Li Dazhao or Li Ta-chao (October 29, 1889 – April 28, 1927) was a Chinese intellectual and revolutionary who participated in the New Cultural Movement in the early years of the Republic of China, established in 1912. He co-founded the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with Chen Duxiu in July 1921. He helped build a united front between the CCP and Sun Yat-sen's Nationalist Party (KMT) in early 1924. During the Northern Expedition, Li was arrested and then executed by warlord Zhang Zuolin in Beijing in 1927.

Biography

Early life 
Li was born into a peasant family in Laoting County, Hebei (previously Zhili) province in 1889. His childhood was miserable. His father died a few months before he was born, and his mother died when he was a baby. At the age of ten, Li married Zhao Renlan, who was nearly six years older; Li's foster grandfather arranged the marriage for Li's protection. He received his traditional education in three village schools in Laoting County for a decade.<ref>Tangshanshiweidangshiyanjiushi, Li Dazhao yu guxiang (Li Dazhao and his hometown), Beijing: Zhongyangwenxianchubanshe, 1994, pp. 1-90.</ref> He started his modern education at Yongpingfu Middle school in 1905. From 1907 to 1913, he completed his college education at Beiyang College of Law and Politics in Tianjin. From 1914 to 1916, Li studied political economy at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan before returning to China in 1916. While there he lived in a YMCA dormitory and participated in Bible studies at the church of Yasuzo Shimizu. He did not finish his learning as he was expelled by Waseda due to his long absence from his classes for his active participation in the campaign against Yuan Shikai's imperial endeavors, during which he even returned to Shanghai in early 1916.

 Head Librarian and Professor at Peking University 

After returning to China, Li served as an editor in Beijing for a few newspapers on which he published numerous articles to promote democracy, freedom, constitutional rule, and national resurgence. As a leading intellectual in the New Culture Movement, he lashed out at China's feudal tradition, criticized the old tyrannical past, and strongly endorsed the representative system. In January 1918, Li was hired by Cai Yuanpei to be the head of the library at Peking University (Beijing University) and a couple of years later he became a professor of politics, history, and economics there. He taught many different courses not only at Beijing University, but also at four other universities in Beijing. He was invited as a speaker by associations, colleges, and other organizations throughout China. At Beijing University, he influenced students during the May Fourth Movement of May 4, 1919; this including Mao Zedong, who worked as an assistant in the library's reading room. In a number of ways, "Li's urgent calls for democracy, science, and constitutional rule are an essential component of the brilliance of the May Fourth Movement."

More importantly, Li Dazhao was a prominent leader during the May Fourth Movement; he advised and coached young students in Beijing to take action against the Beiyang government and to protest against the imperialist powers' decision at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 to transfer the former German colonial privileges in Shandong to the Japanese Empire. During this time he published productively on a variety of topics championing new and progressive ideas, and became China's earliest self-converted communist. He was one of the earliest scholars to explore the Bolshevik government in the Soviet Union as a possible model for his own nation. Throughout his life, Li maintained cordial relationship with other New Culture Movement figures such as Hu Shi and Lu Xun, even though they had diverse scholarly opinions and assumed different political stances.

 Co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party 
By many accounts, Li was a nationalist and believed that the Chinese nation could enjoy a renaissance by accepting a new culture, by rejuvenating its people, and by remolding its civilization. It is interesting to note that Li admired America for years but changed that attitude to be a pro-Russian intellectual in 1919.  Like other intellectuals of his time, Li's thinking was impacted by diverse elements such as Kropotkin's anarchism. After the May Fourth Movement, he and other intellectuals started to turn to Marxism. The success of the Bolshevik Revolution was a factor in remolding his political views.

Later, Li combined his original nationalist thoughts and his newly acquired Marxist views to fashion his political visions for national salvation. Recent studies demonstrate that Li mainly read communism-related works from the Japanese sources which helped deepen his understanding of the communist ideology.

Li's theory of political economy differed from the typical Marxist view that the urban proletariat was the revolutionary class. In Li's view, China's rural peasantry would be the keyt class-leveling force and the political source for revolution. 

Although some piecemeal articles referencing Marxism had been published in China previously, in 1918 Li became the first person in China to spread Marxism through significant published articles. In his 1919 essay My Marxist Views and his 1924 essay The Essentials of Historical Study, Li stated that generations make their own futures through harnessing social energies. In Li's view, historical change occurred through linear stage-oriented progressions of civilizational improvement directed by via human agency.

Li initiated the Peking Socialist Youth Corps in 1920. He built China's earliest socialist and communist groups in Beijing even before the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai. Li and Chen Duxiu were regarded as co-founders of the party.

United Front with Sun Yat-sen's Nationalist Party
Under the leadership of Li and Chen, the CCP developed a close relationship with the Soviet controlled Comintern. After the establishment of the CCP, Li and other early communists worked diligently to mobilize Chinese railway and mining workers to fight for their own rights. Directed by the Comintern, Li and Chen joined the Nationalist Party in 1922 and forged a close tie with Sun Yat-sen. Li was elected to the KMT's Central Executive Committee in Guangzhou (Canton) in January 1924, which marked the formal formation of the First United Front between the Communist Party and the Nationalist Party. Both parties worked together to fight against their common enemies: the warlord government in Beijing and imperialist powers, which dominated many spheres of influence in China.

Li visited the Soviet Union in late 1924 and stayed there for months. Upon his return from Russia, he wooed the Christian warlord Feng Yuxiang to the Nationalist side, recruited young people into the two political parties, and organized numerous revolutionary activities. He urged Feng Yuxiang to adopt a strategy to fight against Zhang Zuolin from Northwestern China to Henan Province, which was crucial for the success of the Northern Expedition to topple down the warlord regime in Beijing.

 Death 
Tension between the Comintern and the CCP on one side and the KMT on another led to political intrigue, especially after Sun Yat-sen's death in 1925. In any case, Li was instrumental in the United Front of the two political parties for which he served as its leader in North China. He helped organize anti-government demonstrations, in particular on March 18, 1926, in which government guards fired into the crowd, killing forty-seven people and wounding more than 200. After the March 18 Massacre, Li was put on the Beiyang government's list of the most wanted. He took refuge in the Soviet Embassy in Beijing yet continued to lead political maneuvers in North China to topple the warlord government. When the United Front collapsed in 1927, Zhang Zuolin of the Fengtian clique ordered a raid on the Embassy, violating diplomatic immunity. Li, his wife and daughter were jailed, but his wife and daughter were released. Zhang ordered Li and nineteen other individuals, both Nationalists and Communists, to be executed by strangulation on April 28, 1927. 

Legacy

Li Dazhao left an enduring legacy upon modern Chinese history. As a leading intellectual of China's New Cultural Movement, he wrote hundreds of articles to promote democracy, support constitutional government, endorse individual freedom, and called for a national revival. His ideological world might be complex as he incorporated diverse thoughts. His turn to communism was dramatic; from 1918 to 1919, he became China's first communist, about a year earlier than Chen Duxiu.

Li's thoughts on the role of peasants heavily influenced Mao Zedong. As one of the co-founders of the CCP, Li's key role in decision-making for early communist activities and in bringing forth new theories significantly impacted the initial stage of the Chinese communist revolution. In a particular sense, Li Dazhao was a special bridge between the first two generations of the communist leadership; Maurice Meisner remarked that Li Dazhao was the CCP's "first true leader and its greatest martyr" and that he "represents the link between the older generation of democratically oriented and Western-educated intellectuals of the early phase of the New Cultural Movement (ca. 1915–1919), from whom the first Chinese Marxists emerged, and the new generation of young Communist intellectuals who inherited the party leadership after 1927."

In 2021, The Pioneer, a biopic was released about Li Dazhao starring Zhang Songwen as Li Dazhao. It premiered on July 1st, 2021 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.

Family
Spouse: 
 Zhao Renlan (1884–1933).
Children: 
 Li Baohua (1909–2005) served as the governor of the People's Bank of China from 1978 to 1982.
 Li Xinghua (1911–1979)
 Li Yanhua
 Li Guanghua
 Li Xinhua

 References 
 Citations 

 Sources 

 Original text based on marxists.org article, released under the GNU FDL.''

External links 
 

1889 births
1927 deaths
Chinese librarians
Chinese Marxists
Chinese revolutionaries
Delegates to the 3rd National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 2nd Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 4th Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Academic staff of Peking University
People executed by the Republic of China by hanging
People from Laoting County
People from Tangshan
Political party founders
Waseda University alumni
리다자오(, 1889년 10월 29일~1927년 4월 28일)는 중국 공산당의 공산주의 혁명가이다. 중화민국에서 10월 혁명과 마르크스-레닌주의를 선전하고 천두슈, 마오쩌둥 등과 함께 중국 공산당을 창립하였다. 그는 천두슈, 마오쩌둥, 저우언라이, 주더, 취추바이, 덩중샤, 마오둔 등과 함께 중국 공산당의 초기 지도자이었으며, 상하이 쿠데타 이후로, 중국 공산당의 혁명 투쟁은 난창 봉기, 추수 봉기, 광저우 봉기 등을 거쳐 중화소비에트공화국의 건립으로 이행되었다.

생애 
허베이성 탕산 라오팅현에서 농민의 아들로 태어났다. 1913년에 톈진시의 북양정법전문학교를 졸업한 후 마르크스주의 정당인 중국사회당 당원으로 활동하다 일본 제국으로 유학하여 1913년부터 1916년까지 와세다 대학 정치과에서 공부하고 중퇴 후 귀국하였다. 1917년부터 국립 베이징 대학의 역사학, 경제학, 철학 교수 겸 도서관 주임으로 근무하면서 소비에트 러시아의 10월 혁명을 선전하였고 볼셰비키주의와 코민테른의 세계 혁명을 지지한 중국의 초기 공산주의 혁명가이었다. 그는 혁명적 사회주의에 입각하여 적잖은 베이징대의 교원들과 학생들에게 마르크스-레닌주의를 선전하는 한편, 베이징대학교에서 학생들과 교사들이 코민테른의 마르크스-레닌주의적 혁명에 가담하게 만드는 데 큰 영향을 끼쳤는데, 천두슈와 함께 장궈타오, 취추바이, 장선푸, 천궁보, 덩중샤 등 적잖은 학생들을 마르크스-레닌주의 연구회에 끌어들이고, 후난성의 공산파 리더이자, 베이징 대학의 철학 선배 교수 양창지의 사위였던 마오쩌둥에게 베이징대 도서관의 보조 사서로 일하도록 자리를 마련해 준 사람도 바로 리다자오였다. 리다자오는 스탈린과 마찬가지로, 중국에서 볼셰비키 다수파를 차지하는 농민들이 중국 공산당의 마르크스-레닌주의 혁명에서 아주 크게 작용을 할 수 있다고 보았는데, 그런 점에서 마오쩌둥의 혁명 사상에 영향을 주었다.

그는 원래 소련 공산당의 볼셰비키주의를 추종한 과학적 사회주의자였고, 이것은 그 초기의 이념의 뿌리가 표트르 크로폿킨의 상호 부조 사상과 완전히 무관치는 않은 것이었으나, 1917년 10월 이후로 러시아 혁명이 마르크스-레닌주의 혁명 영토를 본격적으로 확대시키면서 부터는 5.4운동을 전후로 하여, 소련 공산당의 마르크스-레닌주의 혁명으로 경도되었다. 그는 1918년 11월 베이징 대학의 《신청년》에 발표한 <볼셰비즘의 승리> 등의 대표적인 마르크스-레닌주의 문헌을 통하여 "앞으로의 세계는 분명히 적기의 세계가 될 것이다"라고 공언하고, 천두슈 등과 함께 《매주평론》을 창간하고, 마르크스-레닌주의 계급, 민족 혁명을 일으켰다.

리다자오는 1921년 천두슈, 마오쩌둥 등과 함께 중국에 중국 공산당을 창립하였는데, 이때 비로소 비공식적이고 문단적인 성격의 볼셰비키주의 공산주의 선동가, 혁명가에서 공식적인 중국 공산당 조직의 지도 계열 인사로 활동하기 시작하였다. 제3인터내셔널을 위한 투쟁을 위해서이었다. 1921년 7월에 상하이에서 개최된 중국 공산당 창당 대회에는 그의 부하이었던 마오쩌둥 등도 참가하였다. 천두슈와 리다자오 등의 지휘 아래 중국 공산당은 소련 공산당이 지도하는 코민테른의 지도를 본격적으로 받게 되었으며 1922년에는 코민테른 지시로 중국 국민당과의 공작에도 나서게 되고 이것이 제1차 국공합작으로 이어졌다. 리다자오는 코민테른의 지시로 1924년에는 마오쩌둥, 리리싼, 취추바이, 마오둔 등 다른 중국 공산당 당원들과 함께 개인 자격으로 중국 국민당 당원으로 입당하기도 하였고, 중앙위원회 위원에 선출되기도 하였다.

블라디미르 레닌의 원조로 중국 공산당과 북벌을 준비하던 쑨원이 사망한 후 중국 국민당과 중국 공산당, 코민테른 사이의 관계는 점차 벌어지기 시작하였는데, 장제스는 1927년 상하이에서 4.12사건을 일으켜 중국 공산당 측의 코민테른 성원에 대한 숙청에 나서게 된다. 4.12사건을 계기로 전국적으로 관련자들이 수배, 체포되었는데, 리다자오도 이때 베이징에서 다른 동료, 제자 등 19명과 함께 감금되었고, 소련 공산당과 코민테른을 대리해서 중화민국 정부의 전복을 꾀하였다는 죄로 4월 28일 베이징을 관할하던 군벌 장쭤린의 명령으로 처형되고 말았다.

리다자오는 1917년부터 1927년까지 베이징대에서 도서관 주임, 경제학, 역사학, 철학 교수 등을 지냈으며, 코민테른의 혁명가 육성을 위한 베이징 대학 마르크스주의 연구회를 주관하는 한편, 역사 유물주의, 국제 공산주의 운동사, 공산주의와 사회 운동 등 13개 과목을 담당하였다. 소련 공산당의 볼셰비즘 혁명을 중국에서 일으키고 코민테른의 한반도 전역의 공산화 시도 및 중화소비에트공화국의 성립과 전개 전반에 큰 영향을 끼친 코민테른의 공산주의 혁명가, 이론가로, 중국 공산당의 베이징대에는 1982년에 덩리췬, 마인추, 보시라이, 리커창 등 대학 동문들의 성금을 지원 받아 제작된 리다자오의 동상이 세워져 있다.

외부 링크 

1888년 출생
1927년 사망
코민테른 관련자
중국의 혁명가
베이징 대학
중국의 공산주의자
중국의 마르크스주의자
중국의 언론인
정당 창당자
중국공산당 중앙위원
중국공산당원
루쉰
소련 공산당 당원
교수형된 사람
중화민국 대륙 시기 사람
탕산시 출신
허베이성 출신
베이징 대학 동문
마오쩌둥
1989년 톈안먼 사건 관련자
베이징 대학 교수
공청단
중국의 사서