A t the first en larg ed conference of the Provisional Political Bureau of the CPC, in N ovem ber 1927, the Party passed a num ber of draft resolutions, analysing Chinese society in a new light. The Party for the first tim e a d o p te d the concept of the AMP in its D raft R esolution on the A grarian Q uestion. It d istin g u ish ed the Chinese agrarian econom y and Chinese land relations not only from those of m odern European and American capitalism , but also from those of the E uropean M iddle Ages (pre-capitalist). The differences betw een the Chinese and the W estern agrarian system, according to the Draft, were m ainly d u e to the special conditions of C hina's "natural environm ent a n d h isto ric a l d e v e lo p m e n t" . T hese in c lu d e d C h in a 's special ag ric u ltu ral m eth o d s, notably the necessity of artificial irrig atio n [rengong guangai], the early developm ent of commercial and usurer's capital [shangye zhongli ziben], and the necessity of large-scale public projects. All this produced a particular C hinese socio-economic system w hich M arx and Lenin [not true, b u t it h ad to be said] defined as the Asiatic m ode of production [yazhou shi de shengchan fangfa zhidu].49
48 John Clammer, "China and the 'Asiatic Mode of Production': An Inquiry", in J. C lam m er, Anthropology and Political Economy, Theoretical and Asian Perspectives, Macmillan, London, 1985, p. 124.
49 Li Fu, "Zhongguo gongchandang tudi wenti danggang caoan" [A Draft Resolution of the CPC on Agrarian Questions], Buersaiweike [Bolshevik], No.6, 1927, pp. 155-
Chapter 2, the Comintern, the CPC and the AMP 71
The Draft was m ainly a political document. But it also touched on the question of Chinese historical developm ent w hen it tried to find som e evidence in history to su p p o rt its position. It claim ed that in China, "zhuhou zhidu de caiyi" [the principalities and benefice system] and the m onopoly land system of "guizhu fayue" [aristocratic family of pow er and influence] had been totally destroyed before the Qin. After a long period of anarchy and ruthless "class combat" [jieji zhandou], the AMP was finally formed. The state [form] changed from a composition of m any sm all principalities and benefices into an Asiatic despotic political pow er (p. 156). The AMP in China, according to the Draft, was characterized by a large num ber of isolated small peasant economies, unified state political p o w er and artificial irrig atio n su p p o rtin g a pow erful bureaucracy. The highly developed bureaucratic system and the com bination of agriculture and family m anufacture (spinning and weaving) increased the internal stability of the AMP (p. 155).
The D raft p aid m ore attention to C hina's peculiar characteristics than to those w hich China had in com m on w ith other societies in the world. This show s that until the late 1920s the M arxist interpretation of Chinese history w as still in its form ative period and less dom inated by Leninist-Stalinist orthodoxy. Thus, it was possible for the CPC to deny a universal m odel of historical developm ent. M oreover, in order to give a m aterialist su p p o rt to the theory, the D raft tried to em phasize the roles of the "n a tu ra l en v iro n m en t of p ro d u ctio n and the special
156. This Resolution, written by a certain Li Fu (an alias) together with other four documents were prepared for the Sixth National Congress of the CPC but were rejected by the Congress.
conditions of historical developm ent" in the m aking of these "peculiar characteristics" (p. 155), a view sim ilar to the so-called geographical d e te rm in is m for w h ich P le k h an o v a n d W ittfo g el w e re la te r denounced.
On the o th er h an d , the D raft also confirm ed the trad itio n al in te rp retatio n of C hinese history, w hich believed th at the C hinese "feng jian" system had been destroyed after the Qin Dynasty. The Draft attem p ted to give a M arxist explanation of the n atu re of the society follow ing "feng jian" by using the concept of the AMP. The AMP was treated as a hig h er stage (based on a well organized b ureaucratic system) after the Chinese "zhuhou caiyi" [principalities and benefice] system (pp. 155-156). Thus, the Draft m aintained that it was the AMP rather than W estern feudalism or the Chinese "feng jian" system that foreign pow ers m et w hen they first intruded into China.
The D raft also carefully avoided the use of "feudalism " to define the n atu re of the pre-Q in China. According to the D raft, before the fo rm atio n of the AM P, th ere h ad been "z h u h o u z h id u de caiyi" [benefice of p rin cip ality system ] or sim ply "zh u h o u caiyi" and the m onopoly land system of "fa yue" [pow erful and influential families] (pp. 155-156). N ow here in the docum ent w as the w ord "feudalism " used. Of course, "principality" and "benefice" could also be found in E uropean feudal society b u t again they w ere dissim ilar from Chinese "zhuhou" and "caiyi", not only in the w ay an aristocrat7s title and land w ere g ran ted , b u t also in the relationship betw een the g rantor and grantee. This avoidance of the use of feudalism and the arrangem ent of the place of the AMP in Chinese history can, perhaps, be considered as an effort to distinguish entire Chinese history from that of the West,
Chapter 2, the Comintern, the CPC and the AMP 73
u n d e rsto o d by M arxist general theory of historical evolution, not m erely the difference betw een C hinese "feng jian" an d E u ropean feudalism (p. 156).
For som e reasons, how ever, w e sh o u ld not overestim ate the influence of the D raft on the history of the CPC and its influence on Chinese M arxist historiography.
First, politically, w hen the concept of the AMP was applied to the C hinese rev o lu tio n ary m ovem ent, it created a dilem m a for C hinese com m unists: the denial of the "norm al" dev elo p m en t of C hinese society w ould lead to the denial of the validity of the existence of the C o m m u n ist P arty an d the n ecessity of a C h in ese co m m u n ist revolution. This, of course, w ould not have em barrassed a nationalist party like the KMT who believed that the com m unist system w as not suitable for C hina.50 But it w ould be a serious threat to a political party w h ich claim ed to act in accordance w ith the law of h isto rical developm ent. This m ay explain w hy later, w hen the question of the AMP became w idely discussed in China, the KMT intellectuals seem ed m o re in te re s te d in the term w hile the C o m m u n ists "rem a in e d relatively quiet on the issue and ten d ed on the w hole to reject the validity of the concept in the form suggested by its major advocates".51
50 See, for example, Joint Manifesto of Sun Yat-sen and A.A. Joffe, in which Sun claimed that "because of the non-existence of conditions favourable to their successful application in China, it is not possible to carry out either Communism or even the Soviet system in China". See C. Brandt (et al), A Documentary History of Chinese Communism, Atheneum, New York, 1973, p.70.
51 Arif Dirlik, Revolution and History, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978, p.191.
P artly because the D raft paid m ore atten tio n to its political function rather than its theoretical contribution, the Draft on the other h a n d looked relatively ro u g h and inconsistent. To som e extent, it created m ore self-contradictions than contributions. At one place, for exam ple, the D raft called on the workers and peasants to fight against w arlords and landlords. At another place, it also said that "landlords w ant to change the old 'A siatic' land ow nership to a m odern capitalist private ow nership" (p. 159). These w ords w ere rather confusing. If the C hinese rev o lu tio n w as d irected against Asiatic rath er than feudal survivals, then, the landlords w ho "w ant to change the 'old' Asiatic land ownership" should be treated as allies of the revolution. But, if the lan d lo rd s w ho w ere against the rem nants of the AMP w ere the target of the C hinese revolution, the rem nants of the AMP they w ere against, perhaps, should not be w iped out with them.
Second, theoretically, it is well know n that M arx’s concept of the AMP itself is far from being satisfactory and perfect. The application of the concept of the AMP to the stu d y of Chinese history produced at least tw o problem s. First, to interpret Chinese history after the Q in-Han p e rio d as an A siatic society w as in conflict w ith M arx's ow n un d erstan d in g of the origin of the AMP which came into being directly from p rim itiv e com m unal society as a result of the need for large public projects; second, the Asiatic form of p ro p erty was defined by Marx as a type of public ow nership while private ow nership became legalized after the Qin-Han period.
Finally, this first attem pt to in terp ret the C hinese revolution in line w ith the theory of the AMP came too late to help the P arty to develop a new political strategy directed against the "rem nants of the
Chapter 2, the Comintern, the CPC and the AMP 75
AMP" before it was criticized by Stalinists of the C om intern and was finally rejected by the Sixth National Congress of the CPC.52
3. Back to O rthodox Marxism
In July 1928, at its Sixth N ational Congress (held in Moscow), the CPC, u n d e r the su p erv isio n of the CPSU and the C om intern, re orientated its position on the question of the AMP in accordance with the C om intern's official line.
In a new ly ad o p ted Resolution on the A grarian Q uestion, the P arty reaffirm ed the anti-feudal n atu re of the C hinese revolution. After adm itting certain differences betw een the historical developm ent of C hinese "feng jian" and E uropean feu d alism ,53 the Resolution claim ed th a t the "p rev io u s state feu d al system (so-called state ow n ersh ip of land)" and "private landlord ow nership" coexisted in parallel an d struggled w ith each other. But this situation could not change the basic fact that the present economic and political system in C hina m u st be defined as sem i-feudal system [ban fengjian zhidu]. It was w rong, the R esolution claim ed, to reg ard the m odern Chinese
52 As we show above, the first criticism from the Comintern authority was given