Soviet Diplomacy and the First United Front in China

The generally accepted view of the first United Front in China was that the Communist International (Comintern) initially proposed this policy in 1920, at approximately the same time that Marxist study groups were being formed into a communist party in China.' According to this view, an active policy of alliance between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Guomindang (GMD) began in 1922, as a result of the intervention of Henk Sneevliet (Maring), an agent of the Moscow-based Comintern. These dates assume the existence of the CCP prior to the Comintern's adoption of the United Front, an interpretation that most recently published Western histories of the CCP accept.2 Not surprising, historians from the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the former USSR also subscribe to this view because to do otherwise would devalue the CCP's role.3 However, this traditional view that the CCP was integral to the United Front is contradicted by a wealth of evidence showing that the Bolsheviks proposed this policy almost three years before the CCP was formed. In fact, Soviet officials first promoted an alliance with Sun Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen) during summer 1918 before there were any communists in China at all. The Comintern followed suit during spring 1919, more than a year before Marxist study groups were formed. Finally, with the Comintern's backing, in January 1921 Chen

China · Communism · Development economics · Diplomacy · Economics · Front (military · Geography · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · United front · Chinese history and philosophy · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Public Administration · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

• The limitations of the foot-in-the-door effect in China’s united front work toward Taiwan

  Open Access•Pin-Hsuan Wu, W H Tsai et al.•Journal of Asian and African…•2026

  Añadir item

• The Potentials and Occlusions of Zhonghua Minguo/Taiwan

  Open Access•Mark Mcconaghy•Open Cultural Studies•2022

  Añadir item

• The United Front Principle

  Flora Sapio•European Journal of East Asian…•2019

  Añadir item

• International Women’s Day in China

  Louise Edwards•Asian Studies Review•2016

  Añadir item

• Tricky business

  Ariane Knüsel•Journal of Modern Chinese History•2014

  Añadir item

• Varieties of anti‐imperialism in modern China, 1890s–1920s

  Open Access•Zhou Jiaying, Jiaying Zhou•Nations and Nationalism•2024

  Añadir item

• Sun Yat-sen

  Key Ray Chong, C Martin Wilbur•The American Historical Review•1977

  Añadir item

• The Communist Movement in Iran

  T Cuyler Young, Sepehr Zabih•The American Historical Review•1967

  Añadir item

• Documents on Communism, Nationalism, and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918- 1927.

  William B Ballis, C Martin Wilbur et al.•American Slavic and East European…•1957

  Añadir item

• China in Disintegration

  F Gilbert Chan, Fwh Chan et al.•The American Historical Review•1977

  Añadir item

• The Communist Movement in China. An essay written in 1924 by Chʻen Kʻung Po, edited with an introduction by C. Martin Wilbur. New York

  Open Access•Jean Chesneaux•The Journal of Asian Studies•1967

  Añadir item

• Li Ta-chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism

  Maurice Meisner•Li Ta-Chao and the Origins of…•1967

  Añadir item

• Chen Duxiu, Founder of the Chinese Communist Party

  Lee Feigon•Chen Duxiu, Founder of the…•1983

  Añadir item

• Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao

  Benjamin I Schwartz•Chinese Communism and the Rise of…•1979

  Añadir item

• Resistance and Revolution in China

  Tetsuya Kataoka•Resistance and Revolution in China•1974

  Añadir item

• Documents on the Comintern and the Chinese Revolution

  Open Access•Harold R Isaacs, Albert Treint•The China Quarterly•1971

  Añadir item

• Moscow and the Chinese Communists

  Frank Munk, Robert C North•The Western Political Quarterly•1963

  Añadir item

• Karl Radek; the Last Internationalist

  Lyman H Legters, Warren Lerner•The Russian Review•1971

  Añadir item

• A History of the Chinese Communist Party

  Donald S Zagoria, Stephen Uhalley•Foreign Affairs•1989

  Añadir item

• Sino-Soviet Diplomatic Relations, 1917-1926

  Donald S Zagoria, Sow-Theng Leong•Foreign Affairs•1977

  Añadir item

• Li Ta-chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism

  D W Y Kwok, Maurice Meisner•Philosophy East and West•1969

  Añadir item

• The Origins of Chinese Communism

  Open Access•Hung-Yok Ip•Modern China•1994

  Añadir item

• Anti-Imperialism and the Left Guomindang

  Open Access•Edmund S K Fung•Modern China•1985

  Añadir item

• Public Opinion and the New Politics of Contestation in the Late Qing, 1904-1911

  Open Access•Joan Judge•Modern China•1994

  Añadir item

• The Soviet Union's Secret Diplomacy Concerning the Chinese Eastern Railway, 1924-1925

  Open Access•Bruce A Elleman•The Journal of Asian Studies•1994

  Añadir item

• Missionaries of Revolution

  Lee Feigon, C Martin Wilbur et al.•Pacific Affairs•1990

  Añadir item

• Sino-Soviet Diplomatic Relations, 1917-1926

  O Edmund Clubb, Sow-Theng Leong•Pacific Affairs•1978

  Añadir item

• Secret Sino-Soviet Negotiations on Outer Mongolia, 1918-1925

  Bruce A Elleman•Pacific Affairs•1993

  Añadir item