People's History of Ideas Podcast

Mao's political activity and intellectual development during the first nine months of 1926.
Further Reading:
Gerald Berkley, “The Canton Peasant Movement Training Institute”
Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 2: National Revolution and Social Revolution, December 1920-June 1927Yokoyama Suguru, “The Peasant Movement in Hunan”
Philip C. C. Huang, “Mao Tse-Tung and the Middle Peasants, 1925-1928”
Angus McDonald, “The Hunan Peasant Movement Its Urban Origins”
Some names from this episode:
Shen Yanbing (Mao Dun), Communist writer and later Culture Minister, in 1926 worked with Mao Zedong in Guomindang propaganda department
Zhao Hengti, Dominant warlord in Hunan
Tang Shengzhi, Subordinate of Zhao who allied with the Guomindang and displaced Zhao
Wu Peifu, Northern warlord
Nikolay Kuibyshev, Soviet general and head of military mission in Guangdong in late 1925 and early 1926
Andrei Bubnov, Headed Soviet military inspection mission to China in early 1926
Mikhail Borodin, Comintern agent and head of Soviet mission to aid the Guomindang
Peng Pai, Communist peasant organizer

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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, 1920-1927Some names from this episode:
Li Lisan, Communist leader of the Shanghai General Labor Union
Zhang Xueliang, son of Zhang Zuolin, occupied Shanghai’s Chinese city
Zhang Zuolin, northern warlord
Gregory Voitinsky, Comintern representative in China in 1925
Liu Shaoqi, Communist leader just below Li Lisan in the Shanghai General Labor Union
Liu Hua, Union activist executed for leading role in May 30 Movement

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The new policy of mass uprisings against the Guomindang is decided upon, and Mao’s comments at the meeting stand out for their epistemology.
Further reading:
Marcia Ristaino, China’s Art of Revolution: The Mobilization of Discontent, 1927 and 1928C. Martin Wilbur, The Nationalist Revolution in China, 1923-1928Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist PartyStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Some names from this episode:
Chen Duxiu, Communist general secretary until July 12, 1927
Zhou Enlai, Member of temporary standing committee of Communist Politburo appointed in July 1927
Zhang Guotao, Member of temporary standing committee of Communist Politburo appointed in July 1927
Li Lisan, Member of temporary standing committee of Communist Politburo appointed in July 1927
Qu Qiubai, Named head of new provisional politburo at August 7, 1927 Emergency Conference
Xia Xi, Named to the South Hunan special committee responsible for the Autumn Harvest Uprising
Guo Liang, Named to the South Hunan special committee responsible for the Autumn Harvest Uprising
Ren Zuoxuan, Named to the South Hunan special committee responsible for the Autumn Harvest Uprising
Mikhail Borodin, Comintern agent and head of Soviet mission to aid the Guomindang
Besso Lominadze, New Comintern head in China starting in July 1927
Li Dazhao, Co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party
Wang Jingwei, Leader of the Guomindang Left

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Mao takes a critical position on the military line pursued by the Comintern and the Politburo. Also, the issue of scapegoating individuals as a way of dealing with repudiated party policies.
Further reading:
Marcia Ristaino, China’s Art of Revolution: The Mobilization of Discontent, 1927 and 1928C. Martin Wilbur, The Nationalist Revolution in China, 1923-1928Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist PartyStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930Zhou Enlai, Selected Works of Zhou Enlai, vol. 1
Some names from this episode:
Qu Qiubai, Named head of new provisional politburo at August 7, 1927 Emergency Conference
Besso Lominadze, New Comintern head in China starting in July 1927
Tang Shengzhi, Leader of Guomindang Left military forces
Mikhail Borodin, Comintern agent and head of Soviet mission to aid the Guomindang
Tan Pingshan, Communist representative in Wuhan government
Chen Duxiu, Former General Secretary of the Communist Party
Zhou Enlai, Member of temporary standing committee of Communist Politburo appointed in July 1927

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The episode wraps up the events of the Taiping Revolution (1850-1864) and also deals with the events and outcome of the Second Opium War (1856-1860). The Qing Dynasty is weakened and the British, French, American and Russian powers extract new unequal treaties. Then the British help the Qing to put down a peasant-based revolution.

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