The Chinese Anarchist Movement

8/12/2019 The Chinese Anarchist Movement

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e Anarchist Library

Anti-Copyright

October 17, 2011

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Contents

e Chinese Anarist Movement 3

Editors Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

e Origins of Chinese Anarism . . . . . 11Chinese Students Sent Abroad . . . . . . . . . 11Influences Upon the Paris Group . . . . . . . 21e New Century and its Message . . . . . . 27Sun and the Paris Anarchists . . . . . . . . . . . 65e Mounting Struggle Against the

Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80e Chinese Anarchist Movementin Tokyo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Shih-fu and His Movement . . . . . . . . . . . 103Liu Shi-fu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104e Society to Advance Moralityand its Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Anarchist-Communist emes . . . . . . . . 114

e Work-Study Movement . . . . . . . . . . 133


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A New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Frugal Study in France . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135e Diligent Work-Frugal StudyMovement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141e Decline of the Work-Study

Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147e Anarist Conflict with Marxism . 157Ou Sheng-pai vs. Chen Tu-hsiu . . . . . . 157

Editors Footnote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

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their losses until they finally ran out of troopsand had to seek refuge in France.

Retrieved on 15 June 2011 from

hp://raforum.info/spip.php?article1730


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e Chinese Communists claimed that peopleare incapable of managing their own affairs with-out despotism while Anarchists in the Ukrainehad established an autonomous area of collec-tivized farming, worker self-management and

free economic exchange from 19171921, a yearbefore the Chinese Communist diatribes againstAnarchists in Paris!

e Chinese Communists claimed that peoplecouldnt overthrow tyrants without their leader-ship whenthe Anarchistpartisans had defeatedthe occupying armies ofGermany andAustria-Hungary, aborted a counterrevolution by Ukrain-

ian Nationalist troops,and defendedtheiraccom-plishments against the aacks of the Russian RedArmy under the command of Leon Trotsky. Trot-sky sent inexperienced troops up againstAnar-chistpartisans who had been engagedin guerillawarfarefor9yearshetoldthemthe guerillaswere merely bandits. e Anarchists were ableto kill seven Red Army soldiers for every one of

Robert Scalapino

and George T. Yu

e Chinese

Anarist Movement

1961


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you to do more and more until you are actually following the Maoist leaders at the expense of youroriginal values, desires, work projects, etc.. Oncethey get you into their movement, they begin theprocess of trying to reeducate you by challeng

ing your beliefs until you think like they do. Iis a kind of brainwashing similar to that used bysome religious cults.

e Chinese Communists used the same lies asthe Bolsheviksto aack Anarchism. In1922theywere accusingAnarchists of being primitivistswhile only a few years earlier Anarcho-Syndicalist propaganda had helped instigate worker self

management in Russia and Anarchist slogans hadbeen parroted by the Bolsheviks. ey claimedthat Chinese people were technologically simplepeople, but the Russians had also been technologically simple people defying Marxs claimthat revolution must happen in industrialized nations where workers are moretechnologicallyadvanced.


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is tutelage was part of the aractiveness ofthe Work-Study Movement and it was exploitedby Marxist-Leninists who infiltrated the studygroups to spread their doctrine. Maoism turnstutelage on its head through its preceptoral

method of indoctrination and social control. Pre-ceptoral means a system based on teaching. InMaoism, Mao, the Part, or those in Authority areright and if you dont agree with them there isa contradiction which can only be solved by per-suadingyouto agree withthem. isisthe basisfor theidea ofpolitical reeducationcamps. eobject is to get a person to recant their beliefs

muchlike whatwas done by the catholic Churchduring the Inquisition.e Maoist method of recruiting uses a simi-

lar tactic. e person whothe Maoist istryingtorecruit is askedtorecitetheirbeliefs andthen per-suadedthatworkingtowardthe objectives of theMaoist (Communist) Party will fulfill that personsbeliefs and desires. e objective is to persuade

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Editors Note

Chinese Anarchists were inspired by the ideasof Pierre Proudhon, Michael Bakunin, Peter

Kropotkin and Elise Reclus. Many were exposedto Anarchist ideas while they were students in Europe and Anarchist books were soon translatedinto Chinese and Esperanto, a popular languageamong Chinese students. ey used the termAnarchist Communist interchangeable with theword Anarchist. e Chinese words for Anarchist-Communist (Wu-Zheng-Fu Gong-Chan) lit

erally meant Without Government Common Production and in no way implied Bolshevism orMaoism. On the contrary, theirs were the Libertarian Socialist ideas of the First Internationawhich reflected the traditional Chinese Anarchistic teachings of Lao Tzu while Maoism reflectedthe authoritarian bureaucracy of Confucianism.

Like the word communism, the word col

lectivism also has a different literal meaning in


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Chinese than when it is commonly used in Eng-lish. In Chinese, the word for a collective en-terprise (Ji-ti Qi-ye) literally means an assemblyofpeoplein a bureaucracy (atree ofpeople) very different from our understanding of Michael

Bakunins Collectivism or a workers collective more like Bolshevism or Fabian Socialism e Chinese Anarchist Shih Fu substantiated thistranslation by identifying Karl Marx as the fatherof collectivism in his writings1.

Historically, Marxism was unable to make in-roads into China until aer the Russian Revolu-tion of 1917whenLeninsfollowers,bankrolled

by the Bolshevik government,begantheiraacksonAnarchists in Russia and neighboring coun-tries. is book describes some of the early his-toryofChinese Anarchism uptothe period aerthe Bolshevik counter-revolution when Russiabegan to send Marxist-Leninist missionaries like

1 e Socialism of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kang-hu, Min

Sheng, No. 6, April 18, 1914, pp.17

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Editors Footnote

e authors of this text originally used theword tutelage for what Anarchists refer to as

vanguardism. In the true sense of the word, tutelage is the practice of educating people to prepare them for revolution and not the practiceof the Marxist-Leninist who advocated enlightened despotism because people were too stupidand lazy to instigate a revolution on their ownis is the elitist language of vanguardists whoclaim that dictatorship can create Socialism while

throughout history, it has only created tyranny.e authors commentedthat tutelagewas a

part of Chinese culture, which it is. Chinese philosophical and religious systems (including thosethat were aacked by the Anarchists) are basedon the teachings of people like Lao Tzu and Confucius who were regarded as great scholars bydifferent groups of people. Tutelage was enlight

enment through education.


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Ou insisted that most men were stubborn be-cause they had insufficient knowledge, and heprofessed much greater hope in education, bothbefore and aer the revolution than Chen. ifan offender persisted in wrong-doing in an An-

archist society, Ou asserted, he would be askedto leave; and he insisted that there were no menso shameless as to disregard such a demand fromthe whole society. In answer to Chens remarksabout mass movements and their motivatingforces, Ou asserted that with the progress of sci-ence, the force of emotionalism among mankindwouldrecede.12 Helookedtoward a morerational

man and a more rational world.

12 Ibid., p. 119

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Chou En-lai to try to try to infiltrate and take ovethe student movements in Europe. It includessome of the ideological debates which ensuedbetween Chinese Anarchists and their MarxistLeninist adversaries.


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ey were the fixed instrumentalities of the ruling class. Did laws stop officials from robbingpeople?11

Anarchism had as its central quest the freedomof every man. Ou, however, distinguished him

self from the individualist branch ofAnarchismFreedom, as Bakunin had indicated long ago, didnothave meaning without relationto society. Iwas not to be equated with rampant individualism. But freedom in society could be obtainedonly when law had been replaced by free contracts based upon common will. ere was noconflictbetweenfreedom and association,argued

Ou,becausethe key lay in Kropotkins conceptofree contracts, and in the idea of free federationAnd because each man would be free to join andfree to withdraw, modern society could functionwithout disruption.

11 Ou Sheng-pais Answer to ChenTu-hsiu, Ibid.,p. 118.Seealso Another Reply of Ou Sheng-pai to Chen Tu-hsiu, op

cit., pp. 127128.


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theme with vigor. Anarchism would have manreturn to primitivism. Economically, it wouldtake him back to the era of handicra industries.Politically, it would remove him to the days oftribalism.10

Ou Sheng-pai struck back at Chen force-fully. He argued that Syndicalism was a feasi-ble method both of conducting revolution andof maintaining post-revolutionary power. An-archism did not hesitate to use violence againstevil.Whydid Anarchists assassinate officials andseek to overthrow capitalist societies? ButAn-archism was opposed to institutionalized power

and law, because these forces inevitably resultedin indiscriminate oppression. Laws were dead.

10 ChenTu-hsiusird Reply to Ou Sheng-pai,op. cit.,pp.

140 -1

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Preface

In their memorable 1936 conversations, MaoTse-tung remarked to Edgar Snow that he had

once been strongly influenced by Anarchism.Mao was referring to the period at the close ofWorld War I, when he had come to Peking [Beijing] from Hunan province as a part of a studengroup who hopedto study in France.While someofhis colleaguesrealizedthis goal,Maoremainedin Peking and worked as a librarian in Peking University.But in Peking asin Paris,Anarchism was

much in vogue with the intellectual avant gardeof this era. us Mao hadthe opportunity toreadKropotkin in translation, Anarchist pamphletsderived from a variety of Western sources, andthe contributions of the Chinese Anarchiststhemselves. Many discussions with student-friends

1 Edgar Snow,Red Star Over China, London, 1937, p.149.


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flowed from the theories and themes containedin these materials.

Maos interest in Anarchism was by no meansunique. On the contrary, it marked him as a partof the central radical stream of those times. An-

archism preceded Marxism in northeast Asia asthe predominant radical expression of the West-ernized intellectual. Between 1905 and 1920, An-archist thought was a vital part of the intellectualprotest movement in both Japan and China. In-deed, in many respects, it possessed the covetedsymbolamongintellectuals ofbeingthe mostsci-entific, most progressive, most futuristic of all

political creeds.

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Some of Chens most trenchant remarks weredirectly aimed at the Chinese people. ey wereguilty of corruption and backwardness. If theywereto be saved, there hadto bestrict interference in economic and political maers ere had

to be an enlightened despotism both in nameand in fact. e chief obstacle to this was the lazywanton, illegal sort of free thought that forms apart of our peoples character.9

Chen was Leninist in his rather extensive defense of authority and the state, and in his conspicuous doubts concerning the common manAbove all, he was Leninist in his espousal of

vanguardism, an intellectual vanguardism thawould shape and guidethe common man untilhecould be trusted. ere is no beer way to seethe authoritarian elements in Communist theorythan to read the Communist polemics directedagainst theAnarchist. Chen pursued anothe

9 See Chen Tu-hsiu, Chinese Style Anarchism,Hsin Ching

nien, Vol.9, No. 1, May 1, 1921, pp. 56.


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Chen made some surprising statements aboutmass movements and revolutions truly in thehands of the common man. He acknowledgedthat the May 4th Movement had had beneficialresults. But most mass movements were ugly

and irrational, like the Boxer Rebellion. Masspsychology was a blind force. No maer howgreat a scientist one may be, once he is thrownin with the masses, he loses all sense of reason. 8

Chen was aempting to answer theAnarchistargument thatafree societyshould be controllednot by laws but by the public will, as developedthroughtown hallmeetings andvoluntaryasso-

ciations. e public will, argued Chen, thriveson emotionalism and can be builtupthroughtheskillful application of pressures. What is enlight-ened about the collective judgment of ignorantmen?

8 SeeOus answer in Another Replyof Ou Sheng-pai to ChenTu-hsiu, Ibid.,pp. 1256,and Chensreply, ChenTuhsiusird Reply toOu Sheng-pai, Ibid., pp. 137138. Another

Answer by Chen Tu-hsiu to Ou Sheng-pai, op. cit., p.125.

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e Origins of Chinese

Anarism

Chinese Students Sent Abroad

Our story begins in Paris and in Tokyo duringthe periodthat immediately followedtheillfatedBoxer Rebellion.Even the decadent ManchuCourt had at long last been forced to acknowledgethe needfor reform,albeit toolate. Boththe centralandthe provincial governments oChina had begun to send sizeable numbers of students abroad. By 1906, there were over 10,000Chinese students in Japan and about 500600 inEurope.1Japan was the most logical training area

1 A recent study of Chinese students in Japan is entitledChukokujin Nihon ryugaku shi(An History of Chinese Students Studying in Japan) by Saneto Keishu, Tokyo, 1960. i

is an essentially factual account.


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for the majorityofstudentsforobviousreasons.It was closer to home and the costs were consider-ably less than elsewhere. e problem of culturaladjustment was much more simple. In addition,

Japanrepresentedthetype ofsynthesis between

tradition and modernity that could have mean-ing to China, particularly since it was a synthesisgenerally favorable to the values of political con-servatism.

Perhaps the motives of Chinese authorities insending students abroad were notentirely pure.Chu Ho-chung,himselfsent to Germanyduringthis period, has wrien that local authorities inthe Wuhan area sentstudent activistsabroadtoget rid of them, with the more radical being dis-patched to Europe and the less radical to Japan! 2

2 Chu Ho-chung, e Record of the European Tung MengHui, in Lo Chia-lun, (ed.), Ke-ming wen-hsien(Documents ofthe Revolution), Vol. II, Taipei, 1953,pp. 251270.See alsoFeng Tzu-yu, Chinese Students in Europe and the TungMeng Hui Ho Chih-tsais Account of the Beginning and

End of the European Tung Meng Hui, in Ke-ming i-shih

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Not all men tended to be good, and even amongthose with such proclivities, many could not bereached by education during the Capitalist eraSome men were evil and reactionary; they couldnot be reformed. Until such men had been extin

guished, any aempt to rule by virtue and education alone was unrealistic. Moreover, even peoplewho could be salvaged eventually, were not to betrusted immediately aer the overthrow of theold order. orough enlightenment proper education these things were not possible whilemilitarists, tyrants, and Capitalists were in control.7

is precisely due to the fact that men are not all good by nature and popular education has not been realized. What weneed is to reform slowly the political and economic institu

tions so as to make men good and popularize education. opcit., pp. 7496. See also Li Ta, e Anatomy of Anarchism,Ibid., pp. 219238.

7 AnotherAnswerbyChenTu-hsiuto Ou Sheng-pai, Ibid

p. 119.


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had neither the capacity to wage successful rev-olution nor the capacity to hold power success-fully in the aermath of a revolution.5 Revolu-tion, he argued, could not be advanced by re-liance upon separate, atomized units of undisci-

plined men. And if in the aermath of a revolu-tion, Kropotkins system of free federation wereadopted instead of Lenins dictatorship of the pro-letariat, the Capitalists would soon regain theirposition. Frequently, Chen concerned himselfwith the nature of man and the basis of author-ity, those two most central questions to all po-litical theory. Both he and Li Ta found theAn-archists too optimistic regarding human natureand too pessimistic regarding things political.6

5 Chen Tu-hsiu, Speaking on Politics, Ibid., pp.116.6 For example, in a speech before the Canton Public School

of Law and Politics,entitledCriticism.ofSocialism,Chensaid: From the political and economic aspects, Anarchism isabsolutely unsuitable. Anarchism is based upon the assump-tion that man is by nature good and that education has been

popularized. But the rise of political and economic systems

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He also reported that students interested in engineering and mining generally went to Brusselsin this period, whereas those studying law, political science, and economics went mainly to Parisus Paris became the natural locus of studen

radicalism. e Paris Group Whatever the factuabasis of these remarks, Paris did indeed becomethe center of the early Chinese Anarchist Movement. When Sun Pao-chi went to France in 1902asChinese Minister, over twenty government andprivate students traveled with him.3 Included inthis group were Li Shih-tseng and Chang Chingchiang, both young men from prominent families. Li was the son of Li Hung-tsao who fosometwenty-fiveyears prior to his deathin1897

(An Informal History of the Revolution), Vol. II, Taipei, 1953pp.132141.

3 Shih-chieh-she(Le Monde),ed., L-Ou chiao-y yn-tung(eEducational Movement in Europe), Tours, France, 1916, p49. is is an extremely valuable source for the study othe Chinese student movement in France, particularly the

Anarchist-sponsored work-study movement.


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had been a powerful figure in the national ad-ministration.4 Young Li had come to France asan aach in the Chinese legation, but soon hegave up this position to study biology and pro-mote Anarchism. Chang came from a wealthy

business family and thus was able to contributesubstantial funds to the revolutionary cause.5

4 For an excellent, brief biography of Li Hung-tsao, see theaccount wrien by Fang Chao-ying in Hummel,Arthur, (ed.)Eminent Chinese of the Ching Period, Washington, 1943,pp.4712.

5 Chang was born in Chekiang province. His father becamea successful Shanghai business man, and when the elder

Chang died, his son received a sizeable inheritance. Physi-cally, the young man was not strong, but he had passionatepolitical convictions. According to Feng Tzu-yu, he securedthe position of commercial aache in the Chinese Legationin France by bribery. While Chang soon became acquaintedwith WesternAnarchism and secretly called himself a Chi-nese Anarchist, some students feared that he might be aspy because of his government connections. is was un-true, however. For these and other details of Changs life,see Feng Tzu-yu, e Master of the Hsin Shih-chi, Chang

Ching-chiang, Ke-ming i-shih, op. cit., pp. 227 -230.

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e Chinese Anarchist students engaged the Communists in heated debates, but the laer weresteadily gaining ground.

Indeed, aer 1920, Communism became atruly formidable opponent to Anarchism, and the

crescendo of debate within progressive circlesrose. For the Communists, Chen Tu-hsiu quicklyemerged as the leading spokesman. He foughonelengthy literaryduelwiththe AnarchistOuSheng-pai, and fortunately their exchanges havebeen preserved.4 Toreadthemis bothfascinatingand instructive.

Let us first examine some of Chens major arguments againstAnarchism as presentedinthesewritings. One line of aack was that Anarchism

4 Acollection of writings, including the Chen-Ou exchangewas published by the EditorialDepartment,NewYouth Society, entitledShe-hui u-i tao-lun i(Discussions on So

cialism), Canton, 1922.


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France during this period.1 By 1922, the chiefworker-student organization, the Work-StudyMutual Assistance Group, was controlled by Com-munist students.2 In the winter of 1921, certainworker-students led by Wang Jo-fei, Chao Shih-

yen, and Chen Yen-nien, organized a SocialistYouth Corps in Paris. It aracted a number ofmembers and immediately established contactwith the embryonic Chinese Communist Partywhich had held its first Congress in July 1921. InAugust 1922, this Corps served as the nucleusfor the organization of a Main Branch of the Chi-nese Communist Party in Europe.3 Chou En-laicame from Germany to Paris especially to partic-ipate in the founding meeting, and was elected acommieeman along with such otherstudents asthethreeYouth Corpsleaders mentioned above.

1 Liang Ping-hsien, op. cit., No. 85, December 26, 1951, p.4.2 Sheng Chieng, op. cit., pp. 6869.

3 Ho Chang-kung, op. cit., pp. 7475.

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In 1902, Chang used his money to found theTung-yun Company as a Chinese commerciafirm in Paris. Between 1902 and 1906, a numberof young men from Changs village came to Pariswith assurances of work while they continued

theirstudies.Some of these,such as Chu Min-ibecame active workers in the Anarchist ranks.AChinese restaurant-tea house was established

6 Chu, also a native of Chekiang, went to Japan in 1903, studying politicalscience and economics.Hetravelledto Europein 1908, with Chang, and shortly thereaer, became involved

in theAnarchist Movement. Chu was to remain in Franceuntil shortly aer the outbreak of World War I, when hereturned to China. But a few years later, he went back toParisto studymedicine and pharmacy. Inthis period,heparticipated in the establishment of the University of Lyonswhich will be discussed later. Chus life ended in tragedyAermany years ofservicetothe Kuomintang, in1939 hethrew in his lot with his old friend, Wang Ching-wei, andaccepted the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs in WangNanking government. Aer the allied victory in 1945, Chu

was arrested and put to death.


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under the auspices ofChangsCompanyas anadditional outlet for private students from China.

e entrepreneurial activities of the young Chi-nese in Paris underwent further expansion in19067. A printing plant (Imprimerie Chinoise)

was organized in Paris in 1906 by Chang, Li, Chu,and Wu Chihhui. e following year, a ChinesepictorialShih-ieh(e World), was published,with ten thousand copies being widely distrib-uted in many countries Due to high printing costsand a low income from sales,Shih-iehdid notlast long; only two issues and one supplementwere printed.Meanwhile, in the sameyear (1907),Li, Hsia Chien-chung, and several others orga-nized the Far Eastern Biological Study Associ-ation, with a laboratory alongside the printingplant. Two years later, aer various chemicalexperiments with beans, Li established a bean-curdfactorywhich produced assorted bean prod-ucts in addition to the traditional Chinese bean-curds. e idea of work-study was prominently

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e Anarist Conflict

with Marxism

Ou Sheng-pai vs. ChenTu-hsiu

ese problems with the work-study movement in France were complicated when Marxist-Leninists began to try to take control of theChinese student movement. e Anarchists had

hoped that many students would feel the pull ofthe same ideological and political currents thahad captured them a decade or more earlier. eimpact of this program was very substantial andsome of the students of this period did gravitatetoward Anarchism.

But, according to Liang Ping-hsien, the Chinese Communist Party began to organize in


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e leer asserted that a census taken in thefall of 1922 indicated that there were some 920worker-students currently in France. All hadgraduated previously from Chinese high schools.Since arriving in France, they had been able to

obtain two to three years schooling aer engag-ing in work. is amount of time, the writersmaintained, was insufficient. Five years of educa-tion should be a minimum. Chinese governmentstudents were receiving eight hundred francs amonth, it wasstated. If theworker-studentscouldreceive one-third of that amount, and hope forsome additional provincial government support,they would be satisfied. e leer ended with aproposal that the Boxer Indemnity Fund whichFrance had lately agreed could be used for Sino-French educational purposes, be allocated to thiscause.

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involved in this experiment.7 In the evenings andwhen not on duty, the workers were to practiceChinese and French, as well as studying such sub

jects as generalscience.Smoking,drinking,andgambling were strictly forbidden. Initially, five

Chinese were employed, but the number eventually reached thirty.ese ventures had their very practical aspect

they represented aempts to finance the education of as many fellow countrymen as possibleBut underlying them also ran a strong current ofidealism,andtheideologicalbase of thisidealismlay inAnarchism as it was currently being propagated in Europe. All of the young Chinese associated with the enterprises noted above becameardentconvertstothe Anarchistcreed.Andto espouse this creed, Li, Chang, Chu and Wu began

7 e Educational Movement in Europe, op. cit., p. 50. For theresults of Lis research on soya beans see Li-Yu-Yung (de la

Societe Biologique-dlExtreme-Orient,Chine) Le Soja EssayCulture: Ses Usages Alimentaires, erapeutiques, Agricole

et industriels, Paris, 1912, p.150.


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the publication of a weekly known as theHsinShihi(e New Century), on June 22, 1907. 8

For three years, this journal was to championthe causes of Anarchism and revolution, reach-ing Chinese students and intellectuals in all parts

of the world. Very few copies penetrated Chinaproper, of course, but at a later point, as we shallnote, the Hsin Shih-chi message was to reach thehomeland through various channels.

Senior in age and experience, Wu Chih-huibecamethe primaryorganizerof the Paris Anar-chistGroup,althoughLiShih-tseng was perhapsits driving spirit.Wu was born in 1864 in Kiangsuprovince.9 His early education was of the tradi-

8 A complete collection ofHsin Shih-i(e New Century).togetherwith some of the pamphlets published by the Parisgroup, were reprinted in four volumes, in Shanghai, 1947.All citations fromHsin Shih-iare from this edition.

9 A full account of Wus life is given in Chang Wen-po,Chih-lao hsien-hua(Chit-Chat About Old Chih), Taipei, 1952.For a few special details that pertain to Wus relations with

Sun Yat-sen, see a series of articles by Yang Kai-ling, e

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In the February, 1923 issue ofHsin Chiao-y(e New Education), there appeared an interesting leer from the headquarters of the ChineseStudents Associationin Paris.14 Accordingtoitsauthors, the basic problem remained French in

dustrial decline, and the difficulty under thesecircumstances of competing with French workers, especially when aempting to go to schoolOver one hundred Chinese students had died duringthe past threeyears as aresultofconditionsassertedthe writers.Sincethe governmentsenone hundredthousandyuanlast year (outof twohundredthousandyuan appropriated), there hadbeen some relief. About nine hundred studentshad been helped, each receiving approximatelyone thousand francs; but this represented onlyone-half of the amount needed.

14 LeerRegarding Plansfor the FundamentalSolution of theDiligent Work-Frugal Student Movement, Hsin Chiao-y, Vo

6, No. 2, February, 1923, pp. 239242.


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and more radical. Both French and Chinese au-thorities were becoming more hostile. And ac-cording to Sheng, Lyons University was noth-ing but a few houses which cost seventy thousandyuan. A nine year lease had been signed, but the

houses were never used for more than living quar-ters:

In the fall of 1922, the Peking governmentfinallysentone hundred-thousandYuantothe Paris Sino-French EducationalAssocia-tion to aid the students. Now theAssocia-tion, which had previously been lile morethan an addressto which one had ones mail

sent, suddenly became active. Under its sec-retary, Li Kuang-han, a commiee was es-tablishedto distributethe money. Unfortu-nately, Li pocketed some of the money anddisappeared. Buton the whole, the condi-tions of the students improved.13

13 Ibid., pp. 56 ff.

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tional Chinese type. He reached the Chih-shihexaminations in Peking, but failed. (Lis fathewas one of the four examiners). For some timeaer 1894, Wu taught at various schools in PekingTientsin, and Shanghai. At one point, he nearly

entered the Hupeh Military Academy, not doingso only because he lacked the funds to get thereIn 1901, Wu made a brief trip to Tokyo, return

ing to Canton in December of that year. e firsrevolutionary seeds seem to have been plantedin his mind during this period. His stay in Canton was unhappy, and in 1902, he returned to

Japan. On this occasion, he became involved inan heated controversywiththe Chinese Ministerover educational policy and radical activities. Aone point, Wu became so angry that he jumpedinto the sea, intent upon a protest suicide, andhad to be rescued by the Japanese police. In May

Father of Our Country and Mr. Wu Chih-hui, published inthe magazineSan Min Chu I pan-veh kan (ree People

Principles Semi-Monthly), Nos.14, May 15 June 15, 1953


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1902, he returned to Shanghai. In October, theAi-kuo Hsueh the, Patriotic Association, wasfounded. Wu joined and moved into its headquar-ters. By 1903, this Association was secretly pro-moting revolution, using the newspaperSu-paoas its organ. In May, 1903, Chinese authoritiesmoved againstSu-pao; Chang Ping-lin, to whomwe shall later refer, was one of those arrested.But Wu escaped, first to Hong Kong and then toLondon.

e next several years were spent in London,with one brief tripto Paris.Finally, in1906,Wumoved to Paris, living with Li and Chu Min-i.Li had first met Wu in Shanghai while en routeto France in 1902; Chang had visited Wu in Lon-don in 1905. It was aer Wu moved to Paris thatthese young men joined Suns Tung Meng Huiand organizedthe Shih-chich-she, e World As-sociation, to undertake publication activities. Inthe spring of 1906,Chang hadreturned homeforavisit.Enroute,he purchased a printing pressinSingapore and employed a Chinese printer to go

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work-study movement and the Sino-French Educational Association on the one hand, and theLyons University project on the other. e formerWu asserted, was the responsibility of Li and hisassociates; the laer was his program. It was athis point that the students set up their own organization and among other things, requested theSino-French Education Association in China tostop sending more students to France. But lilecame of these actions.Wureturnedto China andmore students continued to come.

Sheng gave a graphic accountof the mountingtension in 1921 among the Chinese students inFrance. When the Association washed its handsof the students, he reported, the French governmentprovided some assistance.But the Februarydemonstration before the Chinese Legation resulted in violence, and Chinese students baledwith French police. ere was also fighting inJune. e students were becoming more militan


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But a worker-student had to pass a very rigor-ous test before being accepted for employment.Shengrecalledthatall the students had great re-spect for Li, but most were dissatisfied with theAssociation, largely because it seemed to havefew contacts and could not find them employ-ment.

Although Sheng received some funds fromhome, these were insufficient and so he wentto work in a lumber factory. But he spent hiseveningsreading Marx,Kropotkin,and other rev-olutionaries who gave himtheoreticalguidanceto match his practicalexperience. Iwas slowlyturning into a Socialist with a bent toward Anar-chism, he wrote.12 Soon Sheng lost his job, and

joinedtheranks of the unemployed. InJune1920,Wu Chih-hui came to Paris, and Sheng reportedthat the students looked to him for salvation.But no salvation was forthcoming. Wu insistedthat a distinction had to be made between the

12

Ibid., pp. 5254.

21

to Paris as operator.10 With these acts, the youngconspirators were in a new business-that of turning out revolutionary propaganda.

Influences Upon the ParisGroup

Li Shih-tseng has given us some later recollections of the varied influences that played uponhim and his colleagues duringthis period.11 Perhaps these can be divided into three major categories: the Chinese classical philosophers; Dar

win and the Social Darwinists and the radical libertarians,broughtupto date by the Anarchism oProudhon, Bakunin, and Kropotkin. As we shalnote, the Paris group werein certainrespectsferventanti-traditionalists who decried anyaemp

10 Chang Wen-po, op. cit., p. 24.11 Interview between the senior author and Li Shih-tseng

Taipei, July 16, 1959.


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to equate Lao Tzu with the modern Anarchists, orthe ancient well-field system with modern com-munism Yet almost without exception, these wereyoung men who had received an excellent classi-cal education. ey had been exposed to a rangeof political ideas almost as broad as that existingin classical Western philosophy At the very least,this robbed most contemporary Western theoriesof their strangeness. It permied an identifica-tion, a familiarity which could contribute power-fully toward acceptance even whenthe consciousact was that of rejecting traditionalism in favorof progress and modernity.12

12 To stresstheimportance of the classics upontheir thinking,Li in the interview recalled that Wu had once painted apicture to depict the following ancient Chinese tale: duringthe Chou dynasty, two philosophers were each asked bythe Emperor to be his successor. e one put his ear intosome water, saying I must clean my ear aer hearing sucha thing; the other said, Do not let my oxen drink the water

in which you have cleaned your ear.

151

including Tsai Ho-shen, Li Li-san, and Chen Iwere returned in this fashion.

ese experiences, quite as much as contacwith Western ideas, may have induced radicalism among the Chinese overseas students of thisperiod. It is interesting to read the memoirs of yeanother student, Sheng Cheng.11 Sheng departedfrom Shanghai for Europe on October 22, 1919When he reached Paris, he quickly observed thatLiShih-tseng wasin complete charge of the workstudy movement. But he received lile aid fromthe Sino-French Educational Association. In thisperiod, a student got a tent in their garden anda small maintenance fee. Everyone naturally

wantedto getoutofatent, reported Sheng,andthus anyannouncement thatafew workers wereneeded somewhere was always greeted with joy

11 Sheng Cheng, Hai-wai kung-tu shih-nien chi-shih (A TrueRecord of Ten Years of Work and Study Overseas), Shangha

1932.


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students in France, and Wu was to serve as presi-dent. A dispute arose over who should be allowedto aend. Wu insisted that this project was sepa-rate from the diligent work-frugal study move-ment, partly because the money for Lyons Univer-sity was being put up by certain provinces, and soonly students from those areas, selected by him,were eligible. Wu arrived with his students at theend of September, 1921. At about the same time,overone hundred of the work-studystudentsleParis for Lyons, determined to obtain quartersonthe campus. ey includedTsaiHo-shen, LiLi-san, Li Wei-han, and Chen I. When they ar-rived in Lyons, they forced their way into the

University houses. Lyons police removed them,and put them temporarily in some military bar-racks. Negotiations with Wu began, but whilethese were going on, the French police suddenlyrounded upthe detained students,shippedthemto Marseilles,and put themforciblyaboard a shipsailingforChina.One hundred andfourstudents,

23

is was the age of Darwinism. Li now recallshow greatly he was influenced by the writingsof Lamarck andDarwin, how these men openednew doors for him in history and philosophyas well as in science. e influence was especially strong upon a young man studying zoology, botany and biology, but Li would have feltthe Darwinian impact, no maer what his fieldIt was the truth the science of Darwinismthat Socialists (and many non-Socialists) used asa pointofcommencement from whichto analyzemanin society,socialand politicalevolution,andfundamental values. One started withDarwinirrespective of where one ended.

e Paris group of young Chinese ended withPrince Peter Kropotkin and Elise Reclus whosetheories in certain respects constituted a sharpchallenge toDarwinism. eir doctrines werethose ofAnarchistCommunism,as originallyseforth by Bakunin and subsequently carried forward by Kropotkin and Reclus, first at Geneva


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and then at Paris.13 e two laer men were theforemost leaders of the late nineteenth centuryAnarcho-Communist movement eir journal,LeRevolt, was published in Geneva from 1879, andtransferred to Paris in 1885. In 1895, a new organ,LesTemps Nouveaux, edited by Jean Grave, car-ried on the movement, publishing its final issuein August 1914. In this connection, it might benoted that the Esperanto title ofHsin Shih-iwasLaTempojNovaj. And certainly no single workhad greater influence upon the young ChineseAnarchists than KropotkinsMutualAid. If theirmovement had a bible, this was it.14

13 For a general survey of the European Anarchist Movement,see G.D.H.Cole,A HistoryofSocialist Tought,3Vol., Lon-don 195557; and Carl A. Landauer, European Socialism, 2Vol., Berkeley, 1959.

14 Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolutionwas published in 1902,and quickly had a world-wide impact. e Paris group ofChinese Anarchists undoubtedly readitshortlyaer theirarrival there. Li translated it serially for the Hsin Shih-i.Kropotkin was to be translated into Japanese and Chinese

many times during the next two decades. His theme that mu-

149

aid the worker-students. Funds were securedfromvarious sources with boththe Chinese andthe French governments making contributionsas wellas private donors. Foratime,some eighhundred studentsreceived aid, inthe amountofive francs daily. New complexities and disputesarose. Shortly, French and Chinese authoritiescombined to put pressures upon many studentsto return home, and to safeguard themselves inthe future, the authorities also insisted upon a5,000 Yuan guaranteefrom each prospective student. e diligent work-frugal study idea wasendingratherbadly. In September 1921, thejoincommiee was abolished and financial aid was

stopped on October 15.Meanwhile, another incident had occurred in

connection withLyons University, the so-calledChinese overseas university in France. isproject, initiated by Wu Chih-hui, had the supportofChen Chiung-ming and others. eideawas to establish a special institution for Chinese


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even lived in tents in the garden of the Associa-tions Paris headquarters. Bier conflicts ensued.Li Shih-tseng had returned to China in Decem-ber 1919; Chang Chi also went back in June 1920.Tsai Yuan-pei came to France just in time to in-herit the mostdifficultproblems. As head of theAssociation, he finally announced on January 16,1921, that they would no longer assume financialresponsibility for the diligent work and frugalstudy students. en the students sought helpfrom the Chinese Legation in Paris. e Chinesegovernment offered only to pay transportationcosts home for those unable to raise these funds.e provincialgovernments athome alsorefused

to help.On February 28, 1921, several hundred Chinese

students came to their Legation demanding thatthe government give them four hundred francs amonth for a period up to four years. e Frenchgovernmentat this pointundertookto give somesupport to the student cause. In May, a specialFrench-Chinese joint commiee was founded to

25

It is easy to understand how men like WuLi, and Chang might make a personal identification with such figures as Bakunin, Kropotkinand Reclus. Despite the seeming cultural chasmthere were many common bonds. ese were aristocrats, by birth as well as by intelligence. eyrepresented the most sensitive and concerned segment of the leisure class.15 Another bond was thaof science. All of these men were commied toscience either as a profession or as a way oflife. Kropotkin, for example, was an eminent geologist, Reclus a world-famous geographer, Li abudding biologist. Science, not Esperanto, wasthetrueinternational language of this age.Andi

tual aid was as much a law of nature as mutual struggle, andmore significant for the progressive evolution of mankindwas central to the Anarcho-Communist creed.

15 Professor Olga Lang has pointed out to us that aristocratslike Bakunin and Kropotkin did,however,have a powerfuappeal to men not of their class as well, namely an importan

segment of the European working class.


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both nature and man could be explained, univer-sally and rationally, what was more logical thanto apply science to politics, to seek an univer-sal, scientific theory of man in society, one casein an evolutionary mold? ere was, perhaps,an additional tie of major proportions betweenour young Chinese radicals and the RussianAn-archists, that of political environment, Russia andChina were the two sick giants of the early twen-tieth century. at a bond of sympathy shouldexist between the dissident intellectuals of thesetwo societies was natural. e receptivity of theParis group to the voices of Russian radicals indeed, the general influence of Russian revolu-

tionaries upontheirAsian counterpartsmustbe related to this fact.16

16 Professor Lang has agreed with this point, but has remindedus that perhaps Bakunin and Kropotkin are not the happi-estexamples ofRussianinfluence,sincetheir impactuponRussian revolutionary thought was perhaps less than that

upon Western Europe

147

e Decline of the Work-Study

Movement

By the laer half of 1920, however, economicconditions in France had become troubled. ere

were problems of postwar dislocation and seriousinflation. Unemployment was mounting. At firstthe Sino-French Educational Association tried totake care of the unemployed Chinese studentsBut by the beginning of 1921, there were over1000 students in France, the majority of whomhad insufficient funds and lile or no work. eAssociation did not have the money to provide for

this number.10 Many of the students suffered reahardships, going without proper food or clothing, and living under miserable conditions. Some

10 PienHsiao-hsuan, Editor, Sourceson Diligent Work and Frugal Study in France, Chin-tai-shihtzu-liao(ContemporaryHistoricalMaterials),No.2,April, 1955,Peking,pp.174208Shu Hsin-cheng, op. cit., says there were 1700 unemployed

Chinese by the beginning of 1921. p.94.


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class; Liu Shao-chti was one of the sixty Hu-nanese at Pao-ting along with Li Wei-han. Ofcourse not all of the students went abroad; nei-ther Mao nor Liu made the trip. Ho reportsthat he spent one year at Chang-hsin-tien, andthat their schedule was to work in the mornings,aend school in the aernoons, and study in theevenings.

When Ho finally arrived in France in early1920, he found some three hundred diligentwork-frugal study students already in France.He recalls that there were several types of work-studyarrangements.Some students worked part-time and studied part-time; others would work

for a short period, three or six months, and thenstudy until their savings were exhausted; somebrought a small amount of money with them,studied until it was gone, and then sought a job.Hos arrival coincided with the flood-tide of stu-dents.At one point, they were arriving at the rateof one hundred per month.

27

e New Century and its

Message

us the philosophy ofHsin Shih-iwas Anarchist Communism, with some special Chinese

emphases. It can best be set forth in terms oantis and pros. e young Chinese Anarchistwere anti-religion, anti-traditionalist. anti-family, anti-libertine, anti-elitist, anti-governmentanti-militarist, and anti-nationalist. ey werepro-science, pro-freedom, pro-humanist, pro-violence, pro-revolution, pro-communist, and prouniversalist. To understand the Anarchist posi

tion, these numerous themes must be fied together. It is entirelyproper to startwiththe negative. e Anarchists conceivedtheir immediatetask to be that of destruction. Only when theexisting state and other artificialities restrainingman had been destroyed, could human freedomflow. Indeed, destruction was the most consciousplanned act that the Anarchist could undertake


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since freedom would come only in its aermath,and come as a natural, inevitable consequence re-quiring no elitist guidance or tampering. In theiranti-religious position, the young ChineseAnar-chists had some sustenance from their own cul-tural heritage of secularism. ey could also lookupon the European scene as detached observers,without deep personal involvement. us oneseems to sense a somewhat less frenzied tone tothe anti-religious articles than that characteris-tic of certain Western radicals. eir position,however, was clear and unequivocal. Wu Chih-hui remarked that the blind worship of religionhad been one of the great historical problems of

Europe, but he noted that a significant changewas taking place.17 e separation of church andstatein France was cited as oneindication of thischange.

17 Wu Chih-hui, Degrees,Hsin Shih-i, No. 2, June 29, 1907,

p. 1.

145

the students that the overseas Workers Department had been willing to extend funds to the Association because of the large number of Chineselaborers in France and their need for educationaguidance;otherwise, foreigners would geta badimpression of Chinese. Since the governmencould not afford to send teachers abroad, the mossimple method was to loan some transportationfunds to students, who would be expected to continuetheirstudies andteachthe Chineselaborersin France. When the first class of thirty students(northerners) had repaid the loan (Li hoped itwould be withinfive months aer theirarrival inFrance), then the next class could follow. In this

manner, two classes ayearwould be ableto gotoFrance.

e numberofHunanese students who soughentry into preparatory school was actually solarge accordingto Hothat three classes hadto beestablished, one at Peking, the others at Pao-tingand Chang-hsin-tien. Mao was in the Peking


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urging Lo to found a preparatory school in Hu-nan, but the provincial government at Changsharefused to help.

Discouraged, Lo and a friend, Tai Hsun, de-cided to go directly to Peking [Bejing] in Febru-ary 1918. During the spring, they had conver-sations with Li on how funds could be obtainedto aid the students from Hunan who wanted togo overseas. Ultimately the overseas WorkersDepartment of the government agreed to loansome money. us, inthe summerof 1918,a mes-sage wentout tothe students back hometo cometo Peking [Beijing]. Several groups arrived asquickly as they could make arrangements; and

the group of twelve that arrived on July 19 in-cluded a young man named Mao Tse-tung [Ze-dong].

Shortly thereaer, Tsai, Li, and other repre-sentatives of the Sino-French EducationalAsso-ciation met with representatives of the Hunanstudents to discuss schooling and funds. Li told

29

Perhaps the Hsin Shih-chi position on religionwas best expressed by Wu in an exchange between him and a reader from Japan.18 e reader(presumably a Chinese student) wrote that whilepro-Socialist, he felt the aacks upon religionwere too extreme, thereby alienating would-besupporters. Moreover, he queried, are not themoral standards of the Chinese quite deficient astheir educational standards, and is there not aneed for religious morality among them? Wuanswered by posing the morality of Socialismagainst thatof religion.He assertedthatSocialismorality contained all of the basic ethical principles found in religion, without its accompanying

superstitions.It was not sufficient for Chinese Anarchists to

aack religion. Confucianism also had to be assaulted. is assault took various forms In thevery first issue ofHsin Shih-i, it was suggested

18 Wu Chih-hui, Answering the Writing of a Certain Gentle

man, Ibid., No. 42, April 11, 1908, pp. 23.


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that Confucius lived in an age of barbarism, andthat in such an age, it was not difficult for craymen to make themselves into sages and be wor-shiped by simple folk.19 e more basic aackupon Confucianism, however, was impersonal:that later generations had aempted to turn him

into a saint and insisted that his every word betreated as law without regard to changing timesand events. us the aack upon Confucianismwas broadened to include a general criticism oftraditionalismin all itsforms. e Chinese seemto bethe greatest lovers of things ancient,com-plained Chu Min-i, so much sothat theirmindshave been whollybound by traditionalcustoms

19 is is Known As a Chinese Sage, Ibid., No. 1, June 22,1907, p. 3. (Only a few authors can be identified in HsinShih-i. Sometimes pen-names are used, but frequently no

designation whatsoever is given).

143

By 1917, the work-study movement had spreadto a number of Chinese provinces, and had widespread intellectual support, Moreover, prospective students, thrilled by the possibility of overseas study, were willing to do almost anythingto get this opportunity. Ho Chang-kung has

wrien an account of particular interest concerning his own experienceinthe work-studymovement of this period.9 In the winter of 1917, he wasaending atechnicalschool in Changsha,Hunanprovince, one term away from graduation andworried about the future. Suddenly, his elementary school teacher and friend, Lo Hsi-wen, returned from Canton, having made contact there

with the work-study branch office and HuangChiang,who was operatingit. Immediately, Lowrote Tstai and Li in Peking. ey responded by

9 Ho Chang -kung, Chin kungien-hseh sheng-huo hui-(Recollections of Diligent Work and Frugal Study Life)Peking 1958. A very interesting work by a veteran Com

munist.


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ment with French authorities for his own recruit-ment program.Once again, preparatory schoolswere opened in Peking [Beijing] and elsewhere.e Diligent Work-Frugal Study Association alsoestablished branches in various Chinese cities. Inaddition, certain Frenchmen cooperated with the

old Paris group to found the Sino-French Educa-tional Association. Tsai was made head, and Liserved as secretary. In France, this Associationwas to make arrangements for the students, andhelp themwith their problems. In China, it was tohelpinrecruitmentand generalcultural relations.Headquarters were established in Peking [Bei-

jing], with branches in Canton, Shanghai, and

other areas.

of the Sino-French Educational Association, Canton, 1918.is lile volume contains some twenty items relating tothe work-study movement in France up to 1918, includingessays by its leaders, descriptions by participants, and a few

documents and news reports.

31

and thus they have become enslaved by the ancients.20 Even in recent decades when it has finally been admied that China must absorb Western learning, there is still the insistence that thenational character be preserved. And in the following passage, the author put the anti-tradition

alist argument forcefully and well:

I say that the reason why China has notbeen able to progress with the world hasbeen due to its emphasis upon things ancientand its treatment of modern things lightly.And the reason why the West had pro-gressed is because of its opposite aitude . . .

We Chinese also have a tendency to treatall Western things as things which Chinahaslong experienced orpossessed. Forex-ample, we say that China long ago engagedin imperialism under the Mongols . . . ; that

20 Chu Min-i, Looking at the Past, Ibid., No. 24, Nov. 30

1907, p. 2.


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China long ago realized nationalism underthe Yellow Emperor . . . ; that Lao Tzu wasthe founder of Anarchism; that Mo Tzu wasthe first advocate of universal love; and fi-nally, that China long ago practiced commu-nism under the name of the Well-Field Sys-

tem. Alas! ere is reason behind the birthof new knowledge. It comes at the appropri-ate time, when it has the potential of realiza-tion.One cannot take some sayingfromtheancients and statein effect thatallwaslongago foreseen, or that all things new mustbe fied into existing ancient teachings . . .ere are countless things which even mod-

ern man cannot foresee. us how muchcan one expect of the ancients?21

is anti-traditionalposition wasimportant.It symbolized the commitment to modernity,progress, and new ideas that embodied the

21

Ibid, p. 2.

141

e Diligent Work-Frugal

Study Movement

us in June 1915, the old Paris AnarchistGroup and their supporters organized a new so

ciety, Chin-kung chien-hseh Hui, e Association for Diligent Work and Frugal Study. 7 In theearlier Society, as was noted, there had been nospecial premium upon the students working iffunds could be acquired by other means. isnew program was specifically geared to a workstudy movement. However, other categories ofstudents continued to go to France: those with

private means and a few with government scholarships.8 In 1916, Li was able to conclude an agree

7 Shu Hsin-cheng,Chin-tai Chung-kuo liu-hseh shih(A History of Students Abroad in Modern China), Shanghai, 1933p. 88.

8 See Li Shih-tseng, A Speech on Going to France to Study(pp. 5966) in Liu-Fa ien-hseh pao-kao shu, (Report o

Frugal Study in France) put out by the Kwangtung Branch


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e failure of the nationalist revolution andthe rise of Yuan Shih-kai seriously interferedwith the Frugal Study Movement. Moreover, withthe outbreak of the European war, Chinese stu-dents could not be sent to France. Hence, orga-nized activities in China were largely abandoned

although Li and some others continued to propa-gate the cause. As the war dragged on, however,France began to face an acute manpower short-age. Consequently, the French government nego-tiated with the Chinese government for Chineseworkers. Tens of thousands of laborers were sent.Under these circumstances, Li andhis friends sawanother opportunity whereby they could recruit

students willingto workin order to studyabroad.e hope was that for each years work, a Chi-nese student would be able to afford two yearsstudy.

33

essence of twentieth century radicalism in the FaEast e anti-traditional, anti-Confucian themesenunciated inHsin Shih-iand a few other Chinese radical journals of this period were later carried forward by Chen Tu-hsiu and many otherprogressive intellectuals. Aer 1915, as is well

known, the Hsin Ching-nien (e New Youth)edited by Chen, served as the avant garde journal for the Chinese intellectuals. Its searchingcriticisms ofcontemporaryChinese societyprovided a powerful stimulus to the political eventsthat followed. But many of these criticisms hadfirst been advanced a decade earlier by the Chinese overseas students, particularly by the Paris

andTokyo Anarchistgroups. ere was a naturaconnection between the anti-Confucian, anti-traditional themes and that of anti-family. In oneof itsfirst issues,Hsin Shih-icalledforanan


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cestor revolution22 e veneration of ancestorswas denounced as a breach of reason, a denial ofscience. To qualify as a member of the ChineseRevolutionaryParty,ones position onthisissuehadto be clear, itwas asserted. Moreover, inthebroader sense, social revolution had to begin with

the family, because the family was the primary in-stitution of subjugation and inequality. us wasone of the earliest aacks launched on the Chi-nesefamilial institution,an aackthathasfinallyreached a climax in the events since 1949.23

It is equally important, however, to note thestrong anti-libertine position which the youngAnarchists took. Like most true believers, the

22 Li Shih-tseng, Ancestor Revolution, Ibid., No. 2, June 29,1907,pp.34. See also Chu Min-i, On Anarchism, Ibid.,No.36, February 29, 1908, pp.34.

23 We are indebted to Professor Joseph Levenson for pointingout that Kang Yu-wei had wrien some tracts aackingthe family system as early as the 1880s, although theseremained unpublished.Hoover Libraryhas on microfilm hisShih-li kung fa, and somewhat later, a similar position wasexpressed in Ta tung shu.

139

passed were to be sent to France under the auspices of the Society. Expenses would be assumedby the comrades. e tuition for the Peking [Bei

jing] school was determined by the number ostudents each term; if there were twenty studentseach would pay eight dollars per month, but i

there were forty, the tuition would be reduced tosix dollars per month. As might have been expected, French proved a difficult language for thestudentsto master,and a numberbecame discouraged. However, almost one hundred individualswere sent to France before political changes in1913 forced Tsai out as Minister ofEducation andcaused the school to b e closed.6 A Frugal Study So

ciety had also been established for England, andsome twenty students sent there. is projecwas initiated by Chang Ching-chiang, and managed by Wu Chih-hui in London during part ofthis period.

6 Ibid., p. 55.


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were to undertake was determined by the num-ber of years they agreed to spend abroad. eemphasis, however, was to be upon science andtechnicalsubjects,notupon politics, law,ormil-itary studies. Students were not to visit prosti-tutes, smoke, drink, or gamble. e regulations

concluded with the hope that through this pro-gram, scholars would be created who were frugalin their living habits, pure in their character, andpossessed of skills to match their intelligence. 5

It is not difficult to see the Anarchist themesshining through. e Peking [Beijing] Prepara-tory School opened in the spring of 1912. It hadsome interesting rules. e curriculum consisted

of French (taught by the Frenchmen), Chinese,and mathematics. Various comrades(notably theParis veterans) were invited to speak before theschool. e term was fixed at six months, withan examination at the conclusion. ose who

5 Ibid., p. 55.

35

ChineseAnarchists had a fairly rigorous ethicacode. eirs was a call to hard work and hardstudy, the protection of ones body, and in general, a Spartan life. e Anarchists were vigorously opposed to visiting prostitutes, smokingdrinking, and gambling, and as we have noted

these activities were prohibited in Anarchist-runestablishments. Some Anarchists like Li Shihtseng also espoused vegetarianism. Physical exercise was greatly encouraged. e contrast between these rules of personal conduct and thoseof the orthodoxChinese scholar-gentryclass wasstriking. And in this sense, conversion toAnarchism was similar to religious conversion involv

ing the aempt to follow a whole new way oflife. Nor is a strong parallelism with the laterCommunist movement lacking. But it must beemphasizedthat for the Anarchist, conversionwas anintenselypersonalact.Moreover, theveryfact that the Anarchist ethical code, if strictly followed, separated one from the mores of ones


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class and society in this period, enhanced the indi-vidualism which at root the Anarchists cherished.In these senses, there is a substantial differencefrom the heavy compulsory element in ChineseCommunist morality, from the conscious aemptto create an uniform moral man in the Com-

munist mold. e capstone of anarchism is anti-authority. Elitism of all types and in all formsis denounced. It is thus not surprising to findHsin Shih-icondemning those revolutions con-ducted by the few as dangerous.24 If the majorityof the people did not appreciate the need for rev-olution and did notsupport it, its progress wouldbe slow.Onlywhen arevolution hadthe support

of the greatmajorityor the whole of the peoplecoulditbe considered atrue social revolution.25

In a later issue, Hsin Shih-icarried a speechof Liu Shih-pei made in Tokyo. 26 Liu described

24 [Chiu Min-i, General Revolution, Ibid., No.17, Oct.12, 1907,pp. 23.

25 Ibid., p.3. eAnarchist distinction between political revo-lution and social revolution will be discussed later.

137

quarters. To join the Society or participate inthe school, one had to be over fourteen years ofage unless he was in the company of parents. Ingood Anarchist fashion, the Society had no officers. Instead, a few workers were selected bythe members to carry out specific functions. Nor

were there any dues other than the necessary educational costs and needed expenses which weresupposedly met through the mutual aid of alcomrades. In some respects, this was anothescheme for anarchism in action.

Students were to travel to France via theSiberian railway. e trip took about eighteendays, and cost approximately two hundred dol

lars.Food andlodging wereto be arranged eitherthrough the school or in some other organizedquarters. efullcosts were setat five orsixhundred dollars yearly, although this sum includedtravel and clothing. Students were expected tocommit themselves to at least three years of foreign schooling and the type of education they


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Chtu Min-i, Chang Chi, and Chi Chu-shanfounded the Liu-Fachien-hsueh Hui. e Soci-ety for Frugal Study in France. in 1912. e sec-ond phase of the overseas work-study movementhad begun. e purpose of the Frugal Study So-ciety was to promote simple living and low costs

for the students, thus enabling them to find themeans to go to France and remain there for thetime necessary to complete their studies. erewas no compulsion upon the student to work, in-cidentally, if he had the necessary funds. eSociety also undertook to provide some advancelanguage training and indoctrination for life andstudy abroad.4

A preparatory school was established inPeking[Beijing], with Chi Chushan in charge and oneFrenchman was hired as an instructor. Fortu-nately, Tstai Yuan-pei was currently serving asMinisterofEducation withthe Peking[Beijing]government, and he provided the school with

4 Ibid., pp. 5055.

37

the anti-Manchu movement as being supportedchiefly by students and secret society membersHence, its success would be the success of thefew, whereas the revolution being proposed bythe Anarchists for China would be the productof the many, the struggle of the nations peas

ants and workers, and ultimately, the whole ofmankind.

e Anarchists were wanting massive peasant-worker support, and it was the AnarchisMovement that first introduced this concept inits modernformintothe stream ofChinese political thought. e early Chinese Anarchists pavedthe way for all subsequent travelers who chose

to worship at thefeetof the Proletariat.But theLeninist concept of elitism, of vanguardism, wastotally foreign toAnarchist theory. eAnarchists wanted no oligarchy, no inner circle of

26 Speech of Liu Shih-pei (Kuang-han) at the first meeting of

the Socialist StudyGroup in Tokyo, taken from Tien-i Paoprinted inHsin Shih-i, No. 22, Nov.16, 1907, p.4.

f 2


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powerful men to guide the ignorant masses. eybelieved that any elite would confine and corruptfreedom. e masses must be brought along withthe revolution, must be caused to understand andappreciate it, so that in its aermath, they wouldbe prepared immediately to be free men.

e Anarchist position culminated in a frontalaack upon the state. All governments are theenemies of freedom and equality wrote oneHsinShih-ieditor.27 And in a later issue, theAnar-chist case was set forth more fully:

e individual is the basic unit insociety. To-gether with others, he forms a village, and

with other villages, a countryis formed.Soci-ety inturnisformedthroughthe process ofbringing allcountriestogether. e propersociety isthatwhich permitsfree exchangebetween and among individuals, mutual aid,

27 A Leer with Answers, Ibid., No. 6, July 27, 1907, p.1.Answers by Li Shih-tseng.

135

state being initiated in 1907.2 Also, French education wasrelativelycheap andthe French peoplewere generous to foreigners. In terms of deepknowledge, moreover, while each Western country had its speciality, the French were most famous for the wide range of their scholarship and

its originality. e pre-eminence of French science was illustrated by the nearly universal useof French measurements and the large roster of famous French scientists.ButFrench achievementswere equally noted in the humanities; whereelse could one find men like Montesquieu andRousseau?3]

Frugal Study in France

To forward their causes Wu Chih-hui, WangChing-wei, Li Shih-tseng, Chang Ching-chiang

2 Ibid., p. 63.3 Ibid., p. 65.

Ch d Li h f E F h h i d j f ll


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Chang and Li came home from Europe as Fran-cophiles in addition to being Anarchists. eycontinued to harbor the hope that as many Chi-nese students as possible would have the oppor-tunities for a French education. It is interestingto note some of their arguments as to why France

was an ideal area for Chinese overseas education.1First, French education, they asserted, had longbeen separated from the superstitions of monar-chy and religion. In France, the monarchy hadvanished and the French Revolution stood as amonument to human liberty. Moreover, the re-quired study of religion had been abolished in1886, with a further separation of church and

1 For one valuable account of the French work-study move-ment, see a Chinese book published in Paris: Shih-chich-she,comp.,L-Ouiao-y yn-tung (e Educational Movementin Europe), Tours, France, 1916, 123 pp. See especially thesection entitled Reasons for Leaning Towards French Edu-

cation, pp. 6365.

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the common happiness and enjoyment of all,and the freedom from control by the forceof a few. is is what Anarchism seeks torealize. e governments of today, however,are organized by the few, who in turn passlaws which are of benefit to the few. us

the state is the destroyer of the proper soci-ety. In sum, what we seek is the destructionof the destroyer of proper society.28

In such fashion did theAnarchists proclaimtheirmajorobjectivesthe elimination of the Stateand an uncompromising anti-militarism.Allgovernments, of whatever type, were declared the

enemies of freedom and equality, coercive devices that protected the few and produced misery for the masses. Andit was militarismthaserved asthe bruteforceto upholdthe state, the

28 ALeer to Hsin Shih-chi from a Certain Individual, withAnswers, Ibid., No.8, August 10, 1907, pp. 23. Answers byLi Shih-tseng.

h b th l t i d it k d


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means whereby the oppressor class retained itssupremacy.29

Unrelenting Anarchist opposition to the Stateand to organized power in any form producedsharp conflict with the nationalists. An interest-ing and significant polemic bale between young

Anarchists and nationalists was carried out in thepages ofHsin Shih-i. e journal published nu-merous leers from nationalist readers, with therebual arguments of the editors inserted at in-tervals into the original text. Simultaneously, itwill be recalled, the nationalists were strugglingwith the Kang-Liang forces who supported con-stitutional monarchism. In this era, Chinese na-

tionalism had to do bale on two fronts, and byviewingboth fronts, onecanglimpse the total Chi-nesereform-revolution spectrum. e nationalistarguments againstAnarchism were many, buttwo were pushed with special vigor. e national-ists posed their realistic view of world politics

29 A Leer with Answers, op. cit., p.1.

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e Work-Study

Movement

A New ProjectIn this same period the Paris Anarchist Group

were engaged in another work-study project tosend Chinese students to France. While thisproject in some senses was related only peripherally to the Chinese Anarchist Movement, still nostudy of that movement would be complete with

out giving aention to the new French programAs we noted earlier,some of theyoung Paris

AnarchistGroup,notablyChang Ching-chiangand Li Shih-tseng, had used family funds tolaunch a few enterprises in the period aer 1905us they enabled the employment of comradefrom home who could simultaneously acquire aneducation. As has also beenindicated,menlike

g in t n r hi t t pi ni m A n id l An r


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againstanarchistutopianism.As anideal,Anarchism was excellent, but in the world of realityit would represent an unchallenged victory forimperialism and despotism. For China to abandon government and her quest for strength wouldlead to her total conquest by various predatory

powers. If you people know only how to cryemptily that We want no government, no soldiers, no national boundaries, and no state andthat you are for universal harmony, justice, freedom and equality, I fear that those who know onlybrute force and not justice will gather their armiesto divide up our land and control our people.3

China must become strong, argued the national

ists,sothatnone willdare assault it. Indeed, theyasserted, without a military force or an organization, one could not even challenge the Manchutyrannyeffectively,not to mentionthe Westernimperialists.

30 Ibid., p.1.

Before examining the Anarchist answer let


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Before examining the Anarchist answer, letus advance the second nationalist argument. Itmightbe calledthetwo-stagerevolutionary the-ory in its earliest form. In one leer especially,this theory was spelled out in a most interest-ing manner. Ordinary societies could be depicted

thus:

Only through the use of nationalism couldthe Chinese people overcomeforcesaandb, and only then would they beable to standas equals withthe world,workingforworldharmony. e first task was the national-ist revolution, and only aer this had been

achieved,could a societyadvancetointerna-tionalism.31

eHsin Shih-ianswer to this argument car-ries withitaremembrance of thingsfuture. eeditor asserted that since the rich and official

31 Ibid., p.1.

131

classes of China do not seek justice the common


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Special Memoirs of the Liberation, Tzu-yu Jen (e Free-man), Hong Kong, Nos. 7386, Nov. 14 Dec. 29, 1951.Liang was a member of the Hui-ming Hseh-she and theseare an exceedingly valuable series of articles pertaining tosuch questions as the origins of the Chinese Communistmovement, and the relation of the Anarchists to its openingstages.

43

classes of China do not seek justice, the commonpeople could not unite with them to overthrowthe Manchu. e Anarchists were clearly antipopular front, long before the first Chinese Communists struggled with the Bolsheviks over thisproblem. Nor could the Chinese common people

jump over barrier y, and break the shackles of aand b. e only answer was total, complete, andsimultaneous mass revolution. e Anarchistdrew their own diagram:

einnercircle waslabeledthe people ofthe world, the outer circle was called allauthority,withthe caption. Unite withthe

people of the world to burst open author-ity.32

e Anarchists advanced other argumentsagainst their nationalist opponents. ey asserted that the maintenance of states and armies

32 Ibid., p.1.


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Since the death of Shih Fu, the Anarchist earlier Miao have a right to challenge the Han? 3


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Since the death of Shih Fu, the AnarchistParty of China has been scaered and in-different it seems as if Shih Fus death fromtuberculosis has caused the Chinese Anar-chist Party to suffer also from this disease.125

e death of Shih Fu removed a dynamic fig-ure from the ChineseAnarchist Movement andcertainlydamageditseverelyHowever,organiza-tional efforts not only went forward between 1916and1920,but in somerespects,anarchist thoughthadits greatest influence uponyoung Chinesein-tellectuals duringthis period.Anarchistsocietiescontinued or were formed in Peking, Nanking,

Shensi, and Shanghai.126

During this period, an-archist thought and writings penetrated deeply

125 Wu Chih-hui, Remembering Mr. Shih Fu, in Wu Chih-huichan-chi (e Complete Works of Wu Chih-hui), Shanghai,1927. Vol.8, pp.115117.

126 SeeYang Chuan, SocialReformoughtof theLast irtyYears in China, Tung-fang tsa-chih, Vol. 21, No. 17, Septem-ber 10, 1924, pp. 5056.

45

earlier Miao have a right to challenge the Han?Was nationalism more than revengism, an appeal to irrational hatred and love?37 How longhave the Chinese known the meaning of the termnation, and does the working class care?38 Withsuch queries did the Anarchists taunt and chal

lenge their rivals.Sometimes, they too made use of a concept o

stages or evolution, but not in the sense of a necessarysequence; rather, interms ofan unfolding omans grasp of higher truth and moral law. Onewriter explained it this way: first came individualism, self-interest; then racial revolution andnationalism, theinterestofones people; finally

social revolution and universalism, the concern

36 An Extended Discussion on the Differences and Similarities of Nationalism, Democracy, and Socialism, and anotheReply totheLeerontheInteresting Meaning of the Opening Statement of Hsin Shih-chi, Ibid., No. 6, July 27, 1907pp.34.

37 Ibid., p.4.38 National Extinction? Ibid., No. 48, May 23, 1908, pp.12.

for all mankind.39 Another wrote that mans evo- than once.123 Nor was Lo Wus Pure Socialis


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lution was from absolutism to Anarchism.40 erewas lile doubt that the Anarchists felt that theage of nationalism was going out of fashion, andcould be by-passed in China.

is point may serve as a transition to the Anar-

chist positive beliefs, and here, one can start withthat of science. e strength of anarchist faith inscience can be indicated by the remark of Li Shih-tseng: ere is nothing in European civilizationthat does not have its origin in science. 41 To theAnarchists, science was truth, knowledge, andprogress. It was the only legitimate cornerstoneof education, the only proper basis of values.42 It

separatedthe barbarianfromthe civilized man.43

39 An Extended Discussion etc., op. cit., p.3.40 A Leer to Hsin Shih-chi from a Certain Individual, with

Answers, op. cit., p.341 Li Shih-tseng, On Knowledge, Ibid., No. 7, August 3, 1907,

p.2.42 On Anarchism (Continued), Ibid., No. 43, April 18, 1908,

p.4.

127

Party acceptable. While its constitution mighadvocate Anarchist-Communism, the very facthat it acted as a conventional party barred itfrom orthodoxy. We have no work except thatofoverthrowingthe presentauthority,asserted

Shih Fu:

We are not like other political parties whichhave plans and policies Following the over-throw of governments and the aainmentof Anarchism, there will be no Anarchistparty.124

Later, Wu Chih-hui was to write:

123 Argument Against Chiang Kang-hu, Ibid., No.14, June13, 1914. pp.159167, continued in No. 15, June 20, 1914pp.171177. See also eAnarchism of Chiang Kang-huIbid., No.17, July 4, 1914, pp.67, continued in No.18, July 111914, pp. 57.

124 See Shih Fus InAnswer to Lo Wu, Ibid., No.7, April 251914,pp. 911;and hisOnthe SocialistParty, Ibid.,No. 9May 9, 1914, pp.16.

meeting of the Chinese Socialist Party, Sun had When the Hsin Shih-chi writings are carefully


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g y,paid great homage to Das Kapitalby Marx, thefather of collectivism. But Shih Fu insisted thatSuns aempts to fuse George and Marx, his as-sertion that their theories were mutually compat-ible, were erroneous. Sun had confused social

reformism with Socialism.Chiang Kang-hu, according to Shih Fu, was

also a social reformer rather than a Socialist. Tobe sure, Chiang had wrien some laudatory pas-sages about communism. But Chiangs programcalled merely for legal reforms arms limitations,the land tax, and equal education; it did not in-volve public ownership of the means of produc-

tion. Shih Fu argued that in reality, Chiang wascloser to Saint Simon. He regarded him as hope-lessly confused, and sprang to the aack more

47

g yperused, however, it is clear that the young Chinese Anarchists had also acquired a deep conviction in Western humanism, a conviction that didnot stem from their reverence for science despiteaempts to unite the two. e opening words o

Hsin Shih-chi proclaimed that the journal would

43 Onearticle berated theChinese Minister to Italy for allowingthe body of his wife to lie unburied for a period of timein accordance with Chinese custom. It charged that thikind ofsuperstitious,unscientific,barbariccustom subjected

the Chinese to ridicule in the eyes of Europeans. See eChinese in Europe, Ibid., No.15, September 28, 1907, p.3For still another use of science, see e End of ImperialismIbid., No. 63, September 5, 1908, pp.1012. Said the authorI dare say that ten years from now, death will come to therobber-kings of the world and universal well-being will beachieved. I hope that the youth of China will learn morescience and make more bombs,each working accordingtohis own heavenly conscience to expel the barbarians andprevent imperialism from sprouting in China.

have as its starting point, a sense of kung-li, com- Shih Fus main bale, however, was agains


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g p gmon rights, and liang-hsin, conscience.44 Insubsequent issues, many articles were sprinkledwith words like justice, fairness, equality, andhuman rights. To the Anarchists, the first andlastcommandmentofnatural law wasthatman

be free, and that he substitute mutual aid (inKropotkins terms) for ruthless competition andsordid materialism.

e Anarchistaack upon constitutionalgov-ernment flowed partly down this channel. eAnarchists charged that if monarchy was a vic-tory for absolutism, modern democracy was avictory for money and the wealthy class. Both

were unnatural and unnecessary forms of coer-cion, violations of human freedom. Once again,selected aspects of Chinese traditionalism couldblend easily with the Western secular humanismto which these young radicals paid tribute. e

44 Hurried oughts At the Advent of Hsin Shih-chi, Ibid.,No.1, June 22, 1907, p.1.

125

gSun Yat-sen and Chiang Kang-hu, especially thelaer.120 He admied that most people believedthat these were the two leading Socialists ofChina, and he proclaimed himself touched thathey had the courage to speak out. But he de

nied that either was a bona fide Socialist. Sunwas principally a political revolutionist, and thestudy of socialism was not his speciality. 121 Buhis heart is drunk with the teachings of HenryGeorge and he wants to put the single tax intopractice in China.122

Georgism,said Shih Fu,was social reform,nosocialism. He acknowledged that Sun claimed

to advocate collective Socialism, and that at a

120 See especially e Socialism of Sun Yat-sen and ChiangKang-hu, Ibid., No. 6, April 18, 1914, pp.17, and ChiangKang-hus Anarchism, Ibid., No.1718, July 411, 1914pp.67; 57

121 e Socialism ofSunYat-sen and Chiang Kang-hu,op.citpp.17.

122 Ibid.

China had to hasten and catch up, lest she become Anarchists made much of ta-tung chu-i, univer


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a drag on world progress.Shih Fu first tackled the problem of backsliders.

He was shocked by the fact that Chang Chi hadallowed himself to be elected to parliament, andeven accepted the office of parliamentary presi-

dent under the Republic in 1913. Chang had vio-lated the Chin-te Hui agreement, wrote Shih Fu,in querying Wu Chih-hui about this maer.117

Wu defended Chang Chi in hisreplybyassertingthatsince Chang had alreadybeen a memberofparliament when the Chin-te Hui was organized,he had become only a SpecialA Division mem-ber of the society and therefore had not broken

any rule.118

Shih Fu was not satisfied with thisanswer, insisting that a true Anarchist could notlegitimately accept any public office.119

117 First Leer of Shih Fu to Wu Chih-hui, Ibid., No. 2, August27, 1913, pp.910.

118 Wu Chih-huis Reply, Ibid., No. 2, August 27, 1912, p.10.119 Shih Fus Leer to Chang Chi, Ibid., pp.1011.

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salism, but this was surely not a novel term tothose trained in the classics, nor were many otherterms commonplace in Anarchist literature. ismaer must not be oversimplified, however. Aterm or an idea may be the same in isolated form

but it must be viewed in context if its total meaning and implications are to be understood. In thissense, when the anarchist movement was viewedin its total Westerncontext, it did demand intellectual changes of revolutionary proportions fromits Chinese disciples, however much the classicsmighthelpin providing somefamiliarwaysigns

Anarchism was based upon a combination o

science and humanism. It was an heroic aempto spelloutatheoryofprogressthatwould signamans ultimate triumph over all external coercionand his owninternalweaknesses. Naturally, theAnarchists glorifiedrevolution. eyarguedthathe entire movementofmankindfrom barbarism


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e Anarcho-Communist society spelled out to preserve their own power and that of the


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more fully by Shih Fu in one of his last majorarticles.116 All means of production would be so-cially owned, but producers (presumably every-one) would have the right to use them freely. iswould be a classless society where all would work.

ere would be no government, no armies, no po-lice, and no jails; no laws or regulations, onlyfreely organized groups to adjust jobs and pro-duction, to supply the people with their needs.ere would be no institution of marriage. Moth-ers and children would be taken care of in pub-lic hospitals. All children from six years to theage of twentyor twenty-five wouldreceivefree

education. Upon graduation they would workuntil the age of forty-five or fiy, and then betaken care of through public old-age homes.Re-ligion ofall types would be abolished,andinits

115 Ibid.116 e Aims and Methods of the Anarchist-Communist Party,

Ibid., No.19, July 18, 1914, pp. 69.

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state. us it is unfair and should be elimi-nated. Revolutionary assassination, on theother hand, is the sacrifice of the individualto eliminate the enemy of humanity, therebyextending the common rights of the world.

ese two, militarism and revolutionary as-sassination, are as different as two thingscan be.47

eAnarchists believed that the pistol and thebomb wereimportantmeans ofadvancing commonrights.One authorcriticizedtheyoung Chinese studentsinJapan who were commiing sui

cide in protest against Chinese government policies:

If you fellows really see in death the answerto things, why do you not follow in the foot-steps of the Russian Terrorist Party by killing

47 A Rejection of Hsin Shih-chi Writings on Revolution (withanswers by Li Shih-tseng), Ibid., No. 5, July 20, 1907, pp.12

one or two thieves of mankind as the price ofd h Wh h l i h

the means of production and its products mustb l i T j S i li f i


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death. Whetherone plungesintothe sea oris decapitated (as an assassin), both are thesame death. But they are different in theirimpact. Whereas one has no impact and theperson merely dies as a courageous man, the

other has a great impact, especially upon theChinese official class. For the fear of death isone of the special characteristics of Chineseofficials. In sum, in this twentieth century,if thereisthe possibilityofeliminating evenone thiefofmankind and thereby decreasinga portion of dictatorial power, then the yearof the greatChineserevolution willbe one

day closer. . . 48

e appeal of assassination to Chinese radicalsas arevolutionary technique was duein majorpart to the problems involved in organizing any

48 On the Uselessness of Jumping into the Ocean, Ibid., No. 6,July 27, 1907, p.2.

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belong to society. Two major Socialist factionsexisted, according to Shih Fu, communism andcollectivism. Communism advocated the common ownership of production and products witheach working according to his ability and taking

according to his needs. Collectivism advocatedthe public orstate ownership ofproduction,buprivate ownership of the basic essentials of livelihood[likethe wordcommunism, the wordcollectivism also has a different literal meaning inChinese than when it is commonly used in English: In Chinese, the word for a collective enterprise (Ji-ti Qi-ye) literally means an assembly

of people in a bureaucracy (a tree of people) verydifferent from ourunderstanding ofMichaeBakunins Collectivism or a workers collective morelike Bolshevism orFabian SocialismShihFu substantiates this translation by identifyingKarl Marx as the father of collectivism.]. ShihFu took his position w