The final Soviet offensive, and some details on Chiang Ching-kuo’s activities as a student in Moscow. Further reading: Bruce A. Elleman and Stephen Kotkin, eds., Manchurian Railways and the Opening of China Michael M. Walker, The 1929 Sino-Soviet War Jay Taylor, The Generalissimo's Son: Chiang Ching-Kuo and the Revolutions in China and Taiwan Some names from this episode: Zhang Xueliang, Manchurian warlord Feng Yuxiang, northwestern warlord who turned on Chiang Kai-shek during Sino-Soviet war Jo...
Jun 28, 2025•22 min•Season 1Ep. 128
Some basic military history of the beginning of the war. Further reading: Bruce A. Elleman and Stephen Kotkin, eds., Manchurian Railways and the Opening of China Michael M. Walker, The 1929 Sino-Soviet War John Erickson, The Soviet High Command: A Military-Political History, 1918-1941 Some names from this episode: Vasily Blyukher (née Gurov, aka Galen), commander of the Special Far Eastern Army Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prussian general in Napoleonic wars Aleksandr Cherepanov, commander of ...
May 14, 2025•22 min•Season 1Ep. 127
The Guomindang moves to seize Soviet assets in Manchuria. Also, subscribe to the new substack at https://peopleshistoryofideas.substack.com/. Further reading: Bruce A. Elleman and Stephen Kotkin, eds., Manchurian Railways and the Opening of China Michael M. Walker, The 1929 Sino-Soviet War Some names from this episode: Li Lisan, Chairman of Central Committee Propaganda Department Chen Duxiu, Co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party Li Dazhao, Co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party Lev Karakh...
Apr 09, 2025•20 min•Season 1Ep. 126
Mao discusses problems in party organization and how to fix them. 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 “On the Revolutionary “Three-in-One” Combination ” Episode artwork: May 1967 poster “Resolutely Protect the Policy of the Revolutionary Three-in-One Combination” Support the show...
Jan 25, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 125
We continue our textual analysis of the Gutian Resolution. 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 Mao Zedong, “On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party” “Bury the Slave Mentality Advocated by China’s Khrushchov” in Peking Review (April 14, 1967) Some names from this episode: Liu Shaoqi, top level Communis...
Jan 18, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 124
On the importance of the Resolution, and a beginning discussion of the actual text. 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 Mao Zedong, “On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party” Episode artwork: Photo of the Gutian Congress Support the show...
Jan 10, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 123
We look at two letters written by Mao on November 28, 1929, and introduce our discussion of “On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party” and the other parts of the Gutian Resolution. Further reading: 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 Mao Zedong, “On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party” Abimael Guzmán, “Report of the...
Dec 28, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 122
The Communists take the fortified city of Shanghang in southwestern Fujian. Further reading and watching: Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] The Battle for Dien Bien Phu 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 Some names from this episode: Lin Biao, commander of the first column of the Fou...
Dec 21, 2024•20 min•Season 1Ep. 121
The Central Committee turns out to support centralized leadership. Also, the Comintern publishes Mao’s obituary. Further reading: 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 Joseph Fewsmith, Forging Leninism in China: Mao and the Remaking of the Chinese Communist Party, 1927–1934 Mao Zedong nianpu, 1893-1937 (毛泽东年谱) Chen Jian, ...
Dec 14, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 120
The line struggle continues and does not go Mao’s way. Plus, comments on the historiography. Further reading: 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 Joseph Fewsmith, Forging Leninism in China: Mao and the Remaking of the Chinese Communist Party, 1927–1934 Mao Zedong nianpu, 1893-1937 (毛泽东年谱) Chen Jian, Zhou Enlai: A Life S...
Dec 07, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 119
We continue our close reading of Mao’s letter to Lin Biao. In this episode, Mao discusses the roving rebel band mentality and the organizational state of affairs in the army, party, and mass organizations. Further reading: 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 Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [...
Nov 30, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 118
The Party Center’s intervention in the Fourth Red Army combines with a string of military victories to bring a simmering dispute between Mao and Zhu to a head. Further reading: 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 Joseph Fewsmith, Forging Leninism in China: Mao and the Remaking of the Chinese Communist Party, 1927–1934 M...
Nov 23, 2024•36 min•Season 1Ep. 117
The conquest of Yudu, Xingguo, Ningdu, Longyan, and Yongding counties by the Fourth Red Army. Zhu De reminisces. Also, poetry. Further reading: 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 Peng Dehuai, Memoirs of a Chinese Marshall Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De] Joseph Fewsmith, Forging Len...
Jun 26, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 116
Mao’s April 5, 1929 reply to Zhou Enlai. Further reading: 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 David Apter and Tony Saich, Revolutionary Discourse in Mao’s Republic Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist Party Michael Heinrich, Karl Marx and the Birth of Modern Society: The Life of Marx and the Developmen...
May 01, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 115
A close look at Zhou Enlai’s February 7, 1929, letter to Mao Zedong and Zhu De. Further reading: 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 E. H. Carr, Foundations of a Planned Economy , vol. 3 Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist Party Some names from this episode: Zhou Enlai, head of the Organization Depart...
Apr 04, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 114
Mao plans to expand guerrilla warfare, and meets up with Peng Dehuai in Ruijin. Further reading: 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 Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base Area Peng Dehuai, Memoirs of a Chinese Marshall Some names from this episode: Yuan Wencai, Bandit leader who joined ...
Mar 10, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 113
Some reflections on the experience of Shanghai capitalists after 1949 prompted by the ‘Notice to Merchants and Intellectuals’ that Mao issued after taking Changting in 1929. 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 Yao Wenyuan, “On the Social Basis of the Lin Piao Anti-Party Clique” (for heavenly horses reference) David Apter and Tony Saich, Revolutionary Discourse in Mao’s Republ...
Feb 04, 2024•27 min•Season 1Ep. 112
Looking at what Mao and Zhu De did to install a new Communist order after conquering Changting. Further reading: 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. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930 Mao Zedong, “On New Democracy” Some names from this episode: Guo Fengming, bandit turned Guomindang lo...
Jan 13, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 111
How the Fourth Red Army spent their time in Donggu, and how they took the first city in the new base area in the Jiangxi-Fujian border region. Further reading: 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] Joseph Fewsmith, Forging Leninism in China: Mao and the Remaking of the Chinese Communist Party, 1927–1934 Gao Hua, How the Red Sun Rose: The Origins and Development of the Yan’an Rectification Mo...
Dec 07, 2023•23 min•Season 1Ep. 110
The Mao-Zhu Army raises funds in Ningdu and moves on to the Donggu base area for rest and recovery. Background on Donggu. Link to map of Jiangxi province: https://www.chinamaps.org/china/provincemaps/jiangxi-province-map.html 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 an...
Oct 19, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 109
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....
Oct 12, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 108
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 Support the show...
Oct 04, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 107
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, #...
Sep 28, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 106
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 t...
Sep 21, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 105
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...
Sep 14, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 104
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 Chine...
May 27, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 103
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 Po...
May 20, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 102
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 Int...
May 13, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 101
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 ...
Feb 16, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 100
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 Zedo...
Feb 02, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 99
