Nationalist China
106-709: (Redirected from Soviet-Chinese ) Chinese Soviet or Soviet Chinese may refer to: Chinese Soviet Republic Sino-Soviet relations Individual Chinese people in the Soviet Union, or the soviets which represented them there; see: Dungan people Chinese people in Soviet Russia Languages of Chinese people in the Soviet Union Dungan language Latinxua Sin Wenz script,
212-525: A base area there. In a meeting to decide the army's direction, Zhou sided with Mao, making Braun "fly into a rage because he was overruled in the debate." At the meeting it was decided that the Red Army would travel towards Zunyi , in western Guizhou. On January 1, 1935, the Red Army reached the Wu River. Bo and Braun again insisted the Red Army move back to western Hunan to join other Communist troops in
318-979: A daughter. Because of the harsh conditions, the infant was left with a local family. The Communist forces were harassed by both the Kuomintang and local warlords . To avoid a fatal confrontation, Zhou and Mao maneuvered the Red army south and west, through Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan, feigning attacks on Guiyang and Kunming to disguise their movements. The First Red Army crossed the Yangtze (the section of Jinsha River ) on May 9, 1935, finally escaping determined pursuit, but still had to deal with dangerous mountain passes at heights of up to 4,000 meters, rough climatic conditions, shortages of food, clothing, and equipment, and tribes of local ethnic groups hostile to Chinese encroachment. The Red Army had to capture river crossings defended by warlords and Nationalist troops. The most famous
424-470: A decisive battle and drove deep into the heart of the Central Soviet Area. When Ruijin became exposed to KMT attack, Party leaders faced the choice of either remaining and perishing or of abandoning the base area and attempting to break through the enemy encirclement. In August 1934, with the Red Army depleted by the prolonged conflict, a spy, Mo Xiong , who had been placed by Zhou Enlai in
530-692: A founding member of the CCP, was never able to challenge Mao's authority. After an expedition of almost a year, the Second Red Army reached Bao'an (Shaanxi) on October 22, 1936, known in China as the "union of the three armies", and the end of the Long March. All along the way, the Communist Army confiscated property and weapons from local warlords and landlords, while recruiting peasants and
636-567: A hundred coolies and a company of soldiers escorted them with the money and mint machinery. An important duty of the bank was, when the Chinese Red Army stayed in a location for longer than a day, to have the local populace exchange Communist paper bills and copper coins for currency used in the nationalist-controlled regions to avoid prosecution by the nationalists after the Communists left. The Zunyi Conference decided that carrying
742-432: A large section of Chiang's blockhouse lines that were manned by troops under General Chen Jitang , a Guangdong warlord who Zhou identified as being likely to prefer preserving the strength of his troops over fighting. Zhou sent Pan Hannian to negotiate for safe passage with General Chen, who subsequently allowed the Red Army to pass through the territory that he controlled without fighting. The Red army successfully crossed
848-612: A majority of the membership of all CSR associations or state bodies. The CSR issued regulations barring landlords, rich peasants, merchants, religious leaders, and Kuomintang members from participating in its elections. Landlords and rich peasants were barred from joining the biggest civil organizations in the CSR, the Anti-Imperialist League and the Soviet Protection League. On 1 February 1932,
954-480: A much greater quantity. However, these coins are rarer than the paper bill; copper was needed for ammunition, and these copper coins were recalled and replaced by silver dollars . The predominant currency produced by the Central Mint was the silver dollar. Unlike the bills and copper coins, the silver dollars had no communist symbols; they were a copy of silver dollars produced by other mints in China (including
1060-418: A rapid decline, due to its extreme left-wing governance and incompetent military command. The new leadership could not rid itself of Mao's influence (which continued during the fourth encirclement campaign ), which temporarily protected the communists. However, due to the dominance of the new communist leadership after the fourth counter-encirclement campaign, the Red Army was nearly halved. Most of its equipment
1166-451: A rear guard, to divert the main force of Nationalist troops from noticing, and preventing, the general withdrawal. The first movements to screen the retreat were undertaken by forces led by Fang Zhimin , breaking through Kuomintang lines in June 1934. Although Fang Zhimin's troops were soon destroyed, these movements surprised the Kuomintang, who were numerically superior to the Communists at
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#17327797442421272-453: A reshuffling of the Party politburo . Zhou intended the conference to draw lessons from the Red Army's past failures, and to develop strategies for the future. Much of the discussion revolved around whether the defeats of the Red Army were due to unavoidable circumstances, or inadequacies of leadership. Bo Gu, the first speaker, attributed the Red Army's losses to "objective" causes, particularly
1378-437: A successful breakout. On October 16, 1934, a force of about 130,000 soldiers and civilians under Bo Gu and Otto Braun attacked the line of Kuomintang positions near Yudu. More than 86,000 troops, 11,000 administrative personnel and thousands of civilian porters actually completed the breakout; the remainder, largely wounded or ill soldiers, continued to fight a delaying action after the main force had left, and then dispersed into
1484-746: A time, the capital until the Communist government was moved to the Yan'an Soviet . The Chinese Soviet Republic was dissolved on 22 September 1937 when the Chinese Communist Party issued, in the Second United Front , its manifesto on unity with the Kuomintang; the Second Sino-Japanese War was only a few weeks old. The Chinese Communist Party remained in de facto control of Yan'an, which was its stronghold for
1590-408: Is not possible to know what proportion of these losses were due to military casualties, and which proportion were due to desertion. The conditions of the Red Army's forced withdrawal demoralized some Communist leaders (particularly Bo Gu and Otto Braun), but Zhou remained calm and retained his command. This retreat marked the beginning of what would become known as the Long March. During the course of
1696-684: The Chinese Soviet Republic National Bank was established, with Mao Zemin as president. The CSR Central Mint issued three types of currency: a paper bill, a copper coin and a silver dollar . The CSR was funded primarily by tax income on grain and rice. It also received voluntary contributions from its core political constituency, the peasantry. During the period 1931 to 1934, the CSR issued three series of government bonds to further finance its operations. The Central Mint briefly issued both paper bills and copper coins. Neither circulated for long, primarily because
1802-851: The Eyuwan border area, and the Xiangegan border area. Mao's group founded the Jiangxi Soviet , which became the largest and best administered soviet thanks to the number of Communist cadres from across the country that took refuge there. Although the Central Committee of the Communist Party was still underground in Shanghai during this period, the center of political gravity had begun to shift to Mao in Jiangxi. In 1931,
1908-631: The Long March from southern China to the Yan'an Soviet , where a rump CSR continued to exist. A complex series of events in 1936 culminated in the Xi'an Incident , in which Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped and forced to negotiate with the CCP. The CCP offered to abolish the CSR and put the Chinese Red Army under (nominal) Kuomintang command in exchange for autonomy and an alliance against Japan. These negotiations were successful, and eventually led to
2014-674: The National Revolutionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War , which nominally integrated the Communist forces into the NRA, forming the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army . The Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921 by Chen Duxiu with Soviet support. The CCP initially collaborated with the nationalist Kuomintang, founded by the revolutionary republican Sun Yat-sen . However, after
2120-557: The Xinfeng River and marched through the province of Guangdong and into Hunan before encountering the last of Chiang's fortifications at the Xiang River . After passing through three of the four blockhouse fortifications needed to escape Chiang's encirclement, the Red Army was finally intercepted by regular Nationalist troops, and suffered heavy casualties. Of the 86,000 Communists who attempted to break out of Jiangxi with
2226-591: The "Front Red Armies", correspondingly numbered. The First Red Army under the command of Bo Gu and Otto Braun formed from the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Army Corps in southern Jiangxi. When several units formed the Fourth Red Army under Zhang Guotao in the Sichuan – Shaanxi border area, no standard naming system yet existed, in part lending to limited central control by the CCP over separate Communist-controlled enclaves. After these first two forces were organized,
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#17327797442422332-505: The 1931 Land Law, which required: All lands belonging feudal landlords, local bullies and evil gentry, warlords, bureaucrats, and other large private landlords, irrespective of whether they work the lands themselves or rent them out, shall be confiscated without compensation. The confiscated lands shall be redistributed to the poor and middle peasants through the [CSR]. The former owners of the confiscated lands shall not be entitled to receive any land allotments. The property of rich peasants
2438-717: The CCP. In 1932 he established a soviet in the Hunan-Jiangxi border area, and in August 1934 received command of the Second Red Army, establishing a base in Hubei. An advance party of the First Red Army, called the Sixth Corps, commanded by Xiao Ke, was sent towards the Second Red Army two months before the beginning of the Long March. Xiao Ke's force would link up with He Long and his army, but lost communication with
2544-672: The CCP. The initial period of cooperation to unify China and end the unequal treaties broke up in April 1927 when Chiang Kai-shek struck out against the Communists . Unsuccessful urban insurrections (in Nanchang , Wuhan and Guangzhou ) and the suppression of the CCP in Shanghai and other cities drove many party supporters to rural strongholds such as the Jiangxi Soviet, which was organized by Mao Zedong. By 1928, deserters and defecting Kuomintang army units, supplemented by peasants from
2650-1121: The CSR government are seen as having built the reputation of the CCP and strengthened the Chinese Red Army. Commentaries usually tout the CSR as an experiment that paved the way for the success of the later People's Republic. In the Historical Picture Book of the Chinese Soviet Republic , the Ganzhou Municipal Committee of the CCP called the CSR a "great rehearsal for the People's Republic of China." [REDACTED] Communist Party / [REDACTED] Soviet Republic ( [REDACTED] Red Army ) → Liberated Area ( [REDACTED] 8th Route Army , New Fourth Army , etc. → [REDACTED] People's Liberation Army ) → [REDACTED] People's Republic of China Long March The Long March ( Chinese : 长征 ; pinyin : Chángzhēng ; lit. 'Long Expedition')
2756-509: The CSR known as the " encirclement campaigns ". The Jiangxi Soviet survived the first, second and third encirclement campaigns thanks to the use of flexible guerrilla tactics. However, after the third counter-encirclement campaign Mao was replaced by Wang Ming , a Chinese communist returning from the Soviet Union. The Chinese Red Army was commanded by a three-man committee, which included Wang Ming's associates Otto Braun (a Comintern military advisor), Bo Gu and Zhou Enlai . The CSR then began
2862-666: The Chinese Communist Party), Xiang Yunian ( 項與年 ) (his Communist handler, whom he hired as his secretary) and Lu Zhiying (acting head of the spy ring, under the command of Zhou Enlai). After successfully besieging the Ruijin area (the CSR capital) and occupying most of the CSR itself, Chiang was confident that he could defeat the Communists in a final decisive strike. In late September 1934 he distributed his top-secret "Iron Bucket Plan" to general headquarters at Lushan (the summer substitute for Nanchang), which detailed
2968-495: The Chinese Red Army's manpower and material losses. Since the Jiangxi Soviet could not be held, the Standing Committee appointed Bo (responsible for politics), Braun (responsible for military strategy), and Zhou (responsible for the implementation of military planning) to organize an evacuation. The Communists managed to successfully hide their intentions from the besieging Nationalist forces for long enough to execute
3074-480: The Communist Party decided to consolidate these isolated base areas into a single state, the Chinese Soviet Republic. On 7 November 1931 (the anniversary of the 1917 Russian October Revolution ) a National Soviet People's Delegates Conference was held in Ruijin , the capital of the Jiangxi Soviet. The Conference held a formal opening ceremony for the CSR which included a military parade. Notably, communications between
3180-539: The Communist areas. Zhou Enlai had planted more than a dozen moles in Chiang Kai-shek's inner circle, including his general headquarters at Nanchang . One of Zhou's most important agents, Mo Xiong , was not a communist; however, his contributions saved the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Red Army. With recommendations from Chiang Kai-shek's secretary-general Yang Yongtai (who
3286-581: The Communist rural soviets, formed the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. The ideological confrontation between the CCP and the KMT soon evolved into the first phase of the Chinese Civil War. By 1930, the Red Army had established the Chinese Soviet Republic in the provinces of Jiangxi and Fujian around the city of Ruijin , including industrial facilities. After the establishment of
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3392-459: The Council of People's Commissars'), the CSR gradually expanded. The CSR reached its peak in 1933. It governed a population which exceeded 3.4 million in an area of approximately 70,000 square kilometers (although the isolated soviets were never connected into one contiguous piece of territory). The National Revolutionary Army conducted a series of campaigns against the various soviets of
3498-591: The First Army that came behind. It was at this point that Li Zhen 's unit was assigned to He Long's command, having already served in the Sixth Corps. On November 19, 1935, the Second Red Army set out on its own Long March. He Long's force was driven further west than the First Red Army, all the way to Lijiang in Yunnan province, then across the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain massif and through
3604-567: The First Red Army, only 36,000 successfully escaped. Due to the low morale within the Red Army at the time, it is not possible to know what proportion of these losses were due to military casualties, and which proportion were due to desertion. The conditions of the Red Army's forced withdrawal demoralized some Communist leaders (particularly Bo Gu and Otto Braun), but Zhou remained calm and retained his command. Most Communist losses occurred over only two days of heavy fighting, from November 30 to December 1, 1934. After escaping Chiang's encirclement, it
3710-450: The Fourth Red Army. These changes had no long-term significance because Zhang and Mao disagreed with the direction of the army. Zhang insisted on going southwest, while Mao insisted on going northwards, towards Shaanxi. No agreement was reached, and the two armies eventually split, each going their separate ways. Zhang Guotao's Fourth Red Army took a different route than Mao, travelling south, then west, and finally north through China. On
3816-505: The Jiangxi Soviet in the CSR's early history, the name "Jiangxi Soviet" is sometimes used to refer to the CSR as a whole. Other component territories of the CSR included the Northeastern Jiangxi , Hunan-Jiangxi , Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi , Hunan-Western Hubei , Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou , Eyuwan , Shaanxi-Gansu, Sichuan-Shanxi, and Haifeng-Lufeng Soviets. Mao Zedong was both CSR state chairman and prime minister ; he led
3922-517: The Jiangxi Soviet, Mao's status within the Party declined. In 1930, Mao claimed a need to eliminate alleged KMT spies and Anti-Bolsheviks operating inside the Jiangxi Soviet and began an ideological campaign featuring torture and guilt by association, in order to eliminate his enemies. The campaign continued until the end of 1931, killing approximately 70,000 people and reducing the size of the Red Army from 40,000 to less than 10,000. The de facto leader of
4028-541: The KMT army headquarters in Nanchang, brought news that Chiang Kai-shek was preparing a major offensive against the Communist capital, Ruijin. The Communist leadership decided on a strategic retreat to regroup with other Communist units, and to avoid annihilation. The original plan was to link up with the Second Red Army commanded by He Long, thought to be in Hubei to the west and north. Communications between divided groups of
4134-690: The KMT broke the United Front with the Shanghai Massacre and violently suppressed the Communists. The Communists as well as a few army units loyal to them fled urban areas into the countryside, where they founded the Chinese Workers and Peasants' Red Army to wage civil war. A large group in southern China led by Mao Zedong established a base in the remote Jinggang Mountains . A Kuomintang counterinsurgency campaign forced Mao and his group to relocate once again, and they moved into
4240-501: The Long March. After the defeat of the Red Army in Chiang Kai-shek 's Fifth Encirclement Campaign , on 10 October 1934 the CCP decided to abandon its Jiangxi Soviet and headquarters in Ruijin , Fujian . The First Front Red Army of some 86,000 troops headed west, traveling over the rugged terrain of China's western provinces, including eastern Tibet . The Red Army broke several of Chiang’s blockades with heavy losses, and by
4346-517: The March also went on to become prominent party leaders well into the 1990s, including Zhu De, Lin Biao , Liu Shaoqi , Dong Biwu , Ye Jianying , Li Xiannian , Yang Shangkun , Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. At the age of 9, Xiang Xuan , the nephew of He Long, was the youngest participant of the Long March. The last known survivor of the Long March, Tu Tongjin , a native of Changting, Fujian, died at
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4452-485: The Nationalists and Chinese Communists formed a nominal alliance during the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 until 1945. During these years, the CCP persevered and strengthened its influence. The Red Army fought a disciplined and organized guerilla campaign against superior Japanese forces, allowing it to gain experience. Following the end of World War II , the resurgent Communist Eighth Route Army , later called
4558-564: The Party, and Mao's old comrade, Zhu De . Zhou's support was not enough, and Mao was demoted to being a figurehead in the Soviet government, until he regained his position later, during the Long March. In early 1933, Bo Gu arrived in Jiangxi with the German Comintern adviser Otto Braun and took control of Party affairs. Zhou at this time, apparently with strong support from Party and military colleagues, reorganized and standardized
4664-426: The People's Liberation Army, returned to drive the Kuomintang out of Mainland China to the island of Taiwan . Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Long March has been glorified as an example of the CCP's strength and resilience. The Long March solidified Mao's status as the undisputed leader of the CCP, though he did not officially become party chairman until 1943. Other survivors of
4770-473: The People's Republic of China views the Chinese Soviet Republic positively, although it is recognized that the regime was ultimately a failure. In a speech on the 80th anniversary of the CSR's founding, Xi Jinping focused on the fact that the CSR was attempting to do something novel, stating "The Chinese Soviet Republic was the first national workers' and peasants' regime in Chinese history." The efforts of
4876-694: The Red Army crossed the Wu River , and a week later held the Zunyi Conference , which reduced Soviet influence in the Politburo and established Mao's position as de facto leader. Employing guerrilla warfare , Mao maneuvered to avoid direct confrontation with Chiang's forces and led the Red Army out of encirclements by local warlords. The First Front Army met the Fourth Front Army, led by Zhang Guotao , in Sichuan ; they disagreed on
4982-499: The Red Army had been disrupted by the Kuomintang campaign. During the planning to evacuate Jiangxi, the First Red Army was unaware that these other Communist forces were also retreating westward. Since the Central Base Area could not be held, the Standing Committee appointed Bo (responsible for politics), Braun (responsible for military strategy), and Zhou (responsible for the implementation of military planning) to organize
5088-404: The Red Army. Under Zhou, Bo, and Braun, the Red Army defeated four attacks by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist troops. Chiang's fifth campaign was much more difficult to contain. In September 1933, the National Revolutionary Army under Chiang Kai-shek eventually completely encircled Jiangxi, with the advice and tactical assistance of his German adviser, Hans von Seeckt . A fortified perimeter
5194-534: The Second Red Army was formed in eastern Guizhou by unifying the 2nd Army Corps under Xiao Ke with the 6th Army Corps under He Long . A Third Red Army was briefly led by He in the area straddling the Hunan–Hubei border, but its defeat in 1932 led to its merger with the 6th Army Corps in October 1934. These three armies would maintain their historical designations until the formation of the Second United Front with
5300-467: The Soviet-invented alphabet for writing Chinese See also [ edit ] Chinese Soviet Republic (disambiguation) Russian Chinese (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Chinese Soviet . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
5406-581: The Tibetan highlands of western Sichuan. He Long and Xiao Ke were married to sisters who also accompanied the army. He Long's wife, Jian Xianren, carried the baby daughter she had given birth to three weeks before the retreat began. Jian Xianfo gave birth to a son in the desolate swamps of northern Sichuan. Forces of the Second Army detained two European missionaries, Rudolf Bosshardt and Arnolis Hayman, for 16 months. Bosshardt later related his account of
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#17327797442425512-563: The age of 108 on April 3rd, 2023. The Chinese government produced a movie in 2006, My Long March , relating personal experiences of a fictional participant in the Long March. The movie, released in celebration of the 71st year since the end of the March, was the second of three movies in the Axis of War movie series, retelling the events stretching from the Battle of the Xiang River up to
5618-404: The area, but their prestige had considerably declined by that point, and their suggestion was rejected. Even Zhou had become impatient, and proposed a new rule which was put into effect immediately: that all military plans had to be submitted to the Politburo for approval. The movement passed, clearly depriving Braun of the right to direct military affairs. On January 15 the Red Army captured Zunyi,
5724-543: The border of Hunan and Guizhou, was convened to discuss the direction of the Red Army on December 12, 1934. Zhou endorsed Mao's proposal, encouraging other leaders to overrule the objections of Bo and Braun. Another dispute of the direction of the Red Army occurred soon after, once the Red Army reached Liping , in the mountains of southeast Guizhou. Braun believed that they should travel to eastern Guizhou, but Mao wanted to go to western Guizhou, where he expected KMT forces to be lighter and which borders Sichuan , and to establish
5830-413: The border region between Jiangxi and Fujian provinces. Meanwhile, Communists from other areas of China followed a similar pattern of retreat into the countryside. In order to rebuild the party's strength, the 6th National Congress ordered these rural cadres to organize soviet governments . Beginning in 1929, soviets began to pop up in isolated regions across the country, including rural Guangxi ,
5936-627: The breakout; the remainder, largely wounded or ill soldiers, continued to fight a delaying action after the main force had left, and then dispersed into the countryside. Several prominent members of the Chinese Soviet who remained behind were captured and executed by the Kuomintang after the fall of Ruijin in November 1934, including Qu Qiubai and the youngest brother of Mao Zedong, Mao Zetan . The withdrawal began in early October 1934. Zhou's intelligence agents were successful in identifying
6042-420: The campaigns gradually subsided. In December, of 1931 Zhou replaced Mao Zedong as Secretary of the First Front Army and political commissar of the Red Army. Liu Bocheng, Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai all criticized Mao's tactics at the August 1932 Ningdu Conference. The most senior leaders to support Mao in 1932 were Zhou Enlai, who had become disillusioned with the strategic leadership of other senior leaders in
6148-430: The chronological order of their formation. Indeed, early Communist units would often form by defection from existing Kuomintang forces, and they kept their original designations. By the time of the Long March, numerous small units had been organized into three unified Armies: the First, the Second, and the Fourth. To distinguish them from earlier organizational divisions, some translations opt to refer to these same units as
6254-629: The commission, and Wang Jiaxiang , whose support Mao had enlisted earlier. Within this group, Zhou was empowered to make the final decisions on military matters, while Mao was Zhou's assistant. Wang was in charge of Party affairs. When the army resumed its march northward, the direct route to Sichuan was blocked by Chiang's forces. Mao's forces spent the next several months maneuvering to avoid direct confrontation with hostile forces, but still attempting to move north to join Zhang Guotao 's Fourth Red Army. While Chiang's armies approached Mao in northern Guizhou from three directions, Mao maneuvered out of
6360-402: The countryside. After passing through three of the four blockhouse fortifications needed to escape Chiang's encirclement, the Red Army was finally intercepted by regular Nationalist troops, and suffered heavy casualties. Of the 86,000 Communists who attempted to break out of Jiangxi with the First Red Army, only 36,000 successfully escaped. Due to the low morale within the Red Army at the time, it
6466-407: The creation of the Second United Front . The CSR was officially dissolved on 22 September 1937 and the Yan'an Soviet was officially reconstituted as the Shaan-Gan-Ning and Jin-Cha-Ji Border Regions . During the First United Front between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang, the two parties embarked on the Northern Expedition in an effort to unify China under a single government. In 1927,
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#17327797442426572-448: The currency could not be used in the rest of China. The paper bill had "Chinese Soviet Republic National Bank" ( 中華蘇維埃共和國國家銀行 ) printed on the bill in traditional Chinese characters and a picture of Vladimir Lenin . Like the paper bill, copper coins issued by the Central Mint also had "Chinese Soviet Republic" (中華蘇維埃共和國) engraved in traditional Chinese. Since coins last longer than paper bills, these coins were issued (and circulated) in
6678-543: The details of daily life on the Long March in a book. Mao's First Red Army traversed several swamps and was attacked by Muslim Hui Ma clique forces under Generals Ma Bufang and Ma Buqing . Finally, in October 1935, Mao's army reached Shaanxi province and joined with local Communist forces there, led by Liu Zhidan , Gao Gang , and Xu Haidong , who had already established a Soviet base in northern Shaanxi. The remnants of Zhang's Fourth Red Army eventually rejoined Mao in Shaanxi, but with his army destroyed, Zhang, even as
6784-431: The effort of the central government of China to penetrate and destabilize the local Han warlords such as Liu Wenhui . The Chinese government sought to exercise full control over frontier areas against the warlords. Liu had refused to do battle with the Red Army, to save his own military from destruction. The Consolatory Commission forces were used to battle the Communist Red Army, but were defeated when their religious leader
6890-451: The encirclement by crossing the Chishui River four times . Then, Mao led the Red Army, crossing the Wu River and marching towards Guiyang . He feigned an attack to this city when Chiang was visiting. Chiang ordered his army in Kunming to move eastward to save Guiyang, but the Red Army turned towards Kunming immediately and entered Yunnan, where the Yangtze River was lightly guarded. In February 1935, Mao's wife, He Zizhen , gave birth to
6996-407: The enemy's overwhelming numerical superiority, and poor coordination of Communist forces. Braun's interpreter, Wu Xiuquan , later recalled that Bo's arguments did not impress his audience, and that Bo came across as someone attempting to avoid responsibility. Zhou Enlai was the next to speak. Zhou blamed the Red Army's failures on poor decisions at the leadership level, and blamed himself as one of
7102-403: The entire bank on the march was impractical, and on 29 January 1935, at Tucheng ( 土城 ) the bank employees burned all Communist paper bills and destroyed the mint machinery. By the end of the Long March in October 1935, only eight of the original fourteen employees were left; the other six had died along the way. In November 1931, the National Tax Bureau was founded. In 2002, the original building
7208-489: The evacuation. Since the enemy was close, Zhou, in charge of logistics, made his plans in complete secrecy. It was not disclosed who was to leave or when: even senior leaders were only at the last moments told of the Army's movements. It is not known what criteria were used to determine who would stay and who would go, but 16,000 troops and some of the Communists' most notable commanders at the time (including Xiang Ying , Chen Yi , Tan Zhenlin , and Qu Qiubai ) were left to form
7314-518: The failed leadership of Bo Gu and Otto Braun was denounced, Mao was not able to win the support of a sufficient number of Party leaders to gain outright power at the conference. A major shift in the Party's leadership occurred two months later, in March 1935. Mao was passed over for the position of General Secretary by Zhang Wentian , but gained enough influence to be elected one of three members of Military Affairs Commission. The other two members were Zhou Enlai, who retained his position as Director of
7420-421: The far-flung soviets were so poor (due to their isolation and intense pressure from the Kuomintang) that the second-largest soviet, in Eyuwan , failed to send delegates. Instead, it held its own conference. With Mao Zedong as both head of state (Chinese: 中央執行委員會主席 ; lit. 'Chairman of the Central Executive Committee') and head of government (Chinese: 人民委員會主席 ; lit. 'Chairman of
7526-401: The final push to annihilate the Communist forces. Chiang planned 30 blockade lines supported by 30 barbed wire fences (most electrified) in a 150-kilometre (93 mi) radius around Ruijin to starve the Communists. In addition, more than 1,000 trucks were to be mobilized in a rapid-reaction force to prevent a Communist breakout. Realizing the certainty of Communist annihilation, Mo Xiong handed
7632-427: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chinese_Soviet&oldid=1219315294 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Chinese Soviet Republic [REDACTED] China portal The Chinese Soviet Republic ( CSR )
7738-615: The meeting. Seventeen of the meeting's twenty participants (the exceptions being Bo, Braun, and He Kequan ) argued in his favor. Of the three leaders who had controlled the Party before the Zunyi Conference, only Zhou Enlai's political career survived. Zhou was held partially responsible for the Red Army's defeat, but was retained at the top level of Party leadership because of his differences with Bo and Braun at Ningdu, his successful tactics in defeating Chiang's fourth Encirclement Campaign, and his resolute support of Mao. Although
7844-477: The military commission. Chiang's strategy of slowly constructing a series of interlinking blockhouses (resembling medieval castles) was successful, and Chiang's army was able to capture several major Communist strongholds within months. Between January and March 1934, the Nationalists advanced slowly. Bo and Braun continued to employ orthodox military tactics, resulting in a series of Kuomintang advances and heavy Communist casualties. In October 1934 KMT troops won
7950-569: The mountains, knocking out four of his teeth with a rock and causing his face to swell. Disguised as a beggar, he tore off the covers of the four dictionaries and covered them with spoiled food at the bottom of his bag. Crossing several blockade lines, he reached Ruijin on 7 October 1934. The intelligence provided by Mo Xiong convinced the Communists in the CSR to abandon their base and retreat before Chiang could reinforce his blockade lines with barbed-wire fences. They mobilized trucks and troops, saving themselves from annihilation. The official history in
8056-609: The next two years, Communist forces abandoned almost all of their soviets in southern China that had made up the core of the CSR. The survivors went into hiding or followed Mao to Yan'an , where they took refuge in the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region . The Chinese Soviet Republic continued to exist formally even after the Long March, since the Communists still controlled some areas such as the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Soviet . Bao'an was, for
8162-489: The otherwise-shattered Communist Party. It marked the beginning of his long ascent to primacy, and would be featured heavily in his public image, through the founding of the People's Republic . The divisions of the Red Army ( Chinese : 中國工農紅軍 ; pinyin : Zhōngguó gōngnóng hóngjūn ; lit. 'Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army') were named according to historical circumstances, not strictly according to
8268-505: The party at the time, Zhou Enlai , originally supported Mao's purges as necessary to eliminate KMT spies. After Zhou arrived in Jiangxi in December 1931, he criticized Mao's campaigns for being directed more against anti-Maoists than legitimate threats to the Party, for the campaign's general senselessness, and for the widespread use of torture to extract confessions. During 1932, following Zhou's efforts to end Mao's ideological persecutions,
8374-499: The party fell from 300,000 to around 40,000. In November 1935, shortly after settling in northern Shaanxi, Mao officially took over Zhou Enlai's leading position in the Red Army. Following a major reshuffling of official roles, Mao became the chairman of the Military Commission, with Zhou and Deng Xiaoping as vice-chairmen. (After Zhang Gutao reached Shaanxi, Deng was replaced by Zhang). This marked Mao's position as
8480-481: The poor. Nevertheless, only some 8,000 troops under Mao's command, the First Front Army, ultimately made it to the final destination of Yan'an in 1935. Of these, less than 7,000 were among the original 100,000 soldiers who had started the march. A variety of factors contributed to the losses including fatigue , hunger and cold, sickness, desertion, and military casualties. During the retreat, membership in
8586-460: The popular coin with the head of Yuan Shikai and the eagle silver dollar of the Mexican peso ). This, and the fact that the coin was made of silver, enabled them to be circulated in the rest of China; thus, it was the currency of choice. When the Chinese Red Army's First Front began its Long March in October 1934, the Communist bank was part of the retreating force; fourteen bank employees, over
8692-535: The power to challenge the authority of Zhou and Mao, whose power was based largely on the Party's support. Zhang demanded that one of his own generals, Chen Changhao , take over Zhou's position as political commissar of the entire Red Army, and suggested that Zhang himself replace Zhu De on the Military Commission. Zhang argued that such a reorganization would create a more "equal" army organization. On July 18, Zhou relinquished his position as political commissar, and several leading positions were taken over by generals of
8798-409: The pre-eminent leader of the Party, with Zhou in a position second to Mao. Both Mao and Zhou would retain their positions until their deaths, in 1976. While costly, the Long March gave the CCP the isolation it needed, allowing its army to recuperate and rebuild in the north. It also was vital in helping the CCP to gain a positive reputation among the peasants due to the determination and dedication of
8904-554: The remainder of the war with Japan. The CSR had a central government as well as local and regional governments. It operated institutions including an education system and court system. The CSR also issued currency. It enacted the Constitutional Guideline of CSR in 1934. The most important policy implemented by the soviet governments was land redistribution, which destroyed the landlord-dominated political economy which had existed previously. The CSR issued
9010-475: The road of the Red Army is their only road to liberation. In addition, policies ordered by Mao for all soldiers to follow, the Eight Points of Attention , instructed the army to treat peasants respectfully and pay fairly for, rather than confiscate, any goods, in spite of the desperate need for food and supplies. This policy won support for the Communists among the rural peasants. Hostilities ceased while
9116-548: The route to take to Yan'an and split up. The First Front Army arrived in Yan'an on 19 October 1935 with about 8,000 survivors, ending the Long March. The Fourth Front Army was largely destroyed by Chiang and Ma clique attacks, and its remnants joined the Second Front Army led by He Long . All three armies met on 22 October 1936. Mao's leadership during the retreat brought him immense prestige and support among many within
9222-613: The second largest city in Guizhou. As Mao had predicted, the city was weakly defended, and was too far from Nationalist forces to be under immediate threat of attack. By the time the Red Army occupied Zunyi, it was highly depleted, and counted little more than 10,000 men. Zhou used the peace afforded in Zunyi to call an enlarged Politburo meeting, in order to examine the causes of the Communists' repeated defeats. The Communists' Zunyi Conference lasted from January 15–17, 1935, and resulted in
9328-437: The several-kilogram document to Xiang Yunian ( 項與年 ) the same night—risking his life and those of his family. With help from Liu Yafo ( 劉亞佛 ) and Lu Zhiying, Communist agents copied the intelligence into four dictionaries and Xiang Yunian ( 項與年 ) was tasked with bringing it to the CSR. The trip was hazardous, since the nationalist forces arrested and executed anyone attempting to cross the blockade. Xiang Yunian ( 項與年 ) hid in
9434-527: The state and its government. Mao's tenure as head of a "small state within a state" gave him experience in mobile warfare and peasant organization, which helped him lead the Chinese Communists to victory in 1949. The Encirclement Campaigns launched by the Kuomintang in 1934 forced the CCP to abandon most of the soviets in southern China. The CCP (including the leadership of the CSR) embarked on
9540-457: The surviving participants of the Long March. Mao wrote in 1935: The Long March is a manifesto. It has proclaimed to the world that the Red Army is an army of heroes, while the imperialists and their running dogs, Chiang Kai-shek and his like, are impotent. It has proclaimed their utter failure to encircle, pursue, obstruct and intercept us. The Long March is also a propaganda force. It has announced to some 200 million people in eleven provinces that
9646-421: The three people most responsible. Zhou's willingness to accept responsibility was well received. Zhang Wentian , basing many of his conclusions on recent discussions with Mao, attacked Bo and Braun directly, criticizing them for numerous strategic and tactical errors. After Zhang, Mao gave a speech in which he analyzed the poor tactics and strategies of the two leaders. With Zhou's explicit backing, Mao won over
9752-442: The time and did not expect an attack on their fortified perimeter. The early troop movements were actually a diversion to allow the retreat of more important leaders from Jiangxi. On October 16, 1934, a force of about 130,000 soldiers and civilians under Bo Gu and Otto Braun attacked the line of Kuomintang positions near Yudu. More than 86,000 troops, 11,000 administrative personnel and thousands of civilian porters actually completed
9858-459: The time it crossed the Xiang River on 1 December had only 36,000 men left. Its leaders, including Comintern military adviser Otto Braun and Moscow-trained Bo Gu , decided to take the troops through Hunan , but Chiang set up defenses to block their way. Mao Zedong , who was not a member of the Politburo , suggested going through Guizhou instead, which was accepted. On New Year's Day 1935,
9964-485: The unexpected death of Sun in March 1925, a power struggle within the KMT led to the shift in the party's authority to Chiang Kai-shek, whose Northern Expedition forces succeeded in wresting control of large areas of China from local warlords and establishing a unified government in Nanjing in April 1927. Unlike other nationalist leaders, like Wang Jingwei , Chiang was opposed to the idea of continued collaboration with
10070-545: The warlords' armies lacked), and transmitted wireless coded messages while breaking nationalist codes. At the time, only Chiang Kai-shek 's army could match the communist forces. The CSR declared itself a government of all Chinese workers, Red Army soldiers, and the masses. CSR policy was in large part carried out by mass organizations, particularly the Poor Peasants League, which was composed entirely of poor peasants and farm laborers. Poor peasants composed
10176-594: The way Zhang's forces were largely destroyed by the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and his Chinese Muslim allies, the Ma clique . The remnants of Zhang's forces later rejoined elements of the Second Red Army before eventually linking up with Mao's forces in Shaanxi. The Second Red Army began its own withdrawal west from Hubei in November 1935, led by He Long , who commanded the KMT Twentieth Army in 1923 before joining
10282-652: Was Luding Bridge , extolled in official history as an heroic triumph, although many historians now believe that the difficulty of the battle was exaggerated or that the incident was fabricated for propaganda purposes. Warlords often refused to help out the Kuomintang against the Communist Red Army, preferring to save their own forces. 300 "Khampa bandits" were enlisted into the Kuomintang's Consolatory Commission military in Sichuan, where they were part of
10388-466: Was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War , occurring between October 1934 and October 1935. About 100,000 troops retreated from the Jiangxi Soviet and other bases to a new headquarters in Yan'an , Shaanxi , traversing some 6,000 miles (10,000 km). About 8,000 troops ultimately survived
10494-452: Was a state within China , proclaimed on 7 November 1931 by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War . The discontiguous territories of the CSR included 18 provinces and 4 counties under the Communists' control. The CSR's government was located in its largest component territory, the Jiangxi Soviet . Due to the importance of
10600-592: Was also confiscated, although rich peasants were entitled to receive land of lesser quality if they farmed it themselves. By 1932, the Communist Party had equalized landholding and eliminated debt within the CSR. Although the 1931 Land Law remained the official policy in the CSR's territory until the Nationalists' defeat of the CSR in 1934, after 1932, the Communist Party was more radical in its class analysis, resulting in formerly middle peasants being viewed as rich peasants. The Chinese Red Army had modern communications technology (telephones, telegraph and radio, which
10706-497: Was captured by Communist forces. Communist forces on the Long March clashed against Kham rebels in the 1934 Khamba Rebellion , who were fleeing from Tibetan government forces. In June–July 1935, the troops under Mao united with the Fourth Red Army, led by Zhang Guotao, which had retreated west from Henan . Zhang had taken a different route of evacuation, and arrived at Lianghekou with 84,000 troops in relatively good condition. The fact that he had control of superior forces gave him
10812-461: Was established by Chiang's forces, and Jiangxi was besieged in an attempt to destroy the Communist forces trapped within. In July 1934, the leaders of the Party, dominated by the " Twenty-Eight Bolsheviks ", a militant group formed in Moscow by Wang Ming and Bo Gu, forced Mao from the Politburo of the CCP in Ruijin and placed him briefly under house arrest. Mao was replaced by Zhou Enlai as leader of
10918-429: Was lost during Chiang's fifth encirclement campaign ; this began in 1933 and was orchestrated by Chiang's newly-hired Nazi advisors who developed a strategy of building fortified blockhouses to advance the encirclement. This was effective; in an effort to break the blockade the Red Army besieged the forts many times, suffering heavy casualties and only limited success. As a result, the CSR shrank significantly due to
11024-520: Was obvious to Party leaders that Chiang was intent on intercepting what remained of the Red Army in Hunan, and the direction of the Red Army's movements had to be reconsidered. The plan to rendezvous and join He Long's army in Hunan had become too risky. Mao suggested to Zhou that the Red Army change direction, towards Guizhou, where Mao expected enemy defenses to be weak. A meeting at Tongdao , close to
11130-629: Was renovated for the public. The Directorate General of Chinese Soviet Posts was founded in Ruijin on 1 May 1932. The first stamps were designed by Huang Yaguang and printed lithographically by the Printing House of the Ministry of Finance in Ruijin. White paper or newspaper was used. They were imperforate , and denominated in the Chinese Soviet silver-dollar currency . They are fairly rare, and sought after by collectors. There are also many forgeries and bogus issues imitating early stamps from
11236-569: Was unaware of Mo's Communist activities), Mo rose in Chiang Kai-shek's regime and became an important member in his general headquarters during the early 1930s. In January 1934, Chiang Kai-shek appointed him administrator and commander-in-chief of the Fourth Special District in northern Jiangxi. Mo used his position to plant more than a dozen Communist agents in Chiang's general headquarters, including Liu Yafo ( 劉亞佛 ) (who introduced
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