People's History of Ideas Podcast

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Two Incursions, One Betrayal, and Six Points for Attention: The Red Army in Chaling and Suichuan (October 1927 to January 1928) Jul 15, 2021

Show notes

The 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 forces
Chen Hao, led Communist takeover of Chaling
Wan Xixian, political commissar in Revolutionary Army
Xiao Jiabi, militia leader in Suichuan

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Alliances, Discipline, and an Army to Serve the People: The Beginning of the Jinggangshan Base Area (October 1927) Jul 08, 2021

Show notes

Mao 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 Mao Zedong
Peng Pai, Communist peasant organizer
Xiao Jiabi, powerful reactionary militia leader in Suichuan
Yin Daoyi, militia leader

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The Early Jinggangshan Revolutionary Movement Jul 01, 2021

Show notes

How 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 Zedong
Zhu De, leading Communist military figure
Yin Daoyi, conservative elite in Guanbei
Ouyang Luo, Yongxin Communist cadre
He Yi, Yongxin Communist cadre
He Zizhen, the “Two-gunned Girl General”
Wang Xinya, Communist military officer
Liu Zuoshu, Yongxin Communist cadre
He Minxue, Yongxin Communist cadre

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Mao’s Bandit Comrades: Wang Zuo and Yuan Wencai Jun 24, 2021

Show notes

The 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

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Bandits of the Jinggangshan Jun 17, 2021

Show notes

A closer look at the phenomenon of banditry in the Jinggang Mountains, because of the importance that banditry and other forms of collective violence had on how the revolutionary movement developed.
Further reading:
Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area
Names from this episode:
Qu Qiubai, Named head of new provisional politburo at August 7, 1927 Emergency Conference
Zhu Kongyang, Warlord army officer turned bandit

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Background on Society and Economy in the Jinggang Mountains Jun 10, 2021

Show notes

With particular emphasis on the geographical divisions between valleys and mountainsides, and ethnic divisions between Han and Hakka.
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

Name from this episode:
Zhu Beide, Governor of Jiangxi province

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Entering the Jinggangshan: The Sanwan Reorganization of the People’s Army Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

As Mao’s troops arrive in the Jinggangshan region, a revolutionary reorganization of the people’s army is begun. Also, a tangent on Mao’s leadership style and nuclear war with a jump 30 years into the future.
Further reading:
Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949
Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area
Mao Zedong, “Speech at a Meeting of the Representatives of 64 Communist and Workers’ Parties”
Some names from this episode:
Lu Deming, Leader of the Lu Deming Regiment
He Long, One of the Communist leaders of the Nanchang Uprising
Yuan Wencai, Communist ‘social bandit’ leader
Chen Muping, Yuan Wencai’s secretary and graduate of the peasant training institute

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The Autumn Harvest Uprising in Hunan May 26, 2021

Show notes

The first days of Mao Zedong’s long career of armed struggle.
Further reading:
Marcia Ristaino, China’s Art of Revolution: The Mobilization of Discontent, 1927 and 1928
Roy Hofheinz, “The Autumn Harvest Insurrection”
Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949
C. Martin Wilbur, The Nationalist Revolution in China, 1923-1928
Elizabeth Perry, Anyuan: Mining China’s Revolutionary Tradition
Some names from this episode:
Lu Deming, Leader of the Lu Deming Regiment
Zhang Fakui, Guomindang general close to Wang Jingwei
Qu Qiubai, Named head of new provisional politburo at August 7, 1927 Emergency Conference
Zhang Guotao, Leading Communist

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Planning the Autumn Harvest Uprising in Hunan May 21, 2021

Show notes

Mao doesn’t budge on his military line in the face of pressure from the Party Center, and then gets arrested.
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
Roy Hofheinz, “The Autumn Harvest Insurrection”
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
Elizabeth Perry, Anyuan: Mining China’s Revolutionary Tradition
C. Martin Wilbur, The Nationalist Revolution in China, 1923-1928
Edgar Snow, Red Star Over China
Some names from this episode:
Qu Qiubai, Named head of new provisional politburo at August 7, 1927 Emergency Conference
Besso Lominadze, New Comintern head in China starting in July 1927
Peng Gongda, Leading Communist in Hunan
Yang Kaihui, Mao’s wife
Tang Shengzhi, Leader of Guomindang Left military forces
Mao Anlong, Mao’s youngest son
Mao Anqing, Mao’s three-year-old son
Mao Anying, Mao’s four-year-old son

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The Autumn Harvest Uprising in Hubei May 15, 2021

Show notes

The planning and execution of the Autumn Harvest Uprising in southern Hubei province.
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
Roy Hofheinz, “The Autumn Harvest Insurrection”
Timothy Cheek’s Introduction to Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, eds., Mao Zedong : A Biography, vol. 1
Some names from this episode:
Feng Yuxiang, Christian warlord
“Scarlet Rays” Huang, Member of South Hubei special committee
Liu Pu-I, Leader of “People’s Self-Defense Army”
Hsieh I-huan, Member of South Hubei special committee
Fu Hsiang-i, Member of South Hubei special committee

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