Yunnan Newspapers and the Early Spread of Marxism

Abstract

The early dissemination of Marxism in Yunnan was mainly carried out through books and newspapers. Propaganda through the medium of newspapers and periodicals had a great influence in the early Yunnan society. In the context of the reality of the time, the types of early newspapers mainly included those founded by students, institutional newspapers, and newspapers spontaneously founded by labor and peasant groups. The early progressive press introduced the lives of the classic Marxist writers, the initial understanding of the basic principles of Marxism, and the revolutionary ideas of the proletariat. It publicized the international communist movement, promoted the spread of new cultures and ideas in the early frontier areas, and laid the ideological, talent, and popular foundations for the establishment of party and group organizations in Yunnan. An examination of the early history of the spread of Marxism in Yunnan reveals that the people did not passively accept Marxism, but grasped its connotations on the basis of combining it with the real situation. This is of great significance for today's deep understanding of the connotations of the Chineseization and epochalization of Marxism and the promotion of Chinese-style modernization.