This book examines the introduction of Marxist philosophy to China from the early 1920s to the mid 1940s. It does this through an examination of the philosophical activities and writings of four Chinese Marxist philosophers central to this process. These are Qu Qiubai, Ai Siqi, Li Da and Mao Zedong. The book sets the philosophical writings of these philosophers in the context of the development of Marxist philosophy internationally, and examines particularly the influence on these philosophers of Soviet Marxist philosophy. (...) It argues that these Chinese Marxist philosophers’ interpretations of Marxist philosophy were quite orthodox when judged by the standards of contemporary Soviet Marxism. The book explores core themes in Marxist philosophy in China, including the dilemma of determinism, and investigates the way in which these Chinese Marxist philosophers sought a formula for the ‘Sinification’ of Marxist philosophy that both retained the universal dimensions of Marxism and allowed its application to the Chinese context. The book concludes with analysis of the role of the Yanan New Philosophy Association in developing from Soviet Marxist philosophy the philosophical dimension of Mao Zedong Thought, the official ideology of the Chinese Communist Party after 1945. (shrink)

Analysis of the study of Mao Zedong's philosophical thought in contemporary China is significant for a number of reasons. First, such a project has considerable relevance for Mao studies in the West. Since the early 1980s, Mao scholars in China have pursued their own research in an atmosphere more amenable to academic investigation and judgement than was previously possible. An important consequence of this has been that a number of the documentary and empirical revelations contained in Mao scholarship in China (...) have added considerably to what is known in the West about the development of Mao's thought; indeed, in some instances, the publication of hitherto unknown writings on philosophy by Mao and commentaries on them suggest that earlier debates amongst Western Mao scholars should be reopened and judgements perhaps revised.1 Moreover, the debates amongst Chinese Mao scholars have quite frequently cut across areas of contention amongst Mao scholars in the West, and a considerable number of fresh perspectives have emerged which are of wider interest. (shrink)

Li Da (1890–1966) was one of China’s most important Marxist intellectuals and a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party. He played a major role in the introduction of Marxist philosophy and theory to China and in its dissemination among Chinese revolutionaries. His works are now regarded in China as classics of Marxist philosophy, and he is numbered among the ten most influential Chinese intellectuals of this century. Yet, almost nothing has been written about Li Da in English.In this seminal (...) study, Knight analyzes Li Da’s contribution to the flowering of Marxist philosophy and theory in China, examining Li’s writings and placing them in the context of the Marxist tradition. Knight also explores Li Da’s philosophical relationship with Mao Zedong, who was heavily influenced by Li’s works. Through the lens of Li’s life and thought, this book provides a detailed assessment of the introduction and dissemination of Marxist philosophy and social theory in China. (shrink)