中共“一大”前的党员究竟有多少?迄今尚未有一个准确的数字。由于当时统计困难,所能保存的史料无几,更多是依赖回忆录,而知情人的回忆往往各异,故造成说法不一,有50人、~①50余人、~②53人、~③57人、~④60人、~⑤70余人,~⑥等等。在诸多说法中,很难判定哪一种更具权威性,致使研究者在对早期党员入党时间的判断上出入较大,难求统一。早在上世纪70年代末80年代初,沈庆林的《关于共产主义 What is the number of CCP members before the “big one”? So far, there is not an accurate figure. Due to the statistical difficulties at that time, there were not many historical materials that could be preserved and more were relied on memoirs. However, the memories of insiders were often different, resulting in different opinions. There were 50 people, ~ ①50 people, ~ ②53 people, ~ ③57 people, ④ 60 people, ~ ⑤ more than 70 people, ~ ⑥ and so on. In many explanations, it is hard to judge which one is more authoritative, which makes the researchers have a greater discrepancy in judging the joining time of the early party members and it is hard to seek reunification. As early as the late 1970s and early 1980s, Shen Qinglin’s “On Communism.”