An Intellectual-Historical Investigation of the Spread of the Concept of “Communist Party” in China

After the Opium War, Chinese men and women of ideals and integrity, confronted with profound calamities such as the cession of territory and the payment of indemnities, one after another sought a path to self-strengthening, shifting from importing technology to imitating Western-style institutions, then turning to European and American culture, and even some advocating “wholesale Westernization.” Amid the great tide of studying abroad, in 1904 Chinese students in Japan took note of portions of the *Communist Manifesto* translated by the Japanese. In the early years of the Xinhai Revolution, newspapers in Shanghai and Shenyang began to carry the term “Chinese Communist Party.” [1]1 The Xinhai Revolution (1911–1912) overthrew the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China. Thereafter, with a multitude of parties contending, various political parties bearing the name “Communist Party” emerged in succession and then vanished overnight, among which several parties calling themselves the “Chinese Communist Party” also appeared. History and the people, selecting the Communist Party from among the various political parties, and then selecting from among the various Chinese “Communist Parties” the one that truly represented the people’s interests—the Chinese Communist Party—underwent a gradually unfolding historical process. Investigating the origin and dissemination of the concept of “Communist Party” in China holds important theoretical value and practical significance for expanding the discourse system of Party building with Chinese characteristics and deepening the understanding of the laws governing Communist Party governance.

鸦片战争后中国仁人志士面对割地赔款等深重灾难，纷纷探寻自强之道，从引进技术转向效法西式制度，后又转向欧美文化，甚至有人倡导“全盘西化”。在留洋大潮当中，1904年中国留日学生关注到日本人翻译的《共产党宣言》部分章节。辛亥革命初年，上海和沈阳的报刊开始出现“中国共产党”的提法。此后多党林立，冠名为“共产党”的各类政党相继涌现又昙花一现，其中自称为“中国共产党”的政党亦有好几个。历史和人民从各种政党中选择共产党，继而从各种中国“共产党”中选择真正代表人民利益的中国共产党，经历了逐渐发展的历史过程。考察中国“共产党”的概念起源和传播历程，对拓展中国特色党建话语体系和深化认识共产党执政规律，有着重要的理论价值和现实意义。

I. The Early Dissemination of the Concept of “Communist Party” in China

一、“共产党”概念在中国的早期传播

Political parties, as a new product of capitalism opposing feudalism, originated in the West and emerged in the 17th century. With the deepening of the Industrial Revolution and the development of bourgeois political parties, the inherent contradictions and drawbacks of capitalism gradually became exposed, and proletarian political parties arose in response. Engels pointed out: “The proletariat, to be strong enough to win at the decisive moment, must (Marx and I have held this position since 1847) form a special party distinct from all other parties and opposed to them, a conscious class party.” [2]2 This quotation is from Engels’s 1889 letter “To the Italian Reader,” introducing the *Communist Manifesto*. In 1847, Marx and Engels, commissioned by the Communist League (whose predecessor was the League of the Just), drafted the party program the *Communist Manifesto*, which was published in February 1848. This manifesto expounded the ideas of scientific socialism, put forward Marxist theory of Party building, and proclaimed to the world the mission and program, nature and purpose, and the driving force and influence of the development of the proletarian party. This had a source-level impact on the dissemination of the concept of the Communist Party in China and the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.

政党作为新兴的资本主义对抗封建主义的产物，发端于西方，诞生于17世纪。随着工业革命的深入和资产阶级政党的发展，资本主义内在矛盾与弊端逐渐暴露，无产阶级政党应运而生。恩格斯指出：“无产阶级要在决定关头强大到足以取得胜利，就必须(马克思和我从1847年以来就坚持这种立场)组成一个不同于其他所有政党并与它们对立的特殊政党，一个自觉的阶级政党。”1847年马克思、恩格斯受共产主义者同盟（前身是正义者同盟）委托，撰写了政党纲领《共产党宣言》，1848年2月出版发行。该宣言阐述了科学社会主义思想，提出了马克思主义建党理论，向世人宣示了共产党的使命和纲领、性质和宗旨、无产阶级政党的发展动力和影响力，这对共产党概念在中国的传播和中国共产党的创立，产生了源发性影响。

In November 1904, the Japanese-founded *Weekly Commoners’ Newspaper* [*Shūkan Heimin Shimbun*] for the first time translated the party program drafted by Marx and Engels for the Communist League as the *Communist Manifesto*, which drew the attention of Chinese students in Japan. Chinese students not only took note of the *Communist Manifesto* but also intended to translate and disseminate it to their countrymen. The first Chinese to translate portions of the *Communist Manifesto* into Chinese was “Shu Hun” (a pseudonym of the translator), published in Tokyo in 1907. In January 1908, Chinese anarchists founded the *Natural Justice* [*Tianyi Bao*] in Tokyo, which published the preface to the *Communist Manifesto* under the translator’s signature “Min Ming,” followed in subsequent months by the complete first chapter, and in the second half of 1908 published a Chinese translation, which forthrightly raised the issues of class struggle and the mission of the Communist Party. Zhu Zhixin, one of the founders of the Chinese Revolutionary League (Tongmenghui), edited the *People’s Journal* [*Min Bao*], taking the lead in translating and citing portions of the *Communist Manifesto* within China, disseminating to the Chinese people the situation of the proletariat’s struggle against the bourgeoisie, and was called by Mao Zedong “the pioneer of the dissemination of modern Marxism in China.” [3]3 Zhu Zhixin (1885–1920) was a prominent revolutionary and early Marxist publicist in China. After the outbreak of the October Revolution, the translation and publication of portions of the *Communist Manifesto* within China greatly increased. For example, before the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement, the *Weekly Review* [*Meizhou Pinglun*] in April 1919 published the second chapter of the *Communist Manifesto*, translated by Cheng Shewo. Chen Duxiu, in an editor’s note appended to “The Proletarians and the Communists,” pointed out that this manifesto was the earliest and most important opinion of Marx and Engels, its gist being to advocate class war and call for the union of laborers everywhere. The *National* [*Guomin*] magazine also published the content of the first chapter of the *Communist Manifesto*, translated by Li Zezhang. In December 1919, an abridged edition of the *Communist Manifesto* (from the German edition) appeared, translated by Luo Zhanglong. On this basis, in 1920 Chen Wangdao translated the full text of the *Communist Manifesto*, and with this the first complete Chinese translation of the *Communist Manifesto* was published in China, and the appellation and ideas of the Communist Party were further disseminated across the Chinese land.

1904年11月，日本创办的《周刊·平民报》第一次把马克思、恩格斯为共产主义者同盟起草的党纲翻译为《共产党宣言》，这引起了中国留日学生的注意。中国留学生不仅关注《共产党宣言》，而且有意翻译传播给国人。最早把《共产党宣言》部分章节翻译为中文的中国人是“蜀魂”（蜀魂为译者的署名），1907年在东京出版。1908年元月，中国的无政府主义者在东京创办了《天义报》，刊发了署名为译者“民鸣”的《共产党宣言》序言，随后几个月连续刊完该宣言的第一章，1908年下半年刊行了中文译本，开宗明义提出了阶级斗争和共产党的使命。中国同盟会创始人之一朱执信编辑《民报》，在内地率先翻译引述了《共产党宣言》部分内容，向国人传播了无产阶级对资产阶级的斗争状况，被毛泽东称之为“中国近代马克思主义传播的拓荒者”。十月革命爆发后，中国内地翻译出版《共产党宣言》的章节大大增加。比如“五四运动”爆发之前，《每周评论》1919年4月刊载了《共产党宣言》的第二章，翻译者为成舍我。陈独秀在《无产者与共产党人》中加注按语指出这个宣言是马克思和恩格斯最先最重大的意见，其要旨在主张阶级战争，要求各地的劳工联合。《国民》杂志也发表了《共产党宣言》第一章的内容，翻译者是李泽彰。1919年12月，《共产党宣言》（德文版）的节缩本问世，翻译者是罗章龙。在此基础上，1920年陈望道全文翻译了《共产党宣言》，至此首部中文全译本《共产党宣言》在中国发行，共产党的称谓与思想在中国大地得到进一步传播。

In the early years of the Republic of China, political parties sprang up like a host of rivals. Besides the emergence of some socialist parties and various workers’ parties and labor parties that claimed to represent the interests of workers, several political parties that explicitly raised the banner of “Communist Party” also appeared. In the spring of 1912, someone placed an advertisement in a newspaper to organize a “Chinese Communist Party,” openly recruiting members: “The Chinese Communist Party seeks comrades: This party is being organized. Comrades at home and abroad who wish to offer guidance or sign up, please write to the Newspaper Reading Society at Wen De Qiao, Nanjing. This notice.” This is the earliest record discovered to date of the appearance of the name “Chinese Communist Party” in Chinese newspaper and periodical literature. Less than a month later, on April 28, 1912, a Shenyang newspaper announced the organizational platform of another “Chinese Communist Party”: “A certain person in Nanjing, named Wu, for the sake of equalizing the rich and poor, has specially organized the Chinese Communist Party at Jiangning Public School, and will soon hold its inaugural meeting. The various policies the party intends to pursue are recorded as follows: (a) Uphold the republican government; (b) Abolish the system of private property; (c) Nationalize land; (d) Establish social workshops; (e) Promote mass education; (f) Equalize labor hours.” The appearance of the appellation “Chinese Communist Party” and its political platform in the first year of the Republic of China indicates that the Xinhai Revolution overthrew more than two thousand years of feudal monarchy, pushed open the door to China’s progress, disseminated the concepts of democratic republicanism and Communist ideas, further enlightened the people and cultivated a new citizenry, and manifested the spirit of the times.

民国初年政党异军突起，除了涌现了一些号称代表工人利益的社会党和各类工党、劳动党，还出现了几个明确打出“共产党”旗号的政党。1912年春天，有人登报组建“中国共产党”，公开招募党员，“中国共产党征集同志：本党方在组织，海内外同志有愿赐教及签名者，请通函南京文德桥阅报社为叩，此布。”这是迄今发现的中国报刊文献中出现“中国共产党”名称的最早记载。不到一个月，即1912年4月28日，沈阳的报纸告示了另一个“中国共产党”的组党纲领：“南京现有名无吾者为求均平贫富起见，特组织中国共产党于江宁公学，不日即开成立大会。兹将该党所拟进行各政照录于下：（甲）替戴共和政府；（乙）破除财产相继制度；（丙）土地收归国有；（丁）建设社会工场；（戊）提倡平民教育；（己）平均劳动时间。”民国元年“中国共产党”称谓及其政治主张的出现，表明辛亥革命推翻了两千多年的封建帝制，推开了中国进步的大门，传播了民主共和的观念和共产党的思想，进一步开启民智、培育新民，彰显了时代气息。

In 1914, Liu Shifu, on the basis of the “Hui Ming Study Society” and the “Heart Society,” established the “Chinese Anarchist Communist Party.” [4]4 Liu Shifu (1884–1915) was a leading Chinese anarchist thinker and activist in the early Republic. In July 1915, members of the Chinese Revolutionary League, including Huang Jiemin, Chen Qiyou, and Wang Xitian, organized the “New Asia Alliance Party,” later renamed the “Great Harmony Party.” [5]5 The Great Harmony Party (Datong Dang) was a short-lived leftist group that blended Marxist and anarchist ideas. Wang Ruofei, recalling the history of the Communist Party’s development in Yan’an, mentioned Huang Jiemin: “At that time in Shanghai there was a faction of Huang Jiemin, who found Chen Duxiu, and in Guangzhou found Qu Shengbo and Huang Lingshuang (Huang was an anarchist, had been to the Soviet Union).” According to Shi Cuntong’s recollection upon his arrest in December 1921: “There were two kinds of Communist Party in Shanghai. One was founded by Chen Duxiu, believing in pure Marxism; the other was organized by the Huang Jie[min] faction, believing in Marxism mixed with anarchist ideas. The one I was involved with was the former.” Another principal founder of the Great Harmony Party was Yao Zuobin. The Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), speaking of Yao Zuobin, said: “In May of this year, Comrade Yao Zuobin, representative of the All-China Student Federation (an organization uniting students of large, medium, and small schools), came from Shanghai to Vladivostok. Together with Comrade Yao, we discussed the question of Soviet Russia’s assistance to the Chinese revolutionary movement, the question of strengthening our influence in China through the founding of newspapers, and the question of providing help to Chinese students aspiring to go to Soviet Russia.” The Russian Bureau of Chinese Communists had an outstanding leading member, Liu Jiang (Russian name: Fyodorov), who established a Chinese branch within the Amur Oblast Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). In the summer of 1920, he wrote a letter in the name of the “Chinese Communist Party” to Chinese communists discussing revolutionary questions. That autumn, he visited Sun Yat-sen in Shanghai, and after returning to Russia, in October 1920, he reported to the Amur Oblast Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on the content of his talks with Sun Yat-sen, again in the capacity of a “representative of the Chinese Communist Party.”

1914年，刘师复在“晦鸣学舍”和“心社”的基础上建立“中国无政府共产党”。1915年7月，中国同盟会成员黄介民、陈其尤、王希天等人组织了“新亚同盟党”，后来改名为大同党。王若飞在延安回忆共产党的发展史时曾提到黄介民：“当时上海有黄介民一派，找到了陈独秀，在广州找到了区声白、黄凌霜（黄是无政府主义，去过苏联）。”据施存统1921年12月被捕时回忆：“上海之共产党有两种。一种乃陈独秀创建，信奉纯粹之马克思主义；另一种为黄界（介）民派所组织，信奉杂以无政府主义思想之马克思主义。而余有关者乃前者。”大同党另一位主要创建者是姚作宾。俄共谈到姚作宾时说：“这一年5月，中华全国学生联合会（联合大中小学校学生的组织）代表姚作宾同志从上海来到海参崴。同姚同志一起讨论了苏俄对中国革命运动的援助问题、通过创办报纸加强我们在中国的影响问题，以及为向往苏俄的中国学生提供帮助问题。”俄国共产华员局有一名出色的领导成员刘江（俄文名为费奥多罗夫），他在俄共阿穆尔州委员会设立了中国支部，1920年暑期以“中国共产党”的名义致信中国的共产主义者讨论革命问题。同年秋天他在上海拜访了孙中山，回到俄国后，1920年10月他又以“中国共产党代表”的身份向俄共穆尔州委员会报告了同孙中山的会谈情况。

In the early 1920s, Hu E-gong, who had served as executive director of the Republican Association, with the support of the Soviet Communist Party (Bolsheviks), initiated the establishment of the “Communist Comrades Association” and published the journal *Communism*. Because this organization founded the journal *Today* [*Jinri*], it was also called the “Today Faction Communist Party.” Later, the Third Plenary Session of the Third Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Communist Party also discussed the question of Hu E-gong’s Party membership. [6]6 The Third Plenary Session of the Third Central Executive Committee was a meeting of the CPC Central Committee held in June 1924. After the dissolution of the “Today Faction Communist Party” (Communist Comrades Association), most of its members also joined the Chinese Communist Party founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao.

20世纪20年代初，曾担任过共和会干事长的胡鄂公，在苏共支持下发起成立“共产主义同志会”，并发行《共产主义》杂志。由于该组织创办了《今日》杂志，故又称“今日派共产党”。后来中共三届一次中央执行委员会还讨论了胡鄂公党籍问题。“今日派共产党”（共产主义同志会）解散后，大部分成员也加入了陈独秀、李大钊主创的中国共产党。

At the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution and before the October Revolution, the appearance in Chinese newspapers and periodicals and in society of names such as the Chinese “Communist Party” and its organizations indicates that a group of people of conscience who had risen up in struggle had begun to turn from their earlier advocacy of internal reform and imitation of Western political systems toward seeking socialist theory and Communist Party organizations to save the nation and the people. The difference was that this was not “wholesale Westernization,” nor did it copy the *Communist Manifesto* verbatim; rather, based on the characteristics of Chinese society and the level of understanding of the Chinese people at the time, the term “China” was prefixed to “Communist Party” to indicate a distinction. The *Communist Manifesto*, published in 1848, and the Chinese-language editions (partial chapters) of the *Communist Manifesto* published around the time of the Xinhai Revolution, were circulated on Chinese soil, meeting the exploratory needs of China’s modernization. This was first of all due to the compatibility of Marxism with traditional culture such as the concepts of a moderately prosperous society (小康) and great harmony (大同)[7]7 “Moderately prosperous society” (小康, *xiaokang*) and “great harmony” (大同, *datong*) are classical Chinese ideals of social order, the former referring to a well-off society and the latter to a utopian state of universal harmony, both derived from the Confucian classic *Book of Rites* (《礼记》).; it was only after Marxism entered China and was accepted by the Chinese people that the later integration of Marxism with China’s fine traditional culture became possible, the difficulty of which lay in its integration with China’s concrete realities. This also shows that history chose the Chinese Communist Party, but the prerequisite was the choice of Marxism and socialism. In this sense, Marxism is the foundation on which the Chinese Communist Party was established; without the spread of the concept of the Communist Party and the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, there would have been no change in China’s destiny.

辛亥革命之初和十月革命之前，中国报刊和社会上出现中国“共产党”等名称及其组织表明，一批奋起抗争的仁人志士由以前主张内部改良、效仿西方政治制度开始转向寻求社会主义理论和共产党组织以救国救民。所不同的是，这不是“全盘西化”，也没有照搬《共产党宣言》，而是依据中国社会特点和当时的国人思想认识水平，在共产党前面冠以“中国”称谓以示区分。1848年问世的《共产党宣言》和辛亥革命前后中文版的《共产党宣言》（部分章节）在中国大地刊行，契合了中国现代化的探索需求。这首先缘于马克思主义同小康大同等传统文化相契合，然后马克思主义进入中国并被国人接受，这才有了后期马克思主义与中国优秀传统文化相结合，其难点是与中国具体实际相融合。这也说明，历史选择了中国共产党，前提是选择了马克思主义和社会主义。从这个意义上讲，马克思主义是中国共产党的立党之基，没有共产党概念的传播和中国共产党的创建，就没有中国命运的改变。

II. The Early Organizations of the Communist Party Were Once Named the Socialist Party

二、共产党早期组织曾命名为社会党

Just as Marx and Engels underwent a transformation from democrats to scientific socialists, “Communist Party” becoming the common name for the world’s proletarian political parties also went through a process of evolution, during which names such as the Democratic Workers’ Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Workers’ Party, and the Socialist Party were used.

正如马克思、恩格斯经历了由民主主义者转变为科学社会主义者一样，“共产党”成为世界无产阶级政党的通用名称也经历了一个演变过程，期间使用过民主工党、社会民主党、社会民主工党、社会党等称谓。

From 1869 onward, the European workers’ movement reached the stage of establishing independent working-class political parties in nation-states, but these newly established working-class parties were not initially named the Communist Party; instead, they used the Socialist Party or Social Democratic Party as the name for the Communist Party. Under the influence of Marx and Engels, in August 1869 the German revolutionaries August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht established the Social Democratic Workers’ Party, which was not formally renamed the German Communist Party until December 1918, after 49 years. The Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was formally renamed in 1918 from the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party on the proposal of Lenin; its predecessor was the Bolsheviks (meaning “majority,” corresponding to the Menshevik “minority”) of 1903. The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party was founded in 1898, and before that came the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, formed by Lenin in 1895, which was itself reorganized from the Emancipation of Labor group initiated by Plekhanov in 1893; it took 25 years for the Emancipation of Labor group to finally be named the Russian Communist Party. The same was true of the Socialist Party of America, which after its founding in 1901 absorbed various socialist forces and reached its peak in the early 20th century. In 1912, Lenin predicted: “Because more Shanghais will appear in China, the Chinese proletariat will also grow day by day. It will certainly establish one or another Chinese Social Democratic Labor Party.” Coincidentally, Jiang Kanghu[8]8 Jiang Kanghu (1883–1954) was a Chinese politician and intellectual who founded the Chinese Socialist Party in 1912, one of the earliest socialist parties in China, though his views later shifted toward collaboration with the Japanese occupation. established the Chinese Socialist Party in 1912, the first political party organization in China to be named with the word “party.” From 1913 to 1918, the Russian Grigory Voitinsky (Chinese name: Wu Tingkang) joined the Socialist Party of America while immigrating to North America; in April 1920, with the consent of the Communist International, he was sent by the Far Eastern Bureau of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) to China to help establish the Communist Party. In 1919, the Socialist Party of America split into three factions: the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, and the Communist Labor Party. The British Socialist Party also split into the Communist Party and the Labour Party in 1919. The predecessor of the French Communist Party was the French Socialist Party; in 1920, Li Shizeng[9]9 Li Shizeng (1881–1973) was a Chinese anarchist, educator, and politician, a member of the Chinese United League (Tongmenghui) and a key figure in the Sino-French University movement., one of the initiators of the Sino-French University and a veteran of the Chinese United League (同盟会), was influenced by this and established a Social Reform Society and an anarchist party in China. The Japanese Communist Party was renamed from the Japanese Socialist Party, and the Communist International also helped guide the revolutionary activities of the Korean Socialist Party.

从1869年起，欧洲工人运动发展到了建立民族国家独立的工人阶级政党阶段，但这些新建立的工人阶级政党起初没有命名为共产党，而是用社会党或社会民主党作为共产党的名称。在马克思、恩格斯的影响下，1869年8月德国的革命者奥古斯特·倍倍尔和威廉·李卜克内西建立了社会民主工党，1918年12月该政党历经49年才正式命名为德国共产党。俄国共产党（布）是俄国社会民主工党1918年根据列宁的提议才正式改名的，其前身为1903年的布尔什维克（意为“多数派”，与孟什维克少数派相对应）。俄国社会民主工党成立于1898年，之前为1895年列宁组建的工人阶级解放斗争协会，该协会由1893年普列汉诺夫发起的劳动解放社改建而来，历经25年劳动解放社最后定名为俄国共产党。美国社会党也是如此，1901年创立后吸纳了各种社会主义势力，20世纪初达到鼎盛时期。1912年列宁曾预言：“由于在中国将出现更多的上海，中国无产阶级也将日益成长起来。它一定会建立这样或那样的中国社会民主工党。”无独有偶，江亢虎就在1912年成立了中国社会党，这是中国第一个以“党”来命名的政党组织。1913年至1918年，俄国人维经斯基（中文名为吴廷康）在移民北美时加入了美国社会党，1920年4月经共产国际同意，由俄共（布）远东局派到中国帮助建立共产党。1919年，美国社会党分裂为三派：社会党、共产党、共产主义劳动党。英国社会党1919年也分解为共产党和劳动党等。法国共产党的前身是法国社会党，1920年中法大学的发起者之一、中国同盟会的元老李石曾受此影响，在中国组建了社会改良会和无政府主义党。日本共产党则由日本社会党改名而来，共产国际还帮助指导朝鲜社会党的革命活动。

Not only were left-wing parties in various countries internationally predominantly named the Socialist Party, but the ideas and thought of the Socialist Party were also welcomed after being introduced to China. A variety of socialisms, “a riot of color that dazzled the eye,” became a trend of thought in modern China. During this period, the name “Socialist Party” was more influential than the concept of the “Communist Party”; the ideas expounded by the Socialist Party—socialism and social revolution—became an important medium for the transformation of China’s early revolutionaries from democrats to socialists. Song Jiaoren[10]10 Song Jiaoren (1882–1913) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader, a founding member of the Chinese United League and later the Kuomintang, known for his advocacy of parliamentary democracy., one of the pioneers of the modern revolution, was among the first to translate and introduce to his countrymen the *Brief History of the International Socialist Congress* (万国社会党大会略史). Jiang Kanghu, an early propagator of socialism, traveled to Europe and America and witnessed the flourishing of Western socialist parties; the Chinese Socialist Party he initiated and established had as many as over 500,000 members at its peak. After the outbreak of the October Revolution, Li Dazhao wrote “The Victory of Bolshevism,” praising the Russian Bolsheviks as a “revolutionary socialist party.” Beginning in November 1919, the early Marxist Yang Pao’an[11]11 Yang Pao’an (1896–1931) was an early Chinese Marxist intellectual and one of the first to systematically introduce Marxism in southern China. associated Marx with the Socialist Party, publishing an article stating: “When Lassalle organized the trade union alliance, he adopted Marx’s theory and became the leader of the Social Democratic Party, aiming to establish producers’ associations as the goal of transforming social organization. … His work *Capital* is regarded as a classic by workers, and the German Social Democratic Party, moreover, attributes Lassalle to Marx; among modern socialist parties, it is undoubtedly the most powerful.” In March 1919, the International Communist Congress was held in the Moscow Kremlin; the representatives sent by China participated under the name of the “Chinese Socialist Workers’ Party.” It can be seen that the ideas of the Socialist Party and the ideal of socialism had great influence in China.

不仅国际上的各国左翼政党以社会党命名为主，而且社会党的理念与思想传入中国后也同样受到欢迎，各式各样的社会主义“乱花渐欲迷人眼”，成为近代中国的一股思潮。这一时期社会党称谓比“共产党”概念更有影响力，社会党阐述的思想——社会主义和社会革命，成为中国早期革命者由民主主义者向社会主义者转变的重要媒介。宋教仁作为近代革命的先驱之一，较早把《万国社会党大会略史》翻译介绍给国人。早期传播社会主义的江亢虎游历欧美后看到了西方社会党的盛况，发起组建的中国社会党鼎盛时期多达50多万名党员。十月革命爆发后，李大钊撰写了《Bolshevism的胜利》，称赞俄国布尔什维克是“革命的社会党”。从1919年11月开始，早期马克思主义者杨匏安便把马克思与社会党联系在一起，他发表文章说：“当来查尔组织劳动同盟之际，采用马克斯之说，为社会民主党领袖，尝欲建设生产的协会，以为改造社会组织之目的。……所著《资本论》一书，劳动者奉为经典，而德国社会民主党，且去来查尔归于马氏，在近世社会党中，其为最有势力者无疑矣。”1919年3月，国际共产主义代表大会在莫斯科克里姆林宫举行，中国派出的代表即以“中国社会主义工人党”名义参加。可见，社会党理念与社会主义理想在中国具有很大影响力。

As a prevailing political trend of thought in modern times, socialism held great attraction for young people. Among the early members of socialist parties, communists, socialists, anarchists, reformists, and nationalists were mixed together, with considerable differences in ideological tendencies. In order to maximize unity and cohesion, the early Shanghai organization of the Chinese Communist Party was not initially named the Communist Party but was called the “Socialist Alliance.” The monthly journal *The Communist* (共产党), published on January 7, 1920, carried a “Short Statement” written by Chen Duxiu, which pointed out: “The Socialist Party of Italy and the Communist Party of England and America all want to follow Russia’s lead and open up a new experimental ground for methods of production.” Chen Duxiu used the concepts of the Socialist Party and the Communist Party to distinguish them from the Labor Party and the Workers’ Party of the early Republic of China. In October of the same year, He Fenglin[12]12 He Fenglin (1873–1935) was a Beiyang warlord and military commander in the Shanghai area during the early Republic of China., the military governor of Songhu and commander of the 6th Mixed Brigade, sent a telegram to the Beiyang government, stating: “The Socialist Party’s Chen Duxiu has come to Shanghai, colluding with the Russian party and Liu Helin to organize a machine workers’ union in the concession. They are also publishing magazines and advocating socialism. Orders have been given to the military and police to strictly prohibit this.” The officials of the Beiyang government referred to the early Communist Party organization led by Chen Duxiu as the “Socialist Party” and regarded it as a “radical party” (过激党)[13]13 “Radical party” (过激党) was a pejorative term used by Chinese authorities in the early 20th century to refer to Bolsheviks and other revolutionary leftist groups, implying extremism., showing that the concept and ideas of the Socialist Party were quite prevalent at the time.

作为近代盛行的政治思潮，社会主义对青年人的吸引力很大。在社会主义政党的早期成员中，共产主义者、社会主义者、无政府主义者、改良主义者、民族主义者斑驳聚集，思想倾向差异较大。为了最大限度凝心聚力，中国共产党上海早期组织一开始没有命名为共产党，而称之为“社会主义者联盟”。1920年1月7日出版的《共产党》月刊发表了陈独秀撰写的《短言》，指出：“意大利的社会党及英美共产党，也都想继俄而起开辟一个新的生产方法底实验场。”陈独秀使用社会党和共产党的概念，旨在同民国初年的工党、劳动党区别开来。同年10月，淞沪护军使兼第6混成旅旅长何丰林发电报给北洋政府，称“社会党陈独秀来沪，勾结俄党与刘鹤林在租界组织机器工会。并刊发杂志，鼓吹社会主义，已饬军警严禁”。北洋政府的官吏把陈独秀领导的共产党早期组织称作“社会党”并当作“过激党”看待，可见社会党的概念和理念在当时颇为盛行。

Influenced by the currents of socialist parties, the founding pioneers of the CPC, from the very beginning, carried out Party-building activities by reference to the organizational methods of socialist parties. The widespread dissemination of social-revolutionary thought, to a certain extent, led the early working-class political parties to be named the Socialist Party or the Social Communist Party, rather than being directly designated the Communist Party. In 1920, the cover of the eighth volume, first issue, of the journal *New Youth* was changed to the emblem of the American Socialist Party (a socialist political party). In this regard, Mao Dun, a member of the early organization of the Shanghai Communist Party, vividly explained that the cover of this issue bore a small pattern: two large hands, one in the East and one in the West, clasping each other across the globe. On 16 September 1920, in a letter to Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen divided socialist parties into “unreal socialist parties” and “patriotic socialist parties,” arguing that “the unreal socialist parties and labor parties of various countries have all surrendered to militarism (that is, surrendered to the capitalists), and have all become traitors. The patriotic socialist parties and labor parties have two headquarters of traitors: one is the Second International, and the other is the International Federation of Trade Unions.” Cai Hesen opposed the right wing of the socialist parties: “Zhang Junmai, with the reactionary vision and the vision of a worthy man of the middle class, observed the Russian Revolution, and repeatedly sighed in admiration for the German traitor socialist party (that is, the Majority Party) (see *Liberation and Reconstruction*).” Li Hanjun, when preparing to found the Party, also said: “Now in the world there is the October Revolution in Russia, and there is also the revolution of the German Socialist Party; what kind of party program and political program should Chinese communism adopt? We should first send people to Russia and Germany to investigate.” Judging from the records of the Third Congress of the Communist International, at the beginning of the German-language records, the Chinese representatives were the Communist Group and the Left Socialist Party. In January 1920, Li Hanjun, commenting on the American question, pointed out: “I think you would certainly not want to learn from Bismarck’s ‘Socialist Law’ of 1878, because this is a major historical failure, something that you, as knowledgeable democratic citizens, should know well.” In 1920, the early Shanghai organization of the Communist Party printed and distributed the pamphlet *The October Revolution of the Russian Proletariat*, which stated: “It has been only three years since the socialist party revolution, yet the new revolutionary tide has directly overwhelmed the nobles under the tsarist autocracy.” “The red flag of the Third World Labor Alliance, and the revolutionary, powerful flame of the proletarian socialist party, have all come before the nations; the sound of revolution will soon spread across the globe in the blink of an eye.” The article concluded: “Long live the World Socialist Soviet Federative Republic!” This shows that at that time, the socialist parties had a broad social base and great ideological influence; many founding pioneers of the CPC first accepted the concept and ideas of the socialist parties, and only later formed a more systematic theory of the Communist Party.

受社会党思潮的影响，中共建党先驱一开始就参照社会党的组织方式开展建党活动。社会革命思想的广泛传播，在一定程度上影响了早期工人阶级政党命名为社会党或者社会共产党，而没有直接被冠名为共产党。1920年《新青年》杂志第8卷第1号的封面改为美国社会党（社会主义政党）党徽的图案。对此，上海共产党早期组织的成员茅盾形象地阐释说，这一期封面上有一个小小图案，是一东一西，两只大手，在地球上相握。1920年9月16日蔡和森在给毛泽东的信中把社会党分为“不真实的社会党”和“爱国的社会党”，认为“各国不真实的社会党及工党，尽向军国主义投降（即向资本家投降），尽变为叛逆，爱国的社会党和工党，有两个叛逆的总机关：一为第二国际党，一为万国工会。”蔡和森反对社会党的右派，“张君迈以中产阶级的反动眼光及贤人眼光观察俄国革命，对于德叛逆社会党（即多数党）一唱而三叹（见《解放与改造》）”。李汉俊在酝酿建党时也说：“现在世界上有俄国的十月革命，还有德国社会党的革命；中国的共产主义究竟应采取何种的党纲和政纲，应先派人到俄、德国去考察。”从共产国际第三次代表大会的记录来看，在德语记录的开头，中国代表是共产主义团和左派社会主义党。1920年元月，李汉俊评论美国问题时指出：“我想你们总不愿意学一八七八（年）毕士麦的‘社会党镇压令’，因为这是历史上重大的失败事件，应该是你们知识丰富的民主国民所深知的。”1920年，共产党上海早期组织印发了《俄国无产阶级的十月革命》小册子，文章指出：“社会党革命不过才三年工夫，而革命的新潮流直压倒暴君沙余下的贵族。”“第三次世界劳工大联盟底红旗，和无产者社会党的革命的强盛的火焰，都到各国的面前来，革命之声，不转瞬将来普及于全球了。”文章结尾还说：“世界社会党苏维埃联邦共和国万岁！”这表明，当时社会党的社会基础广、思想影响大，很多中共建党先驱先接受社会党的概念和理念，后来才形成更为系统的共产党理论。

From the perspective of the history of political party development in China, the early Chinese socialists had a strong anarchist or democratic socialist coloration. Many members of the early organizations of the CPC had either previously joined other political parties or had initiated and founded other political parties. For example, Shen Dingyi (Shen Xuanlu), two months after the founding of the Republic of China (that is, in March 1912), together with revolutionary comrades, founded the Citizens’ Progressive Party. Its party constitution included a dedicated chapter, “Party Members’ Duties, Rights, and Regulations,” which first expounded on members’ duties and then clarified their rights—a rarity among early Republican political parties. Chen Duxiu was another example. In his early years, he was a feudal scholar-official, later became a reformist, then turned into a radical democrat, and finally became a Marxist. Even after transforming into a Marxist, Chen Duxiu still bore the imprint of a bourgeois democrat. Similarly, Li Dazhao, while studying at the Law and Politics Academy, became an early member of the Chinese Socialist Party, and later wrote *The Peace Movement of the Socialist Parties of European Countries*. As late as March 1921, Li Dazhao still believed: “The labor groups of the most recent era, as well as various socialist parties, are more tightly organized and more powerful.” It is evident that the ideas of the socialist parties had a considerable influence on both the modern revolutionary pioneers and the founding pioneers of the CPC. This characteristic determined that ideological Party building became the primary task of Party building for the Chinese Communist Party.

从中国政党发展史看，早期的中国社会主义者具有浓郁的无政府主义色彩或民主社会主义色彩。中国共产党早期组织中的很多成员，之前或者加入过其他政党，或者发起创建过其他政党。比如，沈定一（沈玄庐）在中华民国成立2个月后（即1912年3月）就同革命志士一道创立公民急进党，其党章专设《党员义务、权利、规约》一章，先阐述党员义务，后阐明权利，这在民初政党中较为罕见。陈独秀也一样，他早年是个封建士大夫，后来成为改良主义者，之后又转为激进民主主义者，最后成为马克思主义者。即使转变为马克思主义者的陈独秀，仍然留有资产阶级民主主义者的印迹。同样，李大钊在法政学堂求学时就成为中国社会党的早期成员，后来撰写了《欧洲各国社会党之平和运动》。直到1921年3月，李大钊依旧认为:“最近时代的劳动团体，以及各种社会党，组织更精密，势力更强大。”可见，社会党的理念对近代革命先驱和中共建党先驱都产生了较大影响，这一特点决定了思想建党成为中国共产党的首要建党任务。

In August 1920, Chen Duxiu wrote to Zhang Shenfu to solicit opinions on whether the Party’s name should be the Communist Party or the Socialist Party. After joint deliberation among Zhang Shenfu, Li Dazhao, and Voitinsky [n14], it was finally decided to name it the Chinese Communist Party. Zhang Shenfu later recalled: “At that time, we were still very immature. Although we thought the name ‘Communist Party’ was the best, we did not dare to make a final decision. Later, Voitinsky said: ‘Better call it the Communist Party.’ We all agreed.” However, by September 1920, after Chen Duxiu had agreed with Li Dazhao and Zhang Shenfu to set the Party’s name as the Communist Party, he still retained a socialist party complex. At the same time, Cai Hesen, who was far away in France, wrote to Mao Zedong on 16 September 1920, proposing: “The split between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks (who originally both belonged to the Social Democratic Party) began over the conditions for admitting Party members. The Bolshevik faction advocated extreme strictness; the Menshevik faction advocated leniency.” Cai Hesen also said: “The French Socialist Party plans to change its name to the Communist Party. Now the Second International has disintegrated; those who broke away from it have all joined the new International, which is the Moscow Communist International. My opinion is that within two years, China must establish a party with a clear doctrine, appropriate methods, and consistent with Russia.” From this, it can be seen that the initial naming of the Chinese Communist Party as the Socialist Party was not without basis; rather, it had the background of the widespread prevalence of socialist party ideas internationally and the background of ideological debates between domestic anarchists and other socialists.

1920年8月，陈独秀写信给张申府就党的名称是叫共产党还是叫社会党征求意见，经张申府、李大钊与维经斯基等人共同商定，最后决定命名为中国共产党。张申府后来回忆说：“当时我们还很幼稚，虽然认为名以‘共产党’为最好，但又不敢作最后决定，后来魏金斯基说：还是叫共产党。我们都同意了。”但是到了1920年9月，陈独秀在同意李大钊和张申府把党的名称定为共产党后，依然留有社会党的情结。与此同时，远在法国的蔡和森1920年9月16日写信给毛泽东提出：“布尔塞维克与门色维克（先同属社会民主党）的分裂，开首是争党员加入的条件，布派主张极严格。门派主张宽大。”蔡和森还说：法社会党拟改名共产党。现在第二国际党已解体，脱离出来者都加入新国际党，就是木斯哥万国共产党。我意中国于二年内须成立一主义明确、方法得当、和俄一致的党。从中可以看出，中国共产党最初定名为社会党并非空穴来风，而是有着国际上广泛的社会党理念盛行的背景和国内无政府主义者与其他社会主义者的思想论争背景。

The Party-building pioneer Cai Hesen clearly knew that the Russian Communist Party had been renamed from the Russian Social Democratic Party. In a letter to Mao Zedong he wrote: “Now the Bolshevik Party has changed its name to the Communist Party, and the conditions for joining are still very strict.” This shows that at the time it was a common phenomenon, a case of great minds thinking alike, to call the Communist Party a “socialist party”; the concept of the socialist party was accepted by many people. The fact that Chen Duxiu and others called the early organizations of the Communist Party “Socialist Party” or “Socialist Communist Party” had much to do with the composition of the early Communist Party organizations. At that time, anarchists were numerous, and in some organizations anarchists even constituted a majority. In the early stage of preparations for the First National Congress of the CPC, anarchists were an allied force of the communists, or, one could say, fellow travelers in the earlier period. Zhang Tailei once remarked: “Before March 1921, China did not yet have a unified communist organization. In many places we had to work together with anarchists.” Cai Hesen also offered this explanation: “When our Party was first taking shape, where could we find so many true Marxists? People who truly stood on the interests of the proletariat? Moreover, before Marxism was introduced into China, the anarchist school had already done considerable propaganda (it had organizations in Guangdong and elsewhere and had published many pamphlets), and it already had considerable influence among the intelligentsia. At that time, a portion of the radical elements believed in anarchism. Therefore, when we began our work, in Shanghai, Guangdong, and Beijing we cooperated with anarchists. When we began our work, in Shanghai, Guangdong, and Beijing it was impossible not to cooperate with anarchists. Hence, when Comrade Zhongfu [Chen Duxiu] initiated the organization of the Party in Shanghai, he even brought in Shen Zhongjiu, and this had a certain function and benefit at the time.” When Chen Gongbo attended the First National Congress of the CPC in 1921, he delivered the “Report of the Guangzhou Communist Party” at the congress, pointing out: “Although a Communist Party was organized, it would be more accurate to call it an anarchist Communist Party than a Communist Party. Of the nine members of the Party Executive Committee, seven were anarchists, and only Comrades Minor and Besing were communists.” [15]15 Minor (Минор) and Besing (别斯林) were Russian communists active in Guangzhou in the early 1920s. Precisely because of this, using the appellation “Socialist Party” made it possible to unite the peripheral forces formed by publications such as *New Youth*, the *Weekly Review*, and the *Republican Daily News*. At the time, some even thought it was too early to establish a communist political party in China, because the domestic working class was too small and too weak; it seemed there was not yet a genuine working class. Therefore, the name “Communist Party” was not used directly at that time; instead, the names “Socialist Party” or “Socialist Communist Party” were adopted. This was based not only on ideological differences with the anarchists, but also on the view of some that the foundation of the Chinese working class was relatively weak and that the conditions for establishing a Communist Party were not yet mature.

建党先驱蔡和森清楚地知道俄国共产党是由俄国社会民主党改名而来，他致信给毛泽东说“现在布党改名为共产党，加入条件仍极严格”。这表明，当时称呼共产党为社会党是不约而同、英雄所见大同的普遍现象，社会党的概念是被很多人所接受的。陈独秀等人把共产党早期组织的名称叫做“社会党”或“社会共产党”，与早期共产党组织的人员构成有很大关系。当时无政府主义者的人数不少，有些组织的成员甚至无政府主义者占多数。中共一大筹备前期，无政府主义者是共产主义者的同盟力量，或者说曾是前期的同路人。张太雷曾谈到：“在一九二一年三月以前，中国还没有一个统一的共产主义组织。在许多地方我们不得不同无政府主义者一起共事。”蔡和森也作过这样的解释：“我党开始形成时，去那里找许多真正马克思主义者呢？真正能够站在无产阶级利益上的人呢？且在马克思主义输入中国以前，无政府主义派在中国已有相当的宣传（在广东及各地都有组织且发行了许多小册子），并且在知识阶级中已有相当的影响了。当时曾有一部分激进分子相信了无政府主义。因此我们开始工作时，在上海、广东、北京均有与无政府主义者合作。我们开始工作时，在上海、广东、北京不与无政府主义者合作是不行的，故在上海仲甫同志发起组织党时，连沈仲九也拉进来，并且在当初有相当的作用和益处。”陈公博1921年出席中共一大时，在会上作了《广州共产党的报告》，指出：“尽管组织了共产党，但是与其称为共产党，不如称作无政府主义的共产党。党执行委员会的九个委员当中，七个是无政府主义者，只有米诺尔(Минор)和别斯林同志是共产主义者。”正因为如此，用“社会党”的称谓可以把《新青年》杂志、《星期评论》周刊和《时事新报》等刊物形成的外围力量联合起来。当时有人甚至认为，在中国建立共产主义政党为时过早，因为国内工人太少太弱，似乎还没有真正的工人阶级。所以，当时没有直接使用“共产党”的称呼，而用了“社会党”或者“社会共产党”的名称。这不仅基于无政府主义者的思想分歧，还因为有些人认为中国工人阶级队伍的基础比较薄弱，建立共产党的条件尚未成熟。

In addition to the influence of anarchists, the opinions of nationalists also played a role in the early period when the CPC was called the Socialist Party or the Socialist Communist Party. The CPC spread Marxism not only from an ideological perspective, but also disseminated communist ideas from the perspective of patriotism and national liberation. Among the members of the early Communist Party organizations, some pure nationalists joined; their direct demand was to rejuvenate China and seek national independence and self-strengthening, rather than directly implementing socialism and communism. In September 1920, Chen Duxiu published “My Views on the Current Situation,” in which he still called our Party the Socialist Party, clearly stating: “Our Party’s attitude toward law is neither to be superstitious about it like jurists, nor to fundamentally reject it like the anarchist party; we hope that law will gradually progress with the metabolism of classes and parties, and that one day there will be socialist legislation and the emergence of a workers’ state.” Chen Duxiu’s inclination to use the concept of the “Socialist Party” aimed to organize social forces as much as possible to oppose imperialism and the feudal warlords, especially to unite nationalists who also had anarchist leanings, in order to better transform the country and reform society.

中国共产党早期被冠名为社会党和社会共产党，除了无政府主义者的影响外，还有民族主义者的意见发挥了作用。中国共产党不仅从意识形态角度传播马克思主义，而且也从爱国主义和民族解放层面传播共产主义思想。在共产党早期组织成员中，有些纯粹的民族主义者参加进来，他们直接的诉求是振兴中华，寻求民族独立与自强，而不是直接实行社会主义和共产主义。陈独秀1920年9月发表了《对于时局的我见》，仍然把吾党称之为社会党，明确指出：“吾党对于法律底态度，既不像法律家那样迷信他，也不像无政府党根本排斥他；我们希望法律随着阶级党派的新陈代谢，渐次进步，终久有社会党的立法，劳动者的国家出现的一日。”陈独秀倾向“社会党”的概念使用，旨在尽可能把社会力量组织起来反对帝国主义和封建军阀，特别是把民族主义者同时兼有无政府主义色彩的人士联合起来，以期更好地改造国家和革新社会。

The Party-building pioneers’ designation of the early Communist Party organizations as the Socialist Party was also related to the trajectory of working-class party building abroad. This is because a Socialist Party had already been established in China in the early years of the Republic, and its early influence was very great. Li Dazhao had joined the Chinese Socialist Party before founding the CPC. And Chen Duxiu, as late as May 1, 1922, published an article stating: “What the workers should be closest to is the revolutionary socialist party, that is, the Communist Party.” This shows that they sometimes used the appellations “Socialist Party” and “Communist Party” synonymously. Besides Chen Duxiu, the Party-building pioneer Cai Hesen, in a letter to Mao Zedong on August 13, 1920, discussing the four instruments of the proletarian revolutionary movement, pointed out: “The Party (Socialist Party or Communist Party) is the initiator, leader, vanguard, and general staff, the nerve center of the proletarian movement.” In April 1924, Chen Duxiu published an article “The True Meaning of the Left and Right Wings of the Kuomintang” in the supplement *Awakening* of the *Republican Daily News*, proposing that the mission of the Socialist Party is to struggle for class revolution, while the mission of the Kuomintang is the cooperation of all classes for national revolution. Although the Kuomintang could also adopt some socialist policies, its mission is ultimately different from that of the Socialist Party, so belief in socialism can never be the criterion for distinguishing the left and right wings of the Kuomintang.

建党先驱把共产党早期组织称之为社会党，还与国外工人阶级政党的建党轨迹有关。这是因为民国初年中国就建立了社会党，早期影响非常大。李大钊在创建中国共产党之前曾加入过中国社会党。而陈独秀直到1922年5月1日还发表文章说：“劳动者所最应该亲近的，是革命的社会党，即共产党。”这表明，有时他们也把社会党与共产党的称谓在同等含义上使用。除了陈独秀，建党先驱蔡和森在1920年8月13日给毛泽东写信讲到无产阶级革命运动之四种利器时指出：“党（社会党或共产党）发动者、领袖者、先锋队、作战部，为无产阶级运动的神经中枢”。1924年4月陈独秀在《民国日报》副刊《觉悟》上发表文章《国民党左右派之真意义》，提出社会党的使命是为阶级的革命而奋斗，国民党的使命是各阶级合作为国民的革命而奋斗。国民党固然也可以采用若干社会主义的政策，而他的使命究竟与社会党不同，所以决不能拿相信社会主义与否为国民党左右派的标准。

From the above, it can be seen that the naming of the “Communist Party” underwent a process of change at the level of intellectual history, and the law of its founding was mainly manifested as moving from “socialism” to “association,” and from “association” to the formation of a party. Overall, socialist trends of thought were first disseminated, followed by the study of Marxist thought; associations and societies were first established, and then a political party was formed; it was first named the Socialist Party, and later definitively named the Communist Party. The founding of the CPC basically followed this law of party building.

由上可见，“共产党”的命名经历了一个思想史层面的变化过程，其创建规律主要体现为由“社”入“会”、由“会”组党。总体上看，先传播社会主义思潮，后研究马克思主义思想；先成立会社、再组建为政党；先冠名为社会党，后定名为共产党。中国共产党的创建基本上遵循了这个建党规律。

III. The Origin of the Definitive Naming of the Chinese Communist Party

三、中国共产党的定名由来

Among the Party-building pioneers of the CPC, the one who earlier and more clearly called the new party a “revolutionary party” was Li Hanjun. He advocated establishing a Chinese revolutionary party different from old-style secret societies and also different from political parties like the Tongmenghui. [16]16 The Tongmenghui (Chinese United League) was a revolutionary organization founded by Sun Yat-sen in 1905, which later evolved into the Kuomintang. On September 7, 1917, after translating and publishing the Japanese socialist Yamakawa Kikue’s “The Direction of World Thought Trends” under the pen names Jingang and Hanjun in the supplement *Awakening* of the Shanghai *Republican Daily News*, he wrote a postscript: “People call me a people’s party member and a revolutionary party member; I should make practical plans on this point.” This idea was three years earlier than Cai Hesen’s proposal of a revolutionary party in 1920.

在中国共产党的建党先驱中，较早明确把新建的党称为革命党的是李汉俊，他主张建立一个不同于旧式会党，也不同于同盟会等政党的中国革命党。他在1917年9月7日上海《民国日报》副刊《觉悟》发表金刚、汉俊节译日本社会主义者山川菊荣的《世界思潮之方向》后，写了译后语：“人家叫我做民党叫革命党，我应该在这一点有切实的打算。”这一思想比蔡和森1920年提出革命党的时间还要早三年。

After the Xinhai Revolution, alongside the various political parties contending for election to the National Assembly, some individuals also imitated Europe, America, Japan and Russia by forming large and small “Communist Party” organizations. From 1920 to 1922, several political groups emerged in China under the banner of “communism.” For example, Chinese students studying in Japan and others founded the New Asia Alliance Party in 1916, renamed the Great Harmony Party on March 18, 1920; Li Dazhao joined the New Asia Alliance Party in 1917 and was later called “Comrade Great Harmony.” [17]17 “Comrade Great Harmony” (大同同志) is a reference to Li Dazhao’s early association with the Great Harmony Party (大同党), reflecting the fluid political affiliations and terminological experimentation of the period. Liu Qingyang, one of Zhou Enlai’s introducers into the Party, was also a member of the Great Harmony Party. In March 1920, Yao Zuobin initiated the formation of the “Chinese Communist Party,” later renamed the Eastern Communist Party. In July 1920, Yu Xiusong noted in his diary that the party they organized was the “Social Communist Party.” According to the recollections of Chen Wangdao, Shao Lizi, and Li Da, between July and August 1920, the “Shanghai Communist Group,” which had a relatively complete party program, was formed, tentatively named the “Communist Party” or the “Socialist Party.” In July 1920, Chinese students in France discussed party-building matters at the Montargis College; Cai Hesen explicitly proposed a “Chinese Communist Party” in the sense of social revolution, advocating “openly and boldly formally establishing a Chinese Communist Party.” In the summer of 1921, the Liqun Book Society in Hubei clearly proposed establishing a “Bolshevik party” in China. Zhou Enlai, Zhao Shiyan, and others in France initiated the formation of the “Chinese Young Communist Party” (renamed the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe in 1923). Zhou Enlai, speaking of the early days of Party building, said: “After the Communist International was founded in March 1919, it sent people to various countries to seek out talent and do work. In China, they not only sought out Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, but also Jiang Kanghu, Huang Jiemin, and Dai Jitao; in the north they sought out Wu Peifu, and in the south they sought out Sun Yat-sen.”

辛亥革命后除了角逐国会选举的各种政党外，有些人士还纷纷效仿欧美和日俄，组建大大小小的“共产党”组织。1920年到1922年，中国出现了若干打着“共产主义”旗号的政治团体。比如留日的中国学生等人1916年成立了新亚同盟党，1920年3月18日改名为大同党，李大钊1917年曾加入新亚同盟党，后来被称为“大同同志”。周恩来的入党介绍人之一刘清扬也曾是大同党的党员。1920年3月，姚作宾发起成立“中国共产党”，后来改名为东方共产党。1920年7月，俞秀松在日记中提到他们组织的政党是“社会共产党”。据陈望道、邵力子、李达回忆，1920年7月至8月，产生了党纲比较完整的“上海共产主义小组”，拟命名为“共产党”或“社会党”。1920年7月，留法学生在蒙达尼公学讨论建党事宜，蔡和森明确提出社会革命意义上的“中国共产党”，他主张“明目张胆正式成立一个中国共产党”。1921年夏天，湖北利群书社明确提出要在中国建立“布尔什维克的党”。在法国的周恩来、赵世炎等人发起成立“中国少年共产党”（1923年改称为旅欧中国共产主义青年团）。周恩来谈到建党初期的情况时说：“一九一九年三月共产国际成立后，就派人到各国访贤，做工作。在中国，他们不仅找了陈独秀、李大钊，还找过江亢虎、黄介民和戴季陶；在北方找过吴佩孚，在南方找过孙中山。”

When the Third Congress of the Communist International was held from June 22 to July 12, 1921, there were five organizations in Moscow simultaneously attending and claiming to represent the orthodox “Communist Party” of China: the Chinese Communist Party, initiated by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao and sending Zhang Tailei and Yu Xiusong as delegates; the “Eastern Communist Party” represented by Yao Zuobin; the Young Communist Party formed by Chinese socialist youth league students studying abroad; the “Chinese Communist Party” reorganized from the Chinese Socialist Party branch in Heihe, Heilongjiang, by “Comrades Gong and Yu”; and the “China Communist Party” represented by Zhang Minquan, who came alone from Hangzhou to Russia. Although Zhang Tailei and others lodged protests, and the Communist International later withdrew the credentials of Jiang Kanghu and Yao Zuobin, denying them the right to speak at the congress, it still retained their right to attend and did not expel them from the venue. In January 1924, Wu Yuzhang and others initiated the formation of the Chinese Young Communist Party. Later, after Wu Yuzhang went to Beijing and met Zhao Shiyan, he learned that a nationwide Chinese Communist Party organization had already been established. He therefore wrote a special letter to comrades in Sichuan to dissolve the Chinese Young Communist Party; some of its members later joined the Chinese Communist Party. Thus, at that time, there was more than one political party in China calling itself the “Communist Party.” The emergence of various “Communist Parties” in China reflected the historical situation of “mutually agreeing to build the Party” in the early years of the Republic of China, while also embodying the diverse landscape of “building the Party without prior agreement,” revealing the gradual, tortuous, and inevitable nature of history’s choice of the Chinese Communist Party.

1921年6月22日至7月12日共产国际第三次代表大会召开时，在莫斯科同时与会并自称代表中国正统的“共产党”组织就有五个：陈独秀、李大钊发起并派张太雷和俞秀松参会的中国共产党、姚作宾代表的“东方共产党”、社会主义青年团留学生成立的少年共产党、黑龙江省黑河的中国社会党支部“龚君、于君”改组的“中国共产党”、只身赴俄、来自杭州的张民权代表的“支那共产党”。虽然经张太雷等人提出抗议，共产国际后来收回了江亢虎、姚作宾的代表证，没有大会发言权，而改为张太雷代表中国的共产党发言，但仍然保留了江亢虎、姚作宾的参会权，而没有把他们驱逐出会场。1924年1月，吴玉章等人发起成立了中国青年共产党。后来吴玉章到北京见到赵世炎后，才知道全国性的中国共产党组织已经成立。于是，他专门致信四川的同志取消中国青年共产党，其中一些成员后来也加入了中国共产党。可见，当时中国各政党自称为“共产党”的不只一家。中国出现各种各样的“共产党”，折射了民国初年“相约建党”的历史境况，又体现了“不约而同建党”的多样景观，反映了历史选择中国共产党的渐进性、曲折性和必然性。

In order to establish a Chinese Communist Party in the true revolutionary sense, the Party-building pioneers drew on the experience of early foreign communist parties. Voitinsky introduced the basic situation of the Communist Party of the United States to early Chinese Communist Party members. The internal journal *The Communist*, edited by Li Da and first published in November 1920, introduced the basic situation of the Communist Party of Portugal in its inaugural monthly issue; notably, the cover of this journal was essentially the same as that of the internal publication of the Communist Party of Great Britain, both bearing the English name of communism. This inaugural issue of *The Communist* explicitly stated that the Chinese Communist Party was still in its embryonic stage. In November 1920, the early Shanghai Communist organization, following the practice of the Russian Communist Party, drafted the internally used *Manifesto of the Chinese Communist Party*, which clearly raised the banner of communism and its goals of struggle. The titles of the first and second parts of this manifesto were “The Ideal of the Communists” and “The Goal of the Communists,” clearly expounding the original aspiration of the Communist Party — that the Communist Party is a party pursuing communism. The third part of the manifesto clearly stated that class struggle is an important path to achieving communism, and that the dictatorship of the proletariat requires class consciousness and revolutionary spirit. The manifesto grasped the key words of Party-building — communism, class struggle, revolutionary spirit — highlighting the original aspiration of the Chinese Communist Party to seek happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation. On July 1, 1921, Chen Duxiu published an article in *New Youth* stating: “The corruption of the old political parties is indeed well-evidenced; as for what the new Communist Party will be like, it entirely depends on its own actions to produce evidence before people can believe!” At the end of 1921, the translator who rendered the *Manifesto of the Chinese Communist Party* into English added an explanation: “Dear Comrades! This manifesto was decided by the Chinese Communist Party in November of last year. The content of this manifesto is only a part of the principles of communism, therefore it has not been published externally, but is used as a standard for admitting Party members.” After the completion of the socialist transformation, Mao Zedong, upon seeing this manifesto, wrote a passage: “As a program for socialist revolution, it was basically correct. But the nationalization of land was incorrect. It did not anticipate the peaceful transition of national capital. Even less did it anticipate that the form of revolution would not be a general strike, but a people’s liberation war led by the Communist Party, essentially a peasant war.”

为了建立真正革命意义上的中国共产党，建党先驱们参照了早期国外共产党的经验。维经斯基向中国共产党早期党员介绍了美国共产党的基本情况。1920年11月李达主编的内部刊物《共产党》，首期月刊专门介绍了葡萄牙共产党的基本情况，特别是刊物封面同英国共产党的党内刊物的封面基本相同，都印有共产主义的英文名字。这本《共产党》创刊号明确提出我们中国的共产党还在萌芽时代。1920年11月，上海共产党早期组织对照俄国共产党的做法，起草了内部使用的《中国共产党宣言》，旗帜鲜明举起了共产主义大旗和奋斗目标。该宣言第一部分和第二部分的标题就是“共产主义者的理想”和“共产主义者的目的”，鲜明阐述了共产党的本源初心——共产党是追求共产主义的政党。宣言的第三部分明确提出阶级斗争是实现共产主义的重要途径，实行无产阶级专政必须要有阶级觉悟和革命精神。宣言抓住了建党的关键词——共产主义、阶级斗争、革命精神，彰显了中国共产党为人民谋幸福、为民族谋复兴的建党初心。1921年7月1日，陈独秀在《新青年》发表文章指出：“旧政党底腐败诚然是信而有征，新的共产党究竟如何，全靠自己做出证据来才能够使人相信啊！”1921年的年底，把《中国共产党宣言》翻译成英文的作者加写了一个说明：“亲爱的同志们！这个宣言是中国共产党在去年十一月间决定的。这宣言的内容不过是关于共产主义原则的一部分，因此没有向外发表，不过以此为收纳党员之标准。”社会主义改造完成后，毛泽东看到这个宣言后写了一段话：“作为社会主义革命的纲领则是基本正确的。但土地国有是不正确的。没有料到民族资本可以和平过渡。更没有料到革命形式不是总罢工，而是共产党领导的人民解放战争，基本上是农民战争。”

On July 23, 1921, the First National Congress of the CPC opened in Shanghai and concluded on the last day on the Red Boat on South Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang. Article 1 of the *First Program of the Chinese Communist Party* adopted at the congress explicitly states: “The name of the Party is the Chinese Communist Party.” Article 3 states: “The Party’s fundamental political purpose is to carry out social revolution.” The reason the Party-building program emphasized the concept of the Chinese Communist Party and its revolutionary goals from the very beginning is related to the origins of traditional Chinese culture. The idea of “communism” (共产) is directly connected to the ancient Chinese idea of the Great Harmony (大同); “common” (共) and “public” (公) are like twin sisters, signifying fairness, openness, republicanism, and sharing, reflecting the ideal pursuit of “the world is for all” and “embracing the world in one’s heart.” From its departure from South Lake in Jiaxing, the Chinese Communist Party took “social revolution” as its goal of struggle; the value of establishing the Communist Party lies in building the Party for the public good and being loyal to the people. Even when encountering storms and tempests, or even raging waves, Communists travel through wind and rain, share the same boat through storm and stress, always remembering that “water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it,” [18]18 “Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it” (水可载舟、亦可覆舟) is a classical Chinese proverb, often attributed to the philosopher Xunzi, used to illustrate the relationship between the ruler and the people. and never forgetting the lofty ideal and ultimate goal of communism.

1921年7月23日，中共一大在上海开幕，最后一天在浙江嘉兴南湖红船上闭幕，会议通过的《中国共产党第一个纲领》第一条明确指出“本党定名为中国共产党”，第三条指出“党的根本政治目的是实行社会革命。”建党纲领之所以开宗明义强调中国共产党的概念和革命目标，这与中国传统文化的渊源有关。“共产”的思想与中国古代的大同思想直接相通，“共”与“公”犹如孪生姐妹，公平公开、共和共享，反映了“天下为公”与“胸怀天下”的理想追求。中国共产党从嘉兴南湖起航开始就把“社会革命”作为奋斗目标，建立共产党的价值就在于立党为公、忠诚为民。即使遇到暴风骤雨甚至惊涛骇浪，共产党人都风雨兼程、风雨同舟，牢记“水可载舟、亦可覆舟”，始终不忘共产主义的远大理想和最高目标。

IV. The Enlightenment from the Spread of the Concept of the “Communist Party” in China

四、中国“共产党”概念传播的启示

Before the Xinhai Revolution, China began the scattered dissemination of communist theory; shortly after the Xinhai Revolution, a notice for forming a party explicitly named the “Chinese Communist Party” appeared in China. This indicates that the introduction of Marxism into China had an internal basis: the traditional Chinese cultural elements of valuing harmony and seeking the Great Harmony resonated with Marxism. This is an important cultural soil for the Chinese Communist Party to take root, sprout, and bear abundant fruit in China.

辛亥革命前中国开始零散传播共产党的理论，辛亥革命后不久中国出现明确冠名为“中国共产党”的组党启事，表明马克思主义传入中国具有内在根据：中国传统文化中的尚和合、求大同的思想契合了马克思主义，这是中国共产党在中国生根发芽、结出累累硕果的重要文化土壤。

The Communist Party of China was initially named the Socialist Party and the Social Communist Party, reflecting that the early founding pioneers’ understanding of socialism and communism was not achieved in one step or overnight, but underwent a process of development. An important reason for this is that most utopian socialists came from well-off or even wealthy families; their economic status placed them in the middle or upper-middle strata of society. They were very familiar with capitalism, saw its shortcomings, weaknesses, and evils such as the gap between rich and poor, and advocated reforming society through gradualist means or moderate transformation, determined to reform private ownership but not to abolish it. Most early Chinese socialists came from well-off families; all the delegates to the First National Congress of the CPC were intellectuals, not a single one being a worker or peasant. They had previously been democrats, and only later became Marxists and communists. With the spread and development of socialist currents of thought and the deepening of the Party’s revolution, more communists emerged from among the groups demanding social change. They came mainly from the bottom or lower strata of society, were among the earlier “have-nots” (无产者), and hated social injustice and the vast disparity between rich and poor. Therefore, they advocated using violent means, class struggle, and other methods of social revolution to abolish private ownership and establish a society of public property, equality, and justice. In other words, China’s early socialists came more from the upper-middle strata, while the radicals who advocated communism from the very beginning in China came more from the lower-middle and bottom strata. This was an important source of the “Communist Party” current of thought.

中国共产党最初命名为社会党和社会共产党，反映了早期建党先驱对社会主义与共产主义的认识不是一步到位、一蹴而就的，而是经历了一个发展过程。其重要缘由在于，空想社会主义者大部分来自殷实家庭乃至富裕家庭，他们在经济地位上居于社会中层或者中上层，对资本主义十分熟悉，看到了资本主义的缺点、弱点和贫富差距等弊端，主张用改良手段或者温和改造的方式变革社会，决心改革私有制但又不消灭私有制。中国早期社会主义者多数来自殷实家庭，中共一大代表全部是知识分子而无一人是工人或者农民，他们之前曾是民主主义者，后来才成为马克思主义者和共产主义者。随着社会主义思潮的传播发展和党的革命的深入，要求变革社会的群体涌现出了更多的共产主义者，他们主要来自社会底层或者下层，属于较早的“无产者”，痛恨社会分配不公、贫富悬殊，因此主张用暴力手段、阶级斗争等社会革命方法消灭私有制，建立财产公有、平等公正的社会。换言之，中国的早期社会主义者更多来自中上层群体，而在中国一开始就主张共产主义的激进分子更多来自中下层和社会底层。这是“共产党”思潮的重要来源。

Before the First National Congress of the CPC was convened, most members of the Party’s early organizations came from families that did not worry about food and clothing; a considerable number of the founding pioneers were even children of wealthy families. Compared with the masses of workers and peasants, they had received a good education, even higher education, were influenced by both European and American winds and rains and had a foundation in traditional culture, and possessed both patriotic sentiments and the determination and action to transform society. Their early thought was typical socialist thought; they identified relatively strongly with the socialist parties and social democratic parties of various countries. Therefore, the early Shanghai Communist Party organization initially tended to name itself the “Socialist Party” or the “Social Communist Party.” Faced with ideological debates during the Party-building process, the pioneers of the Communist Party of China, in brewing the founding of the Party, in order to unite all forces that could be united and overcome the malady of being a heap of loose sand, gradually underwent subtle changes in their thinking, doing their utmost to seek common ground while reserving differences. However, with the deepening of the socialist debate and the setbacks and failures of various socialist experiments such as the New Village movement and egalitarianism, the majority of the founding pioneers gradually inclined toward communist thought. They began to be dissatisfied with gradualist socialism, instead endorsing communist ideas and programs, and later unequivocally advocated naming the Party the Communist Party of China. Of course, the communists of this period did not have a deep understanding of “communism” and the Communist Party’s program; their views were even tinged with a strong idealist color. This sentiment of “revolutionary ideals higher than the sky” [19]19 The Yan’an period (1935–1948) refers to the years when the Chinese Communist Party had its revolutionary base in Yan’an, Shaanxi Province, during which it conducted a major rectification movement (1942–1944) to consolidate ideological unity., in promoting the founding of the Communist Party of China and the transformation of Chinese society, had the dual characteristics of steadfastness in stance and arduousness in process. During the early Party-building process, some of the founding pioneers bore the imprint of socialist currents of thought as well as the enlightenment and initial awakening of communism; thereafter, over the long course of their revolutionary careers and the process of remolding their subjective world, they gradually transformed into thoroughgoing communists.

中共一大召开前，党的早期组织成员大部分来自衣食无忧家庭，相当一部分建党先驱还是富家子弟，他们与工农大众相比，接受了良好教育乃至高等教育，既有欧风美雨的熏陶又有传统文化的根底，有爱国情怀又有变革社会的决心和行动。他们早期的思想属于典型的社会主义思想，对世界各国的社会党、社会民主党较为认同，因此上海共产党早期组织一开始倾向于命名为“社会党”或者“社会共产党”。面对建党过程的思想论争，中国共产党的先驱们在酝酿建党时为了团结一切可以团结的力量，克服一盘散沙的弊端，思想逐渐发生微妙变化，尽力求同存异。但随着社会主义论战的深入、新村主义和平均主义等各类社会主义实验的遇挫与失败，建党先驱中的多数人逐渐倾向共产主义思想，他们开始不满足于改良的社会主义，而是赞同共产主义思想和纲领，后来旗帜鲜明主张命名为中国共产党。当然，这一时期的共产主义者，对“共产主义”和共产党纲领的认识并不深刻，甚至有着浓厚的理想主义色彩。这种“革命理想高于天”的情怀，对推动中国共产党的建立和中国社会的变革，具有立场执着与过程艰辛的双重特点。早期建党过程中一部分建党先驱既有社会主义思潮的色彩，也有共产主义的启蒙和初步觉悟，此后在长期的革命生涯和改造主观世界的历程中逐步转变为彻底的共产主义者。

The concept of socialism spread in China before the Xinhai Revolution [20]20 The Republic of China was established in 1912 after the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty. Chen Jiongming, Wu Peifu, and Feng Yuxiang were regional military leaders (warlords) active in the 1910s–1920s. The Communist International (Comintern, 1919–1943) initially explored alliances with various Chinese forces before focusing on the CPC.; after the Xinhai Revolution, voices calling for the formation of a “Chinese Communist Party” emerged, reflecting the social current of thought of establishing a new society, reforming the old society, and saving the nation through innovation. This was precisely the endogenous force that led Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao to pay attention to and incline toward the Socialist Party in their early years. Faced with the new power situation at the Paris Peace Conference, where the great powers bullied China and carved up its territory, opposing imperialism became an important reason for establishing a new type of political party. The CPC founding pioneers also shifted from tending to use the name “Socialist Party” to explicitly using the appellation “Communist Party,” with a more resolute attitude, a clearer stance, and more thoroughgoing thought. The concept of the “Communist Party of China” contained multiple meanings. First, it opposed feudalism and emphasized social revolution. Second, it opposed imperialism and emphasized common prosperity. Third, it opposed non-proletarian thought within the Party, pursued communism, and dared to engage in self-revolution. The evolutionary process from naming it the “Socialist Party” and the “Social Communist Party” to finally settling on the name “Communist Party of China” shows that the Communist Party of China’s struggle goals are hierarchical, from lower to higher levels. No matter which historical stage it is in, the Communist Party of China’s highest ideal and highest program have never wavered,

辛亥革命前社会主义概念就在中国传播，辛亥革命后即出现组建“中国共产党”的声音，体现了建立新社会、改造旧社会，救亡革新的社会思潮。这正是陈独秀、李大钊早年关注并倾向社会党的重要内生力量。面对巴黎和会上列强欺凌中国、割占领土的新强权局面，反对帝国主义成为建立新式政党的重要缘由，中共建党先驱也由倾向使用社会党的名字转向明确使用“共产党”的称谓，态度更为坚决，立场更为鲜明，思想更为彻底。“中国共产党”的概念蕴含了多重含义。一是反对封建主义，强调社会革命。二是反对帝国主义，强调共同富裕。三是反对党内非无产阶级思想，追求共产主义，敢于自我革命。由命名“社会党”和“社会共产党”进而最后定名为“中国共产党”的演变历程表明，中国共产党的奋斗目标是由低到高分层级的。无论处在哪个历史阶段，中国共产党的最高理想和最高纲领始终没有动摇过，更没有改变过。正如习近平在庆祝中国共产党成立95周年大会上所指出的：“中国共产党之所以叫共产党，就是因为从成立之日起我们党就把共产主义确立为远大理想。”

In the history of the international communist movement, compared with the naming of communist parties in other countries, which took decades, the final naming of the Chinese Communist Party took a relatively short time — only a little over a year. Precisely because the time taken to found the Party was relatively short, certain persons in the Communist International once regarded the Chinese Communist Party as a “premature infant” or a deformed child, afflicted with congenital deficiencies. This later became a pretext for some of these persons to oppose or even be hostile to the Chinese Communist Party. The first program of the Chinese Communist Party, adopted at its First National Congress, displayed a strong and persistent pursuit of social revolution and at one point took a dismissive or even negative attitude toward Party members joining the government or becoming officials, indicating that the task of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context was arduous. The origins of the concept of the Chinese Communist Party show that, compared with the history of party-building in other communist parties around the world, the Chinese Communist Party, owing to its short founding period, the heterogeneous composition of its early members, and the relative haste of its theoretical preparations, suffered from a deficiency in ideological and theoretical preparation from the very beginning. After the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, the characteristics of China’s national conditions determined that the majority of its members came from the peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie; during the Yan’an period, it also developed a large number of Party members from among the intelligentsia and other strata. Consequently, carrying out active inner-Party ideological struggle became a long-term task for strengthening Party building, and building the Party ideologically and strengthening the Party theoretically thereby became the Party’s precious traditions.

在国际共运史上，相比较其它国家的共产党命名经历了数十年时间，中国共产党最后定名的时间相对较短，只经过了一年多时间。正因为建党时间相对较短，共产国际有关人士一度认为中国共产党是个“早产儿”或者畸形儿，有着先天不足。这后来成为有关人士反对甚至敌视中国共产党的一个借口。党的一大通过的中国共产党第一个纲领，对社会革命有着强烈的执着追求，对中国共产党的党员参加政府做官一度持轻视乃至否定态度，表明马克思主义中国化面临着艰巨任务。中国共产党的概念起源说明，相对世界其它国家共产党的建党历史而言，中国共产党由于建党时间短、早期成员成分繁杂、理论准备相对仓促，因此一开始就存在思想理论准备不足的情况。中国共产党成立后，由于中国的国情特点，决定了中国共产党的党员多数来自农民和小资产阶级，延安时期又大量发展了知识分子党员和其它阶层的党员，因此开展积极的党内思想斗争成为加强党的建设的长期任务，思想建党和理论强党也因此成为党的宝贵传统。

History’s choice of the Chinese “Communist Party” was not a choice of the Chinese “Communist Party” from the very beginning, nor was it a choice made in one step. Rather, it was a gradual choice of the Chinese Communist Party founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, and a choice of the spirit of dedication and sacrifice with which the Chinese Communist Party has struggled hard for the people, united in struggle, and persisted in struggle. Before and after the founding of the Republic of China, the Communist International once took note of and even attached importance to warlords such as Chen Jiongming, Wu Peifu, and Feng Yuxiang; later it valued the strength of Sun Yat-sen’s Nationalist Party; and for a time it also paid attention to other Chinese “Communist Parties.” [20]20 The Republic of China was established in 1912 after the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty. Chen Jiongming, Wu Peifu, and Feng Yuxiang were regional military leaders (warlords) active in the 1910s–1920s. The Communist International (Comintern, 1919–1943) initially explored alliances with various Chinese forces before focusing on the CPC. From the perspective of cultural semiotics, before the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921 by the Party-building pioneers represented by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, various political parties calling themselves communist parties had already appeared in Chinese society. Some workers’ parties and communist parties were even valued for a time by Lenin and the Communist International; some parties also attracted large numbers of people, and for a period enjoyed greater fame and prestige than the Chinese Communist Party; some parties that called themselves “communist parties” existed in name only, or their name did not match their reality, lacking organizational capacity and executive power; some parties that styled themselves “communist parties” had more words than deeds and failed to finish well what they had started well. In contrast, the Chinese Communist Party founded by pioneers such as Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, and Mao Zedong not only possessed a scientific guiding ideology, strict organizational discipline, and powerful mass strength, but also emphasized practical action and united action, dared to correct its own mistakes and carry out self-revolution, and gradually stood out from among several hundred political parties and organizations, overtaking them from behind to become the leading core that guided China from standing up and growing rich to becoming strong. This shows that the fate of a political party depends not on its historical starting point but on its turning points. That is to say, at the major historical turning points, whether a political party can always seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation determines the vitality of a Chinese political party and the centripetal force of the masses. Chen Duxiu pointed out: “The Communist Party is the party of the workers; its foundation should be built entirely on the working class, and its strength should be concentrated on propaganda and organization among the workers.” “If the Chinese Communist Party leaves the peasants behind, it will be very difficult to become a large mass party.” This is the basic starting point of the Chinese Communist Party, and even more so its fundamental purpose. As Xi Jinping pointed out: “In my report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC, I stated from the very outset that we must never forget our original aspiration and founding mission. I have stressed this point repeatedly since the 18th National Congress, precisely to remind the entire Party never to forget the fundamental question of what the Chinese Communist Party is and what it is to do, and never to lose ourselves or lose our direction amid increasingly complex struggles.”

历史选择中国“共产党”，不是一开始就选择了中国“共产党”，也不是一步到位就选择了中国“共产党”，而是逐步选择了陈独秀、李大钊主创的中国共产党，选择的是中国共产党为人民艰苦奋斗、团结奋斗、持续奋斗的奉献牺牲精神。民国前后，共产国际曾经关注甚至重视过陈炯明、吴佩孚、冯玉祥等军阀，后来重视孙中山的国民党力量，还一度关注其它的中国“共产党”。从文化符号学角度看，1921年以陈独秀、李大钊为代表的建党先驱在建立中国共产党之前，中国社会出现号称共产党的各类政党，有的工人党、共产党甚至一度被列宁和共产国际所看重；有些政党也吸引过众多民众，乃至名气和声望在一段时期比中国共产党还大；有些自称“共产党”的政党有名无实或者名“实”其“副”，缺乏组织力和执行力；有些冠名为“共产党”的政党言胜于行，没有善始善终。而李大钊、陈独秀、毛泽东等先驱创立的中国共产党不仅拥有科学的指导思想、严密的组织纪律和强大的群众力量，而且注重实际和团结行动，敢于自我纠错和自我革命，逐步在几百个政党和政治组织中脱颖而出、后来居上，成为引领中国从站起来、富起来到强起来的领导核心，说明政党的命运不取决于历史的起点而取决于转折点。就是说，在历史的重大转折关头，一个政党能否始终为中国人民谋幸福、为中华民族谋复兴，决定了中国政党的生命力和群众的向心力。陈独秀指出：“共产党是工人的政党，他的基础应该完全建筑在工人阶级上面，他的力量应该集中在工人宣传及组织上面。”“中国共产党若离开了农民，便很难成为一个大的群众党”。这是中国共产党的基本起点，更是中国共产党的根本宗旨。正如习近平指出：“我在党的十九大报告开宗明义就强调不忘初心、牢记使命。这个话，党的十八大以来我反复在讲，目的就是提醒全党不要忘了中国共产党是什么、要干什么这个根本问题，不要在日益复杂的斗争中迷失了自我、迷失了方向。”

The history of the spread of the concept of the Chinese Communist Party also shows that unifying thought is very important but also very difficult. The early spread of Marxism in China was not systematic, nor was it accomplished in one step or plain sailing. Rather, it was a process of actively carrying out ideological struggle and continuously exploring and forging ahead in the quest for national independence, the liberation of the people, national prosperity and strength, and the happiness of the people. The process of founding the Chinese Communist Party was at the same time a process in which Marxism shifted from scattered dissemination to concentrated dissemination, from partial dissemination to large-scale dissemination, and from spontaneous dissemination to conscious dissemination. In other words, it was only through the founding of the Chinese Communist Party that the spread of Marxism in China moved toward cultural consciousness. Reviewing the history of the spread of the concept of the Chinese “Communist Party,” one can discover that early Marxism was disseminated to China through intermediary carriers such as introductions in other works, paraphrased evaluations, and editorial translations. This special kind of text of ideological enlightenment appears, on the surface, to be “planting willows unintentionally, yet the shade spreads naturally” [21]21 A Chinese idiom (无心插柳柳成荫) meaning that good results sometimes come from unplanned actions. and to have emerged by chance, but in fact it was a historical reflection of the way in which, after the Xinhai Revolution, at the turning point of a great historical upheaval in China, people of lofty ideals actively sought self-salvation, strove for self-strengthening, and resisted and explored. In the sense of the history of ideas, this was a special form of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context, only its mode was relatively scattered, its culture not sufficiently conscious, and its spirit not sufficiently proactive. The spirit of the Chinese people shifted from passivity to initiative only after the First National Congress of the CPC in 1921. Therefore, the assertion that without the Chinese Communist Party there would be no new China, and without the Chinese Communist Party there would be no great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, conforms to reality, reflects the laws of Chinese party politics, and also embodies the laws of Chinese historical development. “Why the Chinese Communist Party can achieve so much and why socialism with Chinese characteristics can work so well is, in the final analysis, because Marxism works, and because Marxism adapted to the Chinese context and the needs of the times works.”

中国共产党的概念传播历程还表明，统一思想非常重要但又非常不容易，马克思主义在中国的早期传播不是系统性的，也不是一步到位、一帆风顺的，而是在寻求民族独立、人民解放和国家富强、人民幸福中开展积极的思想斗争、不断探索奋进的。中共建党的过程，同时是马克思主义由零散传播转向集中传播、由局部传播转向大规模传播、由自发传播转向自觉传播的过程。换言之，马克思主义在中国的传播是经过中共建党才走向文化自觉的。回顾中国“共产党”的概念传播史可以发现，早期马克思主义是通过其它作品介绍、转述评价、编辑翻译等中介载体传播到国内的，这种特殊的思想启蒙文本看似“无心插柳柳成荫”和偶然出现，其实是辛亥革命后中国在历史大变动的转折关头，仁人志士主动自救、奋发自强和抗争求索的历史反映。从观念史意义上讲，这是一种特殊的马克思主义中国化形态，只不过其方式较为零散、文化不够自觉、精神不够主动而已。中国人的精神由被动转为主动是在1921年中共一大之后。因此，没有中国共产党就没有新中国，就没有中华民族伟大复兴，这一论断是符合实际的，反映了中国的政党政治规律，也体现了中国的历史发展规律。“中国共产党为什么能，中国特色社会主义为什么好，归根到底是马克思主义行，是中国化时代化的马克思主义行。”

Online editor: Jing Mu

网络编辑：静穆