People's History of Ideas Podcast

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 AreaStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist PartyMao Zedong, “Combat Liberalism”Some names from this episode:Peng Dehuai, Guomindang colonel who was secretly a Communist and who launched an uprising in July 1928Wang Zuo, Bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongYuan Wencai, Bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongWang Shouhua, President of the General Labor UnionChen Yi, Political commissar for the 28th regiment of the Fourth Red ArmyLong Chaoqing, secretary of the Ninggang County Committee of the Communist PartyWang Huai, secretary of the Yongxin County Committee of the Communist PartyHe Changgong, important Fourth Red Army cadreSupport the show

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 AreaStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Mao Zedong, “The Struggle in the Chingkang Mountains”Edward Dreyer, China at War: 1901-1949James Sheridan, China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History, 1912-1949Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De]Peng Dehuai, Memoirs of a Chinese MarshallSome names from this episode:Chen Yi, Political commissar for the 28th regiment of the Fourth Red ArmyWang Zuo, Bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongHe 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 1928Teng Daiyuan, Fifth Red Army leading cadreHe Changgong, important Fourth Red Army cadreSupport the show

A 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 AreaStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 2: National Revolution and Social Revolution, December 1920-June 1927Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Mao Zedong, “The Struggle in the Chingkang Mountains”Names listed as having attended Nov. 6 meeting mentioned near the beginning of the episode:Zhu De, Chen Yi, He Tingying, He Changgong, Yuan Wencai, Wang Zuo, Tan Zhenlin, Deng Ganyuan, Li Quefei, Chen Zhengren, Wang Zuonong, Xiao Wanxia, Liu Huixiao, Xie Chunbiao, Liu Di, Xiong Shouqi, Yang Kaiming, Cao Shuo, Deng Jiuting, Mao Zedong, Song Qiaosheng, Peng Gu, and Yuan Desheng.Support the show

Finishing 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 AreaStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Charles Bettelheim, Class Struggles in the USSR: First Period: 1917-1923Fyodor Vasilievich Gladkov, CementSupport the show

A 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 OpportunismMao Zedong, “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People”Lynn White, Policies of Chaos: The Organizational Causes of Violence in China's Cultural RevolutionSome names from this episode:Du Xiujing, Inspector sent to the Jinggangshan by the Hunan Provincial Committee in May 1928 and who returned in JuneLiu Zhen, Secretary of the Yongxin County Party CommitteeSupport the show

A 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 AreaStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Mao Zedong, “Why Is It that Red Political Power Can Exist in China?”Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Jane Degras, ed., The Communist International, 1919-1943: Documents, vol. 2: 1923-1928A name from this episode:Du Xiujing, Inspector sent to the Jinggangshan by the Hunan Provincial Committee in May 1928 and who returned in JuneSupport the show

The 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 AreaStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Some names from this episode:Du Xiujing, Inspector sent to the Jinggangshan by the Hunan Provincial Committee in May 1928 and who returned in JuneGong Chu, Political commissar for the 29th regimentChen Yi, Political commissar for the 28th regimentKang Keqing, Peasant guerrilla fighter from Wan’an CountyYuan Wencai, Leader of the 32nd regimentSupport the show

The 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 AreaAgnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De]Jurgen Domes, Peng Te-huai: The Man and the ImageStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Some names from this episode:Wang Zuo, Bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongYuan Wencai, Bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongHu Shaohai, Commander of the 29th regiment of the 4th Red ArmyDu Xiujing, Inspector sent to the Jinggangshan by the Hunan Provincial Committee in May 1928 and who returned in JuneFan Shisheng, Guomindang general and old friend of Zhu DeYuan Chongquan, 28th Regiment battalion commander who mutiniedYuan Desheng, Representative of the Hunan Provincial CommitteePeng Dehuai, Guomindang colonel who was secretly a Communist and who launched an uprising in July 1928Support the show

Mao explains his refusal to comply with orders from the Hunan Provincial Committee.Further reading:Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base AreaStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Some names from this episode:Du Xiujing, Inspector sent to the Jinggangshan by the Hunan Provincial Committee in May 1928 and who returned in JuneYuan Desheng, Representative of the Hunan Provincial Committee in the JinggangshanYang Chisheng, Guomindang commander defeated by the Communists in June 1928Wang Zuo, Bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongYuan Wencai, Bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongWang Jun, Guomindang military commander in JiangxiShang Chengjie, Guomindang military commander in HunanXu Kexiang, Guomindang military commander in HunanWu Shang, Guomindang military commander in HunanSupport the show

A 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 CultureFabio Lanza, The End of Concern: Maoist China, Activism, and Asian StudiesAntonio Díaz Martínez, China: La revolución agrariaCatalina Adrianzén, “Semblanza de Antonio Díaz Martínez”Peer Moller Christensen and Jorgen Delman, “A Theory of Transitional Society: Mao Zedong and the Shanghai School”Stephen Andors, China's Industrial Revolution: Politics, Planning, and Management, 1949 to the PresentSome names from this episode:Catalina Adrianzén, Peruvian anthropologist in China from 1974-1976Antonio Díaz Martínez, Peruvian agronomist in China from 1974-1976Zhang Chunqiao, Leading figure on Maoist left in ChinaJiang Qing, Leading figure on Maoist left in ChinaSupport the show