The Development of Chinese Magazines and the Revolution of 1911

After the Revolution of 1911, the nation was in danger, the country was in ruins, and the people were miserable, which was getting worse day by day. In order to find a way out for the country, various trends of thought have emerged one after another. Reformism and constitutionalism had a great influence before and after the Revolution of 1911. However, since their essence was to maintain the feudal system, as the revolution progressed, their ideas were naturally eliminated. Reformist leaders Liang Qichao, Zhang Jian and others were among the revolutionary elements. His influence among the people and the general public also quickly dimmed. In the turbulent wave of pursuit of change, the New Culture Movement has deservedly become the mainstream of ideological revolution. The New Culture Movement started with the founding of Youth Magazine (later changed to New Youth) by Chen Duxiu in September 1915, and used this as its main position. Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Wu Yu, Lu Xun and others violently criticized the reading of Confucius, resolutely opposed the feudal ruling class's narcotic ethics of the people, and exposed the "cannibalistic" nature of feudal ethics. Chen Duxiu loudly put forward the slogans of "democracy" and "science", loudly opposed the old culture and old morality, aroused the national awakening, and pursued national liberation and progress. In January 1917, Hu Shi published "A Preliminary Opinion on Literary Reform" in "New Youth", arguing that "every era has its own literature." In order for Chinese society to adapt to modern society, it must abolish classical Chinese and promote vernacular. Immediately afterwards, Chen Duxiu published "On Literary Revolution" in the February issue of "New Youth", proposing the "three major doctrines" as the "goals" of the literary revolution. He held a critical and negative attitude towards old feudal literature from content to form, and Chinese traditional culture has launched a powerful challenge. Under the vigorous advocacy and promotion of Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, Lu Xun, Qian Xuandong and others, the new literary revolution formed a spectacular momentum. Mao Zedong praised the New Culture Movement for "raising two major banners of the literary revolution": promoting new morality and opposing old morality, and promoting new literature and opposing old literature. The New Culture Movement effectively promoted ideological emancipation and national awakening, and became the mainstream of China's development and progress after the Revolution of 1911.

On May 4, 1919, the May Fourth Patriotic Movement of great historical significance took place. The May 4th Movement was a revolutionary movement that completely and uncompromisingly opposed imperialism and feudalism. In January 1919, the victorious countries of World War I held the Paris Peace Conference. Some Chinese people thought it was a meeting for justice and imagined that China, as the victorious country, would receive fair treatment. However, the "Paris Peace Conference" manipulated by the five imperialist powers of Britain, France, the United States, Japan and Italy rejected the just demands of the Chinese delegation and did not give China any justice, nor any autonomy and dignity. Don't say that they He refused to give up the various interests and privileges he had seized in China. Even the land and colonial privileges ceded by the defeated Germany in Shandong, China, were seized by Japan. The Paris Peace Conference became a conference where the victorious imperialist powers distributed their spoils and redistributed their power to dominate the world. The illusions that Chinese intellectuals and all walks of life had about fairness, justice, and democracy advocated by the West were suddenly shattered. Chinese students in France took the lead in taking action, urging Chinese representatives at the peace conference to refuse to sign the peace treaty. On May 4, Beijing students led by Peking University first took to the streets and carried slogans such as "Strive for national rights abroad and punish national traitors at home" to protest against the bullying of China by the imperialist powers and denounced the Beiyang government for humiliating foreigners, setting off a vigorous May Fourth movement. Patriotic movement.

Although the May 4th Movement was only 8 years after the Revolution of 1911, world history entered a new era due to the success of the First World War and the Russian October Revolution in 1917. The May Fourth Movement was a mass anti-imperialist and patriotic movement that took place under the influence of the Russian October Revolution. It has become a part of the world proletarian revolution. "Since the May 4th Movement, China has shifted from the old democratic revolution to the new democratic revolution." ("Collected Works of Mao Zedong" Volume 3, People's Publishing House, 1996 edition, page 289) The New Culture Movement and the May 4th Movement were the 1911 After the failure of the revolution, the Chinese revolutionary intellectuals continued to awaken and continue their glorious journey of struggle.

Mao Zedong analyzed the status of the May 4th Movement and pointed out: The May 4th Movement “is composed of communist intellectuals, revolutionary petty bourgeois intellectuals and bourgeois intellectuals (who were the leaders of the movement at that time) "The revolutionary movement of the united front of the three groups of people, the right wing in the center" ("Selected Works of Mao Zedong", 2nd edition, Volume 2, page 700) After the May 4th Movement, the intellectual circles of the New Culture Movement were divided, represented by Hu Shi. Intellectuals advocate Western ideas and social systems and advocate "total Westernization." They cannot see clearly that "the purpose of the imperialist powers' invasion of China is by no means to turn feudal China into capitalist China... but to turn China into "their semi-colonies and colonies" (ibid., p. 628), still want to follow the road of old democracy; another group of revolutionary intellectuals, Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Li Da and others who have been at the forefront of the struggle since the New Culture Movement Mao Zedong, Qu Qiubai and others became Marxists. A number of Marxist works such as the "Communist Manifesto" were translated, published, and published. Groups for studying and researching Marxism were established in various places, and began to propose the idea that intellectuals should integrate with the working people.

The May 4th Movement was a watershed in the bourgeois democratic revolution. The previous revolution was the old democratic revolution, and the subsequent revolution was the new democratic revolution. After the May 4th Movement, inspired by the patriotic student movement, large-scale workers' strikes and businessmen's strikes immediately took place. The strike wave spread to more than 100 cities in more than 20 provinces across the country, promoting the development of the student patriotic movement into a national revolutionary movement. . The May 4th Movement had a profound impact. It effectively aroused the patriotic enthusiasm of the Chinese nation, marked the beginning of the Chinese working class's independent appearance on the political stage, and prepared the ideological and cadre conditions for the founding of the Communist Party of China. .

3. The New Democratic Revolution is the correct path for China to achieve independence and rejuvenation

The Revolution of 1911 overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. The newly established national system completely imitated European and American assets. The model of class democracy and the Republic of China established a bicameral parliament, elected a president, organized a party cabinet, and implemented a complete set of Western political systems such as parliamentary politics. Some people think that the democratic revolution will be successful if they achieve this step. Some people are enthusiastic about being members of parliament, some are intoxicated with being generals, and some people have put forward the slogan "the revolutionary army rises, the revolutionary party disappears", which disintegrated the The organization of the Kuomintang forced Sun Yat-sen to organize a separate Chinese Revolutionary Party. Later practice showed that transplanting Western social and political systems to semi-colonial and semi-feudal China was completely ineffective. Imperialism would never allow China to become independent, feudal forces would never allow the people freedom, and dictators old and new would never allow China to become independent. Opportunities for various party democracies. The signs of democracy, democracy and peace are just political tricks used by every powerful warlord to decorate their appearance. Bourgeois democratic politics has no way out and is simply unworkable in semi-colonial and semi-feudal China.

After the Russian October Revolution, the world entered a new era. Previously, the bourgeoisie, as representatives of the capitalist mode of production, held a leading position in the revolution against feudalism. Since then, the bourgeoisie that has entered the era of imperialism, as the ruling class that maintains the current order, no longer has the nature of a revolutionary leadership class, and its theory has also lost the spirit of the bourgeois revolution in the 18th century, which was determined to pursue scientific truth, pursue equal rights, and be vigorous. Fighting spirit. The history of revolution led by the bourgeoisie has become a thing of the past. China's comprador big bourgeoisie is the lackey of imperialism and the target of revolution. However, China's national bourgeoisie has been stunted under the dual oppression of imperialism and feudalism and has the revolutionary spirit to resist internal and external oppression and to resist feudal forces. The dual character of compromising with imperialist forces is incompetent to lead China to complete the bourgeois democratic revolution. This has been proven by history. To achieve independence and democracy, China can only follow the path of new democracy led by the working class and its party.

After the May 4th Movement, some revolutionary intellectuals in China set off an upsurge in propagating Marxism and began to create communist organizations.

Li Dazhao established the Marxism Research Society in Beijing, and Chen Duxiu established the Marxism Research Society in Shanghai, forming two centers for promoting Marxism known as "South, Chen, and North Li" by later generations. In 1921, the Communist Party of China was officially born. Since its establishment, the Communist Party of China has assumed the important task of leading the new-democratic revolution. The ideology, politics, and culture of New Democracy are the regular development of the May Fourth Movement and the correct choice for China to continue its revolution since the Revolution of 1911.

In 1922, the Second National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the guidance of the Communist International, determined the ideas and lines of the new-democratic revolution. The congress issued a series of resolutions requiring "workers, peasants and petty bourgeoisie to establish a democratic united front" to carry out a "democratic revolutionary movement" to oppose feudal warlords and overthrow international imperialist oppression. It proposed that the revolution should be divided into two parts. The idea of ????walking step by step proposed that the Communist Party of China should "unite the national revolutionary parties and organize a democratic united front to clear out the feudal warlords and overthrow the oppression of imperialism and build an independent country with true democratic politics as its mission." (" "Selected Documents of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China" Volume 1, 1989 edition of the Central Party School Press of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, pages 63 and 66) at the same time pointed out that the party's purpose is to "organize the proletariat and use the means of class struggle to establish labor The politics of the peasant dictatorship will eradicate the private property system and gradually achieve a communist society." (ibid., page 115) This clearly distinguishes the party's minimum program and maximum program. The party's minimum program is to fight against imperialism and feudalism, and to establish a democratic republic and the country. This is originally the task of the bourgeois democratic revolution and is consistent with the new three people's principles and the three major policies advocated by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Therefore, the Kuomintang The two parties have a common political basis for cooperation.

The Communist Party of China accepted the opinions of the Communist International and agreed to join the Chinese Kuomintang led by Mr. Sun Yat-sen to achieve the first Kuomintang cooperation. The Great Revolution from 1924 to 1927 was a model of cooperation between the Kuomintang and Communists. The heroic struggle of the Communists of China and the revolutionary situation created by the Communist Party of China in mobilizing the masses of workers and peasants were crucial to the victory of the Northern Expedition, the promotion of national independence and the National reunification has made indelible historical contributions. Later, due to the right-wing forces of the Kuomintang and the new warlords undermining the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and adopting the reactionary policy of annihilating the Communist Party, the vigorous revolution was strangled. "From then on, civil war replaced unity, dictatorship replaced democracy, and dark China replaced bright China." ("Selected Works of Mao Zedong," 2nd Edition, Volume 3, Page 1036) The Chinese Communist Party fought against the Kuomintang reactionaries During the Agrarian Revolutionary War and the Anti-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945, we eliminated the interference of "left" and right opportunism within the party, adhered to the new democratic ideas and lines, and finally won the victory of the new democratic revolution. Mao Zedong's "On New Democracy", "On Coalition Government" and other works are glorious documents that use Marxist scientific theory to understand the nature of Chinese society and the tasks, goals, class forces, and strategic strategies of China's new democratic revolution. An important guide for completing the new democratic revolution and establishing a new democratic and socialist new China.

On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded, which marked that the Chinese Communist Party relied closely on the people and successfully completed the historical task of achieving national independence and people's liberation. The land reform and the confiscation of the assets of the bureaucratic bourgeoisie carried out during this period marked the completion of the tasks of opposing feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism. For more than 100 years, the three mountains of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism that have been weighing on the Chinese people have finally been completely overthrown, and the democratic revolution started by the Revolution of 1911 has achieved complete victory.

Looking back at China’s modern history, it is not difficult to see that China’s transition from a feudal society to a semi-feudal society gradually evolved after the Opium War. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, reformism was once popular. The Qing court carried out Westernization, promoted industry, and abolished the imperial examination. It changed the situation in which the Manchu royal family and aristocrats monopolized government affairs. It appointed and supported a group of Manchu and Han ministers who advocated learning "expert skills" from the West to implement a top-down approach. improvement.

The Revolution of 1911 was the pinnacle of China's old democratic revolution. However, the failure of the Revolution of 1911 fully demonstrated that the bourgeois revolution that copied Western capitalism could not solve the internal and external contradictions in China at that time. It had no power to break the oppression of feudal warlords and their supporters, imperialism, and therefore could not solve the problems of semi-colonial and semi-feudal social revolution. , it is impossible to complete the national mission of saving the Chinese nation and the historical task of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism. This period of history clearly reveals a crucial and profound truth - capitalism cannot save China.

Mr. Sun Yat-sen, the great leader of the bourgeois revolution, was not discouraged after the failure of the Revolution of 1911 and continued to follow the trend of the times and follow the path of revolution. After the success of the Russian October Revolution, Sun Yat-sen was very emotional. He praised the Russian Revolution in many speeches and articles, which was six years later than the Chinese Revolution of 1911, but was able to succeed in one fell swoop before China. He believed that the success of the Russian Revolution lay in the fact that Russia had a political party with lofty ideals under the leadership of Lenin and that this party had the support of the working and peasant masses. On the basis of constantly summing up the experience and lessons of the revolution, Sun Yat-sen proposed the new political program of the Three People's Principles and adopted the three major policies of alliance with Russia, alliance with the Communist Party, and support for agriculture and industry. In January 1924, the First National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang was convened. , reorganize the Kuomintang. After the May 4th Movement, the bourgeois revolutionaries split. Sun Yat-sen transformed from an old democratic revolutionist to a revolutionary supporting new democracy. He has always been at the forefront of the democratic revolution. He is a great forerunner of China's democratic revolution.

From the Revolution of 1911 to the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement, from the old democratic revolution to the new democratic revolution, and then from the new democratic revolution to the socialist revolution and socialist construction, until the social The reform and development of socialism has formed a trajectory of China's century-old revolutionary history. This trajectory is sincerely convincing: in the magnificent process of China's social development and progress in modern times, history and the people chose Marxism, the Communist Party of China, the socialist road, and reform and opening up. The Communist Party of China deserves to be a great, glorious, and correct Marxist party, and it deserves to be the core force that leads the Chinese people to continuously create new situations in career development.