Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow and the Chinese Revolution - KU ...

The Executive Committee of the Communist International will do everything
which lies in its power in order to make clear to the broad masses of all workers
of all countries the great importance of the work of Sun Yat-sen. 12
Moreover, the ECCI, in memory of Sun Yat-sen, made public its
"Letter to the Chinese People" and its "Letter to the World's
Workers." 13 Special articles of condolence were written by Zinoviev,
Karl Radek, G. N. Voitinsky, and others. These contained favorable
appraisals of Sun Yat-sen and of the Chinese revolution. Of these,
Radek's article in Pravda was typical. In closing his article, which was
entitled "The Heritage of Sun Yat-sen," he stated: "The greatness of
Sun Yat-sen lies in his eternal progressiveness. After every defeat he
suffered, he stood up again, re-evaluating his experience and studying
more." 14 Radek, who was to become the first rector of Sun Yat-sen
University, had long been considered an expert on Chinese affairs. In
this Pravda article he compared Sun Yat-sen to Hung Hsiu-ch'uan and
the Chinese revolution to the Taiping Rebellion, and he also elaborated
on some of Lenin's thinking with regard to the Chinese masses from
his personal experiences:
One day in 1916, at the time when the First World War was at its height,
some Bolsheviks gathered together at Berne to discuss problems of self-determination
of nations. Lenin, who was at the conference, suddenly made a proposal
that the Bolsheviks unite with the Chinese Revolution in the future. His proposal
at the time seemed to be an idiot's impossible dream! Just imagine, the Russian
proletariat will join with millions of Chinese to fight! Among those five or six
Bolsheviks present at the meeting, who among them imagined that if they had
lived long enough, they would see this dream materialize.
When Russia and China were separated by the Czechs, Socialist-revolutionaries,
and Kolchak in 1918, Lenin once inquired if among those Chinese
laborers who had immigrated to Russia men of resolution could be singled out
who would contact Sun Yat-sen. Now we have established contact with the
Chinese people. Our mission with the Chinese revolutionaries today is to enlarge
our contact with millions of people. 15
Apparently with Lenin's thoughts in mind, the leaders of the
Soviet Union and the Comintern reached the conclusion that truly
"the seeds sown by Sun Yat-sen are to blossom and bear fruit." After
reaching this conclusion, the Soviet leaders decided to invest more
capital in the Chinese revolution. The establishment of Sun Yat-sen
15