People's History of Ideas Podcast

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 AreaPang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Christina Gilmartin, Engendering the Chinese Revolution: Radical Women, Communist Politics, and Mass Movements in the 1920sSome names from this episode:Yuan Wencai, bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongWang Zuo, bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongHe Changgong, cadre sent to advise Wang Zuo and win him overYin Daoyi, militia leaderYin Haomin, Yin Daoyi’s sonXu Yan’gang, chief-of-staff of the Second Regiment of the First Division of the Red ArmyHe Zizhen, Communist cadre known as the “Two-Gunned Girl General”Yang Kaihui, Mao’s wifeLink to a podcast I recently appeared on:Episode 71 of Cosmopod, discussing the early years of the Chinese Communist movement Support the show

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.Support the show

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 AreaPang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949C. Martin Wilbur, The Nationalist Revolution in China, 1923-1928Some names from this episode:Yuan Wencai, bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongWang Jingwei, leader of Guomindang LeftTang Shengzhi, leader of Guomindang Left military forcesChen Hao, led Communist takeover of ChalingWan Xixian, political commissar in Revolutionary ArmyXiao Jiabi, militia leader in SuichuanSupport the show

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 AreaPang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Some names from this episode:Long Chaoqing, secretary of the Ninggang County Committee of the Communist PartyYuan Wencai, bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongWang Zuo, bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongPeng Pai, Communist peasant organizerXiao Jiabi, powerful reactionary militia leader in SuichuanYin Daoyi, militia leaderSupport the show

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 AreaSome names from this episode:Long Chaoqing, important early Communist in Jinggangshan areaXiao Guohua, Communist women’s movement activist in NanchangYuan Wencai, bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongWang Zuo, bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongZhu De, leading Communist military figureYin Daoyi, conservative elite in GuanbeiOuyang Luo, Yongxin Communist cadreHe Yi, Yongxin Communist cadreHe Zizhen, the “Two-gunned Girl General”Wang Xinya, Communist military officerLiu Zuoshu, Yongxin Communist cadreHe Minxue, Yongxin Communist cadreSupport the show

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 AreaSome names from this episode:Wang Zuo, Bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongYuan Wencai, Bandit leader who joined with Mao ZedongZhu Kongyang, Warlord army officer turned banditXie Guannan, Patriarch of the local tyrant Xie family in the area around MaopingSupport the show

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 AreaNames from this episode:Qu Qiubai, Named head of new provisional politburo at August 7, 1927 Emergency ConferenceZhu Kongyang, Warlord army officer turned banditSupport the show

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 AreaStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Name from this episode:Zhu Beide, Governor of Jiangxi provinceSupport the show

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: 1893-1949Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base AreaMao 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 RegimentHe Long, One of the Communist leaders of the Nanchang UprisingYuan Wencai, Communist ‘social bandit’ leaderChen Muping, Yuan Wencai’s secretary and graduate of the peasant training instituteSupport the show

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 1928Roy Hofheinz, “The Autumn Harvest Insurrection”Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949C. Martin Wilbur, The Nationalist Revolution in China, 1923-1928Elizabeth Perry, Anyuan: Mining China’s Revolutionary TraditionSome names from this episode:Lu Deming, Leader of the Lu Deming RegimentZhang Fakui, Guomindang general close to Wang JingweiQu Qiubai, Named head of new provisional politburo at August 7, 1927 Emergency ConferenceZhang Guotao, Leading Communist Support the show