People's History of Ideas Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Spreading Peasant Revolution Across Guangdong, and Beyond: The Guangzhou Peasant Movement Training Institute Sep 17, 2020

Show notes

How the Communist Party took the formula of "Haifeng + armed self-defense" and set out to organize the peasants of Guangdong, and beyond.
Further Reading:
Pang Yong-pil, “Peng Pai: From Landlord to Revolutionary”
Yuan Gao, “Revolutionary Rural Politics: The Peasant Movement in Guangdong and Its Social-Historical Background, 1922–1926”
Robert Marks, Rural Revolution in South China: Peasants and the Making of History in Haifeng County, 1570-1930
Roy Hofheinz, The Broken Wave: The Chinese Communist Peasant Movement, 1922-1928
Fernando Galbiati, P’eng P'ai and the Hai-Lu-Feng Soviet
Gerald Berkley, “The Canton Peasant Movement Training Institute”
C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927
Elizabeth Perry, Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China, 1845-1945
Some names from this episode:
Peng Pai, Communist peasant organizer
Chen Jiongming, Warlord dominant in Haifeng region until 1925
Li Zhongkai, Leader of Guomindang left, assassinated in 1925
Li Dazhao, Co-founder of the Communist Party

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The Beginning of the Peasant Movement in Guangdong Province: How the Communist Party Got a Mass Base of Peasant Support in Spite of Itself Sep 10, 2020

Show notes

Peng Pai and the beginning of the peasant movement in Guangdong Province.
Further Reading:
Pang Yong-pil, “Peng Pai: From Landlord to Revolutionary”
Yuan Gao, “Revolutionary Rural Politics: The Peasant Movement in Guangdong and Its Social-Historical Background, 1922–1926”
Robert Marks, Rural Revolution in South China: Peasants and the Making of History in Haifeng County, 1570-1930
Roy Hofheinz, The Broken Wave: The Chinese Communist Peasant Movement, 1922-1928
Fernando Galbiati, P’eng P'ai and the Hai-Lu-Feng Soviet
Some names from this episode:
Peng Pai, Communist peasant organizer
Li Dazhao, Co-founder of the Communist Party
Chen Jiongming, Warlord dominant in Haifeng region until 1925
Zhu Mo, Bad landlord in Haifeng County
Zhang Zepu, Judge in Haifeng County

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The March 1926 Zhongshan Gunboat Incident: Coup and Countercoup in the Pearl River Delta Sep 03, 2020

Show notes

Tensions come to a head between Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Jingwei and General Kuibyshev, as a Soviet plot backfires spectacularly.
Further Reading:
C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927
Wu Tien-wei, “Chiang Kai-shek's March Twentieth Coup d'Etat of 1926”
Barbara Tuchman, Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945
Some names from this episode:
Mikhail Borodin, Comintern agent and head of Soviet mission to aid the Guomindang
Wang Jingwei, Leader of Guomindang government in Guangdong in late 1925 and early 1926
Dai Jitao, Right-wing Guomindang ideologue
Nikolay Kuibyshev, Soviet general and head of military mission in Guangdong in late 1925 and early 1926
Victor Rogachev, Soviet general and adviser to Chiang Kai-shek
Li Zhilong, Communist in Guomindang navy
Hu Hanmin, Leader of Guomindang right-wing, spent a period of exile in the USSR
Andrei Bubnov, Headed Soviet military inspection mission to China
General V. A. Stepanov, Headed Soviet military mission after Kuibyshev left and before Blyukher returned
Vasily Blyukher, Soviet general whose return was requested by Chiang Kai-shek
Chen Duxiu, General Secretary of the Communist Party

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From Quaker Peace Activist to Maoist Revolutionary: An Oral History of Personal Transformation from a 1971 American Delegation to China Aug 27, 2020

Show notes

An oral history interview with Monica Shay (née Newbold, aka Kathryn) about her experience in China in 1971-72.
Some names from this episode:
William Hinton, author of Fanshen and other books on China
Jiang Qing, leading radical during Cultural Revolution and wife of Mao Zedong
Revolutionary Union (RU), pro-China communist group in the US in early 1970s
Dazhai, model agricultural commune

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Bonus: New China Song by Prairie Fire Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

The song "New China" by the band Prairie Fire, from the 1976 album Break the Chains. This song will be referenced in our next episode.

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The Beginning of Maoism: Mao Zedong’s “Analysis of All the Classes in Chinese Society” Aug 20, 2020

Show notes

Mao’s first major statement on the need for a strategic reorientation toward mobilizing the peasantry.
The chart cited in the episode is now on the podcast website (as of 8-24-20): https://peopleshistoryofideas.com/episode-33-the-beginning-of-maoism-mao-zedongs-analysis-of-all-the-classes-in-chinese-society/.
Further Reading:
Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 2: National Revolution and Social Revolution, December 1920-June 1927
Philip C. C. Huang, “Mao Tse-Tung and the Middle Peasants, 1925-1928”
Some names from this episode:
Chen Duxiu, General Secretary of the Communist Party
Li Dazhao, Co-founder of Communist Party

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Propaganda, Criticism and Corruption: Mao as Propagandist and Disciplinarian (October 1925 to early 1926) Aug 13, 2020

Show notes

Mao as acting head of propaganda for the Guomindang.
Further Reading:
C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927
Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 2: National Revolution and Social Revolution, December 1920-June 1927
Some names from this episode:
Wang Jingwei, Leader of Guomindang government in Guangdong in late 1925 and early 1926
Mikhail Borodin, Comintern agent and head of Soviet mission to aid the Guomindang
Chen Duxiu, General Secretary of the Communist Party
Gregory Voitinsky, Comintern representative in China at various points
Dai Jitao, Right-wing Guomindang ideologue

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Strike, Assassination and War: The Revolution/Counter-Revolution Dialectic in Guangdong in the Second Half of 1925 Aug 06, 2020

Show notes

The Hong Kong strike, the assassination of Liao Zhongkai, and the Second Eastern Expedition.
Further Reading:
C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927
John Erickson, The Soviet High Command: A Military-Political History, 1918-1941
Some names from this episode:
Chiang Kai-shek, Japan-trained military officer, close confidant of Sun Yatsen
Deng Zhongxia, Communist labor leader, involved in Hong Kong strike
Wang Jingwei, Potential heir apparent to Sun Yatsen as leader of Guomindang
Liao Zhongkai, Potential heir apparent to Sun Yatsen as leader of Guomindang
Hu Hanmin, Potential heir apparent to Sun Yatsen as leader of Guomindang (further to Right than the other two)
Chen Jiongming, Southern warlord, ally and then enemy of Sun Yatsen
Mikhail Borodin, Comintern agent and head of Soviet mission to aid the Guomindang
Zhou Enlai, Communist head of the Whampoa Academy political department, leading commissar on Second Eastern Expedition
Victor Rogachev, Soviet general and adviser to Chiang Kai-shek

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Guangdong Spring 1925: Revolutionary Warfare Erupts and Workers Shut Down Hong Kong Jul 30, 2020

Show notes

The National Revolutionary Army battles the warlords for supremacy in Guangdong, while the British and French escalate tensions by massacring supporters of a strike which shut down Hong Kong.
Further Reading:
C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927
Some names from this episode:
Chiang Kai-shek, Japan-trained military officer, close confidant of Sun Yatsen
Vasily Blyukher, Soviet general who led military mission to aid Guomindang
Zhou Enlai, Communist head of the Whampoa Academy political department
Wang Jingwei, Potential heir apparent to Sun Yatsen as leader of Guomindang
Liao Zhongkai, Potential heir apparent to Sun Yatsen as leader of Guomindang
Hu Hanmin, Potential heir apparent to Sun Yatsen as leader of Guomindang (further to Right than the other two)
Mikhail Borodin, Comintern agent and head of Soviet mission to aid the Guomindang
Sun Zhongshan/Sun Yatsen, leader of the Guomindang, died in March 1925
Chen Jiongming, Southern warlord, ally and then enemy of Sun Yatsen

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The Soviet Military Alliance with the Guomindang, and the Creation of the National Revolutionary Army Jul 23, 2020

Show notes

The first year of the Soviet military alliance with the Guomindang, including the creation of the Whampoa Military Academy, the formation of the National Revolutionary Army, and the crushing of the Merchant Corps.
Further Reading:
C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927
John Erickson, The Soviet High Command: A Military-Political History, 1918-1941
Some names from this episode:
Mikhail Borodin, Comintern agent and head of Soviet mission to aid the Guomindang
Chiang Kai-shek, Japan-trained military officer, close confidant of Sun Yatsen
Chen Jiongming, Southern warlord, ally and then enemy of Sun Yatsen
Deng Zhongxia, Leading Communist labor organizer
Gregory Voitinsky, Comintern representative in China at various points, much more wary of Sun Yatsen and the Guomindang than Borodin
Sun Zhongshan/Sun Yatsen, leader of the Guomindang

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