Editing Chen Duxiu (section)

===Career within the Chinese Communist Party===

====Founding the Chinese Communist Party====
[[File:Front cover of Constitution of the Communist Party of China 2007.jpg|thumb|Front cover of Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party]]
In 1921, Chen, Li and other prominent revolutionaries (including [[Mao Zedong]]) founded the CCP. It has been generally asserted that the group had diligently studied Marxist theories, inspired by the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]].{{sfn|Chow|2009}} Chen was elected (in absentia) as the first [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|General Secretary]] at the [[1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|first party congress]] in Shanghai.{{sfn|Columbia|2001}} He remained the undisputed leader of the party until 1927, and was often referred to as "China's Lenin" during this period.{{sfn|Chow|2009}}

Chen, with Li's assistance, developed a cooperative – and later troublesome – relationship with the [[Communist International]] (Comintern). Over the next decade, the Comintern sought to use the CCP as tools of [[Soviet]] foreign policy, leading to policy disagreements between CCP leaders and Comintern advisors.{{sfn|Columbia|2001}}

By 1922, the party had only about 200 members, not counting those overseas.{{sfn|Spence|1999|p=312}}

[[File:B9523 Chen Duxiu.jpg|thumb|Chen during his arrest in 1921]]

====Subsequent efforts to spread communism====
Soon after the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, in 1921, Chen accepted an invitation from [[Chen Jiongming]] to serve on the education board in [[Guangzhou]] in the aftermath of the June 16 Incident, but this position dissolved when Guangzhou was recaptured by the Kuomintang. At the direction of the Comintern, Chen and the Chinese Communists formed an alliance with [[Sun Yat-sen]] and the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT or Nationalist Party) in 1922. Although Chen was not convinced of the utility of collaborating with the Kuomintang, he reluctantly carried out the Comintern's orders to do so. Pursuing collaboration with the Kuomintang, he was elected into that party's Central Committee in January 1924.{{sfn|Chow|2009}}

In 1927, after the [[Shanghai massacre]], he and other high-ranking Communists, including [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Mikhail Borodin]], collaborated closely with [[Wang Jingwei]]'s Nationalist government in [[Wuhan]], convincing Wang's regime to adopt various proto-Communist policies. The Wuhan government's subsequent land reform policies were considered provocative enough to influence various KMT-aligned generals to attack Wang's regime, suppressing it.{{sfn|Spence|1999|pp=338–339}} Chen was forced to resign as General Secretary in 1927, due to his public dissatisfaction with the Comintern order to disarm during the [[April 12 Incident]], which had led to the deaths of thousands of Communists – now known as the [[Shanghai massacre of 1927]], and because of his disagreement with the Comintern's new focus on peasant rebellions.{{Citation needed|reason=A citation for the disagreement on the focus with peasant rebellions would be appreciated.|date=March 2024}}

====Conflict with Mao====
Chen came into conflict with [[Mao Zedong]] in 1925 over Mao's essay "An Analysis of Classes in Chinese Society". Mao opposed Chen's analyses of China. While Chen believed that the focus of revolutionary struggle in China should primarily concern the workers, Mao had started to theorize about the primacy of the peasants. According to [[Han Suyin]] in ''Mortal Flower'', Chen "opposed the opinions expressed [in Mao's analysis], denied that a radical land policy and the vigorous organization of the rural areas under the Communist party was necessary, and refused the publication of the essay in the central executive organs of publicity."

Although he recognized the value of Mao's interpretation of Marxism in inciting the Chinese peasants and labourers to revolution, Chen opposed Mao's rejection of the strong role of the bourgeoisie that Chen had hoped to achieve. During the last years of his life, Chen denounced Stalin's dictatorship, and held that various democratic institutions, including independent judiciaries, opposition parties, a free press, and free elections, were important and valuable. Because of Chen's opposition to Mao's interpretation of Communism, Mao believed that Chen was incapable of providing a robust [[historical materialism|historical materialist]] analysis of China. This dispute would eventually lead to the end of Chen and Mao's friendship and political association.{{sfn|Chow|2009}}

====Expelled by the party====
As the Party had grown rapidly following the [[May Thirtieth Movement]], leadership was divided over the organization of the Party.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=Xian |title=Gendered Memories: An Imaginary Museum for Ding Ling and Chinese Female Revolutionary Martyrs |date=2025 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=978-0-472-05719-1 |series=China Understandings Today series |location=Ann Arbor}}</ref>{{Rp|page=113}} Chen and [[Peng Shuzhi]] favored centralized authority, while [[Qu Qiubai]], [[Cai Hesen]], and [[Zhang Guotao]] supported increased autonomy for local Party organizations.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=113}} During the [[5th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|5th Congress]], Qu and Cai criticized Chen and Peng for what they described as rightist opportunism, contending that Chen and Peng's approach impeded the progress of worker's movements and leadership of the proletariat.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=114}}

After the collaboration between the Communist Party and the KMT fell apart in 1927, the Comintern blamed Chen, and systematically removed him from all positions of leadership. In November 1929, he was expelled. Afterwards, Chen became associated with the [[International Left Opposition]] of [[Leon Trotsky]]. Like Chen, Trotsky opposed many of the policies of the Comintern, and publicly criticized the Comintern's effort to collaborate with the Nationalists. Chen eventually became the voice of the Trotskyists in China, attempting to regain support and influence within the party, but failed.{{sfn|Chow|2009}} Chen continued to oppose measures like [[New Democracy]] and the "Block of Four Classes" advocated by [[Mao Zedong]].

After the communist movement in the late 1920s, Chen Duxiu and Leon Trotsky began a complex relationship that was not known in the West. Their relationship reveals the developments of Trotskyism in China and deepen the understanding of the relationship between the Communists of China and Soviet Union. Due to lack of related resources, the public did not have a full understanding of the relationship between Chen Duxiu and Leon Trotsky. Nowadays, this situation has improved for the following reasons. Firstly, more printed materials in Chinese about Chen Duxiu are available. Secondly, in 1980, the "Exile papers of Leon Trotsky" which includes letters, personal notes, manuscripts, and many unpublished resources were made accessible.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kuhfus|first=Peter|date=June 1985|title=Chen Duxiu and Leon Trotsky: New Light on their Relationship|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0305741000029933/type/journal_article|journal=The China Quarterly|language=en|volume=102|pages=253–276|doi=10.1017/S0305741000029933|s2cid=154305254 |issn=0305-7410}}</ref>