1
Present a complicated situation
The China Revolution was under the guidance of * * * Production International, and the social and historical debate was huge in a short time, which was closely related to the different views of Soviet leaders on the China Revolution. Stalin, Bukharin and others. It is believed that the feudal remnants of China are still dominant and democratic revolution should be carried out, with the focus on the combination of anti-feudalism and anti-imperialism; Trotsky, karl berngardovich radek and others believe that China has been ruled by capitalism, and the revolutionary goal should also include overthrowing capitalism and realizing socialism. These two different views have aroused strong repercussions in China's * * * production party, Kuomintang and all walks of life.
The Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) defined the social nature of China as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and pointed out that the task of the revolution was to oppose imperialism and feudalism. Trotskyites and the Kuomintang reorganization faction are opposed. All parties expressed their opinions, so a big debate about the social nature of China began.
In the debate, various factions launched a fierce debate around the social nature of rural areas in China and China at that time and in history. Different issues and factions are intertwined, presenting an extremely complicated situation.
2
Four camps appeared one after another.
Participants in the debate can be divided into four camps. The new life school appeared first. 1928 10, Tao Xisheng published the article "What Society is China Society" in Shanghai New Life magazine, arguing that the social nature of China cannot be generally called patriarchal society or feudal society or capitalist society, but patriarchal feudal society. Most members of the "new life school" belong to the Kuomintang reorganization school, so they are also called "reorganization school"
1929165438+10, another important position in the debate on China's social nature, New Trends magazine was founded in Shanghai. The Cultural Work Committee under the leadership of Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China hopes to publicize the ideas of the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China through the "new trend of thought" and compete with the opposing voices. Then, in May of the following year, New Thoughts published a special issue of China Economic Research, and published articles such as Pan Dongzhou's Nature of China's Economy and Wang Xuewen's Position, Development and Future of China Capitalism in China's Economy, pointing out that China is a country with a dominant feudal and semi-feudal economy and China is a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. They are called "New Trend of Thought" and "China Cadre School", and their representatives include China leaders such as Li and Zhang Wentian, as well as some Marxist social science workers and left-wing scholars.
In the debate, Trotskyites' main position is Power magazine, which was founded in 1930. Representatives such as Shu Ren and Yan Lingfeng have published articles in magazines for many times to clarify their views. They often disagree on some specific issues, but on the whole, they are tit for tat with the "new trend of thought". They all advocate that China's economy is already a capitalist economy, and China also entered a capitalist society at that time. These people are called "power".
In addition, there is a camp that can't be ignored in the debate, that is, individuals who claim not to belong to any faction, such as Hu, Sun, Sun, and Sun. Although their views are far less influential than the above three schools, they also played a great role in the debate.
three
A longitudinal investigation from a historical perspective
After the debate on the social nature of China was launched in an all-round way, it immediately reached a deadlock and could not go further from the existing perspective. Therefore, people began to study the social nature of various stages of China society from a historical perspective to help us understand the reality.
From 65438 to 0929, Tao Xisheng published "Analysis of China's Social History" and "China's Feudal Social History", which expanded the discussion to the field of China's social history. In these two books, he discussed the nature of China's social history and its research methods.
1930, Guo Moruo's Research on Ancient China Society was published. This book explores the historical development process of China by using the Marxist theory of ancient socio-economic formation, laying a foundation for various factions to continue to analyze ancient China society from the perspective of five social forms. Guo Moruo's research also greatly improved the academic level of the debate, and the book also marked the establishment of Marxist historiography in China.
1931-1933, the social history debate is based on reading magazine edited by Lixi Wang. During this period, Reading magazine published four series of China Social History Debate Special Issue, which pushed the debate to a climax with unprecedented pomp.
four
Have a wide and far-reaching impact
The content of China's social history debate can be summarized into three core issues: first, whether China experienced slave society in history; Second, what is the starting and ending time and characteristics of China feudal society; Third, the mode of production in Asia. The essence of the debate is whether the historical development stage of China conforms to the basic law of human historical development summarized by Marxism, and whether Marxism is applicable to China.
As agriculture is the main industry in China, rural areas occupy most of China. If we can understand the social nature of rural areas in China, it is easy to understand the social nature of China as a whole. Therefore, 1934 triggered a debate on the social nature of rural areas in China. In the debate, the "China School of Economics" based on the magazine China Economics believes that the rural areas of China are already capitalist society. The "China Rural School", based on the magazine China Rural, thinks that the rural areas of China are semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. On the issue of productivity and relations of production, Marxists advocate the analysis of relations of production, while Trotskyites believe that productivity should be the main factor.
With the outbreak of all-round anti-Japanese war, the social history debate basically ended with 1937. Generally speaking, the debate on the social nature of China and the debate on the social nature of rural areas in China discuss practical issues and are political. The debate on China's social history has extended from realistic demands to historical issues, which is highly academic. After this debate, the semi-colonial and semi-feudal social nature of modern China was widely recognized. In this debate, Marxism has been widely used to study the realistic and historical problems in China. It can be said that the discussion on China's social history directly contributed to the formation of Marxist historiography in China, which had a wide and far-reaching impact.