Tridemism
Tridemism (三民主義, the Three Principles of the People) is Dr. Sun Yat-sen's doctrine — nationalism (民族), people's sovereignty/democracy (民權), and people's livelihood (民生) — the founding ideology of the Chinese republican revolution and, in Infrared's reading, China's indigenous form of socialism.
The three principles
- Nationalism: liberation of China from semi-colonial domination and the "unequal treaties"; later reinterpreted as the unity of China's nationalities.
- Democracy: popular rule through the five-power constitution, but mediated by a period of political tutelage — democracy as a stage to be built, not an overnight import.
- Livelihood: land to the tiller, regulation of capital, state control of key industries — Sun explicitly said his principle subsumed what Westerners call socialism, adapted to Chinese conditions.
After Sun
The KMT right under Chiang Kai-shek hollowed out the third principle, serving landlord and comprador interests; the CCP under Mao claimed Sun's authentic legacy — Mao: "we are successors of Sun Yat-sen." The PRC constitution names Sun as forerunner; both parties across the strait still invoke him.
Infrared significance
Tridemism is Infrared's prime exhibit that socialism is always national in form: a successful revolution fuses patriotism with social revolution rather than importing cosmopolitan ideology. It anchors the analogy between MAGA Communism and earlier patriotic fronts (see Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, MAGA Communism, German Road to Socialism).