People's History of Ideas Podcast

Tensions come to a head between Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Jingwei and General Kuibyshev, as a Soviet plot backfires spectacularly. Further Reading: C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927 Wu Tien-wei, “Chiang Kai-shek's March Twentieth Coup d'Etat of 1926” Barbara Tuchman, Stilwell and the American Experience in C...

An oral history interview with Monica Shay (née Newbold, aka Kathryn) about her experience in China in 1971-72. Some names from this episode: William Hinton, author of Fanshen and other books on China Jiang Qing, leading radical during Cultural Revolution and wife of Mao Zedong Revolutionary Union (RU), pro-China communist group in the US in early 1970s Dazhai, model agricultural commune Support t...

The song "New China" by the band Prairie Fire, from the 1976 album  Break the Chains . This song will be referenced in our next episode. Support the show

Mao’s first major statement on the need for a strategic reorientation toward mobilizing the peasantry. The chart cited in the episode is now on the podcast website (as of 8-24-20): https://peopleshistoryofideas.com/episode-33-the-beginning-of-maoism-mao-zedongs-analysis-of-all-the-classes-in-chinese-society/ . Further Reading: Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 2: National Revolution an...

Mao as acting head of propaganda for the Guomindang. Further Reading: C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927 Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 2: National Revolution and Social Revolution, December 1920-June 1927 Some names from this episode: Wang Jingwei, Leader of Guomindang government in Guangdong in lat...

The Hong Kong strike, the assassination of Liao Zhongkai, and the Second Eastern Expedition. Further Reading: C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927 John Erickson, The Soviet High Command: A Military-Political History, 1918-1941 Some names from this episode: Chiang Kai-shek, Japan-trained military officer, close confid...

The National Revolutionary Army battles the warlords for supremacy in Guangdong, while the British and French escalate tensions by massacring supporters of a strike which shut down Hong Kong. Further Reading: C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927 Some names from this episode: Chiang Kai-shek, Japan-trained military of...

The first year of the Soviet military alliance with the Guomindang, including the creation of the Whampoa Military Academy, the formation of the National Revolutionary Army, and the crushing of the Merchant Corps. Further Reading: C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927 John Erickson, The Soviet High Command: A Military...

Mao gets sick of all the BS in Shanghai and returns to his hometown of Shaoshan, where he discovers a militant peasantry. Further Reading: Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 2: National Revolution and Social Revolution, December 1920-June 1927 Yokoyama Suguru, “The Peasant Movement in Hunan” Some names from this episode: Li Lisan, Communist leader of the Shanghai General Labor Union Liu...

A podcast version of a recently published article which discusses what the leader of Peru's Shining Path, Abimael Guzmán, has to say about the time he spent in Maoist China. The article can be read on the podcast website . Support the show

Workers, students and merchants in Shanghai take on the British authorities of the International Settlement and Japanese mill owners after protesters are massacred. Further Reading: Steve Smith, A Road Is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-1927 Some names from this episode: Li Lisan, Communist leader of the Shanghai General Labor Union Zhang Xueliang, son of Zhang Zuolin, occupied Shanghai’s Chines...

In response to a listener request, we consider the situation in the United States today in light of historical thinking on the question of revolutionary situations. Further reading: Lenin, The Collapse of the Second International ( chapter two ) Lenin, Letters from Afar Lenin, “Marxism and Insurrection” Support the show

The Communist Party tries to figure out how to put the workers in the lead of the nationalist revolution, and has some initial success. Further Reading: Steve Smith, A Road Is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-1927 Some names from this episode: Deng Zhongxia, Leading Communist labor organizer Li Dazhao, Co-founder of the Communist Party, often credited as China’s first Marxist Li Lisan, Leading Co...

The thinking of Chinese Communism’s two founders, Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu, diverges as revolutionary experience is gained. Further Reading: Maurice Meisner, Li Ta-Chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism Some names from this episode: Li Dazhao, Co-founder of the Communist Party, often credited as China’s first Marxist Chen Duxiu, Co-founder and first general secretary of the Communist Party Zhang...

As both the Guomindang and the Communist Party benefit from their collaboration, tensions build. Further reading: Tony Saich, The Origins of the First United Front in China Steve Smith, A Road Is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-1927 Alexander Pantsov, The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution, 1919-1927 C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nat...

A podcast version of a recently published article which argues that the rightward turn of Chinese politics in the 1970s was a key contributing factor in ending the revolutionary era of the long and global 1960s and ushering in the neoliberal age of reaction which followed. The article can be read on the podcast website . Support the show

The Communist Party of China tries to find a way to implement the united front with the Guomindang in 1923, but ultimately has to wait for the Soviet-Guomindang alliance to mature. Further reading: Tony Saich, The Origins of the First United Front in China Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power , vol. 2 Some names from this episode: Sun Zhongshan/Sun Yatsen, leader of the Guomindang Wang Jingwei,...

The Communist Party begins its labor organizing drive, and the Comintern pushes for a united front with the Guomindang. Further reading: Elizabeth Perry, Shanghai on Strike Tony Saich, The Origins of the First United Front in Chin a Steve Smith, A Road Is Made: Communism in Shanghai 1920-1927   Some names from this episode: Henk Sneevliet, alias Maring, Dutch Communist and Comintern leader in Chin...

The early divergence in strategic thinking and revolutionary priorities between the CCP and the Comintern.  Further reading: Tony Saich, The Origins of the First United Front in China Some names from this episode: Chen Gongbo, Founding Chinese Communist who studied at Columbia and later joined the Japanese puppet regime Henk Sneevliet, alias Maring, Dutch Communist and Comintern leader in China be...

Polemics with non-revolutionary Marxists and anarchists, and then the party congress in July 1921. Further reading: Arif Dirlik, The Origins of Chinese Communism Some names from this episode: Chen Duxiu, editor of New Youth and leader of Shanghai Communist nucleus Gregory Voitinsky, Leader of Comintern delegation to China in 1920 Karl Kautsky, Second International theorist of economic determinist...

Gregory Voitinsky comes to China and helps get the ball rolling to found the Communist Party. Also, a few words on commodity fetishism as the keystone of Marx's Capital and how this leads to Lenin's innovations in conceptualizing communist party formations. Some names from this episode: Gregory Voitinsky, Comintern organizer who arrived in China in March 1920 Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu, tw...

Explaining how the strategic thinking of the Communist International developed, as background to the key role the ComIntern played in facilitating the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. Support the show

In this episode we continue our examination of Mao Zedong’s ideological development by discussing his anarchist period.   Further reading: Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 1: The Pre-Marxist Period, 1912-1920 is the indispensable source here.   Some names from this episode: Li Dazhao, leading proponent of learning from the Russian Revolution Hu Shi, student of John Dewey and advocate...

In this episode we explore the move from liberalism toward Marxism among progressive intellectuals in the 1915-1919 period, and how those ideas began to be brought to the working class in China’s cities. This includes the New Culture Movement, the May 4th Movement, and the June 5th Movement. Further reading: Maurice Meisner, Li Ta-Chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism Arif Dirlik, The Origins of...

In this episode we look at Mao Zedong’s childhood, family background, and see what he was thinking in 1912.   Further reading: Edgar Snow, Red Star Over China Stuart Schram, ed.,  Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 1: The Pre-Marxist Period, 1912-1920 Lee Feigon, Mao: A Reinterpretation Jonathan Spence, Mao Zedong: A Life   Some names from this episode: Ba Jin, anarchist novelist who wrote The Family Shang...