Book notes
The following publications are not available in most commercial bookstores, because what the authors have to say makes the rich and powerful uncomfortable.
Mountain Fires: The Red Army's Three-Year War in South China, 1934—1938 by Gregor Benton University of California Press, Oxford. 1992. China's Urban Revolutionaries: Explorations in the History of Chinese Trotskyism, 1921—1952 by Gregor Benton. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. 1996 An Oppositionist for Life: Memoirs of the Chinese Revolutionary, Zheng Chaolin. by Zheng Chaolin. (Edited and translated by Gregor Benton.) Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. 1996 Wild Lily, Prairie Fire: China's Road to Democracy, Yan'an to Tian'anmen, 1942 - 1989. edited by Gregor Benton and Alan Hunter. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 1995. The Chinese Revolution broke more Marxist orthodoxies than perhaps any other revolution and recently there has been an explosion in the number of good books on this fascinating subject. Gregor Benton has played a major role in this development, producing both his own studies and translations. It has been Benton's life work to study the multi-faceted reality that lies behind the stilted official histories of Maoist (and post-Maoist) hagiograMountain Fires gives an account of the desperate struggle by those left behind after the departure of the Long March and the collapse of the Jiangxi Soviet. The period of the Three Year War in Central China is one of a grave defeat for the revolutionaries, in some ways worse than the better known defeat of 1927. By exploiting an immense rural crisis they managed to survive with losses proportionally no worse than those of the Long Marchers - despite the fact that the Long Marchers took with them most of the arms, supplies and able bodied men. These 'stay-behinders' were slow to adapt to their new situation, from one in which they were rulers to one in which they were ruled, from conventional to guerrilla warfare. One of the impediments to this change was the need for Xiang Ying, the regional commander, to hide the fact that the bulk of the Red Army had departed, to create the illusion that nothing had changed. In so far as Xiang succeeded in this task, it only added to their problems, for it meant that even more troops were deployed to crush the Communists in Jiangxi. Once these Communists had made the switch to guerrilla warfare, the difficult task was to strike a balance between the need for retuge in the mountain forests and the mountains on the one hand, and the need to maintain contact with the villages and small Most of the book is devoted to the experiences of the scattered, isolated, hounded remnants of the Red Army, the women, children, and the wounded. They suffered severe repression from the encirclement campaigns of Chiang Kai-shek. They also suffered from the murderous factional fighting within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); thousands lost their lives in these bitter struggles'. Each of the different regions has a separate chapter and these are enriched with personal accounts by veterans of the
War. Such a detailed examination might appear to be of interest mainly to specialists in the field, but don't be put off! It is the detailed study that allows a fascinating insight into the human, political and military challenges that these Communists were facing.
The sequel, Spider's Web, due out in a couple of years, will concentrate on the political tactics of the Communists in Central China. It reveals the startlingly unorthodox methods used by those in the towns and villages - as distinct from the more orthodox central leadership. Both of these books will be classics for years to come. China's Urban Revolutionaries is the first history of the Chinese Trotskyists of value. Ignored until recently by historians, Benton shows their history is rich and worthy of study. In particular it was their commitment to socialist democracy that makes their struggle of importance today: "The need for democracy', comments Benton, 'not just as a central plank in its public platform but also as a main beam in the intemal structure of the revolutionary Party itself was [an]...important theme in the history of Chinese Trotskyism.' The first General Secretary of the Left Opposition was Chen Duxiu; he was also General Secretary of the CCP from its beginnings in 1921 through to 1927, when he resigned. He was the giant of the Chinese Revolution and much respected by Trotsky; a seminal and latitudinarian thinker broad enough to encompass a multitude of contradictions', says Benton. Apart from Chen, the Left Opposition also had other capable leaders including Wang Fanxi and Zheng Chaolin. Benton examines both the strengths and weaknesses of the Trotskyist movement. He shows how they misjudged the CCP and also how they failed to develop an adequate strategy after the Japanese invasion in 1937. A major weakness in some Trotskyists was sectarianism and factionalism; this led to the split in 1941 which further weakened them. However, above all, what comes through in this book is the terrific odds against which the Trotskyists were fighting; for all their shortcomings, theirs was a noble defeat. Read this book in conjunction with Wang Fanxi's fascinating autobiography, Memoirs of a Chinese Revolutionary. Included as an appendix to China's Urban Revolutionaries, Benton's translation of Zheng Chaolin's Chen Duxiu and the Trotskyists. Maoist historians have always had great difficulty in dealing with Chen - official Maoist history argues that Chen was only associated with the Trotskyists for a short period. Zheng, however, shows that after studying Trotsky's arguments in 1929, Chen was won to and never broke from Trotskyism even though after 1937 his relationship with the leadership of the Trotskyists' Communist League of China was at times hostile. This view is supported by Chen Duxiu's Last Articles and Letters, edited by Benton but not yet published in English where it is clear that, despite being hostile to the Communist League leadership, Chen identified with Trotskyism and the Fourth International for the rest of his life. Zheng Chaolin's Memoirs also provide a very frank, insightful view of the events and the characters; the combination of his matterof-fact style, his impressive memory and his transparent honesty
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is very refreshing. The translation of his book is particularly welcome because this great veteran of the Trotskyist movement (now ninety five years old), who spent thirty four years in gaol for his principles, and who has gained the respect even of his opponents, has been badly neglected by his comrades in the Fourth Interational. The struggle for socialist democracy did not end in 1952 when the Trotskyists were rounded up in a nation—wide swoop. In Wild Lily, Prairie Fire Benton traces the development of the pro-democracy struggles in China from 1942 through to the Tian anmen Square uprising in 1989. The book is a collection of documents which give a fascinating overview of the unfolding drama in the form of speeches, resolutions and statements by activists; there is also a final chapter presenting the 'intellectuals critique'. A long introduc tion by Benton (some 60 pages) places the various documents to in their context. This follows the patter of its predecessor, Wild Lilies, Poisonous Weeds; one of the five sections contains material from the earlier book. The new introduction alone makes it worth reading this book as well. Mao believed that thanks to his reputation he could use the pressure of popular movements to police the Party and boost his position within the bureaucracy, but he was not prepared to allow those movements any real independence. In a very readable, compelling piece, Benton shows how the disastrous policies of the CCP government gradually eroded the basis of its support, first with the intellectuals, then the peasants, and finally with the workers. China, he notes, differs from the Soviet Union, since in the latter country Revolutionaries They Couldn't Break by Ngo Van (translated by Harry Ratner), Index Books, London 1995. 234pp £11.95. Revolutionaries They Couldn't Break is a gripping account of the struggles that exploded between 1930 and 1945 in Vietnam, with special emphasis on the role of Trotskyist activists. New light is shed on the origins and formation of the Indo-Chinese Communist Party (PCI), fore-runner of the Communist Party of Vietnam. An amalgam of nationalism and Stalinism, the PCI was a devoted follower of the twists and turns of the Soviet bureaucracy. Far from leading the masses, the PCI was often way behind the consciousness of workers and peasants in their struggle against French and Japanese colonialism. While Ho Chi Minh was looking for help from the Chinese Guomindang (Kuomintang) after their massacre of Communists in Shanghai and Guandong (Canton), and cultivating the support of landlords and capitalists, a number of Vietnamese political activists came in France came into contact with Trotskyism. Among their number was Ta Thu Thau. From 1933 onwards Thau and his comrades became active in Saigon politics. The authorities repeatedly annulled election results, arresting and torturing members of the group. The Trotskyists of the Struggle group and the League of International Communists exercised a real influence, particularly in Cochin China. They organised thousands of militants and, according to colonial records, were more popular than the PCI among the urban working class. The Trotskyists were also well implanted among the peasantry. Their literature shows close attention to rural grievances and revolutionary potential. No 'underestimation' of the peasantry here! During the 'mini-revolution' of August 1945 The Struggle published a daily newspaper with a print run in excess of 15,000 copies! Ho Chi Minh was concerned about their growing popularity. Although his own supporters had collaborated with Trotskyists bet34 International Viewpoint n° 270 - October 1995 the goverment never felt able to use the mass movement to achieve its aims. Of course, in China these movements were grossly manipulated - but there were also currents and individuals fighting to take an independent line. By the time that Deng Xiaoping took over, he was not able to risk using Mao's form of legitimation. He therefore attempted, through economic reforms, to de-politicise the country and to create a middle class that would serve as a new basis of support. The 1989 uprising was the consequence both of the dynamic unleashed by the reforms (the demonstrators were supported by the powerful and privately owned Stone Computer Company) and by the failure of the reforms. The 1989 demonstrations were the first truly independent, mass actions for democracy since 1949, but also the first time there was a significant force in favour of restoring capitalism. Most of the activists, though, retained their faith in socialism. The various documents are thoughtfully chosen. They deal with a range of issues and include a wide spectrum of political views, from those fighting for socialist democracy to those who equate progress and democracy with capitalism. This book will be invaluable for those wanting to understand future developments in China; it provides a wealth of information to enable readers to reach their own opinion on the developments there. It is also a good read. Reviewed by Richard Owens, E-mail 100554,3557@compuserve.com ween 1934 and 1936 in the publication of a common paper, he wrote to the Comintern in 1939 that the time would soon come to politically exterminate the Trotskyists. In September and October 1945 he delivered on his promise, arresting and killing their leaders, including Ta Thu Thau. The repression destroyed the groups. The handful who survived in Vietnam had no choice but to abandon active politics. The organisational and political continuity with these brave fighters for internationalism and socialist democracy, and against the bureaucratic Communist Parties is maintained by the group of comrades in France who publish Chroniques Vietnamiennes. Ngo Van deserves our sincere thanks. As an eye-witness and participant in these events, he restores a forgotten chapter in the history of the international workers movement. The recovery of these ideas is an essential part of the construction of a genuine revolutionary Marxist party in Vietnam today. Ngo Van's book helps that struggle. Reviewed by K. Govindan (Socialist Outlook, Aug. 95)
Recommended reading on Vietnam Revolutionary History Vol.3 No.2 (Autumn 1990) Vietnam and Trotskyism, by Simon Pirani (1987) To announce your publication in this free listing, send a sample copy to "Book reviews" c/o International Viewpoint, PECI, BP 85, 75522 Paris cedex 11, France To order, try your nearest progressive bookstore, contact the publishers directly, or write to :La Breche, 9 rue de Tunis, 75011 Paris, France tel. (+33 1) 43 67 63 57 fax 43 79 29 61 (English, French and Spanish spoken).
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International Viewpoint n° 270-October 1995 34
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