「五四」的政治話語和政治形象雖然是在1949年後，才逐漸開始為中國大陸的人們所接受，但其源頭可以追溯到1919年「五四」後左翼知識分子對「五四」以及新文化運動的詮釋和定位，這一定位和詮釋也間接或直接地影響了毛澤東。隨著1930年代末、40年代初毛澤東將「五四」作為「新民主主義革命的開端」，「五四」政治化的傾向開始確立。自此以後，在中共和左翼知識分子的話語中，「五四事件」的地位上升，成為中共歷史合法性的基礎之一；而新文化運動則逐漸消隱，最終被同化在「五四」的敘事之中。到1949年中華人民共和國建立後，經過不斷的政治運動和思想改造運動的正面宣傳和反向強化，特別是1954-1955年間的「胡適思想批判」運動，不僅將胡適排除在五四新文化運動領袖譜系之外，代之以政治領域的李大釗、毛澤東和文化領域的魯迅，而且全盤地消解了與新文化運動相關的科學、民主、個人主義、實用（驗）主義和世界主義等核心要素。五四新文化運動政治概念化和意識形態化的影響在中國大陸一直延續至今。

Although the political discourse and political image of ＂May Fourth＂ were accepted gradually by people in the Chinese Mainland after 1949, its origin can be traced back to the interpretation and positioning of left-wing intellectuals after the May Fourth Movement of 1919. In the late 1930s and the beginning 1940s, Mao Zedong had regarded ＂May Fourth＂ as the ＂beginning of a new democratic revolution,＂ and consequently the political trend of ＂May Fourth＂ began to form. As the ＂May Fourth Incident＂ rose in prominence, it became one of the ideological foundations of historical legitimacy of the CCP. Simultaneously, the New Culture Movement gradually vanished, and was eventually assimilated into the ＂May Fourth Incident.＂ Since 1949, the constant political movements and ideological remolding movements of positive and negative strengthening propaganda, especially the Anti-Hu Shi Campaign, not only ruled out Hu Shi as the leader of the ＂May Fourth,＂ acting with Li Dazhao, Mao Zedong and Lu Xun, but also dispelled all essential elements of the New Culture Movement, such as science, democracy, individualism, pragmatism and cosmopolitanism and so on. So far, ＂May Fourth＂ has been a thoroughly political conceptualization and ideologization, and its influence has been continuing to this day.