28 Bolsheviks

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The 28 Bolsheviks were a group of Chinese students who studied at the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University from the late 1920s until early 1935. The university was founded in 1925 as a result of Kuomintang's founder Sun Yat-Sen's policy of alliance with the Soviet Union, and was named after him. The university had an important influence on modern Chinese history by educating many prominent Chinese political figures. The most famous of these were collectively called the 28 Bolsheviks.

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[edit] Names of Members

There are several rival lists of the 28. One lists 29 active members, including: Wang Ming, and his wife Mèng Qìngshù (孟庆树); Bo Gu; Zhang Wentian; Wang Jiaxiang; Yang Shangkun; Chén Chānghào (陈昌浩) with his wife Dù Zuòxiáng (杜作祥); Shěn Zémín (沈泽民) and his wife Zhāng Qínqiū (张琴秋); Hé Kèquán (何克全) or Kǎi Fēng (凯丰); Xià Xī (夏曦); Hé Zǐshù (何子述); Shèng Zhōngliàng (盛忠亮); Wáng Bǎolǐ (王宝礼); Wáng Shèngróng (王盛荣); Wáng Yúnchéng (王云程); Zhū Āgēn (朱阿根); Zhū Zìshùn (朱自舜, female); Sūn Jìmín (孙济民); Sòng Pánmín (宋盘民); Chén Yuándào (陈原道); Lǐ Zhúshēng (李竹声); Lǐ Yuánjié (李元杰); Wāng Shèngdí (汪盛荻); Xiāo Tèfǔ (肖特甫); Yīn Jiàn (殷鉴); Yuán Jiāyōng (袁家镛), Xú Yǐxīn (徐以新). The extra person can be attributed to Xú Yǐxīn because of his pendulous left and right stances, and thus this group is also known as "28 and a half Bolsheviks".

[edit] Rise and fall

With support from their mentor Pavel Mif, president of Sun Yat-sen University and envoy of Comintern at that time, they returned to China after graduating. This provoked a struggle with Li Lisan and his allies, who controlled the Communist Party of China. Dissidents against Li inside the Party also objected to their return, but, in the 4th Plenary Meeting of the Communist Party's 6th National Congress, and with the presence and direct support of Pavel Mif, Wang Ming and his group won a landslide victory. Wang was elected to the Communist Party's politburo and Bo Gu, while Zhang Wentian took up other, equally important, positions. As a result, the conflict between the Central Committee and Mao Zedong's fledgling Chinese Soviet Republic began once again. Although Wang Ming returned to Moscow after a short stay in Shanghai, Bo Gu and Zhang Wentian both took the position of General Secretary of Central Committee of the Party in turn, and led the Chinese revolution in a radical manner. This led to a defeat for the Communist Party and the beginning of the Long March.

At the Zunyi Conference in 1935, the 28 Bolsheviks were defeated by Mao Zedong and his allies, primarily due to their military incompetence. Bo Gu stood by with the Comintern military advisor Otto Braun (Li De), while Zhang and Wang Jiaxiang, General Commissar of the Red Army, and Yang Shangkun, Commissar of the Third Field Army of Red Army at that time, defected to Mao. This led to the disintegration of the 28 Bolsheviks.

Wang Ming was exiled to Moscow where he later died. Zhang was demoted to the field of ideological research in Yanan, and later appointed Deputy Foreign Minister after 1949. He died during the Cultural Revolution after forming an "counterrevolutionary group" with Peng Dehuai. Bo Gu died in an air crash in the 1940s when he returned to Yanan.

[edit] Disputes

The standard Western interpretation is that the group neglected the contribution of peasants who contributed to the success of Mao's success Mobile Warfare. That, and as proteges of Pavel Mif, they thought they were destined to take charge of the Chinese revolution.

Though there definitely was a group by this name, Thomas Kampen's Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and the Evolution of the Chinese Communist Leadership argues that they were only a coherent group in Moscow, opposed to both Kuomintang and Trotskyist influences among Chinese students. It's also claimed that they did return to China at various times, but failed to form an effective faction. Additionally, there are questions as to whether the entire group gained notoriety only by association with the theories of the most prominent member, Wang Ming.

The 28 Bolsheviks became pawns in the power struggle between their mentor, Pavel Mif, and the Communist Party of China. The group's members were relatively innocent in the ways of revolution, despite their collective power. Although its members had different fates, as a group the 28 Bolsheviks were destined to fail. Today in China, "the 28 Bolsheviks" is a code name for dogmatism.

[edit] Later history

  • Chen Changhao worked with Zhang Guotao when he returned from Moscow and became Zhang's Commissar, but lost power and influence in the struggle between Zhang and Mao. Chen Changhao went on to become a Communist Party historian, and also died in the Cultural Revolution.
  • He Kequan was General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Youth League, and later Vice Minister of the Propagada Department, and died in 1954.
  • Xia Xi was sent to Hunan and carried out the purges which took the lives of more than forty thousand Red Army soldiers. He was later regarded as a public enemy. Perhaps because of this, no one came to his aid when he fell into a river and drowned during the Long March.
  • Sheng Zemin, the younger brother of writer Shen Yanbin, worked for Zhang Guotao and the 4th Red Army. When Zhang's army was defeated, Sheng took up guerilla warfare and died in battle.
  • Zhang Qinqiu，Sheng Zemin's wife, later married Chen Changhao and became the Red Army's only female divisional Commander. After 1949, she was appointed Deputy Minister of the textile industry, but died in the Cultural Revolution.
  • Ying Jian was arrested by Kuomintang when he mobilized workers in Northern China, and was subsequently executed.
  • Li Zhusheng was promoted to the Politburo after Wang Ming's return to Moscow in 1931, and put in charge of the daily affairs of the Communist Party in Shanghai. He was later arrested, but defected to the Kuomintang, and informed on many of his former compatriots.
  • Chen Yuandao was appointed as senior leader for the Jiangsu and Henan Division of the Communist Party, but was later arrested and executed by the Kuomintang in Nanjing.
  • Xu Yixin worked for Zhang Guotao's 4th Red Army and became his vice general commissar, surviving war and party purges. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Xu held the position of ambassador under the Secretary of the Foreign Ministry. He died in the 1990's.
  • Yuan Jiayong was appointed General Secretary of the Jiangsu Division in the Communist Party. Following his arrest in 1934, he defected to the Kuomintang and worked for the secret police.
  • Wang Shengrong was a senior leader in the Communist Party, and survived both war and purges.
  • Wang Yuncheng succeeded Wang Ming as General Secretary of the Jiangsu Division in the Communist Party. He was kidnapped by the Kuomintang and forced to work with Li Zhusheng in the secret police.
  • Sheng Zhongliang was senior leader of the Shanghai Division in the Communist Party, and was sold out by Li Zhusheng. He was coerced into informing for the Kuomintang's secret police. Sheng, after moving to the US, later wrote memoirs of his time at the Sun Yat-sen University and with the 28 Bolsheviks.
  • Song Panmin also worked for Zhang Guotao, but was executed when he objected to the purges being carried out by Xia Xi.
  • Sun Jiming, a senior Communist Party leader, was arrested and defected to the Kuomintang together with Wang Yuncheng.
  • Wang Shengdi and Zhu Ageng left the Communist Party, though both had held senior positions.
  • Wang Baoli, Zhu Zisun, Li Yuanjue, and Du Zuoxian left public life and their fates are currently unknown.
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