Summing Up Failures, or Playing the Blame Game? The November 1927 Politburo Meeting in Shanghai

People's History of Ideas Podcast

English - August 12, 2021 05:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MB - ★★★★★ - 110 ratings
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Previous Episode: Sedan Chairs, Tired Intellectuals, and Indifferent Masses: The Denouement of the Nanchang Uprising/Southern Expedition (August to October 1927)

Next Episode: ‘Blind Actionism’ in Action: Understanding the Hundreds of Small Revolts Led by Communists at the End of the 1920s in China

The Politburo meets to decide whether the leadership’s overall policy was wrong, or whether all the cadres carrying out the policy are just bad.

Further reading:
Marcia Ristaino, China’s Art of Revolution: The Mobilization of Discontent, 1927 and 1928
Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist Party
Chang Kuo-t’ao [Zhang Guotao], The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party (2 volumes)

Some names from this episode:
Chen Duxiu, General Secretary of the Communist Party until summer 1927
Qu Qiubai, Top leader of Communist Party beginning in the summer of 1927
Zhang Guotao, Leading Communist
Li Lisan, Leading Communist
Tan Pingshan, Leading Communist expelled for the failure of the Nanchang Uprising
Zhou Enlai, Leading Communist

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