ABSTRACT
To clarify the meaning of the peasantry and of peasant movements in classical bolshevism this chapter briefly describes the relevant events and attempts to examine Nikolai Bukharin's evaluation of these events. It shows that, in terms of his theory of society and his revolutionary strategy, Bukharin was in fundamental agreement with both his then ally Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin and their most outspoken adversary within the party, Leon Trotsky. By so doing, the chapter hopes to reveal some lessons that Bukharin' s peasant and rural strategy may hold for the present day. The power of the revolutionary movement unleashed in China in 1926-27 was focused in the countryside, as subsequent events were to emphasize. The alliance policy followed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and fostered by the Comintern ran into insoluble difficulties once this mass movement actually got under way.
