Memoirs of a Chinese Revolutionary 1919-1949

by Fanxi Wang, Gregor Benton (Translator)

An important account of the historical roots of the Tiananmen Square incident, Wang Fan-Isaac autobiography documents events in China from 1919 to 1949. Including previously unpublished material in English, this book details past events in China by someone who was there, on the inside.

Genres: China, History, Historical

Paperback

First published July 8, 1991

Reviews

[Nathaniel Flakin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The autobiography of Wang Fan-hsi (or Wan Fanxi) tells the little-known story of Chinese Trotskyism. In the late 1920s, hundreds of Chinese communists who were studying in the Soviet Union joined the Left Opposition led by Leon Trotsky. Stalin and Trotsky had defended diametrically opposed strategies in the Chinese Revolution of 1925-27. Stalin had declared that the revolution was bourgeois, so the communists would have to support the party of the nationalist bourgeoisie, the KMT — this policy led to a terrible defeat, and the communists were massacred by their bourgeois "allies." Trotsky, in contrast, had understood that the Chinese bourgeoisie would never be able to lead the revolution, and the working class would need to play an independent role. For countless Chinese communists in the following years, it was obvious that Stalin's Menshevik policy had led to the defeat, and Trotsky had been right.

When they returned to China, the Trotskyists built up a powerful organization. As the official Communist Party, eventually taken over by Mao Tse-tung, withdrew to the countryside, the Trotskyists remained with the workers in the cities, and suffered terrible repression by both the KMT and the Japanese occupiers. Wang Fan-hsi had a leading role in the Trotskyist movement, and recounts the years he spent in prison. My favorite anecdote from this book is when he is being tortured by KMT agents, including some older intellectuals who explain that according to Stalin's theory about the character of the Chinese revolution, he as a communist would need to support Chiang Kai-chek. And what a terrible torture: having to listen to a Stalinist theory of stages!

The Maoist-Stalinists were eventually victorious, so they had been right and the Trotskyists had been wrong about the peasantry being the revolutionary subject — or had they? Wang Fan-hsi seems to think so — he seems to be in agreement with Ernest Mandel and Livio Maitan in advocating guerrilla warfare and supporting dissident Stalinists like Tito. He quotes Yugoslavian Stalinists as a model, and at one point wonders if Mao could be the next Tito.

But I think we can say that the Maoists were wrong. Despite tactical disagreements with Stalin, they never broke with the Stalinist concept of class collaboration. After winning the civil war, Mao formed a coalition government with Chiang Kai-shek. The Maoist peasant army might have been able to win power — but it was unable to advance toward socialism. The most the Maoist peasant army could create was a very degenerated workers state, which eventually produced authoritarian capitalist state we see today.

The story told by Wang Fan-hsi, although he repeatedly emphasizes his tiny role in history, thus remains relevant when we think about how to advance towards socialism, in China and worldwide. #bookstagram #trotskyism