Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, officially the Sun Yat-sen Communist University of the Toilers of China, was a
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
school, which operated from 1925–1930 in the city of Moscow, Russia, then the Soviet Union. It was a
training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...
for Chinese
revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
aries from both the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(KMT) and 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 ...
(CCP) that was split off from the
Communist University of the Toilers of the East
The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (KUTV) (russian: link=no, Коммунистический университет трудящихся Востока; also known as the Far East University) was a revolutionary training scho ...
. Its relationship to the Comintern's
International Liaison Department (Russian acronym "OMS") remains unclear.
In the beginning
each Sun Yat-sen University adopted a statism educational model ().
Origins
In 1923,
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...
, the founder of the KMT, made political overtures to the CCP and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. Sun believed that the KMT needed to train more Chinese revolutionaries. Of all urges only Lenin delivered military and training aids.
Sun Yat-sen University officially began its classes on 7 November 1925, the eighth anniversary of the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
. The university was set up by splitting the Chinese department from the
Communist University of the Toilers of the East
The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (KUTV) (russian: link=no, Коммунистический университет трудящихся Востока; also known as the Far East University) was a revolutionary training scho ...
, which had about 100 Chinese students enrolled. The university was named after Sun out of respect for his contribution to the
Chinese Revolution.
Located at No. 16 Volkhonka Street, in an old and beautiful part of
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, about a thirty-minute walk from the
Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...
. In Tsarist Russia the main university building, built in the early 19th century, had been Moscow's First Provincial High School.
Adam Lindner (1902–58; alias ''Xia Dalin''
[Lohner, Henry; Prip-Møller, Johanne; ''Buddhistsiche Tempel in China;'' Norderstedt 2017, Band II, S. 578; .]) and
Mikhail Borodin
Mikhail Markovich Gruzenberg, known by the alias Borodin, zh, 鮑羅廷 (9 July 1884 – 29 May 1951), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Communist International (Comintern) agent. He was an advisor to Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang (KMT) in ...
,
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
advisors sent to China, directed the first enrollment of students. These students were elites chosen from the membership of both the CCP and KMT. The main missions of this university were to educate students in
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
and
Leninism
Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vanguardis ...
, as well as training cadres for mass movement as qualified
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
s.
Coursework
![UTK studentki sotrudnicy1926](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/UTK_studentki_sotrudnicy1926.jpg)
Most of the instructors came from the Soviet Union. Among them were
old Bolshevik
Old Bolshevik (russian: ста́рый большеви́к, ''stary bolshevik''), also called Old Bolshevik Guard or Old Party Guard, was an unofficial designation for a member of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Par ...
s such as
Karl Radek
Karl Berngardovich Radek (russian: Карл Бернгардович Радек; 31 October 1885 – 19 May 1939) was a Russian revolutionary and a Marxist active in the Polish and German social democratic movements before World War I and a C ...
, who was the first president of the university. The students came from different classes and backgrounds: some were famous communist revolutionaries or scholars, while others had little education but much experience in
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
movements. The university grouped these students into different classes according to their education and experience.
The courses given at the university focused on the basic theories of Marxism and Leninism. Students also learned methods of mobilization and propaganda, as well as theoretical and practical military instruction.
In addition to courses, there were regular presentations on the international communist movements and the Chinese revolution by prominent members from
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
, the Soviet Union and the CCP. Those included
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
,
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
,
Zhang Guotao
Zhang Guotao (November 26, 1897 – December 3, 1979), or Chang Kuo-tao, was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and rival to Mao Zedong. During the 1920s he studied in the Soviet Union and became a key contact with the Comi ...
and
Xiang Zhongfa
Xiang Zhongfa (; 1879 – June 24, 1931) was one of the early senior leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Early life
Xiang was born in 1879 to a poor family living in Hanchuan, Hubei. He dropped out of elementary school to move with h ...
.
Although courses of study only lasted two years, the university had great influence on those trained there. Many who studied there went on to play leadership roles in China, including some of the
28 Bolsheviks
The 28 (and a half) Bolsheviks (二十八个半布尔什维克) were a group of Chinese students who studied at the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University from the late 1920s until early 1935, also known as the "Returned Students". The university was found ...
,
Zuo Quan
Zuo Quan (; 15 March 1905 – 2 June 1942), also named Zuo Shuren (), born in Liling, Hunan, was a general in the Chinese Red Army during the Chinese revolution and the war against Japan, and a senior staff officer of the Eighth Route Army. ...
,
Wu Xiuquan
Wu Xiuquan (; March 1908 – 9 November 1997) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, military officer, and diplomat. He studied in the Soviet Union, enlisted in the Chinese Red Army, and participated in the Long March. After the founding of the ...
,
He Zhonghan
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
,
Deng Wenyi,
Ji Chaoding
Ji Chaoding (; 1903–1963) was a Chinese economist and political activist. His book ''Key Economic Areas in Chinese History'' (1936) influenced the conceptualization of Chinese history in the West by emphasizing geographic and economic factors ...
, and both
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...
, future
Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China and
Chiang Ching-kuo
Chiang Ching-kuo (27 April 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a politician of the Republic of China after its retreat to Taiwan. The eldest and only biological son of former president Chiang Kai-shek, he held numerous posts in the government ...
, future president of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
.
Political change and closure
![UTK-KUTK students Moscow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/UTK-KUTK_students_Moscow.jpg)
In 1927, as the CCP-KMT alliance broke up, the students from the KMT were sent back to China. As the power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky reached its peak, Radek was sacked and replaced by his deputy,
Pavel Mif
Pavel Mif was the pseudonym of Mikhail Alexandrovich Fortus (August 3, 1901, in Khersones Gubernia of Russian Empire - 10 September 1939), a Ukrainian and Russian Bolshevik party member from May 1917 of Jewishhttps://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/misc ...
, who was too ambitious to be limited to a university campus. Mif himself became the vice director of the Far East Department of the Comintern and played an important role in the major decisions of the CCP. With his 28 Bolsheviks holding senior positions in the CCP, Mif and the university played a major role in China's modern history. Its final rector was
Vladimir Veger.
The university was closed in the mid-1930s due to the failure of the alliance with the KMT.
See also
*
Sun Yat-sen University (disambiguation) Sun Yat-sen University may also refer to:
* Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) is a public university in Guangzhou, the People's Republic of China (hereinafter China).
* National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) is a national research university in Kaohsi ...
**
Sun Yat-sen University
Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...
in
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
,
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
**
National Sun Yat-sen University
National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU; ) is a public research-intensive university renowned as an official think tank scholars' community, located in Sizihwan, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. NSYSU is listed as one of six national research universities, ...
in
Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...
,
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
**
Communist University of the Toilers of the East
The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (KUTV) (russian: link=no, Коммунистический университет трудящихся Востока; also known as the Far East University) was a revolutionary training scho ...
**
**
Chinese-Lenin School of Vladivostok
The Chinese-Lenin School of Vladivostok ( rus, links=no, Китайская Ленинская Школа во Владивостоке, r=Kitaiskaya Leninskaya Shkola vo Vladivostoke) was a Soviet educational institution and espionage training ce ...
References
*Sheng Zhongliang.'' Moscow Sun Yat-sen University and Chinese Revolution''
{{Authority control
Chinese Civil War
Universities and institutes established in the Soviet Union
China–Soviet Union relations
Defunct universities and colleges in Russia
Education in the Soviet Union
Universities and colleges in Moscow
Comintern
Educational institutions established in 1925
1925 establishments in the Soviet Union
Politics of the Republic of China (1912–1949)
Sun Yat-sen University
Junior colleges