Chinese in the Russian Revolution and in the Russian Civil War
Encyclopedia
There are a number of reports about the involvement of Chinese detachments in the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War
. Chinese served as bodyguards of Bolshevik
functionaries, served in the Cheka
, and even formed complete regiments of the Red Army
. Although it has been estimated that there were tens of thousands of Chinese troops in the Red Army, they did not constitute a significant fraction of the Red Army." By the summer of 1919, the Red Army comprised over a million men. By November 1920, it comprised over 1.8 million men.
Other notable examples of foreigners serving in the Red Army include Koreans in the Russian Far East
, World War I Hungarian POWs under Béla Kun
, Red Latvian Riflemen as well as a number of other national detachments.
lived and worked in Siberia
in the late Russian Empire
. Many of these migrant workers were transferred to the European part of Russia and to the Ural
during World War I
because of the acute shortage of workers there. For example, by 1916 there were about 2,000 Chinese workers in Novgorod Governorate. In 1916-1917 about 3,000 Chinese workers were employed in the construction of Russian fortifications around the Gulf of Finland
. A significant part of them were convicted robbers (honghuzi
, "Red Beards", transliterated into Russian as "khunkhuzy", хунхузы) transferred from katorga
labor camps in Harbin
and other locations in the Far East
ern regions of the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution, some of them stayed in Finland
and took part as mercenaries in the Finnish Civil War
on both sides. After 1917 many of these Chinese workers joined the Red Army. The vast majority of these Chinese were apolitical and become soldiers solely in order to earn a living in a foreign country.
A Dungan muslim Commander Magaza Masanchi
of the Dungan Cavalry Regiment fought for the Soviet Union against the Basmachis. He also took part in other actions in central asia.
were recruited from factory workers who had been attracted into Russia before the war and who sided with the urban proletariat with whom they worked. Separate Chinese units fought for the Bolsheviks in the Ukraine, Trancaucasia and Siberia.
One estimate suggests that there were tens of thousands of Chinese troops in the Red Army . Nonetheless, Brian Murphy asserts that "the number of Chinese troops did not constitute a significant fraction of the Red Army." By summer of 1919, the Red Army comprised over a million men. By November 1920, it comprised over 1.8 million men.
Chinese units were involved in virtually every front of the Russian Civil War. Some sincerely sympathized with the Bolsheviks who treated them as "proletarian brothers". Others simply joined the Red Army in order to survive and others wanted to fight their way home to China. Still others were recruited by the White Army.
The Chinese were one of several foreign contingents dubbed in Soviet historiography
as "internationalist detachments" ("отряды интернационалистов"). Chinese internationalist troops wore the same uniform as the rest of the Red Army.
The Bolsheviks found special value in the use of Chinese troops who were considered to be industrious and efficient. In addition, they were seldom able to understand Russian which kept them insulated from outside influences.
The use of Chinese troops by the Bolsheviks was commented on by both White Russian and non-Russian observers.
In fact, the Bolsheviks were often derided for their reliance on Chinese and Lettish mercenaries.
Anti-Bolshevik
propaganda suggested that the Bolsheviks did not have the support of the Russian people and thus had to resort to foreign mercenaries who ran roughshod over the Russian populace.
In 1918, Dmitri Gavronsky, a member of the Russian Constituent Assembly
, asserted that the Bolsheviks based their power chiefly on foreign support. He asserted that, "in Moscow, they have at their disposal 16,000 well-armed Lettish soldiers, some detachments of Finnish Red Guards
and a battalion of Chinese troops." Gavronsky added that "The latter are always used for executions."
In his book Between Red and White, Leon Trotsky
makes sarcastic reference to the charge that the Soviets held Petrograd and Moscow "by the aid of 'Lettish, Chinese, German and Bashkir regiments'".
The Red Army
commander Iona Yakir
headed a Chinese detachment guarding Lenin and Trotsky. Later he headed a regiment made up of Chinese workers, which achieved distinction in battle when the Red Army heavily defeated (temporarily) Romanian troops in February 1918 during the Romanian occupation of Bessarabia
.
was the first Bolshevik
in North Liaoning
and a commander of the Chinese regiment of the Soviet Red Army. He is commemorated as a revolutionary hero in the People's Republic of China
.
about a Chinese mercenary in the Red Army. The 1936 historical novel Names in Marble
by the Estonian author Albert Kivikas
describes the fate of some captured Chinese soldiers whose units were part of the invading Russian army in the hands of the Estonian patriots during the Estonian War of Independence.
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
. Chinese served as bodyguards of Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
functionaries, served in the Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
, and even formed complete regiments of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. Although it has been estimated that there were tens of thousands of Chinese troops in the Red Army, they did not constitute a significant fraction of the Red Army." By the summer of 1919, the Red Army comprised over a million men. By November 1920, it comprised over 1.8 million men.
Other notable examples of foreigners serving in the Red Army include Koreans in the Russian Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
, World War I Hungarian POWs under Béla Kun
Béla Kun
Béla Kun , born Béla Kohn, was a Hungarian Communist politician and a Bolshevik Revolutionary who led the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919.- Early life :...
, Red Latvian Riflemen as well as a number of other national detachments.
Background: Chinese speakers in Russia
Large numbers of ChineseChinese people in Russia
Ethnic Chinese in Russia officially numbered 34,578 according to the 2002 census. However, this figure is contested, with the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission of the Republic of China on Taiwan claiming 998,000 in 2004 and 2005, and Russian demographers generally accepting estimates in the...
lived and worked in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
in the late Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. Many of these migrant workers were transferred to the European part of Russia and to the Ural
Ural (region)
Ural is a geographical region located around the Ural Mountains, between the East European and West Siberian plains. It extends approximately from north to south, from the Arctic Ocean to the bend of Ural River near Orsk city. The boundary between Europe and Asia runs along the eastern side of...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
because of the acute shortage of workers there. For example, by 1916 there were about 2,000 Chinese workers in Novgorod Governorate. In 1916-1917 about 3,000 Chinese workers were employed in the construction of Russian fortifications around the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...
. A significant part of them were convicted robbers (honghuzi
Honghuzi
Honghuzi were armed robbers, bandits in the areas of the eastern Russia-China borderland: Southeastern Siberia, Russian Far East, and Northeast China . the word has been variously transliterated as hong huzi, hong hu zi, hunghutze, hun-hutze, etc...
, "Red Beards", transliterated into Russian as "khunkhuzy", хунхузы) transferred from katorga
Katorga
Katorga was a system of penal servitude of the prison farm type in Tsarist Russia...
labor camps in Harbin
Harbin
Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...
and other locations in the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
ern regions of the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution, some of them stayed in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and took part as mercenaries in the Finnish Civil War
Finnish Civil War
The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national, political and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The Civil War concerned control and leadership of The Grand Duchy of Finland as it achieved independence from Russia after the October Revolution in Petrograd...
on both sides. After 1917 many of these Chinese workers joined the Red Army. The vast majority of these Chinese were apolitical and become soldiers solely in order to earn a living in a foreign country.
Dungans in the 1916 Revolt
Dungans fought alongside Kyrgyz rebels in attacking Przheval'sk during the 1916 Basmachi revolt.A Dungan muslim Commander Magaza Masanchi
Magaza Masanchi
Magaza Masanchi or Magaza Masanchin was a Dungan Communist revolutionary commander and Statesman in the Soviet Union. He participated in the Russian Revolution on the Bolshevik side. Karakunuz in Kazakhstan was renamed Masanchi after him...
of the Dungan Cavalry Regiment fought for the Soviet Union against the Basmachis. He also took part in other actions in central asia.
Chinese in the Red Army
The Chinese with the Red ArmyRed Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
were recruited from factory workers who had been attracted into Russia before the war and who sided with the urban proletariat with whom they worked. Separate Chinese units fought for the Bolsheviks in the Ukraine, Trancaucasia and Siberia.
Chinese units were involved in virtually every front of the Russian Civil War. Some sincerely sympathized with the Bolsheviks who treated them as "proletarian brothers". Others simply joined the Red Army in order to survive and others wanted to fight their way home to China. Still others were recruited by the White Army.
The Chinese were one of several foreign contingents dubbed in Soviet historiography
Soviet historiography
Soviet historiography is the methodology of history studies by historians in the Soviet Union . In the USSR, the study of history was marked by alternating periods of freedom allowed and restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , and also by the struggle of historians to...
as "internationalist detachments" ("отряды интернационалистов"). Chinese internationalist troops wore the same uniform as the rest of the Red Army.
The Bolsheviks found special value in the use of Chinese troops who were considered to be industrious and efficient. In addition, they were seldom able to understand Russian which kept them insulated from outside influences.
The use of Chinese troops by the Bolsheviks was commented on by both White Russian and non-Russian observers.
In fact, the Bolsheviks were often derided for their reliance on Chinese and Lettish mercenaries.
Anti-Bolshevik
Anti-bolshevism
Anti-bolshevism has two principal forms:* Anti-bolshevik Anti-communism* Anti-Bolshevik Communism...
propaganda suggested that the Bolsheviks did not have the support of the Russian people and thus had to resort to foreign mercenaries who ran roughshod over the Russian populace.
In 1918, Dmitri Gavronsky, a member of the Russian Constituent Assembly
Russian Constituent Assembly
The All Russian Constituent Assembly was a constitutional body convened in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917. It is generally reckoned as the first democratically elected legislative body of any kind in Russian history. It met for 13 hours, from 4 p.m...
, asserted that the Bolsheviks based their power chiefly on foreign support. He asserted that, "in Moscow, they have at their disposal 16,000 well-armed Lettish soldiers, some detachments of Finnish Red Guards
Red Guards (Russia)
In the context of the history of Russia and Soviet Union, Red Guards were paramilitary formations consisting of workers and partially of soldiers and sailors formed in the time frame of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
and a battalion of Chinese troops." Gavronsky added that "The latter are always used for executions."
In his book Between Red and White, Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
makes sarcastic reference to the charge that the Soviets held Petrograd and Moscow "by the aid of 'Lettish, Chinese, German and Bashkir regiments'".
The Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
commander Iona Yakir
Iona Yakir
Iona Emmanuilovich Yakir was the Red Army commander and one of the world's major military reformers between World War I and World War II.-Early years:...
headed a Chinese detachment guarding Lenin and Trotsky. Later he headed a regiment made up of Chinese workers, which achieved distinction in battle when the Red Army heavily defeated (temporarily) Romanian troops in February 1918 during the Romanian occupation of Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
.
Chinese in the Cheka and military guard units
Some Chinese volunteers, who had fanatical devotion to the revolution, were allowed to join the Cheka and various military guard detachments. In 1919, there were some 500 Chinese troops in the Cheka. The Cheka utilized them for the arrest and execution of anti-Soviet people.Notable persons
Ren Fuchen (任辅臣) (1884–1918) from TielingTieling
Tieling is a prefecture-level city in Liaoning province of the People's Republic of China.The population is 3 million at the 2nd of 2004. Tieling is a city where coal mining is an important industry.The mayor of Tieling is Li Wenke...
was the first Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
in North Liaoning
Liaoning
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...
and a commander of the Chinese regiment of the Soviet Red Army. He is commemorated as a revolutionary hero in the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
In literature
There is a 1923 short story Chinese Story by Mikhail BulgakovMikhail Bulgakov
Mikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.-Biography:Mikhail Bulgakov was born on...
about a Chinese mercenary in the Red Army. The 1936 historical novel Names in Marble
Names in Marble
Names in Marble is a war novel written by the Estonian writer Albert Kivikas. It was published in 1936, and its subject is the Estonian War of Independence. Kivikas was awarded for Names in Marble by the Estonian Literature Society. It is one the best-known works of Estonian literature...
by the Estonian author Albert Kivikas
Albert Kivikas
Albert Kivikas was an Estonian writer and journalist. He is best known as the author of the book "Names in Marble" , the subject of which is the Estonian War of Independence.- Life :...
describes the fate of some captured Chinese soldiers whose units were part of the invading Russian army in the hands of the Estonian patriots during the Estonian War of Independence.
See also
- Red Latvian Riflemen - another major group of BolshevikBolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
foreigner detachments during Russian Civil WarRussian Civil WarThe Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a... - International BrigadesInternational BrigadesThe International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
- detachments of foreigners who fought for the Republicans during Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil WarThe Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...