Li Dazhao and the Spread of Marxism

Before the May Fourth Movement very few people in China knew of Marxism. The victory of the Russian October Socialist Revolution in 1917 showed a new direction to progressive Chinese searching for a way to save the nation: “the guns of the October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism”. Li Dazhao (1889–1927), courtesy name Shouchang, from Laoting, Hebei, studied in Japan in his youth and from 1918 was head of the Peking University library, later also a professor. He was the first in China to accept and spread Marxism. In 1918 he published “A Comparison of the French and Russian Revolutions”, “The Victory of the Common People”, “The Victory of Bolshevism” and other articles, warmly praising the October Revolution and declaring: “Look at the world of the future; it will surely be a world of the red flag.” In 1919 Li edited New Youth's special issue on Marxism and published “My Marxist View”, marking the start of a fairly systematic spread of Marxism in China. After the May Fourth Movement more and more progressive intellectuals began to study and promote Marxism, and Chen Duxiu also turned to it. In 1920 Chen Wangdao's complete Chinese translation of The Communist Manifesto was published in Shanghai. Marxists also debated opponents of Marxism, as in the “problems versus isms” controversy, widening Marxism's influence. In 1920 Li established an early communist group in Beijing, making an important contribution to founding the Communist Party of China. In April 1927 Li was arrested by the Fengtian warlord Zhang Zuolin and died heroically in Beijing, aged 38.