Red Sky at Morning: The Origins of Communism in East and Southeast Asia
| Module title | Red Sky at Morning: The Origins of Communism in East and Southeast Asia |
|---|---|
| Module code | HIH1034 |
| Academic year | 2020/1 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
Module description
This module introduces how communist movements and parties emerged in four countries – China, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia – between 1920 and 1927, ending with the suppression of these movements towards the end of the 1920s. By taking a cross-border and comparative approach to sources, it encourages you to consider the key themes surrounding the transmission of communist ideology and organisation during this period, including the status of the “East” in Russian and Marxist-Leninist thought, the rise of anti-colonial movements in Asia, the adaptation of communism to Asian contexts (e.g. Islam, Confucianism) and the importance of region-wide exchanges of people and ideas.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The module familiarises you with a range of sources in English translation across the four selected countries, with a strong emphasis on those generated by Asian actors. These include official records – such as minutes of meetings or public declarations – memoirs, newspapers, statistical tables, posters, photographs, architecture, travel diaries, poetry and plays. Some specific examples include selected minutes of Comintern congresses; newspaper editorials by Chinese, Vietnamese and Indonesian party leaders; Japanese socialist party election posters; labour and trade union statistics; the Tatlin tower and the campus of the University of the Toilers of the East; and Sergei Tret’iakov’s play “Roar, China”, among others.
You are introduced each week to one source from each country (total of four sources per seminar), representing a range of different source types. You will then conduct independent research into the context of a chosen source and debate the characteristics of the types of sources during the seminar. At the same time, considering sources from different geographical origins encourages you to think thematically as well as comparatively, and to reflect on why certain types of sources – for example, newspaper articles and posters – were widely adopted across the countries studied. This provides not only an introduction to source-based analysis, but also lays the groundwork for you to pursue future interests in colonial, global or Asian history.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Understand the early development of the communist movement in China, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia
- 2. Work critically with a range of written and visual sources relating to the topic
- 3. Assess the sources in relation to key themes, such as the rise of anti-colonial independence movements, the role of international communist and diasporic networks, and the evolution of communism in an Asian context
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Identify the problems of using historical sources, e.g. utility, limitations, etc, and compare the validity of different types of sources
- 5. Answer a question briefly and concisely. Present work orally, respond to questions orally, and think quickly of questions to ask other students
- 6. Adopt comparative and cross-border approaches to historical research
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Conduct independent study and group work, including the presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
- 8. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
- 9. Work with others in a team and to interact effectively with the tutor and the wider group
- 10. Write to a very tight word-length
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
- Introductory seminar with a brief overview of the countries and themes studied
- Russia’s “special relationship” with Asia
- Early Soviet policy towards communism and anti-colonialism in Asia
- The Comintern
- Communism and the independence movement
- 1919 as the turning point?
- Labour and class
- Diaspora networks and communism
- Confucianism and Islam
- Women’s emancipation
- Communists suppressed
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 128 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 2 | 2 hour lecture: Introduction to module |
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 20 | 10 x 2 hour seminars. At a meeting of the whole class generally a different group of 3-4 students will give a presentation to the whole class, followed by class discussion and working through the sources for that week carefully. Additional sources may be issued in the class and the lecturer will also use the time to set up issues for the following week |
| Guided independent study | 128 | Students prepare for the session through reading and research; writing five source commentaries and an essay and preparing one group presentation in the course of the term |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group presentation (3-4 students) | 10 minutes | 1-4, 6-7, 9 | Oral |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source commentary 1 | 33 | 850 words | 1-5, 7-8, 10 | Mark and written comments. |
| Source commentary 2 | 33 | 850 words | 1-5, 7-8, 10 | Mark and written comments |
| Source commentary 3 | 34 | 850 words | 1-5, 7-8, 10 | Mark and written comments |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source commentary | Source commentary | 1-5, 7-8, 10 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
- Anderson, Benedict. Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-Colonial Imagination (London, 2007).
- Crump, John. The Origins of Socialist Thought in Japan (New York, 1983).
- Hoston, Germaine. Marxism and the Crisis of Development in Prewar Japan (Princeton, 1986).
- Iriye, Akira. After Imperialism: The Search for a New Order in the Far East, 1921-1931 (Cambridge, Mass., 1965), especially Parts ! (“The Soviet Initiative”) and III (“The Chinese Initiative”).
- Ishikawa, Yoshihiro. The Formation of the Chinese Communist Party (New York, 2013).
- Kuhn, Philip. Chinese Among Others: Emigration in Modern Times (Singapore, 2008).
- Manela, Erez. The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism (New York: 2007).
- McHale, Shawn. Print and Power: Confucianism, Communism and Buddhism in the Making of Modern Vietnam (Honolulu, 2004).
- McVey, Ruth. The Rise of Indonesian Communism (Jakarta, 2006).
- Priestland, David. The Red Flag: A History of Communism (New York, 2009).
- Quinn-Judge, Sophie. Ho Chi Minh: The Missing Years 1919-1940 (Berkley, 2002).
- Stephen A. Smith (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism (Oxford, 2014), especially Sections II (“Global Moments”) and III (“Global Communism”).
- Williams, Michael. Sickle and Crescent: The Communist Revolt of 1926 in Banten (Jakarta, 2009).
- Van de Ven, Hans. From Friend to Comrade: The Founding of the Chinese Communist Party, 1920-1927 (Berkley, 1991).
- Vu, Tuong. Vietnam’s Communist Revolution (Cambridge, 2017).
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 4 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 07/02/2018 |
| Last revision date | 09/07/2020 |