People's History of Ideas Podcast
114 episodes - English - Latest episode: 27 days ago - ★★★★★ - 110 ratingsIn this podcast, Matthew Rothwell, author of Transpacific Revolutionaries: The Chinese Revolution in Latin America, explores the global history of ideas related to rebellion and revolution. The main focus of this podcast for the near future will be on the history of the Chinese Revolution, going all the way back to its roots in the initial Chinese reactions to British imperialism during the Opium War of 1839-1842, and then following the development of the revolution and many of the ideas that were products of the revolution through to their transnational diffusion in the late 20th century.
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Episodes
The Party Center Attempts to Assert Control over the Red Army and Orders Mao and Zhu to Report to Shanghai
April 04, 2024 02:00 - 22 minutes - 15.4 MBA close look at Zhou Enlai’s February 7, 1929, letter to Mao Zedong and Zhu De. Further reading: Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 E. H. Carr, Foundations of a Planned Economy, vol. 3 Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist Party Some names from this episode: Zhou Enlai, head of the Organization Dep...
Mao’s March 20 Letter to the Central Committee, and the 5th Red Army’s Retreat from the Jinggangshan (January to April 1929)
March 10, 2024 17:00 - 25 minutes - 17.3 MBMao plans to expand guerrilla warfare, and meets up with Peng Dehuai in Ruijin. Further reading: Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Peng Dehuai, Memoirs of a Chinese Marshall Some names from this episode: Yuan Wencai, Bandit leader who joi...
On the Experience of the National Bourgeoisie in the New Democratic Revolution
February 04, 2024 20:00 - 26 minutes - 18.4 MBSome reflections on the experience of Shanghai capitalists after 1949 prompted by the ‘Notice to Merchants and Intellectuals’ that Mao issued after taking Changting in 1929. Further reading: Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Yao Wenyuan, “On the Social Basis of the Lin Piao Anti-Party Clique” (for heavenly horses reference) David Apter and Tony Saich, Revolutionary Discourse in Mao’s Re...
A New Communist Order in Changting (March 1929)
January 13, 2024 17:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MBLooking at what Mao and Zhu De did to install a new Communist order after conquering Changting. Further reading: Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Mao Zedong, “On New Democracy” Some names from this episode: Guo Fengming, bandit turned Guomindan...
Leaving Donggu, Taking Changting (February to March 1929)
December 07, 2023 18:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBHow the Fourth Red Army spent their time in Donggu, and how they took the first city in the new base area in the Jiangxi-Fujian border region. Further reading: Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Joseph Fewsmith, Forging Leninism in China: Mao and the Remaking of the Chinese Communist Party, 1927–1934 Gao Hua, How the Red Sun Rose: The Origins and Development of the Yan’an Rectificatio...
From Dabodi to Donggu: The Retreat from the Jinggangshan Continues (February 1929)
October 19, 2023 16:00 - 20 minutes - 14.3 MBThe Mao-Zhu Army raises funds in Ningdu and moves on to the Donggu base area for rest and recovery. Background on Donggu. Link to map of Jiangxi province: https://www.chinamaps.org/china/provincemaps/jiangxi-province-map.html Further reading: Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Lif...
Running for Their Lives: The Retreat from the Jinggangshan (January to February 1929)
October 12, 2023 15:00 - 22 minutes - 15.2 MBMao and the Fourth Red Army break the encirclement of the Jinggangshan and retreat across southern Jiangxi with the Guomindang in hot pursuit. Link to map of Jiangxi province: https://www.chinamaps.org/china/provincemaps/jiangxi-province-map.html Further reading/watching on the difficulties of finding good maps of China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_data_in_China https://www.reddit.com/r/Maps/comments/b6qnvc/just_blew_my_mind_every_map_of_china_is/ https://www.r...
Frameworks for Thinking about Tragic Historical Shortcomings of the Socialist Experience
October 04, 2023 14:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBAnswering a listener question on the Great Leap Forward famine. Further reading: Mobo Gao, The Battle for China’s Past United Nations, “Losing 25,000 to Hunger Every Day” Minhaz Merchant, “Churchill’s Bengal Famine” Karl Marx, Capital Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts Frederick Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England Support the show
The End of the Sixth Congress
September 28, 2023 15:00 - 33 minutes - 22.7 MBWe wrap up our discussion of the Sixth Congress with a discussion of the political line coming out of the congress, and some related issues. Further reading: 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) Daniel Kwan, Marxist Intellectuals and the Chinese Labor Movement: A Study of Deng Zhongxia, 1894-1933 Various 6th Party Congress documents in Chinese Studies in History vol. 3, #4 through vol....
Clashing Communists and Comintern Guidance: The 6th Congress Gets off to a Rocky Start
September 21, 2023 17:00 - 21 minutes - 14.7 MBQu Qiubai’s report and proposal are disputed, and the Comintern intervenes to restore order. Further reading: 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) Daniel Kwan, Marxist Intellectuals and the Chinese Labor Movement: A Study of Deng Zhongxia, 1894-1933 Qu Qiubai, “The Past and Future of the Chinese Communist Party” Various 6th Party Congress documents in Chinese Studies in History vol. 3,...
Bukharin on the Nature of the Chinese Revolution in 1928
September 14, 2023 17:00 - 38 minutes - 26.2 MBOur third (and last) close look at Bukharin’s speech at the 6th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, held in Moscow in the summer of 1928. Further reading: Nikolai Bukharin, “On the International Situation and the Tasks of the Chinese Communist Party” Lenin, “Speech at the First All-Russia Congress of Working Women” Some names from this episode: Nikolai Bukharin, general secretary of the executive committee of the Comintern Peng Dehuai, Guomindang colonel who was secretly a Communist a...
Bukharin on the Theory of the Productive Forces (and Mao’s counterpoint on New Democratic Revolution)
May 27, 2023 05:00 - 24 minutes - 17.1 MBBukharin articulates a vision of the Chinese Revolution at the 6th Party Congress which is highly colored by the non-revolutionary Marxism of the 2nd International. Further reading: Nikolai Bukharin, “On the International Situation and the Tasks of the Chinese Communist Party” Andre Gunder Frank, World Accumulation, 1492–1789 Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World-System, vol. I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century Mao Zedong, “The ...
The ‘Third Period’ of the World Revolution: Bukharin’s Speech at the Sixth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (June 1928)
May 20, 2023 19:00 - 25 minutes - 17.4 MBNikolai Bukharin kicks off the party congress with a very long speech. Further reading: 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) E. H. Carr, Foundations of a Planned Economy, vol. 3 Nikolai Bukharin, “On the International Situation and the Tasks of the Chinese Communist Party” Nicholas Kozlov and Eric Weitz, “Reflections on the Origins of the ‘Third Period’: Bukharin, the Comintern, and th...
Preparations for the Sixth Party Congress (April to May 1928)
May 13, 2023 10:00 - 21 minutes - 15 MBThe decision to hold the Sixth Party Congress in Moscow, and some of the political debate inside the Communist Party of China leading up to that Congress. Further reading: Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist Party Patricia Stranahan, Underground: The Shanghai Communist Party and the Politics of Survival, 1927-1937 Daniel Kwan, Marxist...
The Bailu Conference: Suppressing Orders from the Party Congress and Preparing to Leave the Jinggangshan (January 1929)
February 16, 2023 06:00 - 24 minutes - 16.5 MBPotentially explosive guidance arrives in the Jinggangshan from the 6th Party Congress of the Communist Party, and plans are laid to break out of the enemy encirclement. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Tony Saich, The Ri...
The Base Area under Economic Blockade and Unification with the Fifth Red Army (End of 1928)
February 02, 2023 06:00 - 29 minutes - 20.3 MBThe national Guomindang center takes note of the Communists’ resilience, and takes charge of organizing a new suppression campaign, which is preceded by a tight economic blockade. Peng Dehuai makes his way to the Jinggangshan. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao ...
Vagrants, Mercenaries, and Rich Peasants (November 1928)
November 27, 2022 18:00 - 41 minutes - 28.3 MBA close reading of a couple portions of Mao’s November 25, 1928 report to the Central Committee. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 2: National Revolution and Social Revolution, December 1920-June 1927 Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biog...
Transforming, Building, and Purging the Party (September to November 1928)
October 31, 2022 15:00 - 25 minutes - 17.2 MBFinishing our close reading of the resolution of the Border Area Party Congress of October 4 to 6, 1928. Also, the reorganization and purge of the party following the Communist recovery of the Jinggangshan base area after the August Defeat. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Pang Xianzhi and Jin...
Opportunism and Self-Criticism: The Jinggangshan Party Congress Resolution of October 1928
October 20, 2022 13:00 - 29 minutes - 20.3 MBA discussion of the concept of opportunism as it developed in the international communist movement, and a close reading of the self-critical portion of the resolution of the Border Area Party Congress of October 4 to 6, 1928. Further reading: Lenin, “Opportunism, and the Collapse of the Second International” Cheng Yen-shih, ed., Lenin’s Fight Against Revisionism and Opportunism Mao Zedong, “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People” Lynn White, Policies of Chaos: The Organi...
“Why Is It that Red Political Power Can Exist in China?” (October 1928)
September 15, 2022 05:00 - 41 minutes - 28.4 MBA close reading of the portion of the resolution of the Border Area Party Congress of October 4 to 6, 1928, which later became a key early text in the Maoist canon. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Mao Zedong, “Why Is It that Red Political Power Can Exist in China?” Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongj...
The August Defeat (Part 2): The Communists Strike Back (August to November 1928)
July 31, 2022 18:00 - 24 minutes - 16.6 MBThe Communists fight to regain lost territory, and ethnic tensions explode among the peasants in the base area. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Some names from this episode: Du Xiujing, Inspector sent to the Jinggangsha...
The August Defeat (Part 1)
July 24, 2022 15:00 - 21 minutes - 15.1 MBThe 29th Regiment goes against Mao’s orders and decides to stay in Hunan, with disastrous results for the Communists. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Jurgen Domes, Peng Te-huai: The Man and the Image Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Pang Xianzhi and Jin Ch...
The Yongxin Joint Conference and Mao’s July 4, 1928 Report to the Hunan Provincial Committee
July 17, 2022 17:00 - 27 minutes - 18.9 MBMao explains his refusal to comply with orders from the Hunan Provincial Committee. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Some names from this episode: Du Xiujing, Inspector sent to the Jinggangshan by the Hunan Provincial Co...
Clandestine Transcripts of Revolutionary Globalization: The Shining Paths of Late Cultural Revolution Maoism
April 28, 2022 05:00 - 44 minutes - 30.7 MBA talk that I recently delivered at the University of Hamburg, focused on the development of a new socialist political economy late in the Cultural Revolution and how this influenced the Communist Party of Peru. Further reading: Alessandro Russo, Cultural Revolution and Revolutionary Culture Fabio Lanza, The End of Concern: Maoist China, Activism, and Asian Studies Antonio Díaz Martínez, China: La revolución agraria Catalina Adrianzén, “Semblanza de Antonio Díaz Martínez” Peer Moller Christ...
Nuclear War and Communist Revolution
March 07, 2022 23:00 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MBIn light of the Ukraine crisis, a historical look at communist thinking on the connection between a third world war and revolution. Further reading: Sergei N. Goncharov, John W. Lewis, and Xue Litai, Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao, and the Korean War David Holloway, Stalin and the Bomb Edward Wilson, “Thank you Vasili Arkhipov, the man who stopped nuclear war” Mao Zedong, “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People” Mao Zedong, “Speech at a Meeting of the Representatives of...
The Beginning of the Midyear Crisis (June 1928)
February 27, 2022 05:00 - 26 minutes - 18.2 MBThe Hunan Provincial Committee decides that Mao must obey its authority. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Elizabeth Perry, Anyuan: Mining China’s Revolutionary Tradition Some names from this episode: Wang Meisheng, Courier between Anyuan and the Jinggangshan Du Xiujing, Inspector sent to the Jinggangshan by the Hunan Provincial Committee Yuan Desheng, Sent to work in the Jinggangshan by the Hunan Provincial Committee Yang Kaiming...
Land Revolution and Communist Party Growth: The High Tide of the Jinggangshan Base Area (Summer 1928)
February 10, 2022 06:00 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MBIn the wake of their military victories in late Spring 1928, the Communists carried out a major land redistribution and a mass recruitment drive. There were some unforeseen complications. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 ...
Beating Back Suppression Campaigns and Expanding the Jinggangshan Base Area (May to June 1928)
February 03, 2022 06:00 - 26 minutes - 17.9 MBMao Zedong and Zhu De learn warfare through warfare as they face continuing onslaughts from Guomindang forces. Further reading/watching: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 China: A Century of Revolution documentary Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), “Experiences of the People’s War and Some Important Questions” Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), “Advance in the Great Direction ...
The Jinggangshan Junction of Forces: Mao Zedong and Zhu De Unite (April to May 1928)
January 27, 2022 06:00 - 29 minutes - 20.4 MBThe unification of Mao Zedong’s and Zhu De’s forces. Some discussion of the problems involved in unifying the Communist armed forces. Further reading: Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 192...
The Wages of Revolution: Life Underground in Shanghai in the Late 1920s (Part 3)
January 20, 2022 06:00 - 24 minutes - 16.6 MBDiscussing pay for professional revolutionaries, the role of servants in the lives of Communist leaders, and the Comintern in Shanghai. Further reading: Patricia Stranahan, Underground: The Shanghai Communist Party and the Politics of Survival, 1927-1937 Elizabeth Perry, Shanghai on Strike: The Politics of Chinese Labor Wang Fan-hsi [Wang Fanxi], Memoirs of a Chinese Revolutionary Gavin McCrea, Mrs. Engels Frederick Litten, “The Noulens Affair” Anna Belogurova, “The Civic World of Internat...
Friendship, Compartmentalization, and Assassination Squads: Life Underground in Shanghai in the Late 1920s (Part 2)
January 13, 2022 06:00 - 25 minutes - 17.4 MBHow did the Communist Party try to protect itself in Shanghai? We discuss the compartmentalized party organization and the creation of the Special Services Division. Further reading: Patricia Stranahan, Underground: The Shanghai Communist Party and the Politics of Survival, 1927-1937 Timothy Cheek, “Making Maoism: Ideology and Organization in the Yan’an Rectification Movement, 1942-1944” Mao Zedong, “Combat Liberalism” Xuezhi Guo, China's Security State: Philosophy, Evolution, and Politics ...
Life Underground in Shanghai in the Late 1920s (Part 1)
January 06, 2022 06:00 - 24 minutes - 17.2 MBThe Communist Party Center remained underground in the dangerous city of Shanghai during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Further reading/watching: Patricia Stranahan, Underground: The Shanghai Communist Party and the Politics of Survival, 1927-1937 China: A Century of Revolution documentary Josephine Fowler, Japanese and Chinese Immigrant Activists: Organizing in American and International Communist Movements, 1919–1933 Chang Kuo-t’ao [Zhang Guotao], The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party ...
Mao’s (Temporary) Expulsion from the Communist Party and the Collapse of the South Hunan Uprising (March and April 1928)
December 19, 2021 20:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBThe Party Center puts the South Hunan Special Committee in charge of the Jinggangshan, and the contrast between the strategies advocated by Mao and the Party Center are put on vivid display. Further reading: Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Marcia Ristaino, China’s Art of Revolution: The Mobilization of Discontent, 1927 and 1928 Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biogra...
The Southern Hunan Uprising (Early 1928)
December 15, 2021 01:00 - 23 minutes - 16.2 MBWe look at the successful conquest of three cities (and one heart) by Zhu De during the course of the uprising he led in south Hunan at the beginning of 1928. The link for my new course on academia.edu mentioned at the end of the episode: www.academia.edu/learn/MatthewRothwell Further reading: Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Marcia Ristaino, China’s Art of Revolution: The Mobilization of Discontent, 1927 and 1928 Stephen Averill, Revolution in the High...
Studying Marxism and Getting Thrown in Jail: Zhu De in Germany (1922-1926)
November 20, 2021 17:00 - 21 minutes - 15.1 MBFollowing Zhu De in Shanghai and Germany, finishing up our four-part detour through the early life of Zhu De. Further reading: Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Some names from this episode: Chen Duxiu, first general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Zhou Enlai, organized branches of the Chinese Communist Party in Europe when he was a student there in the early 1920s, before returning to China to become a leading Communist Sun Bingwen, Zhu De’s fr...
Zhu De and The Army for the Defense of the Republic in Sichuan and Yunnan (1916-1922)
November 02, 2021 23:00 - 24 minutes - 16.8 MBAs the Army for the Defense of the Republic faces defections from the revolutionary nationalist cause as well as powerful warlord enemies, Zhu De rethinks the military vocation. Further reading: Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Some names from this episode: Cai E, Republican general and governor of Yunnan after the 1911-12 revolution Yuan Shikai, leader of the Beiyang Army and dictator after the fall of the Qing Xiong Kewu, Nationalist general turned wa...
From Gym Teacher to General: Zhu De in Revolution and Rebellion (1907-1916)
September 23, 2021 05:00 - 20 minutes - 14.4 MBFollowing Zhu De from his time as a teacher of physical training at a modern school, through his time at the Yunnan Military Academy, the Revolution of 1911 and the rebellion against Yuan Shikai. Further reading: Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Some names from this episode: Cai E, Republican general and governor of Yunnan after the 1911-12 revolution Yuan Shikai, leader of the Beiyang Army and dictator after the fall of the Qing Xiao Jufang, Zhu De’s f...
From Poor Peasant to Gym Teacher: The Early Life of Zhu De
September 16, 2021 05:00 - 27 minutes - 18.8 MBTaking a look back at the early life of Zhu De, the man who would later be Mao’s main partner in revolution. Further reading: Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Some names from this episode: Zhang Tailei, leader of the Guangzhou Uprising of December 1927 Wang Zuo, Bandit leader who joined with Mao Zedong Shi Dakai, Taiping general who fought a campaign in Sichuan Emperor Guangxu, Emperor of China who tried to assert his power during Hundred Days Reform on...
Engels on Insurrection
September 09, 2021 05:00 - 24 minutes - 16.7 MBThe story behind how guidance on communist armed struggle got into a major American newspaper in 1852. Listener requested background on the text used by Lenin and which was so influential in the Guangzhou Commune. Further reading: Frederick Engels, Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Germany Lenin, “Advice of an Onlooker” Some names from this episode: Zhang Tailei, leader of the Guangzhou Uprising of December 1927 Support the show
The Guangzhou Commune (December 11-13, 1927)
September 02, 2021 05:00 - 21 minutes - 14.7 MBThe last major armed uprising of 1927, in which the Communists temporarily took over Guangzhou. Further reading: Arif Dirlik, “Narrativizing Revolution: The Guangzhou Uprising (11-13 December 1927) in Workers’ Perspective” Marcia Ristaino, China’s Art of Revolution: The Mobilization of Discontent, 1927 and 1928 Hsiao Tso-Liang, “Chinese Communism and the Canton Soviet of 1927” Lenin, “Advice of an Onlooker” Some names from this episode: Zhang Tailei, secretary of the Guangdong Provincial C...
Red Canton: Background to the Guangzhou Uprising of December 1927
August 26, 2021 05:00 - 21 minutes - 14.7 MBSome background on the situation in Guangzhou leading up to the uprising. Further reading: Arif Dirlik, “Narrativizing Revolution: The Guangzhou Uprising (11-13 December 1927) in Workers’ Perspective” Marcia Ristaino, China’s Art of Revolution: The Mobilization of Discontent, 1927 and 1928 Hsiao Tso-Liang, “Chinese Communism and the Canton Soviet of 1927” Manuel Gomez, “Organize for Liberation of the Colonies: Canton Center of World Movement” Some names from this episode: Wang Jingwei, lea...
‘Blind Actionism’ in Action: Understanding the Hundreds of Small Revolts Led by Communists at the End of the 1920s in China
August 19, 2021 05:00 - 23 minutes - 16 MBUsing the early November 1927 peasant revolt in Jiangsu province to illustrate features common to the many small Communist-led uprisings at the end of the 1920s. Further reading: Marcia Ristaino, China’s Art of Revolution: The Mobilization of Discontent, 1927 and 1928 Chang Liu, “Making Revolution in Jiangnan: Communists and the Yangzi Delta Countryside, 1927-1945” Some names from this episode: Qu Qiubai, top leader of Communist Party beginning in the summer of 1927 Zhu De, Communist milit...
Summing Up Failures, or Playing the Blame Game? The November 1927 Politburo Meeting in Shanghai
August 12, 2021 05:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBThe 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 19...
Sedan Chairs, Tired Intellectuals, and Indifferent Masses: The Denouement of the Nanchang Uprising/Southern Expedition (August to October 1927)
August 05, 2021 05:00 - 24 minutes - 17.1 MBWe follow the Southern Expeditionary force from Ruijin in Jiangxi province to Shantou in Guangdong. Further reading: Marcia Ristaino, China’s Art of Revolution: The Mobilization of Discontent, 1927 and 1928 Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Chang Kuo-t’ao [Zhang Guotao], The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party (2 volumes) C. Martin Wilbur, “The Ashes of Defeat” Some names from this episode: Zhang Guotao, Leading Communist Yun Daiying, Communist Central C...
Hearts, Minds, and a Head on a Spike: The Unification of People and Forces in the Jinggangshan
July 29, 2021 05:00 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MBHow Wang Zuo and Yuan Wencai’s forces were brought into the Red Army, and Mao cemented the loyalty of the locals by marrying the Two-Gunned Girl General. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Christina Gilmartin, Engendering the Chinese Revolution: Radical Women, Communist Politics, and Mass Movements in the 1920s Some names from this episode: Yuan Wencai, bandit...
Secret Agent for International Maoism: José Venturelli, Chinese Informal Diplomacy and Latin American Maoism
July 22, 2021 05:00 - 49 minutes - 33.8 MBA podcast version of an article published a few years back. The Chilean artist José Venturelli was a supporter of Maoist China. This article, a brief political biography of Venturelli, shows how he acted on behalf of the People's Republic of China's informal diplomacy among Latin Americans and worked to promote Maoist politics among Latin American revolutionaries. The article can be read here. Support the show
Two Incursions, One Betrayal, and Six Points for Attention: The Red Army in Chaling and Suichuan (October 1927 to January 1928)
July 15, 2021 05:00 - 26 minutes - 18.1 MBThe early progress of the Red Army in expanding Soviet power in the Jinggangshan region. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 C. Martin Wilbur, The Nationalist Revolution in China, 1923-1928 Some names from this episode: Yuan Wencai, bandit leader who joined with Mao Zedong Wang Jingwei, leader of Guomindang Left Tang Shengzhi, leader of Guomindang Left military...
Alliances, Discipline, and an Army to Serve the People: The Beginning of the Jinggangshan Base Area (October 1927)
July 08, 2021 05:00 - 24 minutes - 16.7 MBMao forges an alliance with Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo, and the Revolutionary Army builds its capacity as a political force. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949 Some names from this episode: Long Chaoqing, secretary of the Ninggang County Committee of the Communist Party Yuan Wencai, bandit leader who joined with Mao Zedong Wang Zuo, bandit leader who joined with...
The Early Jinggangshan Revolutionary Movement
July 01, 2021 05:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBHow the Chinese revolution came to the Jinggangshan, and how the revolution and counter-revolution developed up until Mao’s arrival in October 1927. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Some names from this episode: Long Chaoqing, important early Communist in Jinggangshan area Xiao Guohua, Communist women’s movement activist in Nanchang Yuan Wencai, bandit leader who joined with Mao Zedong Wang Zuo, bandit leader who joined with Mao ...
Mao’s Bandit Comrades: Wang Zuo and Yuan Wencai
June 24, 2021 05:00 - 21 minutes - 15 MBThe stories of Wang Zuo and Yuan Wencai before they joined up with Mao Zedong. Further reading: Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Some names from this episode: Wang Zuo, Bandit leader who joined with Mao Zedong Yuan Wencai, Bandit leader who joined with Mao Zedong Zhu Kongyang, Warlord army officer turned bandit Xie Guannan, Patriarch of the local tyrant Xie family in the area around Maoping Support the show