Unlocking the History of 'Comrade'

In the early 1830s, a socialist movement of low-skilled manufacturing workers spread news of their organization through the distribution of letters. Known as the Saint-Simonians, the workers in Paris issued a "Declaration on the Revolution" in 1831. Contained in the first sentence of the manifesto was the use of the word comrade.

By the early 20th century, the circulation of socialist ideas was spread in several languages. First it flowed from English to Russian, then Russian to Japanese, and from Japanese to Chinese. In fact, the Chinese term, "tongzhi," which took the place of comrade in these translations, originated roughly 2,600 years ago. The term "tongzhi" written in ancient Chinese literature was a term of address for an individual in the same bloodline, and in the Han Dynasty, some 1,800 years ago, the word was synonymous for "friend." When socialism came to China from Japan, the term was appropriated for socialist terminology.