People's History of Ideas Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Running for Their Lives: The Retreat from the Jinggangshan (January to February 1929) Oct 12, 2023

Show notes

Mao 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.reddit.com/r/China/comments/7pju2c/why_is_google_maps_coverage_of_china_slightly_off/
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 Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De]
Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 4: The Rise and Fall of the Chinese Soviet Republic, 1931-1934
Some names from this episode:
Chen Yi, Political commissar for the 28th regiment of the Fourth Red Army
Lin Biao, Battalion commander in the 28th regiment
Wu Ruolan, Communist cadre and Zhu De’s wife

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Frameworks for Thinking about Tragic Historical Shortcomings of the Socialist Experience Oct 04, 2023

Show notes

Answering 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

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The End of the Sixth Congress Sep 28, 2023

Show notes

We 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. 5, #1
Yueh Sheng, Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow and the Chinese Revolution: A Personal Account
A Basic Understanding of the Communist Party of China
Some names from this episode:
Nikolai Bukharin, general secretary of the executive committee of the Comintern
Qu Qiubai, Named head of provisional politburo at August 7, 1927 Emergency Conference
Zhang Guotao, Leading Communist
Pavel Mif, Top Comintern China specialist
Li Lisan, Leading Communist
Zhou Enlai, Leading Communist
Xiang Zhongfa, Trade unionist and new general secretary of the CP
Xiang Ying, Leading Communist

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Clashing Communists and Comintern Guidance: The 6th Congress Gets off to a Rocky Start Sep 21, 2023

Show notes

Qu 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, #4 through vol. 5, #1
Some names from this episode:
Nikolai Bukharin, general secretary of the executive committee of the Comintern
Qu Qiubai, Named head of provisional politburo at August 7, 1927 Emergency Conference
Chen Duxiu, Co-founder and first general secretary of the Communist Party
Zhang Guotao, Leading Communist
Pavel Mif, Top Comintern China specialist
Chen Shaoyu, Protégé of Mif (better known as Wang Ming)
Shen Zemin, Sun Yat-sen University student who translated at the 6th party congress

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Bukharin on the Nature of the Chinese Revolution in 1928 Sep 14, 2023

Show notes

Our 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 and who launched an uprising in July 1928

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Bukharin on the Theory of the Productive Forces (and Mao’s counterpoint on New Democratic Revolution) May 27, 2023

Show notes

Bukharin 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 Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party”
Vladimir Lenin, “Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution”
Vladimir Lenin, “Once Again on The Trade Unions: The Current Situation and the Mistakes of Trotsky and Bukharin”
Hung Hsueh-ping, “The Essence of ‘Theory of Productive Forces’ is to oppose Proletarian Revolution”
Some names from this episode:
Nikolai Bukharin, general secretary of the executive committee of the Comintern
Chen Duxiu, Co-founder and first general secretary of the Communist Party
Mikhail Borodin, Comintern agent and head of Soviet mission to aid the Guomindang during the period of the first united front

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The ‘Third Period’ of the World Revolution: Bukharin’s Speech at the Sixth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (June 1928) May 20, 2023

Show notes

Nikolai 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 the Political Economy of Weimar Germany”
Theodore Rosengarten, All God’s Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw
Robin Kelley, Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression
Some names from this episode:
Nikolai Bukharin, general secretary of the executive committee of the Comintern
Zhang Guotao, Leading Communist
Qu Qiubai, Top leader of the Chinese Communist Party from the August 7, 1927 emergency meeting until the 6th Party Congress
Eugen Varga, Hungarian communist economist

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Preparations for the Sixth Party Congress (April to May 1928) May 13, 2023

Show notes

The 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 Intellectuals and the Chinese Labor Movement: A Study of Deng Zhongxia, 1894-1933
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
Organization of Communist Revolutionaries, “The CP, the Sixties, the RCP, and the Crying Need for a Communist Vanguard Party Today: Summing up a century of communist leadership, organization, strategy, and practice in the United States so that we can rise to the challenges before us”
Some names from this episode:
Qu Qiubai, Top leader of the Chinese Communist Party from the August 7, 1927 emergency meeting until the 6th Party Congress
Zhang Guotao, Leading Communist
Chen Duxiu, General Secretary of the Communist Party until summer 1927
Zhou Enlai, Leading Communist

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The Bailu Conference: Suppressing Orders from the Party Congress and Preparing to Leave the Jinggangshan (January 1929) Feb 16, 2023

Show notes

Potentially 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 Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist Party
Mao Zedong, “Combat Liberalism”
Some names from this episode:
Peng Dehuai, Guomindang colonel who was secretly a Communist and who launched an uprising in July 1928
Wang Zuo, Bandit leader who joined with Mao Zedong
Yuan Wencai, Bandit leader who joined with Mao Zedong
Wang Shouhua, President of the General Labor Union
Chen Yi, Political commissar for the 28th regiment of the Fourth Red Army
Long Chaoqing, secretary of the Ninggang County Committee of the Communist Party
Wang Huai, secretary of the Yongxin County Committee of the Communist Party
He Changgong, important Fourth Red Army cadre

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The Base Area under Economic Blockade and Unification with the Fifth Red Army (End of 1928) Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

The 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 Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949
Mao Zedong, “The Struggle in the Chingkang Mountains”
Edward Dreyer, China at War: 1901-1949
James Sheridan, China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History, 1912-1949
Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De]
Peng Dehuai, Memoirs of a Chinese Marshall
Some names from this episode:
Chen Yi, Political commissar for the 28th regiment of the Fourth Red Army
Wang Zuo, Bandit leader who joined with Mao Zedong
He Zizhen, Communist cadre known as the “Two-Gunned Girl General”
Peng Dehuai, Guomindang colonel who was secretly a Communist and who launched an uprising in July 1928
Teng Daiyuan, Fifth Red Army leading cadre
He Changgong, important Fourth Red Army cadre

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