People's History of Ideas Podcast

Latest Episodes:

From Gym Teacher to General: Zhu De in Revolution and Rebellion (1907-1916) Sep 23, 2021

Show notes

Following 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 first wife
Lu Shaozhen, reactionary chief of staff of Yunnan Army’s First Division

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From Poor Peasant to Gym Teacher: The Early Life of Zhu De Sep 16, 2021

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Taking 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 only to be thwarted by the Empress Dowager Cixi
Xi Bingan, Zhu De’s teacher
Empress Dowager Cixi, power behind the throne from 1861 to 1908

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Engels on Insurrection Sep 09, 2021

Show notes

The 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

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The Guangzhou Commune (December 11-13, 1927) Sep 02, 2021

Show notes

The 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 Committee of the Communist Party
Ye Ting, Communist military leader
He Long, Communist military leader
Heinz Neumann, German Comintern agent
Zhang Fakui, Guomindang militarist who seized Guangzhou on November 17, 1927
Xu Xiangqian, Communist military officer, played leading role in Guangzhou Uprising
Deng Zhongxia, Communist labor leader
Huang Ping, One of the organizers of the Guangzhou uprising
Qu Qiubai, top leader of Communist Party beginning in the summer of 1927

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Red Canton: Background to the Guangzhou Uprising of December 1927 Aug 26, 2021

Show notes

Some 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, leader of the Guomindang Left
Li Jishen, Guomindang militarist allied with Wang Jingwei
Zhang Fakui, Guomindang militarist who launched a coup in Guangzhou in November 1927
Zhang Tailei, secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party
Liu Ersong, the chairman of the Workers’ Delegates Conference
Peng Pai, Communist peasant leader
Zhou Enlai, leading Communist
Li Chai-sum, Guomindang general

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‘Blind Actionism’ in Action: Understanding the Hundreds of Small Revolts Led by Communists at the End of the 1920s in China Aug 19, 2021

Show notes

Using 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 military commander
Zhou Enlai, leading Communist

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Summing Up Failures, or Playing the Blame Game? The November 1927 Politburo Meeting in Shanghai Aug 12, 2021

Show notes

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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Sedan Chairs, Tired Intellectuals, and Indifferent Masses: The Denouement of the Nanchang Uprising/Southern Expedition (August to October 1927) Aug 05, 2021

Show notes

We 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 Committee member
Li Lisan, Leading Communist
Peng Pai, Communist peasant organizer
Zhang Tailei, Member of Communist Politburo
Qu Qiubai, Top leader of Communist Party
Tan Pingshan, One of the leaders of the Nanchang Uprising
Zhou Enlai, Leading Communist
Zhu De, Communist military commander
Lin Biao, Company commander in Communist military

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Hearts, Minds, and a Head on a Spike: The Unification of People and Forces in the Jinggangshan Jul 29, 2021

Show notes

How 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 leader who joined with Mao Zedong
Wang Zuo, bandit leader who joined with Mao Zedong
He Changgong, cadre sent to advise Wang Zuo and win him over
Yin Daoyi, militia leader
Yin Haomin, Yin Daoyi’s son
Xu Yan’gang, chief-of-staff of the Second Regiment of the First Division of the Red Army
He Zizhen, Communist cadre known as the “Two-Gunned Girl General”
Yang Kaihui, Mao’s wife
Link to a podcast I recently appeared on:
Episode 71 of Cosmopod, discussing the early years of the Chinese Communist movement

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Secret Agent for International Maoism: José Venturelli, Chinese Informal Diplomacy and Latin American Maoism Jul 22, 2021

Show notes

A 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.

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