Guangzhou commune: Difference between revisions

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Shifu, an anarchist influenced by Kropotkin, established the Crock-Crow Society in 1912 in the city of Guangzhou. The Crock-Cow Society published an influential anarchist journal, ''People's Voice''. Shifu and his followers helped launch a number of communal experiments and labor organizing efforts that continued in Guangzhou after Shifu's death in 1915.<ref>Afir Dirlik, "Anarchism and the Question of Place: Thoughts from the Chinese Experience" in ed. Steven Hirsch and Lucien Van Der Walt, ''Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 1870-1940: The Praxis of National Liberation, Internationalism, and Social Revolution'' (London and Boston: Brill, 2010), 138.</ref> In Guangzhou, Shifu's followers organized China's first modern labor unions. By 1920 they organized almost forty unions in Guangzhou, including the Teahouse Labor Union in 1918 which had 11,000 members.<ref>Afir Dirlik, ''Anarchism in the Chinese Revolution'' (Berkeley and Los Angeles: Regents of the University of California, 1991), ch. 4. Michael Schmidt, [[Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism]].</ref>
Shifu, an anarchist influenced by Kropotkin, established the Crock-Crow Society in 1912 in the city of Guangzhou. The Crock-Cow Society published an influential anarchist journal, ''People's Voice''. Shifu and his followers helped launch a number of communal experiments and labor organizing efforts that continued in Guangzhou after Shifu's death in 1915.<ref>Afir Dirlik, "Anarchism and the Question of Place: Thoughts from the Chinese Experience" in ed. Steven Hirsch and Lucien Van Der Walt, ''Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 1870-1940: The Praxis of National Liberation, Internationalism, and Social Revolution'' (London and Boston: Brill, 2010), 138.</ref> In Guangzhou, Shifu's followers organized China's first modern labor unions. By 1920 they organized almost forty unions in Guangzhou, including the Teahouse Labor Union in 1918 which had 11,000 members.<ref>Afir Dirlik, ''Anarchism in the Chinese Revolution'' (Berkeley and Los Angeles: Regents of the University of California, 1991), ch. 4. Michael Schmidt, [[Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism]].</ref>


Chinese and Korean anarchists collaborated on projects such as the Movement for Rural Self-Defense Communities in Guanzhou in the 1920s. The area "was firmly controlled by the Chinese anarchist Quin Wangshan (1891-1970) under the ''Quomindang'' banner, with support from Xu Zhuoran, a graduate of Huangpu Military Academy who sympathized with anarchist ideals."<ref>Dongyoun Hwang, "Korean Anarchism Before 1945: A Regional and Transnational Approach" in ''Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World'', 118.</ref> From 1921 to 1923, "the entire city was run as an anarchist commune."<ref>Schmidt, [[Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism]].</ref> When the nationalist Quomindang party purged its anarchist members in 1927, many anarchists found refuge in Guangzhou. They called it "a heaven of place," meaning a utopia.<ref>Hwang, "Korean Anarchism Before 1945".</ref>
Chinese and Korean anarchists collaborated on projects such as the Movement for Rural Self-Defense Communities in Guanzhou in the 1920s. The area "was firmly controlled by the Chinese anarchist Quin Wangshan (1891-1970) under the ''Quomindang'' banner, with support from Xu Zhuoran, a graduate of Huangpu Military Academy who sympathized with anarchist ideals."<ref>Dongyoun Hwang, "Korean Anarchism Before 1945: A Regional and Transnational Approach" in ''Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World'', 118.</ref>


From Michael Schmidt, [[Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism]]:
When the nationalist Quomindang party purged its anarchist members in 1927, many anarchists found refuge in Guangzhou. They called it "a heaven of place," a utopia.<ref>Hwang, "Korean Anarchism Before 1945".</ref>


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It has been claimed that from 1921 to 1923, "the entire city was run as an anarchist commune"<ref>Schmidt, [[Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism]].</ref> and "the entire city of Guangzhou in China" was "an anarchist commune for a year."<ref>Aragorn Eloff, "Anarchism – a scattered history," ''the overextended memotype'', https://meme.co.za/?p=165.</ref>  
Shifu, the ''nom de guerre'' of Liu Szu-fu (1884–1915), was the leading Chinese anarchist, who modelled his views on Kropotkin, founded the Society of Anarchist Communist Comrades, and was the pioneer of Chinese syndicalism: the anarcho-syndicalists took the honours of establishing the first modern Chinese trade unions, with the 11,000–strong Teahouse Labour Union in the southern port city of Guangzhou in 1918; Guangzhou would remain an anarchist stronghold for at least a decade after the 1921–1923 period when the entire city was run as an anarchist commune.
</blockquote>


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Latest revision as of 16:01, 14 March 2025

Shifu, an anarchist influenced by Kropotkin, established the Crock-Crow Society in 1912 in the city of Guangzhou. The Crock-Cow Society published an influential anarchist journal, People's Voice. Shifu and his followers helped launch a number of communal experiments and labor organizing efforts that continued in Guangzhou after Shifu's death in 1915.[1] In Guangzhou, Shifu's followers organized China's first modern labor unions. By 1920 they organized almost forty unions in Guangzhou, including the Teahouse Labor Union in 1918 which had 11,000 members.[2]

Chinese and Korean anarchists collaborated on projects such as the Movement for Rural Self-Defense Communities in Guanzhou in the 1920s. The area "was firmly controlled by the Chinese anarchist Quin Wangshan (1891-1970) under the Quomindang banner, with support from Xu Zhuoran, a graduate of Huangpu Military Academy who sympathized with anarchist ideals."[3]

When the nationalist Quomindang party purged its anarchist members in 1927, many anarchists found refuge in Guangzhou. They called it "a heaven of place," a utopia.[4]

It has been claimed that from 1921 to 1923, "the entire city was run as an anarchist commune"[5] and "the entire city of Guangzhou in China" was "an anarchist commune for a year."[6]

  1. ↑ Afir Dirlik, "Anarchism and the Question of Place: Thoughts from the Chinese Experience" in ed. Steven Hirsch and Lucien Van Der Walt, Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 1870-1940: The Praxis of National Liberation, Internationalism, and Social Revolution (London and Boston: Brill, 2010), 138.
  2. ↑ Afir Dirlik, Anarchism in the Chinese Revolution (Berkeley and Los Angeles: Regents of the University of California, 1991), ch. 4. Michael Schmidt, Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism.
  3. ↑ Dongyoun Hwang, "Korean Anarchism Before 1945: A Regional and Transnational Approach" in Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 118.
  4. ↑ Hwang, "Korean Anarchism Before 1945".
  5. ↑ Schmidt, Cartography of Revolutionary Anarchism.
  6. ↑ Aragorn Eloff, "Anarchism – a scattered history," the overextended memotype, https://meme.co.za/?p=165.
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