptive society and aimed at awakening workers’ class consciousness.
The Western Shanghai Workers’ Club was an inclusive industrial union with legal
status, and its officially stated goals were to provide assistance, education and context
The Section on Women’s Movement of the Chinese National Women’s Association, ed., Historical Materials on
the Chinese Women Movement 1927-1937. (Beijing 1986) vol. 1, 68.
98 Republican Daily, January 30, 1924.
99 Liu Ning, “Biography of Martyr Liu Hua,” Journal of Social Sciences (1981:1). 143.
100 Ibid.
97
29
of social intercourse for members. The club ran a literacy class, a continuation class,
and a speech society. Every three days students attended a political study session,
which focused on elaboration of imperialist oppression, capitalist exploitation, class
struggle and unionization. Story-telling was an important tactic used by teachers to
explain revolutionary theories. Liu Hua’s sincere attitude and eloquent talks were
very convincing. Workers referred to attending classes as “listening to the truth”.101
Several months later, club members rose to near 80, all of whom were workers in
nearby textile factories.
These activists joined party, made efforts to reach for
workers through various means, and formed secret groups among mill hands. By
1925, these secret groups had close to 1,000 members, penetrating in all factories in
Western Shanghai.102
To mobilize workers more effectively, Liu Hua entered the No. 7 cotton mill
owned by Japanese Naigai Wata Company to work as a handyman. When workers
employed at the No. 8 cotton mill of the same company spontaneously walked out on
February 1, 1925, in protest of management’s decision to dismiss male hands and hire
docile girls to replace them, Liu Hua and his comrades masterfully spread the
anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist sentiment among all workers in the Japanese mills.
By the end of February, all 40,000 workers in 22 mills of Japanese ownership downed
their tools, bringing the demoralized labour movement since the “February 7
Massacre” in 1923 to a new high tide.
As the major leader of the strike, Liu Hua stayed together with workers day and
night, sleeping on ground in straw hut. He talked to workers, drafted posters, wrote
handbills and meanwhile gnawed pieces of dry bread when he was hungry. Worrying
about strikers’ fate, he “slept restlessly and tasted nothing of the food he ate”.103
After the strike won victory on March 1, mill hands swarmed into unions, who
became the backbone of the ensuring May Thirties demonstration. The demonstration
was triggered by a Japanese supervisor’s killing of a labour activist Gu Zhenghong on
May 15. At Gu’s funeral attended by over 10,000 workers and Shanghai citizens, Liu
101
102
103
Shen, Jiang, Zheng, Shanghai Labour Movement, 181-2.
Ibid., 182.
Liu, “The Biography,” 144.
30
delivered a wrathful speech expressing workers’ anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist
determination: “ten of us will come forward when one was killed, and 100 of us will
come forward when 10 were killed. The flames of revolution cannot be quenched.”104
Several days later, when a huge gathering held at downtown Shanghai to protest
Japanese bloody killing, the British police opened fire on the masses, shooting 13 to
death, wounding several dozens, and arresting over 100. This is known as the “May
Thirties Massacre” in Chinese History. On the next day, Shanghai General Union
(GTU) of 20,000 members was established, declaring “a general strike of workers,
shopkeepers, and students in protest against imperialist powers’ killing of our
countrymen….”105 Liu Hua headed the alternative executive of the GTU. Liu was
executed by the warlord government in the end of 1925, having just passed his 25
birthday.106
Conclusion
In a pamphlet called What is to be Done?, Lenin points out that the revolutionary
party represents the workers not only in their relation to their employers, but also in
their relations to “all classes of modern society and to the state as an organized
political force”. The party, therefore, should not confine itself exclusively to the
economic struggle; it “must take up actively the political education of the working
class and the development of its political consciousness.”107 In Lenin’s view, Marxist
intellectuals and politically enlightened workers have obliterated all distinctions and
been fused into a single cohesive unit in the revolutionary party. In a perhaps equally
well-known work entitled Selections from the Prison Notebooks Gramsci has
developed Lenin’s argument towards a different direction. He divided intelligentsia
into two groups—professional intellectuals of bourgeois origin and organic
intellectuals who were produced specifically by the working class. Gramsci argues
that like the bourgeoisie before it, the working class is capable of developing from
within its ranks its own organic intellectuals. This group is welded together with the
104
105
106
107
Ibid.,
Ibid., 145.
Smith, “Workers, the Intelligentsia,” 41.
Vladimir Lenin, What is to be Done? 34
31
traditional intellectuals in the revolutionary party, and functioned as a link between
working class and traditional intellectuals.108
In May 30, 1925, Shanghai CCP organizers masterfully transformed isolated
conflicts in Japanese factories into intense class warfare with strong nationalist
sentiment. The citywide strike involved 1.2 million workers, 50,000 students, and
many merchants. It marked the high tide of the Chinese revolution of the 1920s.
As
this paper shows, different types of Marxist intellectuals were active in educating and
mobilizing labourers. Some, like Chen Duxing, Li Dazhao and those contributing to
the Journal of World of Labour, were brilliant writers and educators, who made
invaluable contributions by introducing Marxism into China. Some, like Mao Zedong
and Liu Shaoqi, were indigenous intellectuals with political skills.
Living and
working among ordinary people, they communicated with workers more easily and
had better understanding of China’s labouring classes. The third group, the so-called
organic intellectuals, published little and left even less for us to study. In the 1920s,
few of them climbed high through party hierarchy, and even fewer of them survived
the wars and revolutions to see the Communist China established in 1949 that they
fought for so heroically.
108
Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci (GBR: ElecBook Co. London
2001).
32
33