CHINESE COMMUNIST RE-INTERPRETATION OF THE MAY 4 MOVEMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R009100210011-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 16, 2000
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: November 5, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2001/03/06 : CIA-RDP82-00457R00910021
CLASSIFICATION GONPIDENT.IAL
CENTF24 T tVfi1.GIC 11F E:NCY REPORT NO.
I N F R MA I REPORT CD NO.
COUNTRY China
SUBJECT Chinese Communist Re-interpretation
of the May 4 Movement
DATE DISTR. 5 November 1951
NO. OF PAGES 2
A% Am
PLACE "a i - "I ) Hy
11 NO.OF ENCLS. . M311
ACQUIRED , tLtsreo BELOW)
DATE OF
INFO.
25X1X
DO NOT CIRCULATE
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
1. The passing of May 4 was accompanied by fanfare and mass demonstrations in
China this year but the occasion was viewed in the new light shed by the
Communist reinterpretation of China?s modern history.
2. MAO Tse-tung, as shown in one of his articles of a decade ago, took the
May 4 movement as a landmark in the development of the Chinese new democratic
movement. He placed stress on the political character of the historic
occasion and even brought the proletariat into the picture, as a contrast
with the traditional emphasis upon its cultural significance.
3. The orthodox Chinese Communist describes the characteristics of the new
democratic movement as including the overthrow of feudalism, bureaucracy and
imperialism. MAO fits the character of the May 4 movement into this
definition. The movement advocated vernacular as against literary writing
and classical expressions which are regarded as a part of feudalistic
culture. The movement clashed with the officialdom of Fedping and other
places, and many students became martyrs under polies'-force, the tool of
bureaucracy then. Hence, the movement is said to have performed an anti-
bureaucratic function. The spark that ignited the conflagration on
May 4, 1919, was the fight against Japanese imperialistic designs on China
after the War. Hence, the anti-imperialistic function of the movement is
established. Furthermore, CHIEN Tu-hsiu and other Communists are
prominently displayed in the new light as the real force in leading the
movement to a successful conclusion. The extension of the movement to the
masses, especially the working class, as shown by the organization of the
railway workers by the students towards the late stage of the movement,
elevated the movement to the level of the proletariat instead of confining
it to the intelligentsia. Because the movement was supported also by the
bourgeoisie and the capitalists, it is pictured as a united front struggle
of the whole nation against feudalism, bureaucracy and imperialism, and this
makes it perfectly a part of the movement of the new democracy.
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Approved For Release 2001/03/06 : CIA-RDP82-00457R009100210011-0
 Approved For Release 2001/03/06 : CIA-RDP82-00457R009100210011-0
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SECURITY INV"ORIATIOP
CENTRAL INTELLIGNNE AGENCY
4. Now, as the masses are gathered to commemorate the historic event, they
are constantly reminded by propaganda to follow the path of May 4 as marked
o by the new interpretation. The date serves a new function of rallying
the people around a different objectives the expansion and consolidation
of the conmeunist regime.
5. Most modern students of Chinese history consider feudalism long passed and
are unwilling to accent the term as a description of Chin's social system
immediately before impact of western influence. While the Communists and
their theoretical followers did argue lengthily on the issue, they ignored
rather than effectively refuted the opposing reasons and evidences. Finally,
they have cones to employ the term to describe the Chinese social system
and culture before the Opium Warp and the period after the Opium War is
characterized as semi-feudalism. All the social injustice and backwardness
in the present Chinese aooiety and culture are pictured as feudalistic or
remnants of feudalism. While such use of the term has the function of
bringing China into theoretic step with Communist interpretation of the
history, of the world, it performs an even more practical and useful service
of giving the Chinese Communists a term to symbolize the object which they,
aim at destroying.
CONFIDENTIAL
Approved For Release 2001/03/06 : CIA-RDP82-00457R009100210011-0