China
In a mostly rural country, with a totalitarian state and a patriarchal society, anarchism could only develop in the margins. Indeed, the two first groups appeared in 1907 in Paris and in Tokyo. However, the students that regrouped in these associations later became influential intellectuals in China. Even Mao would confess in his older age that he had strongly been influenced by anarchist ideas.
During that same period, the popularity of another highly respected anarchist, the former Russian prince Kropotkin, contributed to the development of ideas such as mutual aid, as well as the importance of the connection with the natural sciences and of an ethical vision. Thus, the militants participated in the "May 4 Movement," in the various uprisings that followed while some of the major figures unfortunately participated in the Guomindang.
The fact that anarchists formed one of the currents at the origin of the Chinese revolution raises several important questions: what issues were they confronted with, how did they respond, why did they fail and, finally, did their ideas have any impact.
The influence of Chinese anarchism in the rest of the world continues to be noticeable today, principally through the interest of the West for Taoist philosophy, although the anarchist streak in that current remains a matter of debate. As for China, it was a major contributor in the development of Chinese social radicalism: it attached great importance to education and to the fight against the family ties that restricted the freedom of the individual, it initiated the women’s movement and reoriented revolution from political to social and cultural goals, even though these ideals were coopted and manipulated by state terror.
Articles
SCALAPINO, R and G.T. YU. The Chinese Anarchist Movement -4-
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Sun and the Paris Anarchists The ideological position of the Paris group should have (...)
SCALAPINO, R and G.T. YU. The Chinese Anarchist Movement -5-
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 The Mounting Struggle Against the Government In addition to defending Sun, Hsin (...)
SCALAPINO, R and G.T. YU. The Chinese Anarchist Movement -6-
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Shih-fu and His Movement Before Marxist-Leninist-Maoism, Anarchist banners had (...)
SCALAPINO, R and G.T. YU. The Chinese Anarchist Movement -7-
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 8 Page 9 A New Project In this same period. the Paris Anarchist Group were engaged in another (...)
SCALAPINO, R and G.T. YU. The Chinese Anarchist Movement -8-
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 9 Ou Sheng-pai vs. Ch’en Tu-hsiu These problems with the work-study movement in France (...)
SCALAPINO, R and G.T. YU. The Chinese Anarchist Movement -9-
|Page 1|Page 2|Page 3|Page 4| Page 5 | Page 6| Page 7 | Page 8 | EDITOR’S FOOTNOTE The authors of this text originally used the word "tutelage" (...)
Li Shih-tseng (was first named Li Yu-ying). (Peking ? 1882 -
Born in a wealthy family,- his father a highly ranked civil servant,- Li Shih-tseng became a French educated Chinese chemist and scholar. A (...)