The Chinese-Marxist Left, Chinese Students and Scholars in America, And the New China: Mid-1940S to Mid-1950S‪.‬

INTRODUCTION When World War II ended in 1945, the German and Japanese military machines had been destroyed, and the victorious Western European allies were exhausted. The United States and the USSR were preparing to challenge each other for hegemony of the world. In Asia native peoples took advantage of the weakened condition of their colonial masters to demand freedom and independence. In China, where the people were worn out by eight years of conflict and the nation was plagued with rampant corruption and soaring inflation, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT, Nationalist Party of China) government was challenged by the Communists. In the United States, the lone power whose territory was unravaged by the war, minorities who had participated in the war to defend democracy were demanding that their democratic rights be realized. This was a struggle in which the American-Marxist Left, including members of the Chinese community in America, were actively involved. For many among the Chinese-Marxist Left in America, however, much of the focus during the immediate post-war years was on supporting the Communist revolution in China, where, when the war ended, the Chinese Communist and KMT armies were poised to contend for the right to rule China. This was reflected among Chinese communities abroad by propaganda generated by both sides to win support.