Chinese Communist Founder Purged by Stalin

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]The founder of the Chinese Communist [music] Party was destroyed by the very revolution he created. It's 1921, Shanghai, China. A literature professor named Chen Duxiu gathers 12 men in a small house to birth a new [music] movement. He awakens China's youth through his magazine, preaching democracy and science. Students march in the streets demanding change from the old ways. Chen builds alliances with Sun Yat-sen's nationalists and [music] welcomes Soviet advisers. His party grows from dozens to thousands. For a time, revolution seems within reach, but Stalin's [music] men whisper poison in Moscow's ear. They claim Chen is too independent, too Chinese, not loyal enough to the international cause. Then comes 1927.

[00:00:44]Nationalist forces turn on their communist allies in Shanghai, slaughtering thousands in the streets.

[00:00:49]Blood flows through the city as Chen's followers die. Moscow needs someone to blame for the disaster. They expel Chen from his own party, casting him into exile. He dies forgotten and poor, rejected by communists and nationalists alike. The intellectual father of Chinese communism [music] was Chen Duxiu.