Front cover image for Patrolling the revolution : worker militias, citizenship, and the modern Chinese state

Patrolling the revolution : worker militias, citizenship, and the modern Chinese state

This pioneering study explores the role of working-class militias as vanguard and guardian of the Chinese Revolution. The book begins with the origins of urban militias in the late nineteenth century and follows their development to the present day. Elizabeth Perry focuses on the institution of worker militias as a vehicle for analyzing the changing (yet enduring) impact of China's revolutionary heritage on subsequent state-society relations. She also incorporates a strong comparative perspective, examining the influence of revolutionary militias on the political trajectories of the United States, France, the Soviet Union, and Iran. Based on exhaustive archival research, the work raises fascinating questions about the construction of revolutionary citizenship; the distinctions among class, community, and creed; the open-ended character of revolutionary movements; and the path dependency of institutional change. All readers interested in deepening their understanding of the Chinese Revolution and in the nature of revolutionary change more generally will find this an invaluable contribution.--Publisher description
Print Book, English, ©2006
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, ©2006
xi, 361 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
9780742539181, 9780742539198, 0742539180, 0742539199
58986033
Chapter 1. Institutional Origins
Chapter 2. Shanghai's Three Armed Uprisings, 1926-27
Chapter 3. China's First Leninist Party-State, 1927-1949
Chapter 4. China's Second Leninist Party-State, 1949-1965
Chapter 5. The Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976
Chapter 6. Patrolling the Post-Mao Reforms