Battling Western Imperialism: Mao, Stalin, and the United States

Michael Sheng

Published by Princeton University Press 1998

Battling Western Imperialism

Mao, Stalin, and the United States

Michael Sheng

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691223292

Overview
Contents

About this book

One of the central issues in the study of the Chinese Communist Party and its foreign policy is its relations with Moscow. Was the CCP a Chinese nationalist party antagonistic to an intrusive Soviet Union or was it rather an internationalist party with ideological-political and strategic-military ties to Moscow, faithfully adhering to Marxist-Leninist principles as well as to Stalin's policy advice? For the past two decades a number of historians have argued that the CCP was a nationalist movement and that the United States missed its opportunity to establish friendly relations because U.S. leaders were blinded by fears of an international Communist threat. In his provocative book, Michael Sheng strongly challenges this position.

On the basis of extensive new information obtained from recently available Chinese sources, Sheng demonstrates that the foreign policy of the CCP under Mao Zedong did, in fact, follow the directions recommended by Joseph Stalin. Sheng reveals that Mao and Stalin were in frequent and direct contact by radio and by correspondence, beginning in 1936, and that Mao consistently acted on Stalin's advice. Battling Western Imperialism analyzes the CCP's relations with both the Soviet Union and the United States and provides conclusive evidence that there was no "lost opportunity" for the U.S. in China. He shows that the CCP viewed the United States as a hostile capitalist power that opposed its revolutionary aims. The author has drawn on an unprecedented collection of Chinese-language materials to make a powerful new argument.

Author / Editor information

Michael M. Sheng is Associate Professor of History at Southwest Missouri State University.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction
Chapter I. The Roots of Mao's Pro-Soviet Policy before 1937 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Chapter II. CCP-Moscow Relations during the Anti-Japanese War, 1937-1945 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Chapter III. From Enemies to Friends: CCP Policy toward the United States before Pearl Harbor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
Chapter IV. Courting the Americans: The CCP's United Front Policy toward the U.S., 1942-1945 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
Chapter V. Postwar Alignment: CCP-Moscow versus GMD-Washington in Manchuria, August-December 1945 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
Chapter VI. Mao Deals with George Marshall, November 1945-December 1946 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
Chapter VII. The CCP and the Cold War in Asia: Mao's "Intermediate-Zone" Theory and the Anti-American United Front, 1946-1947 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
Chapter VIII. Mao's Revolutionary Diplomacy and the Cold War in Asia, 1948-1949 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Select Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245