In the Realm of Comrades? Scattered Thoughts Occasioned by the Centenary of the Founding of the Chinese Communist Party, 1921–2021

Rebecca E Karl

doi:10.1017/s0305741021000710

Abstract

AbstractThis brief essay meditates on the advent of the ideal of horizontal social relations, exemplified in the early CCP years in the political term, “comrade” (tongzhi). It takes up Qu Qiubai as exemplary of a Marxist political thinker whose commitments to horizontality/comrade relations can be illustrated through his theories of literature, translation and language. It proposes that despite Xi Jinping's recent rhetorical admonishments to re-activate “comrade” as a political term, it is the LGBTQ community's appropriation of “comrade” in contemporary China that actually holds the potential for a substantive reanimation of the utopian ideals begun a century ago.

Highlights

This brief essay meditates on the advent of the ideal of horizontal social relations, exemplified in the early Chinese Communist Party (CCP) years in the political term, “comrade”
This brief essay meditates on the advent of the ideal of horizontal social relations, exemplified in the early CCP years in the political term, “comrade”. It takes up Qu Qiubai as exemplary of a Marxist political thinker whose commitments to horizontality/comrade relations can be illustrated through his theories of literature, translation and language
It proposes that despite Xi Jinping’s recent rhetorical admonishments to re-activate “comrade” as a political term, it is the LGBTQ community’s appropriation of “comrade” in contemporary China that holds the potential for a substantive reanimation of the utopian ideals begun a century ago

Summary

Introduction

This brief essay meditates on the advent of the ideal of horizontal social relations, exemplified in the early CCP years in the political term, “comrade” (tongzhi).

Results

Conclusion