The roots of the 1927 Shanghai Commune go back to the May 4th movement, and it was a broad-based uprising for local governance against the warlord Sun Chuanfang. There were actually three uprisings in the city. The third one directed by the CCP succeeded by mobilizing the most workers to the cause, although it wasn't strictly a worker's revolution. The new governing committees included workers and the local bourgeoisie who were upset with warlord control. The new revolutionary committee had 11 members from the CCP, GMD, Shanghai General Labour Union, and Shanghai Student Federation. The committee determined that there would direct election and recall of the Citizen's Representative Congress. There would be 1200 representatives, 800 of which would be reserved for workers. There were two levels of representation: district, and city-wide. All citizens enjoyed freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and voting rights. Much like the Paris Commune, the Shanghai Commune disarmed the warlord's soldiers and armed worker's militias.

The Shanghai Commune was closely modeled on the 1871 Paris Commune, and Jiang Gaishek's April Coup suppressed the revolution after only one month.