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

trends in the united front and exposed the proletariat to the danger of losing its
independence. 17
Ch'en Shao-yu and other prominent figures of the 28 Bolsheviks had
been characterized by Mao Tse-tung and his crew as being "Left"
opportunists from the time of the Fourth Plenum of the Sixth CC of
the CCP to the Tsunyi Conference in January, 1935. Now Ch'en was
condemned as a "Right" opportunist on the issue of the united front!
Yet indications are, so far as their published positions at the time are
concerned, that Mao and Ch'en Shao-yu had few if any disagreements
over the nature of the Anti-Japanese National United Front. 18 And
when in October, 1938, the CC at an enlarged plenum passed a
resolution on the united front, both Ch'en Shao-yu, if my memory
serves me correctly, and Mao Tse-tung were members of that Politburo;
and while Chinese Communist historians tend to state that "Right
opportunist mistakes" with regard to the united front were evaluated
at this meeting, they do not state that there was a policy disagreement
at the meetings. 19
I have no intention here of defending Ch'en Shao-yu. I only want
to point out that Chinese Communist official history is written strictly
according to the "Resolution on Some Historical Problems," 20 which
apparently was drafted by Mao and passed by the CC under the leadership
of Mao Tse-tung, by which time Mao had openly asserted his
superiority over Ch'en Shao-yu and the 28 Bolsheviks and was prepared
to disparage all of their activities. This resolution enabled Mao
Tse-tung and his followers to vindicate themselves and revenge the
wrongs done them by the 28 Bolsheviks while they were in power.
The resolution is an important document in the power struggle between
Mao and the 28 Bolsheviks. Furthermore, it contains a good
deal of indirect evidence of dissension between Russian leaders and
the Comintern, on the one hand, and Mao Tse-tung, on the other.
The Comintern hailed the Fourth Plenum of the CC of the CCP
as a milestone in the Bolshevization of the CCP. And Mif and the
Comintern praised the 28 Bolsheviks as genuine Leninists. In sharp
contrast, Mao later castigated the CC elected at the Fourth Plenum as
instigators of the "third Left line," and he characterized the 28
Bolsheviks in the united-front period as "Right" opportunists, with
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