This groundbreaking study of Chinese Marxism examines the ideology and praxis of Marxism as it has developed in China from its earliest beginnings to current debates. This is the first systematic, full-length analysis of the development and nature of Marxist ideology in China. Adrian Chan challenges established scholarship in both the West and China, which continues to be overshadowed by Cold War dogma and party orthodoxy respectively. It has long been argued that Chinese Marxism was merely an offshoot of Soviet thought blended with ill-defined traditional Chinese ideas. Using previously neglected Chinese sources - including newspapers, political journals and communist party documents - Chan refutes this. Showing how the first Chinese revolutionaries were directly influenced by the writings of Marx, Chinese Marxism argues that Bolshevism was a secondary influence on Chinese communist thought. Mao himself drew upon Marxian themes in the creation of party orthodoxy. In doing so he signalled his differences from Lenin and Stalin on important issues of theory and practice. However, not all party leaders accepted this Marxian praxis.

Author Biography

Adrian Chan is Visiting Fellow at the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.