The author however gives a near-complete overview of the events building up to the Chinese Revolution. And of course it searches for the success form Written in 1967, this book is not exactly a 'fresh take'. It explores the failure of the Guomindang Republic, questioning its programme, social basis and political integrity, as well as looking at limiting external circumstances like the poor state of the economy and the war with Japan. It delves into the pressures of modernisation and imperialism. Written in 1967, this book is not exactly a 'fresh take'. The conclusion evaluates the crucial role of imperialism, the peasantry, and the army in the Chinese 'formula' for revolution and re-examines the relationship between Marxism and the Chinese Revolution. He is concerned less with the May Fourth Movement as such, for example, than with the revolution's intellectual origins, less with the Communist party's early political history than with the place of Marxist ideology in that history, less with the military aspects of the war of 1937-45 than with the influence of nationalism in the growing success of the Communists.Īn important part of the book deals with the various governmental and non-governmental attempt at reform during the Kuomintang era, which the author shows were too little too late to dam the swelling flood of revolution. The author seeks above all to relate the events of this tumultuous period to certain tentative generalizations about the nature and course of the revolution. A fresh, bold interpretative survey, it focuses on the dynamic social forces underlying the Chinese Communists' rise in three short decades from obscurity to power. The author seeks above all to relate the events of this tumultuous The original French edition of this book, published in 1967, was widely acclaimed as the best introduction to Chinese Communism ever published.

The original French edition of this book, published in 1967, was widely acclaimed as the best introduction to Chinese Communism ever published.

We. the revolution lucien blanchot