Hans VAN DE VEN (Cambridge University)

LIVING THE SOCIALIST MODERN: The Chinese Communist Party at 100—Global and Interdisciplinary Perspectives [Session 3]

This paper examines the Wuhan popular front government during the Second World War. It will place it in the context of the Comintern's strategy to support popular governments around the world as well as the heritage of 1920s communist insurrections. In this way it will show the linkages between the Netherlands, Spain, the Netherlands East Indies, and China and offer a re-appreciation of the roles Henricus Sneevliet, Wang Ming, and Sutan Sjahrir. The failure of 'Wuhan' opened up the way for the radical nationalisation of Chinese communism under Mao, a form of communism that then became dominant and has remained so.