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The Communists under the leadership of Mao Tse-tung and Chu Teh enjoyed two relatively stable periods of growth and development in the south-eastern Kiangsi-western Fukien border region, from December 1929 to December 1930 and from the autumn of 1931 to April 1933. These periods of Communist expansion were possible because Chiang Kai-shek, the only leader both powerful enough to check their growing strength and aware of its potential danger to internal security, was struggling elsewhere in China against more immediate threats to the Nationalist Government. The weak provincial troops and local militia in this remote area of China were no match for the well-led, disciplined Red Army.
1 Most writers speak of five or six campaigns against the Kiangsi Communists; however, using the word campaign in its broader meaning (i.e., “a connected series of military operations forming a distinct stage in a war”), it would seem more accurate to divide the war against the Central Soviet region into two campaigns, from December 1930 to September 1931 and from April 1933 to November 1934.Google Scholar
2 In all probability this strategy was devised by Chiang's German advisers, Generals von Seeckt and von Falkenhausen. See Liu, F. F., A Military History of Modern China, 1924–1949 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1956), pp. 97–98.Google Scholar
3 T'ang, Leang-li, Suppressing Communist-Banditry in China (Shanghai: China United Press, 1934), p. 45.Google Scholar
4 Chiang, of course, gained control of Fukien after the abortive Fukien Rebellion. See below.Google Scholar
5 Snow, Edgar, Random Notes on Red China, 1936–1945 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1957), p. 28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6 Ibid. p. 28.
7 Mao, Tse-tung, Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung (London: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd., 1954), Vol. I, p. 205.Google Scholar
8 EdmundClubb, O. Clubb, O., 20th Century China, (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1964), p. 201.Google Scholar
9 Mao, op. cit., p. 232.Google Scholar
10 Wales, Nym, Red Dust: Autobiographies of Chinese Communists as told to Nym Wales (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1952), p. 126, for the comments of Lo P'ing-hui and Snow, op. cit., p. 29 for the comments of Lin Piao.Google Scholar
11 Field, Frederick V., “The Recent Anti-Communist Campaign in China,” Far Eastern Survey, 08 14, 1935, p. 124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12 Snow, Edgar, Red Star Over China (New York: Modern Library Edition, 1944), p. 193.Google Scholar
13 Inprecor, Vol. 14, No. 38 (07 6, 1934), p. 978.Google Scholar
14 China Critic, 10 18, 1934, p. 1019.Google Scholar
15 North China Herald, 10 17, 1934, p. 114.Google Scholar
16 Wales, op. cit., p. 173.Google Scholar
17 North China Herald, 10 17, 1934, p. 114.Google Scholar
18 Snow, , Random Notes, op. cit., p. 60.Google Scholar
19 Chan, Shi, “The Struggle of the Chinese Red Army,” Communist International, XI, No. 6, 03 20, 1934, p. 229.Google Scholar
20 Hsiao, Tso-liang, Power Relations within the Chinese Communist Movement, 1930–1934 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1961), p. 311.Google Scholar
21 Snow, , Red Star, op. cit., p. 186.Google Scholar
22 Hsiao, op. cit., pp. 224–225.Google Scholar
23 Ibid. p. 225.
24 Ibid. p. 249.
25 Ibid. pp. 249–251. For an English reprint of this statement, see Inprecor, XIV, No. 11, 02 23, 1934, pp. 300–301.Google Scholar
26 Hsiao, op. cit., p. 250.Google Scholar
27 Ibid. p. 250.
28 Inprecor, XIII, No. 50, 11 17, 1933, p. 1124.Google Scholar
29 Hu, Chow-yuan, “The Nineteenth Route Army,” Amerasia, 05 1937, p. 128.Google Scholar
30 Ibid., p. 130.
31 Snow, , Red Star, op. cit., p. 187.Google Scholar
32 Wales, Nym, and Kim, San, Song of Ariran: The Life Story of a Korean Rebel (New York: John Day Co., 1941), opposite page 111.Google Scholar
33 Wales, , Red Dust, op. cit., p. 64.Google Scholar
34 Lien, Ch'en, Ts'ung Tung-nan Tao Hsi-pei (From the Southeast to the Northwest) (Ming Yueh Publishing Co., 1938), p. 3.Google Scholar
35 Smedley, Agnes, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1956), p. 309.Google Scholar
36 Wales, , Red Dust, op. cit., p. 126.Google Scholar
37 Inprecor, XIV, No. 42, 08 3, 1934, p. 1084.Google Scholar
38 See the New York Times, 08 16, 1934Google Scholar; Survey of International Affairs, 1934Google Scholar, p. 635; China Critic, 10 18, 1934Google Scholar, p. 1019 for the first part of the 7th Army mission and China Today, 02, 1935Google Scholar, p. 93; Ibid. August 1935, p. 210; Hua, Ying-shen, Chung-kuo Kung-ch'an-tang Lieh-shih Chuan (Martyrs of the Chinese Communist Party) (Hong Kong: Hsin-min chu, 1949), p. 97 for the second part of the 7th Army mission.Google Scholar
39 Hua, op. cit., pp. 97–98.Google Scholar
40 Ibid. p. 97: See also Field, op. cit., p. 126.
41 Hua, op. cit., p. 98.Google Scholar
42 China Weekly Review, 02 9, 1935, p. 355.Google Scholar
43 Wales, , Red Dust, op. cit., p. 139.Google Scholar
44 North China Herald, 11 14, 1934, p. 149.Google Scholar
45 Bosshardt, Rudolf A., The Restraining Hand: Captivity for Christ in China (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1936), p. 19.Google Scholar
46 Ibid.p. 31Google Scholar; See also Hsiao K'eh's comment in Wales, , Red Dust, op. cit., p. 139.Google Scholar
47 Bosshardt, op. cit., p. 29.Google Scholar
48 Ibid. p. 31.
49 Ibid. p. 38.
50 Hsiao K'eh says they attacked Yungsun at this time (early November), see Wales, Red Dust, op. cit., p. 139, when the First Front Red Army reached Jucheng and Yanfa, see below. In addition, see the North China Herald, 01 9, 1935, p. 41.Google Scholar
51 Lien, op. cit., p. 3.Google Scholar Hsu Meng-ch'iu states that the first mention of any withdrawal from Kiangsi was an article by Lo, Fu which appeared in Red China on 10 1, 1934.Google Scholar See Wales, , Red Dust, op. cit., p. 64.Google Scholar
52 Snow, , Red Star, op. cit.Google Scholar, p. 194. Apparently, Mao had been in Yutu since September, suffering from malaria. See Fu, Lien-chang, “Mao Chu-hsi Tsai Yu-tu” (“Chairman Mao at Yutu”), Hung Ch'i P'iao-p'iao, 01 1959, pp. 6–7.Google Scholar
53 Wang, Ming, “The Struggle of the Chinese Red Army Against Chiang Kai-shek's Sixth Drive,” Communist International, XII, No. 1, 01 5, 1935, p. 16.Google Scholar
54 Snow, , Red Star, op. cit., p. 194.Google Scholar
55 Smedley, op. cit., p. 309.Google Scholar
56 Lien, op. cit., p. 2.Google Scholar
57 North China Herald, 11 14, 1934, p. 247.Google Scholar
58 Smedley, op. cit., p. 308.Google Scholar
59 North China Herald, 11 14, 1934, p. 247.Google Scholar
60 This figure of 90,000 is taken from Snow, Random Notes, op. cit., p. 100, who obtained his information from Chou En-lai during a conversation with the latter on 09 26, 1936.Google ScholarNym, Wales, Inside Red China (New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1939)Google Scholar, p. 58 also uses this figure of 90,000. Smedley, op. cit., p. 309, says that “one hundred thousand men and thirty-five women were selected to go on the Long March.” Hsu, Meng-ch'iu, Wales, , Red Dust, op. cit.Google Scholar, p. 3 says that between 120–130 thousand began the Long March. Lien Ch'en, op. cit., p. 3, says there were between 130–140 thousand when they began the evacuation. In the New York Times (11 19, 1934), p. 14Google Scholar, the Communist strength was estimated to be about 50,000 and Ibid. (December 13, 1934), 60,000, but by the time these reports were printed the Reds were half-way through Hunan and probably divided into two main columns (see below). The figures given by Hsu and Lien seem rather high. It is possible that they counted as part of the Long March forces which were used only to help break the blockade. Chou En-lai and Chu Teh, as Communist leaders, would seem to be the best informed sources on the size of the Army.
61 Wales, , Red Dust, op. cit., p. 65.Google Scholar
62 Lien, op. cit., p. 4. See also Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, Vol. III (The Far East), p. 334.Google Scholar
63 Lien, op. cit., p. 4.Google Scholar
64 Ibid. p. 4.
65 Ibid. pp. 6 and 8.
66 Wales, Red Dust, op. cit., p. 126.Google Scholar
67 Lien, op. cit., pp. 4–5.Google Scholar
68 New York Times, 11 9, 1934.Google Scholar
69 Lien, op. cit., p. 6.Google Scholar
70 Ibid. p. 5.
71 Ibid. p. 5. See also the New York Times, 12 13, 1934, where it was reported that Chiang Kai-shek assailed Pai Ch'ung-hsi for permitting the Reds to escape.Google Scholar
72 Lien, op. cit., pp. 14–15.Google Scholar
73 Ibid. p. 15.
74 Ibid. p. 15.
75 Wales, , Red Dust, op. cit.Google Scholar, p. 66. See also North China Herald, 01 23, 1935, p. 127.Google Scholar
76 Lien, op. cit., p. 20.Google Scholar
77 Ibid. p. 2.
78 Ibid. p. 22.
79 This view of the Long March as an anti-Japanese crusade is especially popular in present-day China. For example, in a play by Chen Chi-tung (originally called “Across Mountains and Rivers”) which appeared in Chinese Literature, No. 2, 1956, translated as “The Long March,” the author develops this theme. It is interesting to note that the action begins after the Communist leaders decided to traverse northern Yunnan and nothing is said about the evacuation of Kiangsi nor the defeat on the Szechuan border.Google Scholar
80 Whang, Paul K., “Szechuan—Hotbed of Civil Wars,” China Weekly Review, 10 22, 1932, p. 344.Google Scholar
81 North China Herald, 02 8, 1933.Google Scholar
82 Meng, C. Y. W., “Whither Szechuan?,” China Weekly Review, 10 20, 1934, p. 262. See also the comments of Hsu Hsiang-ch'ien in Wales, Red Dust, op. cit., pp. 158–159.Google Scholar
83 Meng, op. cit., p. 262.Google Scholar
84 Meng, C. Y. W., “The Crushing Tax Burden of the Chinese Farmers,” China Weekly Review, 06 2, 1934.Google Scholar
85 Ibid. p. 24.
86 Wales, , Inside Red China, op. cit., p. 59.Google Scholar
87 China Inland Mission, Report (1934), pp. 4–6.Google Scholar
88 Wales, , Red Dust, op. cit., p. 158.Google Scholar
89 Ibid. pp. 158–159.
90 China Weekly Review, 01 12, 1935, p. 215.Google Scholar
91 Accounts of the movements of Ho Lung can be found in the issues of the China Critic published during this period.Google Scholar
92 Whang, op. cit., p. 344.Google Scholar
93 In the north were Yang Hu-ch'eng (Shensi) and Ma Hung-Kwei (Kansu), in the south, Wang Chia-lieh (Kweichow) and Lung Yun (Yunnan). Not one of these men had any strong tie with Chiang Kai-shek, nor were they interested in affairs outside the borders of their respective provinces. In the west—the wilds of Hsikang; in the east Szechuan touches borders with Hupeh and Hunan. Though Ho Ch'ien (Hunan) tended to co-operate with Nanking, it is doubtful whether he would have sent any of his troops on an expedition to Szechuan. It is true that Chiang gained a good deal of influence in Kweichow, however, this was not realised until middle February 1935 when Hsueh Yueh was appointed Pacification Commissioner of the province. See below.Google Scholar
94 Cressey, George B., The Land of the 500 Million (New York, Toronto, and London: McGraw-Hill, 1955), p. 178.Google Scholar
95 Ibid. pp. 180–181.
96 Spencer, Joseph E., “Salt in China,” Geographical Review, 07 1935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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98 Wales, , Inside Red China, op. cit., p. 58.Google Scholar
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103 New York Times, 01 30, 1935.Google Scholar
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105 Survey of International Affairs, 1934, p. 633.Google Scholar
106 Ibid. p. 633.
107 China Weekly Review, 01 19, 1935, p. 251.Google Scholar
108 Ibid. January 12, 1935, p. 215.
109 North China Herald, 01 12, 1935Google Scholar, p. 16 and Ibid. February 20, 1935, p. 286.
110 Ibid.March 20, 1935, p. 449Google Scholar and Fred, M., “At the Front with the Chinese Red Army,” Communist International, XII, No. 14, 07 20, 1935, p. 872.Google Scholar
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113 Lien, op. cit., p. 26. See also Lin, Chi-ts'ai, “Chien-Ch'uan-fei Fen-wei Mieh-chih Yuan-yin” (Reasons Why the Bandits in Kweichow and Szechuan Are Not Yet Exterminated), Kuo-Wen Weekly, 03 25, 1935, p. 1.Google Scholar
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115 Ibid., p. 28.
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