NEW SOVIET ENCYCLOPEDIA DISCOVERS MAO TSE-TUNG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700200032-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 31, 2011
• Sequence Number: 32
• Publication Date: September 1, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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STAT
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/31: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700200032-2
STAT
NEW SOVIET ENCYCLOPEDIA "DISCOVERS" MAO ME=TOG
Although both the first and second editions of the Bol'shaya Sovetskaya
Entsikloped~YS (Large Soviet Encyclopedia) summarize the history of Chinese
Communism, under entries headed "Cormiunist Party of China," they contain varying
estimates . the role of Mao Tse-tunr, in the Chinese gnmmnnist movement. This
report attempts to show how thoxougJily the 'bncyclopedic" estimate of Mao's roil has been re-
vised in the second edition. Th s is done by presenting, in parallel columns,
parts of the texts of two articles from the 1936 and 1953 editions of the ency-
clopedia concerning correspondin-; periods in the history of the Chinese Communist
Party up to 1936, and by commenting on some of the significant differences be-
tween these articles.
General Characteristics
In the first c!i'i .l the entry on the Chinese 'Ommunist Party is a section
of the article entr le'. 'i:hina," but in the second edition this entry appears in
its own right as a separate article (as is true for all other Communist parties).
The first edition covers the Chinese Communist movement up through 1936, the date
of publication of Volume 32, in which the account appeared. The article on the
Communist Party of China in the second edition of the encyclopedia, appears in
Vol. -7e 22, published in the fall of 1953, and treats the history of Chinese Com-
munism up to that time. The article in the first edition was written by a group
of scholars under the direction of Pavel Mif -- a leading Soviet authority on
China, head of the Sun Yat-sen Academy in Moscow in the late 1920's, and Comintern
delegate to China in the early 1930's. Author of the article t? the G ..,.nr.,
tion is A. A. Martynov -- probably the Col A. Martynov who reviewed volume 1, 2,
and of the Russian edition of Mao Tse-tung's Collected Works in the 1 December
19Krasnav ar Zvezda, organ of the Ministry of Defense USSR.
Aside from these technical differences, comparison of the articles on the
Chinese Communist Party in the first and second editions of the encyclopedia
shows a sharp contrast in their evaluations of Mao Tse-tung's role in the
Chinese Communist movement. The 1953 edition assigns to Mao the outstanding
role in the history of Chinese Communism, holding him up as the leading propo-
nent of the "correct" Marxist-Leninist analysis of the revolution, whose strate-
gic and tactical formulations could not be successfully executed, because of
various "deviationists" within the party leadership, until he gained formal con-
trol of the party in January 1935. In contrast, the 1936 article contains but
two cursory references to Mao, without the slightest suggestion that he was the
orthodox Marxist-Leninist champion in China or that he had devised any revolu-
tionary strategy or tactics. The earlier article in fact, gives the impression
that from 1930 through 1936 the leading Chinese advocate of the "correct" Marxist
line for China was Wang Ming (pseudonym for Ch'en Si -yu), head of the Chinese
Commu ist Part., to 1o11-1932 and subsequently Chinese delepat.A +n the r.r,m{ptcrn--
the same Wang Ming who is c e rLi1" irf`aor;; Witt, tr,du unions !seo t nslation below). The atten-
tion given in the earlier account to details of the labor movement in the cities
in the years 1928_1'29 coot.nib mireedly w;th the specific statement in the
later version that uurfn, tt:u=e years Mao had formulated the strategy of "trans-
ferring the train enipi,esie [iitei Ily center of gravity] of Party work to the
rural areas so that the f:,r.:? of the working class might lead the revolutionary
struggle of the peasant;"(n 20j;see translation below). It is clear from the
e.outext of this statement that tie "eadership of the peasant revolution by the
working class" is merely a for?ru,1't t.u meet the requirements of orthodox Marxism-
Leninism. Moscow's continuing Interest in Communist work in the cities is shown
in the last statement of the 1;)36 article: "In Kuomintang territory, where it
has been driven deep underground, the (Chines Communist Party, under conditions
of the most brutal terror, Ic leading tee brcvrd p,eople's anti-imperialist move-
ment and the strike stn:;;gie of the woritin;; cuss."
(p 694)
"The Sixtn Con,;re-_ of t -M, ; t,: nest:
Cor'i,nisi Party (June-Ju,y dur-
ing the temporar lu',1 in lh?_1Gr vcu?*,i
movement which had arrived =fter the defeat
Inflicted by the bo.,r;reoise -, ,r;,1, ri b'itr
on the workers and peasant;, in 1x17. in a
sharp stnt,rg1e on tw(- fronts -- arninit the
right--liquidators 'supporter: of cru_he,i
Ch'en Tu-hejuism) and a:rairst r t h E3 Ls
and semi-Trots}yites - the Sixtn Congress
worked out the political line of the Party,
basing its decisions on the folio-in,? find-
inr;s of the Ninth Plenwn of thu ?i,'cut ve
Committee of the Communisr, Intl-'-n t.icna
which were i.ater? coufinne,l L,v ti::e Iiixthl
Comintern Congiecst 'lu-i prr:cnt curio,,
of the Chinese revolution is tie- rec'iod
of the bourgeois-democratic revs ,.:ion,
which has not been completed fr;'m ripe
economic point of view (n;gru iuu
tion fund the destruction of !'ended re-
lations), or from the point of view of a
national strug' ie a ainst, l.m r;=rites,
(?nification of China ar,i nu'.,-)r:+,i iu:ic-
pendence), or fr?r:ni t',e p,,1nr. ,i ? `! ni
the class nature :-f tire- .?iiu:; iw..,.,
Second Edition
"The Chinese Communist Parma
in the Period of the Second Civil
Revolutionary War 1927-193
After the Kuomintangists and their
government in Wuhan crossed over
into the camp of counterrevolution,
the Chinese Communist Party, unde:?
the assaults of foreign and domes-
tic reaction and after removing,
Ch'en Tu-hsiu and other opportun-
ists from their leadership (at
the Extraordinary Conference of
the Central Committee, 7 August
1)27), organized a number of up-
risings from autumn 1927 through
the spring of 1928.... Being
rear-guard battles of the revolu-
tion. "hick had suffered a tem-
porary Defeat, these uprisings
opened the Second Civil Revolu-
tionary War, which was character-
'I,- hegemony of the pro-
" I the revolution and
the rallying of the multimillion
sent masses ar?rund the working
Cnnsider'able harm to the
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First Edition
(dictatorship of the proletariat
and peasantry).' (The Commnunist
International in Documents,
Partizdet, Moscow, 1933, p 763:;?.
The [Sixth] Congress [of the Chinese
Communist Party) proclaimed as the
basic task the struggle fur the
masses, particularly the creation of
revolutionary trade unions, the organ-
ization of work in mass Kuornintanl3
trade-union organizations, etc.
The Congress proposed a program of
unaltered slogans for agrarian rev-
olution in the countryside, correct-
ing the errors of previous dec. i;i.:us
In providing the basis for Li-sc-
decisions and in its taeticai conclu-
sions, the Congress did not er,csp?>
imprecise, erroneous
which were later to give rise to a
right-opportunist line on alliance
with the kulaks (Li Li -ran.. 'C,k;ng
into account the specific ne(u,i-
arities of the development of the
Chinese revolution... the Congress
gave directions for the creation of
armed detachments of workers and
peasants for the organization of Soviet
authority in that part of the Kuo'nint5.ng
territory where the people's rebellion
was successful, for a strut,,,, e I ur-u-
serve the centers of Soviet pe.rr .rd
Second Edition
successful conduct of the Party
line was inflicted by the errors
of the 'left'-deviationists, who
looked upon the uprisings nnt as
iefensiv- t'At,tles . 'ti "ected toward
the preservation and strengthening
of the revolutionary forces., but
as offensive battles. These
left'-deviationisterrors were
condemned at the Sixth Congress
of the Chinese Communist Party
July 1928). The Sixth Congress
determined that the revolution
continued to be bourgeois-demo-
cratic In nature. Considering
he arrival of a new revolution-
ary upsurge in the country as
ite.ble, the Chinese Communist
Puff; carried out the line of
winning over the masses in the
city and village, of unfolding
the agrarian revolution, of es-
tablishing revolutionary bases
in rural areas, of creating organs
of people's power -- organs of an
anti-imperialist and antifeudal
democratic dictatorship of the
proletariat and peasantry, and of
the creation and maximum strength-
ening and increase of the Red
r,rrn .
Red Army detachments as strong point- "An outstanding role in the
of the future revolutiona:y uns+rge successes of the Chinese Communist
"The year which followed ine yrvrh Party in the Second Civil Revolu-
Con ionary War was played by Mao
Congress passed with the Comununist ire-tong. In his works Wh Can
waging a strenuous battle to rec:tore Red Power Exist in China 192 ,
the Party organizations which red been The Struggle in Chingkanshan
destroyed by the counterr,voluticn and 1928), and others, Mao Tse-tung
demoralized by the right- and ':crt'- gave a Marxist analysis of the
1igti4ators and with partisan detach- Luatien which had developed in
ments engaging in selfless enccurrt.ars to
preserve the armed forces and centers of Chit after the temporary defeat
the revolutionary worker-peasant power. of the revolution. Mao Tse-tung
A majorit,',, of active Party members lost showed that the main
work during these diff:r?~t yc:.rs of this situation were were the contra-
diction; among the vmperiali is
According to the materials of the Centr,l sad ruling classes of China, the
Committee of the Chinese Comunis.t. Party, ever-increasing enthusiasm of the
the maximum number of workers in The peasants for the agrarian revolu-
entire Party did not exceed nnn ti
o the concentration of the
many large urban centers.., Cor:nuni:r 75rgc military and police forces
organizational work was not carried on of Chiang Kai-shek and the im-
for an extended period of time. After perialists in the large cities
the Wuhan period the number of r,vo?u- of China and the weakness of their
tionary trade unions declined. from 7?4 forces _n the rural areas. Wao
to 81; driven deep underground, th 7; bar? 'Ise-tturg, creatively applying
no real mass character..., Mareist-Leninist principles to
7 -
i
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?rltorn the
leaderut' .r +
T:1,-ro ... r, say +Lt7-_ ., .:Sno t
FU-at c^?lition
C? ante.ravcu.utiona-', Tr L-
sl'itee concleded a bloc sr_tn
right-reltegades (Ch'e.,
for joint strut; l.e against, T'.- 1 and the line charted by the .,ix n
Comintern Ccngresns and the Sixth
Qongress of the (a;ine'o 7c3, t
Party..
ti; ne,
by ttw Si .th Cnrnreoe u out.-'?z
effort tofr?.'i:.nriSrL :;?,;,},
Party urrre::iz=.-
tion itr:_,?;khe;an?;z d,..;ip1ir.;,
cer_eolidating t ..
e tie.., oe tr,,;
Cntral and [Ile iF.'=r lirt-
periphery.... ~.n .Ld - baa's
up t,. 300.100 worker1- At the
end cf
1921;, and .specially in 1';
nictS ,-?.i.n 1:1 the rr.;,v_..._..
it, a acre .ergsniz foe- and 1
3r
it to the genera.!- task or
..I,,
'worker:; ` 'r.:7?: :~L'_`t1t :'Gw