ABSTRACT
The Chinese Communist movement in the 1930s had its roots in the development of the concept of the soviets. This chapter discusses the origins of the concept of the soviet as it was developed by V. I. Lenin during his struggle for power in Russia and surveys the Stalin-Trotsky controversy over the establishment of the Chinese soviets. It analyzes the vacillating attitude of the Chinese Communist leaders toward the concept at the time when they were searching for a new structure for their revolutionary strategy. In order to answer the questions concerning the establishment of the soviets in China, the chapter studies and analyzes two important documents. They are: the "Resolution of the Enlarged Politburo Meeting of November 1927"2 in which the slogan "Establish Soviets" was first proclaimed, and the "Resolution on the Organizational Questions of the Soviet Government" which, adopted by the Sixth Party Congress, incorporated the resolution of the Politburo meeting of November 1927.
