ABSTRACT
Bolshevik policy in China before and during the Chinese revolution of 1925-27 has been the object of numerous scholarly enquiries. Historians have often been inspired to analyze the profound ideological impact that the Bolsheviks had on the Chinese Communist movement in its early years. The first Chinese Marxist nuclei originated with the direct assistance of Russian Communists; Chinese Communist Party (CCP) strategy and tactics in the 1920s were elaborated under Moscow’s direct supervision. There has also been a great deal of interest in the role Soviet leaders played in events which culminated in the profound defeat inflicted on the CCP by the Guomindang (GMD, Nationalist Party), its former ally in the united front against foreign imperialism. To what degree was the Comintern, under first Lenin’s and then Stalin’s influence, responsible for this defeat? Could Trotsky have radically changed the situation in China had his ideas been accepted in time by the Comintern Executive (ECCI)? What considerations guided these three leaders of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) [AUCP(B)] in formulating their China policy? How, precisely, did they differ in their assessments of the strategic and tactical tasks of the Communists in China?
