From Russia with Organizational Expertise: The Comintern Comes to China
Gregory Voitinsky comes to China and helps get the ball rolling to found the Communist Party. Also, a few words on commodity fetishism as the keystone of Marx's Capital and how this leads to Lenin's i...
24 Apr 202024min
The Communist International
Explaining how the strategic thinking of the Communist International developed, as background to the key role the ComIntern played in facilitating the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.Support t...
25 Mars 202025min
Mao's Anarchist Years (The Young Mao Zedong Part Two)
In this episode we continue our examination of Mao Zedong’s ideological development by discussing his anarchist period. Further reading: Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 1: The Pre-Marx...
20 Feb 202025min
Liberals Becoming Marxists: The New Culture and May 4th Movements (1915-1919)
In this episode we explore the move from liberalism toward Marxism among progressive intellectuals in the 1915-1919 period, and how those ideas began to be brought to the working class in China’s citi...
29 Jan 202026min
The Young Mao Zedong
In this episode we look at Mao Zedong’s childhood, family background, and see what he was thinking in 1912. Further reading: Edgar Snow, Red Star Over China Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, ...
21 Dec 201922min
The 1911 Revolution
The overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, followed by the first years of the Republic of China. Further reading on the 1911 Revolution: Joseph Esherick and C.X. George Wei, editors, China: How the Empire F...
14 Dec 201923min
Revolutionary Voices from the End of the Qing Dynasty
In this episode, we explore some of the major voices of revolution from the decade preceding the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1912: Zou Rong, Qiu Jin and Sun Yat-sen [Sun Zhongshan]. Some names from th...
21 Nov 201924min
The Boxer Uprising of 1900
In the face of foreign aggression and natural disaster, masses of Chinese people turn to traditional folk religion and martial arts to attempt to throw out the imperialists. A couple sources for read...
5 Nov 201926min
