The Karakhan Manifesto was a statement of Soviet policy toward China dated 25 July 1919. It was issued by

Lev Karakhan Lev Mikhailovich Karakhan (''Karakhanian'') Armenian Լևոն Միքայելի Կարախանյան, Russian Лев Михайлович Карахан (20 January 1889, Tiflis – 20 September 1937, Moscow) was a Russian revolutionary and a ...

, deputy commissioner for foreign affairs for Soviet Russia. The manifesto offered to relinquish various rights Russia had obtained by treaty in China, including

extraterritoriality In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cla ...

, economic concessions, and Russia's share of the

Boxer indemnity The Boxer Protocol was signed on September 7, 1901, between the Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces (including Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the Un ...

. These and similar treaties had been denounced by Chinese nationalists as " unequal." The manifesto created a favorable impression of Russia and Marxism among Chinese. It was often contrasted with the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

(1919), which granted

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

to Japan.M Sinha,
The Karakhan Manifesto
" ''China Report'', November 1972 vol. 8 no. 6 53. The manifesto was prompted by the Bolshevik advance into

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, which created a need to establish a relationship with China.Whiting, Allen S., "The Soviet Offer to China of 1919", ''The Journal of Asian Studies'', August 1951, pp. 355–364, The Bolsheviks saw the Chinese as one of "the oppressed peoples of the East" and therefore a potential ally against the

imperialist Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...

powers. The manifesto is addressed to, "the Chinese people and the Governments of North and South China." Because both Russia and China were in a state of civil war at this time, diplomatic exchanges were often delayed. Although the document was published in Moscow in August 1919, it was not formally presented to Chinese diplomats until February 1920. The version presented at this time includes the passage, "the Soviet Government returns to the Chinese people, without any compensation, the

Chinese Eastern Railway The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, russian: Китайско-Восточная железная дорога, or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (als ...

." Six months later, Karakhan personally handed the Chinese a second version of the manifesto, one that did not include this remarkable offer. In fact, the Soviet authorities denied ever having made it. The railway offer had been included by "mistake," they explained. The Soviets may have hoped the offer of the railway would generate an enthusiastic response in Beijing, leading to a Sino-Soviet alliance against Japan. The warlords in Beijing, closely tied to Japan, responded hesitantly. When the hoped-for alliance proved unattainable, the Russians withdrew their offer. In any event, traditional Russian interests and rights in China, including control of the

, were reaffirmed in a series of secret agreements made in 1924–1925. The manifesto came at a crucial time in the development of Chinese communism. It encouraged interest in Marxism and thus played a role in the founding of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

in 1921.''Encyclopædia Britannica'',
Karakhan Manifesto
.

References

{{Reflist, 30em China–Soviet Union relations 1919 in China 1919 in international relations 1919 in Russia 1919 documents