People's History of Ideas

Discussing pay for professional revolutionaries, the role of servants in the lives of Communist leaders, and the Comintern in Shanghai. Further … [Read more...] about Episode 85: The Wages of Revolution: Life Underground in Shanghai in the Late 1920s (Part 3)

How did the Communist Party try to protect itself in Shanghai? We discuss the compartmentalized party organization and the creation of the Special … [Read more...] about Episode 84: Friendship, Compartmentalization, and Assassination Squads: Life Underground in Shanghai in the Late 1920s (Part 2)

The Communist Party Center remained underground in the dangerous city of Shanghai during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Further … [Read more...] about Episode 83: Life Underground in Shanghai in the Late 1920s (Part 1)

The Party Center puts the South Hunan Special Committee in charge of the Jinggangshan, and the contrast between the strategies advocated by Mao and … [Read more...] about Episode 82: Mao’s (Temporary) Expulsion from the Communist Party and the Collapse of the South Hunan Uprising (March and April 1928)

We look at the successful conquest of three cities (and one heart) by Zhu De during the course of the uprising he led in south Hunan at the beginning … [Read more...] about Episode 81: The Southern Hunan Uprising (Early 1928)

Following Zhu De in Shanghai and Germany, finishing up our four-part detour through the early life of Zhu De. Further reading:Agnes … [Read more...] about Episode 80: Studying Marxism and Getting Thrown in Jail: Zhu De in Germany (1922-1926)

As the Army for the Defense of the Republic faces defections from the revolutionary nationalist cause as well as powerful warlord enemies, Zhu De … [Read more...] about Episode 79: Zhu De and The Army for the Defense of the Republic in Sichuan and Yunnan (1916-1922)

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 … [Read more...] about Episode 78: From Gym Teacher to General: Zhu De in Revolution and Rebellion (1907-1916)

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 … [Read more...] about Episode 77: From Poor Peasant to Gym Teacher: The Early Life of Zhu De

The last major armed uprising of 1927, in which the Communists temporarily took over Guangzhou. Further reading:Arif Dirlik, “Narrativizing … [Read more...] about Episode 75: The Guangzhou Commune (December 11-13, 1927)

Some background on the situation in Guangzhou leading up to the uprising. Further reading:Arif Dirlik, “Narrativizing Revolution: The Guangzhou … [Read more...] about Episode 74: Red Canton: Background to the Guangzhou Uprising of December 1927

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 … [Read more...] about Episode 73: ‘Blind Actionism’ in Action: Understanding the Hundreds of Small Revolts Led by Communists at the End of the 1920s in China

The Politburo meets to decide whether the leadership’s overall policy was wrong, or whether all the cadres carrying out the policy are just … [Read more...] about Episode 72: Summing Up Failures, or Playing the Blame Game? The November 1927 Politburo Meeting in Shanghai

We follow the Southern Expeditionary force from Ruijin in Jiangxi province to Shantou in Guangdong. Further reading:Marcia Ristaino, China’s Art of … [Read more...] about Episode 71: Sedan Chairs, Tired Intellectuals, and Indifferent Masses: The Denouement of the Nanchang Uprising/Southern Expedition (August to October 1927)

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 … [Read more...] about Episode 70: Hearts, Minds, and a Head on a Spike: The Unification of People and Forces in the Jinggangshan

The early progress of the Red Army in expanding Soviet power in the Jinggangshan region. Further reading:Stephen Averill, Revolution in the … [Read more...] about Episode 68: Two Incursions, One Betrayal, and Six Points for Attention: The Red Army in Chaling and Suichuan (October 1927 to January 1928)

Mao forges an alliance with Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo, and the Revolutionary Army builds its capacity as a political force. Further reading:Stephen … [Read more...] about Episode 67: Alliances, Discipline, and an Army to Serve the People: The Beginning of the Jinggangshan Base Area (October 1927)

How the Chinese revolution came to the Jinggangshan, and how the revolution and counter-revolution developed up until Mao’s arrival in October … [Read more...] about Episode 66: The Early Jinggangshan Revolutionary Movement