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However, in the eyes of the Tsar and nobles of St. Petersburg, Russia actually consisted only of St. Petersburg and Moscow; the areas outside these two cities were considered rural areas unworthy of their attention. To the St. Petersburg nobility, news and fashion from Berlin, Paris, and London were far more worthy of their attention than a peasant uprising erupting on Russian territory.
Kotoku Shusui believed that the divide between the upper and lower classes in Russia was far greater than in Japan. He now somewhat understood Hayashi Shin-yi's point: in extremely reactionary autocratic countries, there are actually only two true ethnic groups: the ruling class at the top of society and the oppressed, ruled class. True ethnic conflicts should be defined by whether or not one is oppressed, rather than by differences in culture, language, or skin color.
He had previously admired the Russian revolution that broke out during the war, but he could not understand the Russians' thinking. He personally wanted to incite the Japanese to rise up against the Emperor and the government. However, under the call of war, even the most radical people who were usually most opposed to the Emperor and the government hesitated. They believed that during a war of aggression, the people should temporarily stop opposing the government. Nationalism and patriotism suppressed their revolutionary consciousness.
The most fervent stance of the Japanese during the war was a call for peace and humanitarianism against war, rather than a call for the people to rise up and overthrow the Emperor and the military who initiated the war. This was also a major reason why the Heimin Shinbun (People's News Agency) was abandoned by the people. During the war, the Heimin Shinbun's attacks on the Emperor and the military angered patriotic ordinary people, allowing the government to take the opportunity to dissolve the agency.
If it weren't for Hayashi Shin-yi's request for him to leave Japan and go to Wuhan to see the achievements of the Chinese revolution, Kotoku Shusui would have felt increasingly disappointed about the future of the Japanese revolution. It was in Wuhan that he truly realized that the Japanese revolution did not necessarily have to start from within; if a global revolution gained momentum, Japan would naturally be influenced by it and experience a wave of internal revolution.
As a Japanese, Kotoku Shusui was well aware that the Japanese national character lacked self-confidence. All of Japan's systems were imported from the outside. Even the Emperor, the spiritual object of the Japanese people, was descended from the sky. No strong culture had ever been born on its own soil. Therefore, before an external revolution became a trend, it was difficult for the Japanese people to accept the Japanese revolution.
The Chinese Revolution had a significant impact on the Japanese. Before the revolution, those who opposed the Emperor were primarily Westernized intellectuals, whose opposition was based on European republican and democratic ideals. However, after the revolution, the idea that Japan would not perish without the Emperor began to emerge among ordinary Japanese people—something unimaginable in the past.
After examining the revolutionary achievements in Wuhan, Kōtoku Shūsui believed that Hayashi Shin'yō's proposal was more feasible: first help Asia form a national independence and revolutionary movement, and then force Japan to make changes. This was far more realistic than persuading the Japanese people to oppose the war of aggression, because under the military's advocacy, there was little risk in foreign aggression, and the whole nation would be rewarded after the war was won.
Although progressive intellectuals like Kotoku Shusui knew that this was a lie used by the military to deceive the people, and that the wars of aggression were merely a means for the military and the Emperor to seek spoils from the people's taxes and lives, the people did not accept this view. This was because, after the First Sino-Japanese War, the lives of the Japanese people had indeed improved compared to the past.
However, a careful study of Japan's economy reveals that while the Japanese people's living standards improved after the First Sino-Japanese War, this was primarily due to the substantial indemnity payments replenishing Japan's industrial capital, which in turn promoted the development of modern Japanese industry. The improvement in the Japanese people's living standards was because the increased capital created numerous jobs, allowing ordinary people to support themselves by selling their labor. It was the Japanese people who improved their lives through their own labor, not the Chinese indemnity payments that allowed them to enjoy the benefits of war.
However, this kind of rational analysis is not convincing to the lower-class people who understand society through their emotions. As long as their lives are better today than yesterday, they will still feel that the government has its merits, no matter how reactionary it is. The only way to make the lower-class people completely abandon the government is to make it impossible for them to maintain their current lives.
For the Japanese revolution to gain the support of the Japanese people, it had to thwart Japan's foreign aggression. Only by preventing the reactionary Japanese government from obtaining resources from outside to sustain itself could the reactionary Japanese government be forced to increase its exploitation of its own people. Thus, revolution became a necessity for the people, rather than a call from a few revolutionaries.
Lin Xinyi wanted to follow this path of Japanese revolution. Kotoku Shusui and others initially believed this route was too complex and extremely difficult to succeed, suggesting they should focus their efforts on spreading revolutionary ideas domestically. However, it turned out that within Japan, reactionary forces were far stronger than revolutionary forces. Their analysis that the foundation for a Japanese revolution was stronger than in other parts of Asia proved far less effective than the performance of the Chinese revolutionary forces under the suppression of Japanese reactionary forces.
The Chinese were far less exposed to socialist ideas than the Japanese. When the Labor Party leaders, such as Tian Junyi, founded the organization, most of the members were only familiar with the Communist Manifesto. A few had read his works, such as "The Monster of the Twentieth Century: Imperialism" and "The Essence of Socialism," but almost no one had read Das Kapital.
However, the Chinese people's anger towards the Qing Dynasty and their awakening to imperialist invasion meant that, although the Workers' Party had not fully established a revolutionary ideology in theory, it gained widespread popular support by advocating the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, the abolition of unequal treaties, and the establishment of a workers' and peasants' state. As a result, it appeared on the Chinese political stage at an unprecedented speed.
The weakness of the revolutionary forces in Wuhan at their inception was evident to all. However, the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government and the infighting among imperialists allowed this nascent force to grow rapidly after overcoming one blow after another. Ultimately, by taking advantage of the war against the Russian invasion, they united various domestic forces to force the Qing emperor to abdicate, thus bringing an end to the Manchu dynasty that had ruled China for more than 200 years.
The victory of the Chinese revolution forced Kōtoku Shūsui to admit that Hayashi Shin'yō's propositions were correct. The revolutionary forces in other parts of Asia were indeed weak, but the reactionary forces they faced were also not strong. The Japanese revolutionary forces should first help the revolutionary forces in these regions to succeed, and then unite with the revolutionary forces throughout Asia to achieve victory in the Japanese revolution.
As a pioneer in the dissemination of Japanese socialist theory, Kotoku Shusui received attention from the Wuhan Workers' Party after arriving in Wuhan. To some extent, Kotoku Shusui and Katayama Sen had become pioneers of Asian socialist theory, and they played a role in balancing Russian socialist theory within the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance.
Although the Republic of Chita was politically constrained by Wuhan, the Russians were far more advanced in socialist theory. In particular, the failure of the Russian Revolution and the Tsarist government's persecution of progressive intellectuals forced many Russian socialists into exile, some of whom fled to the Far East and soon arrived in Wuhan.
One of the most famous was Lev Davydovich Trotsky, who served as chairman of the St. Petersburg Workers' Soviet during the Russian Revolution. This veteran Social Democratic Party member, with a deep foundation in socialist theory, was arrested and sentenced to exile by the Tsarist government after the revolution. However, he quickly escaped from his place of exile and went to Chita.
Tsarist Russia almost exclusively exiled revolutionary intellectuals to the Siberian border, as the vast, undeveloped primeval forests posed the greatest obstacle preventing these exiles from returning to the civilized world. However, after the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the chances of exiles successfully escaping increased significantly. As long as they reached the railway line, they could quickly return to the civilized world, namely Europe.
However, after the emergence of the Republic of Chita, the exiles stopped fleeing to Europe and instead headed directly to Chita, which was closer. After all, Chita was the only remaining revolutionary force in the region after the revolution, and going to Chita meant finding a new organization and being able to rejoin the revolution.
Trotsky chose this path instead of going into exile in Europe as in another timeline, because he believed that the Russian Revolution had not completely failed and that he could reorganize his forces in Chita and wait for changes in the domestic situation before fighting back into Europe.
Trotsky arrived in Chita in early 09 and within a month became the leader of the Social Democratic Labour Party in the European-Russian region in exile in the Far East, forming an opposition to Babushkin and others of the Far Eastern Social Democratic Labour Party.
Babushkin was a Leninist who believed that forming a tightly organized vanguard of the working class and concentrating party power to lead the proletarian revolution was the only way to achieve victory in the revolution. However, he was far inferior to Trotsky in the study of socialist theory. At this time, Trotsky did not agree with the views of professional revolutionaries and believed that the party could not be separated from the proletariat and should suppress proletarian democracy, otherwise it would only create a bureaucratic party.
Trotsky led the St. Petersburg workers' uprising during the revolution, which gave him an edge over Far Eastern Social Democratic Party members like Babushkin in terms of seniority. Although Babushkin was also a member of the Working Class Emancipation Struggle Association and the founder of the newspaper "Iskra," he ultimately did not stand at the center of the Russian Revolution. The Far Eastern Revolution was only an insignificant part of the Russian Revolution. It only became important now because only the Republic of Chita survived.
Even Babushkin himself admitted that the Chita Republic could not represent the Russian Revolution, and that the ultimate victory of the Russian Revolution depended on the European and Russian parts. Therefore, within just a few months, Trotsky became the central figure of the Chita Workers' and Soldiers' Soviet. Babushkin was already considering resigning as Chairman of the Soviet and having Trotsky lead the Chita Republic.
However, Trotsky proposed to go to Wuhan at this time because he had been paying close attention to the changes in Russia during his months in Chita. Stolypin launched a coup, ousted the liberals in the State Duma, concentrated power in his own hands, and forcibly passed the land decree.
The law allowed peasants to leave the village commune, granting each peasant a share of land from the commune as private property, which could then be sold. This effectively recognized peasants' private property, thus dismantling the remnants of the Russian serfdom system. The decree forced the peasants in the commune to cease being a unified entity; landowners and wealthy peasants separated from the peasantry. Landless peasants were forced to sell their labor in the cities, thus alleviating rural discontent, which naturally led to a large influx of discontent into the cities.
Russian peasants opposed the village communes because landlords and kulaks colluded with government officials to oppress them under the guise of the communes. At least within the communes, they could at least ensure their basic needs were met. But Stolypin's reforms simply dissolved the communes, forcing landlords and kulaks to leave with their land, leaving behind a group of elderly, weak, and sick people who could no longer even secure their basic food and clothing.
When Stolypin issued the land decree, he said he would not cut flesh to mend a sore; the flesh referred to the landowners' property, and the sore to the Russian village commune. In other words, Stolypin's reforms effectively acknowledged the legality of property that landowners and kulaks had previously stolen from the village commune, thus rejecting the peasants' demands for the return of the village commune's public property.
This was certainly not satisfactory to the peasants, but Stolypin established a strict police system in the countryside, driving a large number of landless peasants to the cities. Through repressive measures, he restored order to the whole of Russia. Coupled with the large investments given to Russia by Britain and France, the Russian economy began to recover.
Trotsky realized that Stolypin's reforms had stabilized the domestic situation, and the hope of waiting for domestic turmoil in Chita to launch another revolution had been dashed. To promote the success of the Russian Revolution, a stronger revolutionary force was needed, which the Chita Republic alone could not achieve.
The only place that could inject new energy into the Russian Revolution was clearly Wuhan. During his months in Chita, Trotsky also studied the policies of the Wuhan Workers' Party and the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance. Through the economic construction promoted by China in Outer Mongolia and the Far East, he believed that although the Chinese Workers' Party's path of socialist construction had many problems, it had not deviated from the socialist direction and could therefore become a supporter of the Russian Revolution.
The Social Democrats in the Far East also supported Trotsky's initiative to go to Wuhan, because Trotsky put forward a new revolutionary theory in Chita, the theory of continuing the revolution, which greatly alarmed the peasant representatives in the Soviet. However, the workers' representatives in the Chita Soviet had the upper hand, making it difficult for the peasant representatives to oppose Trotsky. After experiencing the war, the peasants in the Far East had lost interest in the war and only wanted to maintain the current relaxed atmosphere for construction.
Trotsky's voluntary departure eased the internal conflicts within the Far Eastern Soviet. Upon arriving in Wuhan, Trotsky quickly replaced the young Baransky as the first representative of the Chita Soviet and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in Wuhan.
Although Trotsky had not yet learned Chinese, as a revolutionary with extensive experience in organizing the workers' movement, he quickly found a way to establish contact with workers' groups in Wuhan. He also won the support of a group of young students with his profound socialist theories.
After the Wuhan Workers' Party seized power, it launched a rapid literacy campaign among the working class and peasantry. Wuhan was the region where the campaign was implemented most effectively. Among workers under the age of 30, the illiterate rate dropped to 20%. Five years ago, it was considered good if one out of ten workers could write their own name.
The increase in literacy naturally created a need for workers' culture, and the culture that aligned with the interests of the Labor Party and the working class was naturally various forms of proletarian culture guided by socialist theory. In this atmosphere of social change, which sought to eliminate the old and embrace the new, young students naturally developed a strong interest in socialist theory, because only by mastering this theory could they gain the approval of the working class.
Of course, for the Chinese proletariat, the Sinicization of socialist theory is still quite crude. At present, Wuhan has translated all works on socialist theory into Chinese for the proletariat to study on their own. This has even included some works by the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie.
In Trotsky's view, Wuhan was in a period of ideological confusion but also extreme freedom. The people did not understand what socialism was, but firmly believed that only socialism could save China and defend their lives. He naturally wanted to set things right, spread true socialism to the Chinese people, and incidentally promote his theory of continuing revolution.
Of course, Trotsky's actions made the Workers' Party leaders, including Tian Junyi, nervous. They felt that there was something wrong with Trotsky's theories, but they couldn't quite put their finger on what was wrong. So they had to push Kotoku Shusui and Katayama Sen out to debate with Trotsky. It was under these circumstances that Kotoku Shusui was recalled to Wuhan.
End of this chapter
Chapter 755
When Kotoku Shusui got off at the Daichimon Railway Station, he saw Lin Xinyi and Katayama Sen waiting on the platform. He happily went up to greet them, and then the group took a car and left the station.
On the way, Kotoku Shusui said to the two of them with great pleasure, "Besides Germany, I have found that Wuhan has changed more than any other European country. In time, Wuhan will surely become an international metropolis on par with Berlin and Paris. This is a city built by us Asians ourselves. In the future, Europeans will no longer be able to say that people of color are inferior races that cannot build civilization."
Katayama Sen deeply agreed. When he was studying in the United States, it was the Gilded Age of rapid economic development. Although racial discrimination was serious in the United States, many social contradictions were covered up by the rapid economic development. He knew very well how amazing the speed of urban development in the United States was. But the United States was ultimately a white country. People of color in the United States were just a tool to provide labor and could not be called the masters.
He nodded in agreement, saying, "That's true. The construction of Wuhan at least proves that we Asians are not lacking in the ability to build large cities. Moreover, we did not abandon anyone during the construction process. Although the large cities in Europe and America are magnificent, they were all built on the blood and tears of exploited laborers. Those magnificent buildings belong only to a few nobles and the wealthy, and have nothing to do with the workers. Japan should also follow this path of development, instead of learning from European and American capitalism and letting a small group of people possess the fruits of everyone's labor."
The two discussed their vision for Japan's future with great enthusiasm, but Lin Xinyi rarely spoke. Seeing this, Xingde Shusui couldn't help but ask him, "Xinyi, you seem to have some opinions on this development model?"
After thinking for a moment, Lin Xinyi said, "Concentrating our efforts on developing urban industries will break the consumption-oriented urban model of the small-scale peasant era and the wealth plundering model of the capitalist era from rural areas and overseas colonies. This is an industrial-first economic development model under the dictatorship of the proletariat."
Although this model prioritizes development efficiency while taking into account the principle of fairness, the process of industrialization and urbanization inevitably leads to a trend of rural resources concentrating in cities. In order to continuously expand the scale of industry and ultimately enable industrial productivity to be fed back to the countryside, farmers and workers inevitably have to contribute their labor results.
If we disregard the potential for sabotage by external enemies, the current distribution mechanism will inevitably lead to internal conflicts among the people. Farmers will complain that industrial goods are too expensive while agricultural products are too cheap, while workers will feel that a large portion of the profits are seized by the state, leaving them with too little of the fruits of their labor. Such social contradictions are almost impossible to eliminate before initial industrialization is complete.
Referring to the industrialization process in Europe and America, this process takes at least 30 years and sometimes over a century. During such a long period, how to stabilize internal contradictions among the people is one problem, and how to prevent the party and government departments that control the distribution mechanism from becoming corrupt is another. If these two problems cannot be solved, then when state power is seized by a few with inflated personal desires, they will still turn the wealth created by the majority into the private property of a minority. Therefore, I think we cannot be too happy too soon.
While Katayama was still pondering the point of view put forward by Hayashi Shin-yi, Kotoku Shusui had already nodded in agreement, saying, "Shin-yi is right. I had some exchanges with some Social Democratic Party members in Europe this time, and they also put forward similar views to yours."
The problem is that it is difficult to maintain the principle of distribution according to work during the process of industrialization. Capital’s need for self-expansion will inevitably require the distribution of social wealth according to capital. Farmers who control the land will naturally side with capital, which will put the working class in a pincer attack by internal and external enemies, and thus gradually lose political power.
Therefore, they believed that social development should not skip stages but proceed step by step. Only by first allowing capitalism to shatter the small-scale peasant economy and turn the vast majority of peasants into proletarians could the landless peasants stand with the working class and eliminate capitalism. Of course, Comrade Lenin did not agree with this view, considering it too conservative. He believed that ensuring the purity of the vanguard and continuously expanding the strength of the working class would allow them to weather this period. He also pointed out that the Chita Soviet and the Chinese Workers' Party were making attempts in this regard, and that the situation was not bad at present…
Upon hearing Lenin's name, Lin Xinyi's attention immediately focused, and he asked, "How is Comrade Lenin?"
Kotoku Shusui immediately said, "Comrade Lenin moved from Geneva to Paris, but he seems to have become healthier there. He often goes to talk with the workers in Paris and discusses the Russian Revolution with Russian Social Democratic Party members who have fled from Russia..."
Through Kotoku Shusui's introduction, Hayashi Shinji learned that Lenin had been fighting against Mensheviks and opportunists within the Social Democratic Party for the past two years, while fighting against bourgeois liberals outside the party. Although Lenin's judgments had been proven correct, using the failure of the Russian Revolution to prove his point of view was clearly not what Lenin wanted.
Therefore, after moving from Geneva to Paris, Lenin began to establish training courses to unify the understanding of the Bolsheviks. Many workers and revolutionaries who had fled Russia returned to Russia after being trained by Lenin to rebuild the basic organization of the proletariat.
In essence, Lenin had already abandoned the old organizational form of the Social Democratic Party and was determined to transform the Bolsheviks into the vanguard of the proletariat according to his own ideas, before reforming the Social Democratic Party. Starting in early 09, Lenin focused his energy on writing about materialist philosophy and the political line of the Bolsheviks, and demanded that opportunists within the party state their positions on these two issues.
After listening to Kotoku Shusui's introduction, Lin Xinyi couldn't help but ask, "So how did Comrade Lenin respond to the invitation to come to Wuhan to teach revolutionary theory to the Chinese proletariat?"
Kotoku Shusui said with some regret, "When I left Europe, Comrade Lenin had not yet made up his mind because he believed that the Russian Revolution had not been completely extinguished and that he needed to continue fighting in Europe. Although the East was stable, being far away from Russia would cause him to lose his observation and intelligence on Russia."
At this point, Kotoku Shusui couldn't help but exclaim, "Comrade Lenin is the most steadfast revolutionary I have ever met. The French and Germans, no, even the Russians themselves, believe that Stolypin's land decree will bring peace to the Russian countryside, and that a wealthy class of landowners and kulaks will become staunch supporters of Tsarist Russia. Therefore, the Russian Revolution has come to an end."
Even the Mensheviks within the Russian Social Democratic Party and the Russian workers' groups focused their energy on parliamentary struggles rather than preparations for armed uprising. However, Comrade Lenin believed that the Russian Revolution was merely experiencing a temporary low ebb, and that Stolypin's reforms were actually further dividing Russian society. With large numbers of landless peasants flooding into the cities, the proletariat's strength had actually increased. Therefore, the Party should now turn these new proletarians into supporters of the revolution and prepare for its eventual failure…”
Kotoku Shusui's admiration for Lenin stemmed from the fact that he believed he would have given up hope of revolution in Lenin's situation and turned to writing instead, rather than continuing to fight for the Russian revolution like Lenin. This tenacious character and insightful understanding of Russian social problems could not help but inspire his admiration for Lenin.
Before Kotoku Shusui went to Europe, the Russian Social Democratic Party was only a junior member among the European Social Democratic parties. Wuhan attached great importance to its exchanges with the Russian Social Democratic Party for strategic reasons. After all, the Republic of Chita had become an important ally for Wuhan to stabilize Outer Mongolia and Outer Northeast. The Russian Social Democratic Party shared the same political ideology as the Workers' Party. Therefore, supporting the Russian Social Democratic Party to seize power in Russia was an important policy of the Workers' Party in its relations with Russia.
Although Kotoku Shusui was a member of the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance, the main leaders of the alliance were actually the Chinese Workers' Party. Lin Xinyi, though Japanese, was affiliated with the Chinese Workers' Party, not the Japanese Social Democratic Party. After arriving in Wuhan, Katayama Sen and Kotoku Shusui quickly established the Japanese Social Democratic Party. The reason it was described as "established" rather than "restored" was that the members who had previously participated in its establishment in Japan had already divided into reformists and revolutionaries; those who remained in Japan naturally wouldn't join the Social Democratic Party, which advocated for a Japanese revolution.
As a member of the navy and a supporter of domestic reformists, Hayashi Shin-yi naturally could not openly join the Social Democratic Party, which aimed to overthrow the emperor system. Therefore, he retained his membership in the Labor Party and did not switch to the Japan Social Democratic Party. Under these circumstances, the Labor Party naturally held a dominant position in the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance.
The Labour Party believed that the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance should strengthen its ties with the Second International, namely the "Socialist International," in order to gain the support of the Second International for the Asian democratic revolutionary movement and national independence movement, and also to demonstrate the support of Asian revolutionary forces for the European proletarian movement.
In short, the Labour Party believed that the Asian revolution was not an isolated event, but part of the world revolution. If the European proletariat could win, the Asian revolution would be much more effective, and the success of the Asian revolution would also strongly support the European proletariat's resistance movement against capitalism.
However, after Bernstein, a German Social Democrat, published "The Prerequisites of Socialism and the Tasks of Socialism" in 1899, the Second International became embroiled in a struggle between the revolutionary line and the parliamentary struggle line.
The Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance naturally opposed the parliamentary struggle line, which is to say, Bernstein's revisionist line. After all, according to the principles of parliamentary struggle, imperialist wars of aggression would become state actions, and the proletariat of imperialist countries, which should have stood on the class side, would stand on the opposite side of the colonial proletariat because of the state's position.
Before the emergence of the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance, the proletariat in various European countries did not realize this problem. They regarded the nations outside Europe as nations waiting to be liberated. In other words, once the European proletariat seized power, these nations outside Europe would naturally be liberated. Therefore, they did not need to worry about whether the colonial wars of imperialism would shake their proletarian position.
However, this revisionist stance did not actually take into account the liberation and revolutionary needs of the colonized nations themselves. When the colonized nations realized that revisionism had actually become part of imperialism, the revolutionary nature of the proletariat was lost. Without this revolutionary nature, the social democratic labor parties in various European countries naturally became part of the capitalist state apparatus, and they were quickly used to suppress the proletarian movement in their own countries.
A small number of Social Democrats recognized the diminishing revolutionary potential of parliamentary struggle for the proletariat, but the majority of the European working class was fascinated by it. Even the proletariat, who were severely oppressed under the Tsarist autocracy, dreamed of gaining power in the country through peaceful means.
Therefore, after Kotoku Shusui became the representative of the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance in Europe, he was welcomed by many Social Democrats who opposed Bernstein's revisionism. After exchanging ideas with various Social Democrats in Europe, Kotoku Shusui realized that Hayashi Shin-yi's recommendation was correct. Lenin, who was not well-known among European Social Democrats in the past, was the socialist who was most willing to cooperate with the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance.
Like Trotsky, Lenin truly established himself as the leader of the Russian proletariat during the Russian Revolution. Before the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, the leaders were actually the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the People's Will Party. The Tsarist government mostly executed members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the People's Will Party, with a relatively low rate of exile. The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, on the other hand, was considered a relatively normal opposition to the government and could still run in the Duma elections. Only the radical members were exiled by the Tsarist government.
This is also the root cause of the opposition from most of the party members to Lenin's advocacy of armed uprising during the revolution. At that time, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party had only about 30,000 members, mainly in St. Petersburg and the area around Moscow. The Social Democratic Party believed that the uprising could not succeed because the vast countryside did not support them at all. If the Tsar were to escape from St. Petersburg, the uprising would inevitably fail, and they would become targets of suppression by the Tsarist government, just like the Social Revolutionary Party and the People's Will Party.
However, Lenin's call for armed uprising, conveyed to the Russian working class through newspapers, made him a leader in the eyes of the revolutionary masses when the Tsarist government forcefully suppressed the workers' movement. Trotsky, on the other hand, personally participated in the workers' movement in St. Petersburg and organized the uprising. Although it failed, he also gained the recognition of the St. Petersburg working class.
The actions of these two men transformed the image of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from an intellectual gathering to a leader of the working class, and Lenin transformed from a student of Plekhanov into the leader of the Bolsheviks. Although the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party split as a result, a powerful anti-revisionist proletarian revolutionary faction emerged within it.
Kotoku Shusui did not see this situation within the Social Democratic Labour Party in France and Germany. French socialists were relatively dispersed, forming a socialist alliance through several small parties. While this garnered more support from various groups, it also led to a serious revisionist tendency within the French socialist parties. Socialist leader Jaurès held views very similar to Bernstein's, even believing that the working class was not limited by any single doctrine and that social change could be achieved through reform.
Therefore, it is quite difficult to expect French socialists to support Asian revolutions, because although French socialists believed that France's overseas colonial actions were wrong, they opposed the colonized peoples resisting the French colonial government through armed struggle.
As for Germany, although the Social Democratic Labour Party was the most successful in parliamentary struggles, it was also the stronghold of Bernsteinism. Although August Bebel suppressed revisionism within the party, his deputy, Karl Kautsky, gradually deviated from the real struggles and began to favor pure theoretical research.
Bebel's concessions to the trade unions, including accepting that the party could not organize political strikes without their permission, strengthened the trade union organizations heavily influenced by revisionism. Therefore, after traveling through Europe, Kotoku Shusui concluded that the only entity truly capable of cooperating with the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance was the Bolsheviks led by Lenin. Other individuals or organizations would not firmly support cooperation with the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance because they were too easily influenced by changes in the domestic and international situation.
The impact of these changes in the domestic and international situation, as referred to by Kōtoku Shūsui, actually refers to the escalating contradictions between Britain and France and Germany, which led to a surge in patriotism and nationalism in France and Germany. This forced the proletariat, who opposed the war, to make a difficult choice between class interests, national interests, and ethnic interests.
French and German socialists wavered between these choices. Jaurès criticized German expansionism while opposing the war, but he dared not call for the French and German proletariat to turn the imperialist war into a domestic revolutionary war.
End of this chapter
Chapter 756
After hearing about Kotoku Shusui's experiences in Europe, Hayashi Shinji basically understood that the working class in Europe was being divided by nationalism and patriotism at that time. In order to gain the support of the working class, socialists also leaned towards the interests of their own country and nation to a certain extent, and this practice also caused contradictions between social democratic parties in various countries.
After getting off the train, Lin Xinyi asked Katayama Sen to settle Kotoku Shusui in, while he went to find Tian Junyi. The two exchanged a few words about Sino-Japanese cooperation, which was actually proceeding smoothly according to plan. The focus of their conversation was not on promoting Sino-Japanese cooperation, but on how to seize leadership of the Asian Alliance after cooperation.
Lin Xinyi's view on this issue is: "Japan has too great an advantage at sea. It is probably difficult to turn the Japanese Navy to the side of revolution by relying solely on ideology. It is necessary to create a powerful enemy for the Japanese Navy so that they realize that Asian unity is their way out. Only then will they choose to abandon the Japanese-centric approach and turn to the Asian-centric approach."
Therefore, after the establishment of the Asian Alliance, it is necessary to promote national independence activities in Southeast Asia as soon as possible, so as not to give the Japanese Navy time to integrate the maritime forces in East Asia. For the imperialists in the Japanese Navy, this expansionist activity is exactly the meaning of the Asian Alliance that they expect.
This expansionist movement would force the rational faction in the navy to align themselves with the Asian Democratic Alliance, because the rational faction knew very well that Japan had no power to fight the European powers alone. Rather than watching the imperialists destroy Japan, they would inevitably choose democratic revolution to restrain the imperialists' expansionist desires.
While the rationalists and imperialists in the navy were locked in a struggle, China had to accelerate its industrialization and democratic revolution. On the one hand, by strengthening China's national power, it was necessary to deter Japanese imperialists from their ambitions to invade China; on the other hand, it was also crucial to demonstrate to the Japanese people the achievements of the democratic revolution in China, thereby attracting them to embrace democratic revolution as well.
Tian Junyi agrees with Lin Xinyi's propositions. This is not the first time Lin Xinyi has mentioned the route of Asian revolution, but this time it is more specific.
It was under the guidance of Lin Xinyi's theory of Asian revolution that the Labour Party proposed the China Railway Construction Plan, regarding the establishment of a nationwide railway network as one of the goals for the success of the Chinese democratic revolution. Behind this railway construction plan was, in effect, the defeat of the agricultural development faction by the industrial faction within the Labour Party.
The agricultural development school of thought argues that after China's unification, the great powers would lose their ability to interfere in China's internal affairs, therefore the new government should prioritize improving people's living standards. The industrial development school, on the other hand, believes that imperialism's desire to subjugate China remains undiminished, and without a strong industrial base and a robust armed force, a stable period of development is impossible.
The war against Russia gave the industrialists a complete advantage, and the establishment of the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance expanded the influence of the Labour Party in Asia. For example, the Labour Party of India formed a close relationship with the Labour Party of China, and the two sides supported each other politically and economically, which made the British wary of Wuhan and the three northeastern autonomous states of British India.
Although the three northeastern states and the British Indian government signed a peace agreement promising not to carry out assassinations or other acts of violence against British officials, nationalists in other parts of India did not give up such actions. With the three northeastern states as an autonomous region of India, those radical nationalists would flee there after carrying out attacks, leaving the British powerless to stop them.
The Labour Party and the Indian National Congress were two completely opposite extremes. The former was tightly organized while the latter was merely a political salon for the propertied class. The British Indian government could divide the Congress Party with some official positions, but Labour Party members ignored the temptations offered by the British because their power came from the organization and they would lose their influence if they were separated from the organization.
While the People's Committees of the three northeastern states faced resistance from landowners, they gained the support of the vast majority of peasants. The British tactics of using landowners to oppose anti-British forces, previously employed in the past, were ineffective in these three states. Instead, the three northeastern states capitalized on nationalist sentiment, gaining significant support in the Bengal region.
Although the British Indian government considered resolving the issue of the three northeastern states by force, the British ultimately lacked confidence after careful consideration. Firstly, Europe was on the eve of war, and Britain could not afford to provoke Indian nationalist sentiment at this time. Secondly, the People's Committee of India (PBC) remained vigilant, maintaining not only a standing army but also a widespread militia, which greatly troubled the British. Thirdly, the surrounding environment of India did not allow Britain to take action against the three northeastern states; the close ties between Burma and these states made the British very concerned about Burma's security.
Similarly, the British could not threaten Wuhan militarily, as declaring war on Wuhan could trigger a war of Indian independence in the three northeastern states. Therefore, the British strategy was to relocate the capital, moving the seat of the British Indian government from Calcutta, which was threatened by the three northeastern states, to Delhi in the northwest interior.
The British show of weakness towards Indian nationalists actually spurred a surge in Asian nationalist consciousness. Wuhan thus became a mecca for progressives from various Asian nations, enabling it, though not yet unified with the rest of China, to begin regaining its historical influence in Asia and becoming seen by Asian peoples as a leader against European colonialism.
Although this political influence could not be translated into direct benefits, the Chinese Workers' Party had already felt considerable advantages. They knew that they were not fighting against the European powers alone; they had comrades all over Asia, and they could use these revolutionary comrades to restrain the actions of the powers, thereby crushing their attacks on China at minimal cost.
The existence of the Indian People's Committee (BJP) is excellent proof of this. Without the BJP, Britain might have leaned more towards force in its approach to the Wuhan issue, and Wuhan would not have been able to obtain overseas financial support through the BJP. The current transfer of steel production capacity from the United States would not have been possible on such a large scale without the support of the BJP.
The transfer of American steel production capacity also completely shattered the revolutionary line of "first China, then Asia." A consensus was reached within the Party that improving the external environment was also crucial for the Chinese revolution. Focusing only on the domestic revolution while neglecting revolutions abroad would leave China vulnerable to being defeated piecemeal by imperialism. After all, the power of imperialism far exceeded that of the nations of its colonies.
Tian Junyi had only one question regarding Lin Xinyi's proposal: where to begin in Southeast Asia? In truth, Tian Junyi had some idea. Japan had many options, but ultimately, Japan and China combined could only choose one: French Indochina. What he really wanted to know was how to promote the independence of French Indochina.
Lin Xinyi did not disappoint him, saying, "The French Indochina Federation actually included three independent countries: Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. However, under the division of the Indochina Federation, Vietnam was divided into three regions: Cochinchina (Southern Vietnam), Annam (Central Vietnam), and Tonkin (Northern Vietnam). Cochinchina was a directly administered territory, Tonkin was a semi-protected territory, and Central Vietnam was a protected territory."
In theory, Tokyo and Annam could secede from the French Indochina Federation. Of course, such independence would require the support of the local people and the assistance of external resources. Otherwise, it would be difficult for them to cope with the French mobilizing the resources of the entire French Indochina Federation to suppress them.
Therefore, if the French Indochina Federation wanted to break away from French colonial rule and become independent, it would be necessary to concentrate the resources of the entire federation to fight against the French colonialists. In this case, the Asian Alliance could intervene in the affairs of the French Indochina Federation in the name of maintaining Asian security.
If we want to concentrate all the resources of the French Indochina Federation to fight against the French colonialists, then we must have a political ideology that everyone can accept. I believe that this ideology is not nationalism, but democracy.
If nationalism is the guiding principle, then it would be difficult for the various ethnic groups in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam to unite, thus making them vulnerable to division and defeat by the French. However, by appealing to democracy, they can gain the greatest common ground among the ethnic groups in the region.
Therefore, we should promote national regional autonomy within French Indochina and the movement for the self-government of French Indochina to counter French colonial rule in the region. When the foundations of French colonial rule in the region are shaken and the region descends into continuous chaos, the Asian Union can offer mediation to the French to prevent the chaos in French Indochina from spreading to surrounding areas.
Given the current tensions in Europe, the French are likely to make concessions to the democratization movement in French Indochina, which in turn will spur national independence and democratic movements in Myanmar and Southeast Asia.
"The alliance will thus gain the support of all Asian nations, and thus truly become an alliance of Asian democrats."
Upon hearing this, Tian Jun understood Lin Xinyi's thoughts. As the Chinese revolution had progressed to this point, he also realized the limitations of nationalism. In stimulating anti-imperialist and anti-colonial movements, national consciousness could indeed easily arouse the resistance of the nation. However, as the revolution achieved initial victories, nationalism began to lean towards imperialism and colonialism, which caused nationalism to lose its revolutionary nature.
Therefore, the Chinese revolution now needs a new political line to achieve the goals of the proletarian revolution, and democracy is clearly much more progressive than nationalism. Of course, in Asia today, only bourgeois democracy is actually feasible; it is not mature enough to establish proletarian democracy. But even bourgeois democracy is much more progressive than feudal dynasties and colonial rule.
Therefore, Lin Xinyi believed that Lin's proposition was indeed feasible. Although the Indochina Federation was cobbled together by the French through force, the people there would never disappear their need to pursue their own interests. The national autonomy and democratization movement clearly met the needs of the various ethnic groups in the Indochina Federation.