The Communist aim of proletarian hegemony in the Chinese revolution was given concrete expression through the Canton Commune—reflected in the policies and strategies that led to the uprising, in the makeup and program of the Soviet setup in Canton, and in the subsequent assessment of the revolt by the Comintern and the Chinese Communist Party. “Proletarian Hegemony” in the Chinese Revolution and the Canton Commune of 1927 describes these developments and, with the further ideological treatment given the Commune serving as a backdrop, will then examine the continuing evolution and ultimate transformation of the proletarian line and the concept of proletarian leadership in the post-1927 history of Chinese Communism. [3]

Based mainly on Russian and Chinese archival sources that have become available only since the early 1990s, the authors of this collection explore the main aspects of the Chinese Revolution in the crucial period of the 1920s, such as the United Front policy, the development of communism, the Guomindang perspective, institutional issues and social movements. The various approaches and interpretative methods employed by the contributors from seven countries have resulted in a collection of articles representing four very different and until now almost independent discourses: the European, the American, the Chinese, and the Russian.