In this podcast, Matthew Rothwell, author of Transpacific Revolutionaries: The Chinese Revolution in Latin America, explores the global history of ideas related to rebellion and revolution. The main focus of this podcast for the near future will be on the history of the Chinese Revolution, going all the way back to its roots in the initial Chinese reactions to British imperialism during the Opium War of 1839-1842, and then following the development of the revolution and many of the ideas that were products of the revolution through to their transnational diffusion in the late 20th century.
https://peopleshistoryofideas.com/
episode 99: The Base Area under Economic Blockade and Unification with the Fifth Red Army (End of 1928)
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 Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949
Mao Zedong, “The Struggle in the Chingkang Mountains”
Edward Dreyer, China at War: 1901-1949
James Sheridan, China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History, 1912-1949
Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De]
Peng Dehuai, Memoirs of a Chinese Marshall
Some names from this episode:
Chen Yi, Political commissar for the 28th regiment of the Fourth Red Army
Wang Zuo, Bandit leader who joined with Mao Zedong
He 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 1928
Teng Daiyuan, Fifth Red Army leading cadre
He Changgong, important Fourth Red Army cadre
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