Populism during the period of the 1911 Revolution

Abstract

Russian populism spread in China at the turn of the twentieth century in the name of anarchism, nihilism, and socialism, and gradually contributed to the formation of modern Chinese populism. Populism around the time of the 1911 Revolution had two characteristics: one was its deep hatred of capitalism which regarded capitalism as an ugly, decadent, and regressive historical phenomenon; the other characteristic was an attempt to get around the developmental stage of capitalism in order to proceed directly into socialism. Compared with Russian populism, modern Chinese populism did not have well-organized proponents, nor did it have any systemic system of populist political thought. It manifested itself more as a populist intellectual tendency without a strong self-awareness. Agrarian civilization and Confucianism provided the hotbed for populism, and a superficial understanding of Western capitalism was the main cultural drive that bred populism. The most important feature of modern Chinese populism was the fantasy of leaping from a backward agrarian country into socialism by surpassing capitalist industrialization.

Keywords:

• The 1911 Revolution
• populism
• anarchism
• socialism

Notes

¹He Zhen and Liu Shipei, “Lun zhongzu geming yu wu zhengfu geming zhi deshi (xia)” [On the Gain and Loss of Racial Revolution and Anarcho-revolution], Tianyi 7 (September 15, 1907).

²Shenshu, “Renlei junli shuo” [Equalizing Power of Mankind], Tianyi 3 (July 10, 1907).

³Shifu, “Wuzhengfu qianshuo” [ABC to Anarchism], Huiming lu, no. 1 (August 20, 1913).

⁴Shifu, “Zhi wuzhengfu dang wanguo dahui shu” [Letter to the International Meeting of Anarchist Parties], Minsheng, no. 16 (June 27, 1914).

⁵Shifu, “Wuzhengfu gongchanzhuyi tongzhi she xuanyanshu” [Manifesto of the Anarcho–Communist Comrade Society], Minsheng, no. 17 (July 4, 1914).

⁶Shifu, “Wuzhengfu gongchanzhuyi shiming” [Interpreting Terms of Anarcho–Communism], Minsheng, no. 5 (April 11, 1914).

⁷Shifu, “Da Hencang” [Answer to Hencang], Minsheng, no. 20 (July 25, 1914).

⁸Shifu, “Zhi wuzhengfu dang wanguo dahui shu”.

⁹Vladimir Lenin, “Zhongguo de minzhu zhuyi he mincui zhuyi” [Democracy and Populism in China], in Liening xuanji [Selected Works of Lenin], vol. 2 (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1972), 427–28.

¹⁰Sun Yat-sen, “Zhongguo Guomindang diyici quanguo daibiao dahui xuanyan” [Declaration of The Chinese Nationalist Party's First National Congress], in Sun Zhongshan quanji [Complete Works of Sun Yat-sen], vol. 9 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986), 120.

¹¹Sun Yat-sen, “Zai Shanghai Nanjing lu Tongmenghui jiguan de yanshuo” [Speech Given to the Revolutionary Alliance Office on the Nanjing Road, Shanghai], in Sun Zhongshan quanji, vol. 2 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982), 338.

¹²Ziyou, “Minsheng zhuyi yu zhongguo zhengzhi geming zhi qiantu” [The Principle of People's Livelihood and the Future of Chinese Political Revolution], Minbao, no. 4 (May 1, 1906).

¹³Hanmin, “Minbao zhi liu da zhuyi” [The Six Principles of the Minbao], Minbao, no. 3 (April 5, 1906).

¹⁴Ibid.

¹⁵Zhang Taiyan, “Geming zhi daode” [Morality of Revolution], in Zhang Taiyan xuanji [Selected Works of Zhang Taiyan], ed. Zhu Weizheng and Jiang Yihua (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1981), 303–312.

¹⁶Ibid.