Chen Zaisheng and Yang Liang: On the Program for the Transformation of Chinese Society in "The Great Union of the Popular Masses" [1]
"The Great Union of the Popular Masses" is a famous piece written by the young Mao Zedong under the influence of the Russian October Revolution and, in particular, the inspiration of the May Fourth Movement [1]. It was an attempt to transform Chinese society through reformist means and stands as the most representative work of Mao’s youth. The article was published as a series in the second, third, and fourth issues of the Xiangjiang Review (《湘江评论》). Upon publication, it elicited a strong response within intellectual circles and was quickly recommended and reprinted by popular periodicals such as New Youth (《新青年》), The China Times (《时事新报》), Chenbao (《晨报》), and Weekly Review (《星期评论》). A careful reading of the full text clearly reveals the young Mao’s propositions for transforming Chinese society under the influence of the October Revolution and the May Fourth Movement; it also provides a glimpse into the mental shift and the arduous path of exploration taken by the majority of young Chinese intellectuals of that era as they sought a way forward for the nation.
I. The Motivation for Writing "The Great Union of the Popular Masses"
In the 1910s and 20s, China experienced a period where the "nation suffered humiliation, the people suffered hardship, and civilization was shrouded in dust" [2]. This compelled young intellectuals, having undergone the "baptism" of the New Culture Movement [3], to step forward and immerse themselves in patriotic movements to save the country and the nation, seeking a path away from a fate of disgrace. The young Mao Zedong was one of their prominent representatives. Before becoming a Marxist, Mao, like most intellectuals of the time, was swept up in the tides of the era, writing and speaking based on his own perceptions to express his personal political views. "The Great Union of the Popular Masses" is a highly influential representative work of this period. It first appeared in the second issue of the Xiangjiang Review on July 21, 1919, followed by serial installments on the 28th of the same month and August 4th, carrying the subtitles "With Small Unions as the Foundation" and "The Situation of the Chinese ‘Great Union of the Popular Masses’" respectively. The publication of this work was driven by specific motivations.
(1) The provocation of warlord fragmentation and internal strife
Born and raised during China’s darkest years—the transition from the late Qing to the reign of the Beiyang Warlords [4]—Mao witnessed firsthand the turbulence and chaos in Hunan and throughout China. This gave rise to his grand ambition to change the status quo. In 1911, having left the isolated mountainous countryside for the provincial capital to study, Mao saw the Xinhai Revolution [5] sweep away the old world of Qing autocratic rule like "crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood." However, the revolution failed to bring about the new life the common people expected from the transition of the empire to a republic. "The national independence, democracy, and social progress people had anticipated before the revolution did not arrive. On the contrary, in a very short time, Japan forced China to accept the 'Twenty-One Demands,' Yuan Shikai restored the monarchy, Zhang Xun staged a restoration farce, and the fragmented wars between various warlords intensified, while a regressive trend of 'venerating Confucius and studying the classics' emerged in the intellectual sphere." Under the rule of the Beiyang Warlords, China's political scene was in total upheaval and the people's lives were wretched; Hunan, located in the south, was similarly mired in suffering. Zhang Jingyao, who controlled Hunan, was "of the same den of jackals" as other warlords; he not only used the opportunity to extort the people’s hard-earned wealth but also allowed his soldiers to plunder at will, causing widespread resentment. Regarding the darkness of Hunan society and the tragic plight of the people at that time, one can look to "The Ten Great Crimes of Zhang Jingyao Charged by the People of Hunan," a document Mao submitted to the Beiyang government during the "Expel Zhang Movement": "unleashing soldiers to victimize the people," "leaving farmers unable to till and merchants unable to trade"; "financial paralysis and no means of livelihood"; "the bankruptcy of public and private property with no hope of recovery"; "forcing the people to grow opium"; "tarnishing the national dignity and becoming a global laughingstock"; destroying education, "leaving students with no schools to enter and no studies to pursue"; "assassinating citizens in violation of the law"; "the complete eradication of freedom of speech"; increasing salt taxes, "causing prices to soar and the poor to eat bland food, while undermining salt laws and ignoring the central government"; and arbitrarily increasing levies, "collecting heavy bribes while ignoring the misery of the people"; "faking the will of the people and destroying organizations for personal gain." This situation deeply provoked the young Mao, making him feel as though "a fishbone were stuck in his throat." He felt that "the state has reached the depths of decay, humanity has reached the depths of suffering, and society has reached the depths of darkness." Consequently, he cried out: "The world is our world. The state is our state. Society is our society. If we do not speak, who will? If we do not act, who will?"
(2) The impact of the victory of the October Revolution
The Russian October Revolution, which broke out in the latter stages of the First World War, opened a new era for human society with a brand-new posture. As WWI neared its end, the Russian Empire—a key member of the Allied powers and once the weakest link in the imperialist chain—saw the outbreak of the world-shaking October Revolution in November 1917. Relying on the power of the great union of the popular masses, the Bolsheviks "overthrew the nobility and expelled the rich; the labor and peasant sectors jointly established a committee government. The Red Army charged East and West, sweeping away countless enemies. The Allied powers were changed by it, and the whole world was shaken." The rumbling cannons of the Russian October Revolution echoed from afar, spreading from Europe to the Far East. "Hungary rose up, and a brand-new labor-peasant government appeared in Budapest. Germans, Austrians, and Czechs followed suit, fighting to the death against the enemy parties within their own countries. The angry tide moved West and then turned East; England, France, Italy, and America experienced numerous great strikes, while India and Korea saw several great revolutions." The Chinese nation, long known for its patriotic spirit, finally broke its silence and let out a roar: "Strive for national sovereignty externally, punish national traitors internally." The young Mao called this movement—occurring "between the Great Wall and the Bohai Sea"—the "May Fourth Movement." The outbreak of the May Fourth Movement was by no means accidental; it stemmed from the total awakening of the Chinese people after the humiliation of the diplomatic failure at the Paris Peace Conference, and even more so from the inspiration of the victory of the October Revolution. This movement fully demonstrated the great patriotic passion of the Chinese people for a thorough and uncompromising struggle against imperialism and feudalism. Driven by this passion, across the land of China, "banners pointed south, crossing the Yellow River to the Yangtze; in Shanghai and Hankou, 'living dramas' were frequently performed; in the waters of Lake Dongting and Fujian, even higher tides arose. Heaven and earth were revitalized, and the wicked were driven away." In Mao’s view, the monumental May Fourth patriotic movement was the result of an unprecedented "great union" of the Chinese masses, causing immense changes on the ancient soil of China. What appeared before the young Mao was an exciting tableau: "The time has come! The tide of the world is surging more urgently! The sluice gates of Lake Dongting have moved and are open! The grand new tide of thought is already surging and roaring on both banks of the Xiang River!" Given this, the ambitious Mao naturally felt the urge to write.
II. The Main Content of the Proposal for Transforming Chinese Society in "The Great Union of the Popular Masses"
"The Great Union of the Popular Masses" was the most influential and strongly received work published in the Xiangjiang Review during the month or so between its founding and its forced closure. Using a unique perspective, sharp viewpoints, and stirring language, the article profoundly expounded on the necessity, possibility, and path toward a great union of the masses. It inherently contained the necessity of transforming China, the forces to be relied upon, and the specific methods for doing so, serving as a preliminary display of the young Mao Zedong’s exploratory plan for transforming Chinese society and saving the nation from peril.
(1) Expounding the necessity of transforming Chinese society
As mentioned previously, during the period of Beiyang Warlord rule—manipulated by Western powers—there was a chaotic phenomenon of the "privatization of the military." Armies became tools for various warlord factions to fight for power and territory. Because these warlords lacked a national spirit or social consciousness, they believed their most important duty was to seek private gain through aggressive militarism. They colluded with local forces to establish regional hegemony, causing constant warfare and making life unbearable for the common people. Mao, who grew up in this land, was naturally well aware of the plight of the people around him, and this feeling inevitably deepened as his observations and experiences grew. If a youth living in the "ivory tower" of a campus still harbored hope for the government and society, once they stepped out into society, the chaos of the world would be revealed in all its raw reality. Such was the case for Mao after graduating from the Hunan First Normal School. Initially, Mao had placed his hopes for transforming Chinese society on certain "strongmen." While reading Biographies of World Heroes at Dongshan Higher Primary School, he fantasized that China might produce heroes like Washington, Lincoln, or Napoleon to save the people from "fire and water." When he founded the New People's Study Society (新民学会) in 1918, he again hoped to reform thinking and morality and improve the "human heart and customs" to find a way forward for China. The Xiangjiang Review, founded by Mao after the baptism of the May Fourth Movement, was also largely intended to awaken the masses and ultimately transform Chinese society. However, the experiences of the people in Hunan under Zhang Jingyao’s rule made the young Mao see clearly that "the union of the powerful, the aristocrats, and the capitalists has reached its peak, and because of this, the state has reached its depths of decay, humanity its depths of suffering, and society its depths of darkness." In other words, it was precisely because the foreign powers were "in cahoots" (沆瀣一气) [6] with warlords, aristocrats, and capitalists that China—which once led the world—had now become a puppet of Western powers. The country was fragmented: "Eighteen provinces are in a mess, creating three governments, three parliaments, and more than twenty Military Governors (dujun), Civil Governors (xunanshi), and Commanders-in-Chief. Every day, the common people are killed or raped, their property is emptied, and foreign debts are as thick as hemp." Without a thorough transformation, the state and the nation would never see the light of day, and the people would continue to sink into suffering.
(2) Expounding the forces to be relied upon for the transformation of Chinese society
After the news of the victory of the October Revolution reached China, Mao, who was working as an assistant librarian at Peking University, was influenced by the library director Li Dajao [7]. He began to shift his focus from hot-topic domestic politics toward Russia. He scrutinized this new phenomenon with the sharp eyes of youth and joyfully discovered that the October Revolution was the result of united masses using their outcry to awaken the soldiers in the Tsarist camps, causing them to turn their guns against the aristocrats and capitalists. Therefore, Mao realized that we "should rise and emulate" methods like those of Russia—that is, using the power gathered through a "great union of the masses" to change the situation where "the state has reached the depths of decay, humanity has reached the depths of suffering, and society has reached the depths of darkness." In his view, as long as a great union of the popular masses was truly achieved, one could reach the point where "we need not fear heaven, we need not fear ghosts, we need not fear the dead, we need not fear bureaucrats, we need not fear warlords, and we need not fear capitalists." The same applied to other fields: once the masses were truly united, "seen in religion, it becomes 'Reformation,' resulting in freedom of belief. Seen in literature, it changes from aristocratic, classical, and dead-form literature into the people’s literature, modern literature, and living literature. Seen in politics, it changes from autocracy to representative government; from highly restricted elections to unrestricted elections. Seen in society, it changes from a dark society of minority class tyranny to a bright society for the free development of all people. Seen in education, it is the doctrine of education for the people. Seen in economy, it is the egalitarianism of labor and gain. Seen in thought, it is experimentalism. Seen in international affairs, it is the League of Nations."
From this, we can see that the young Mao Zedong believed the "great union of the popular masses" was the only way forward and the fundamental source of strength for transforming Chinese society. This great union was not only historically grounded but also met the demands of reality. First, the great union of the popular masses was a historical necessity. Mao believed that various historical movements were achieved through varying degrees of alliance. "Every historical religious reform and resistance, academic reform and resistance, political reform and resistance, and social reform and resistance must have had its own great union." At the same time, Mao noted that in history, "unions of the powerful, unions of aristocrats, and unions of capitalists have been more common"—in other words, the powerful united first. When their union reached its peak, it inevitably led to the corruption of state power and the suffering of the common people [8], eventually giving rise to a counter-balancing great union of the popular masses. For example, France won "political reform" and Russia won "social reform" through the great union of the popular masses; both eventually achieved victory and inspired other nations to follow suit. In particular, as the masses’ level of cognition and ideological consciousness continued to rise, their actions toward union became increasingly resolute. They had realized that "the masses of a country are always more numerous than that country's aristocrats, capitalists, and other holders of power." Furthermore, through the trials of revolution, they gradually saw through and learned the three methods used by aristocrats and capitalists to achieve union—namely, "knowledge," "money," and "military force." "Since the common people have seen through the three methods of the aristocrats and capitalists, and realized they use the method of union to implement these three, and have further awakened to the fact that their numbers are so few while ours are so many, they have united on a grand scale."
Second, Mao addressed the practical demands and the path to realization for the great union of the popular masses. Mao believed that every group has common interests and demands, and that common interests also exist among various oppressed groups; this constitutes the foundation for realizing a great union. For instance, farmers can form a group because they face shared circumstances and demands, such as: "How does the landlord treat us? Is the rent heavy or light? Are our houses suitable? Are our stomachs full? Is there enough land? Are there people in the village with no land to work?" Similarly, workers, students, women, primary school teachers, police officers, and rickshaw pullers form their own groups based on their desire to escape their respective suffering. Because these various groups share common interests in solving survival needs and achieving total social transformation—encompassing liberation and freedom—they can move toward a great union. "Many small unions have points of common interest, and can therefore be established as a great union." This was the young Mao Zedong’s proposition: moving from small unions to a great union, thereby forming a force of larger groups to counter the union of the powerful. "Because common interests are limited to a small number of people, what is established is a small union. Since many small unions have points of common interest, a great union can be established." Organizations formed by farmers, workers, students, women, primary school teachers, police officers, and rickshaw pullers to protect their respective interests constitute small unions. Various trade guilds, academic societies, and research associations represent the union of commoners and scholars. Through this iterative process, the great union is formed.
(III) The proposal of the "Revolution of Voices" as a method for transforming Chinese society
Having identified the force to be relied upon for transforming Chinese society, Mao further proposed a specific method for solving China’s problems: the "Revolution of Voices" (呼声革命, hūshēng gémìng). The "Revolution of Voices" was one of the methods for overthrowing "power" advocated by Mao in the "Inaugural Manifesto" of the Xiang River Review (Xiangjiang Pinglun). In fact, the young Mao had proposed similar ideas before the publication of The Great Union of the Popular Masses. His article "Industrial Despotism is Forbidden," published in the first issue of the Xiang River Review, fully affirmed the "forbidding" (不许, bùxǔ) method proposed by Samuel Gompers, the leader of the American Federation of Labor. Mao believed the path to "true human liberation" lay in advocating the word "forbidden": "The fact that someone is advocating 'forbidden' is a good sign. When one person says 'forbidden,' it spreads to ten million people; when a low-whispered 'forbidden' escalates to a loud, very loud, and frenziedly shouted 'forbidden,' that will be the day of true human liberation." Perhaps inspired by Gompers, Mao sublimated the advocacy of "forbidden" into the "Revolution of Voices" in The Great Union of the Popular Masses and elaborated on it deeply, making it a method for social transformation with distinct contemporary flavor: "If we can cry out in unison to break through these historical forces and form an even greater union, whenever we encounter something we do not approve of, we shall line up our ranks and shout loudly at the opposing side."
Mao also explained the specific connotations of the "Revolution of Voices." He believed it included the "cry for bread," the "cry for freedom," and the "cry for equality." The "cry for bread" was meant to solve the survival problems of the Chinese people under the rule of dark warlordism—the problem of "eating" (吃饭, chīfàn). To Mao, the world's greatest problem was the "problem of eating." This indicates that Mao, having been baptized by the trends of the May Fourth Movement [9], had shifted toward focusing on the practical problems of the masses’ food and clothing, rather than the romantic pursuit of the "Great Foundation" (大本大源, dàběn dàyuán) [10] or "Universal Truth" that he had explored as a student at the First Normal School. The "cry for freedom" and the "cry for equality" were directed toward solving China's political problems. In Mao's view, solving China's political problems meant changing a reality where "the country has reached the height of decay, humanity the height of suffering, and society the height of darkness." The "fundamental method" to solve this was "the great union of the popular masses" to dismantle the union of aristocrats, capitalists, and other holders of power. Simultaneously, Mao elucidated the internal relationship between the three "cries." He believed they were interconnected and mutually dependent: the "cry for bread" was the prerequisite for the "cries for freedom and equality," while the latter two were the fundamental guarantees for the former. Only by solving the problem of eating could the great union of the popular masses be promoted, uniting the broad masses into a powerful force and providing a basic mass foundation for freedom and equality. Only through building this collective strength via a great union could they achieve a state where they "fear not heaven, fear not ghosts, fear not the dead, fear not bureaucrats, fear not warlords, and fear not capitalists."
III. The Great Union of the Popular Masses Reflects the Dual Mental Journey of the Young Mao Zedong
The unique circumstances of China in the 1910s and 1920s meant that most young people of that era were filled with passion and an urgent desire to change the social status quo. However, they often fell into painful struggles due to their inability to find a scientific theory to guide their actions. They proposed various schemes to change society; the idea of transforming Chinese society through a great union of the popular masses was a plan advocated by many advanced intellectuals of the time, not just Mao alone. From a certain perspective, it reflects the mental growth of that generation of intellectuals.
(I) Highlighting the young Mao Zedong's sense of historical responsibility
From the growth process of the young Mao Zedong, it is evident that he had high aspirations from an early age. After reading Warnings to a Prosperous Age (Shengshi Weiyan) by Zheng Guanying, a famous representative of early reformist thought, the teenage Mao "felt depressed about the future of the country and began to realize that every common man shares responsibility for the rise and fall of his nation" [11]. After the outbreak of the 1911 Revolution, Mao, who had gone to the provincial capital to study, resolutely "threw down the pen to join the army" [12] and devoted himself to the anti-Qing revolutionary cause. His half-year of military life instilled in him the habit of paying close attention to current politics. After enrolling in the Hunan Provincial First Normal School in the spring of 1913, he set a goal of "keeping society in mind while studying hard for self-improvement." To this end, Mao established academic aspirations such as "disciplining one's body to benefit the nation and the people, as benevolent men and gentlemen desire," and studying "for oneself," "for the fellow citizens," and "for the world." During this period, Mao humbly sought guidance from knowledgeable, progressive, and morally upright teachers like Yang Changji, Xu Teli, Fang Weixia, Wang Jifan, and Li Jinxi. He constantly enriched himself, "always rising at daybreak and continuing to study by the faint light from outside after the lamps were extinguished at night, never willing to waste a single moment." Furthermore, Mao maintained his habit of following current events, frequently reading political news in newspapers and engaging in deep discussions and heated debates with friends. He also used holidays to go "study-traveling" (游学, yóuxué) with classmates like Xiao Zisheng and Cai Hesen, going deep into the countryside to understand society and gain experience.
As his attention to current affairs and his understanding of society deepened, young Mao’s sense of social responsibility and mission grew stronger. In May 1915, in order to gain Japanese support for his restoration of the monarchy, Yuan Shikai accepted the "Twenty-One Demands," which nearly led to national subjugation. Upon hearing the news, the whole country was in an uproar. Mao indignantly wrote the lines: "May 7th, the Republic's great shame; how to repay the country? It rests on us students." He denounced the Yuan Shikai government's traitorous actions and expressed his ambition to save the country. During the subsequent New Culture Movement [13], Mao was deeply attracted by the articles in New Youth (Xin Qingnian). For a long time afterward, in addition to attending classes and reading, he spent every day reading New Youth, talking about New Youth, and thinking about the problems raised in New Youth. Under the influence of new culture and new ideas, Mao utilized a new perspective and way of thinking to examine Chinese society. He found that "the accumulated evils of our countrymen are very deep, their thinking too old, and their morality too bad." Therefore, it was necessary to "fundamentally change the thinking of the whole country." In Mao’s view, the method for "changing the nation's thinking" lay in "moving the hearts of all under heaven," because "if the hearts of all under heaven are moved, what task under heaven cannot be accomplished? If the tasks under heaven can be done, will the state not be rich, powerful, and happy?" This meant first awakening people's self-awareness and liberating their minds. To this end, he, Cai Hesen, and others organized the New Citizen Society (新民学会, Xinmin Xuehui), advocating for "innovating scholarship, tempering character, and improving the hearts and customs of the people." This meant realizing social transformation through the innovation of thought and morality. Later, they adopted "transforming China and the world" as the society’s purpose. From this, it is clear that even before establishing his faith in Marxism, the young Mao Zedong possessed the ambitious goal of breaking the old world and creating a new one.
(II) Reflecting the contradictory mentality of the young Mao Zedong
In early 20th-century China, rapid global turbulence triggered massive shocks within the Chinese political landscape and society. The New Culture Movement [14] was in full swing, and various Western "isms" and doctrines flooded in, each attracting different groups of intellectuals with their respective theories. Faced with this bewildering array of "isms," young intellectuals at the time clearly encountered a dilemma of choice. Anarchism, however, was undoubtedly the most popular among the youth of that era. Because anarchists "waved the banner of 'socialism' or even 'communism'" and flaunted highly demagogic slogans such as "absolute egalitarianism," "absolute freedom," and "opposition to all authority," it "greatly suited the taste of those young intellectuals who were extremely dissatisfied with the dark reality and eager to change their personal circumstances, yet lacked practical social experience." Furthermore, anarchism "possessed a broader social base within China’s vast ocean of the petty bourgeoisie, and its dissemination gained a head start over that of Marxism."
Consequently, the young Mao Zedong was no exception in becoming a follower. In 1936, he candidly admitted to the American journalist Edgar Snow that at this time he "favored many of the proposals of the anarchists." From late 1919 to October 1920, the "Movement to Expel Zhang Jingyao" [15] and the "Autonomy Movement" [16] broke out in Hunan, causing a national sensation. These were attempts by young intellectuals like Mao Zedong to use this "ism" to solve the problems of Hunan, and further, to explore a path for completing the transformation of Chinese society. Although Mao was extremely dissatisfied with warlord tyranny at the time, he chose a brand of anarchism that was detached from reality. In Mao’s view, China was then too large and its problems too numerous; "all of China is in a state of anarchy, all of China is in utter chaos." Seeking a general construction for the whole country was completely hopeless in the short term. He felt "the best way is simply not to seek a general construction, but rather to split up and seek the local construction of each province." That is, first achieve "self-determination for the people of Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Zhili, and Fengtian [17]"; after ten or twenty years, when the local construction of each province was complete, they would then pursue a "thorough general revolution."
Mao Zedong also believed that the geography and local character of Hunan were well-suited for achieving independent autonomy through forms such as petitioning, assembly, constitution-making, and elections. He aimed to "take the Republic of Hunan as the goal, implement new ideals, create a new life, and open up a new world in the land of Xiaoxiang [18]." Therefore, he "on the one hand praised the October Revolution, yet on the other hand did not approve of using the method of violent revolution to overthrow the 'power-pressers' [19]." In Mao’s cognition, there were two ways to overthrow "power": one was the radical method of action advocated by Marxism, and the other was the moderate method of action advocated by anarchism. At that time, Mao was clearly more inclined toward moderate anarchism, because he believed that radical methods would not only "rouse great disturbance," but also that "using power to overthrow power results in still more power." From this, we can glimpse the common trajectory of growth among intellectuals of that era through the young Mao Zedong’s contradictory state of mind.
IV. Conclusion
In the early 20th century, in view of the rapidly changing international and domestic situation, the young Mao Zedong—like most Chinese intellectuals living in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society—proposed his own advocacy for the transformation of Chinese society from his unique perspective and cognition during a moment of national peril. Although these proposals failed to achieve their expected goals in practice for various reasons, they provided invaluable experience for the growth of this generation of young intellectuals. It was precisely this experience that accelerated the young Mao Zedong’s eventual choice of Marxism-Leninism and his lifelong, unremitting pursuit of the great cause of transforming Chinese society.
(About the Authors: Chen Zaisheng is the Dean, Professor, and Master’s Supervisor of the School of Marxism at Minnan Normal University; Yang Liang is a Master’s student at the School of Marxism, Minnan Normal University.)
Web Editor: Tongxin Source: Mao Zedong Sixiang Yanjiu (Mao Zedong Thought Studies), Issue 1, 2025