A close look at Zhou Enlai’s February 7, 1929, letter to Mao Zedong and Zhu De.Further reading:Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the

Mao’s March 20 Letter to the Central Committee, and the 5th Red Army’s Retreat from the Jinggangshan (January to April 1929)

Mar 10th, 2024 25m 8s

Mao plans to expand guerrilla warfare, and meets up with Peng Dehuai in Ruijin.Further reading:Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the

On the Experience of the National Bourgeoisie in the New Democratic Revolution

Feb 4th, 2024 26m 43s

Some reflections on the experience of Shanghai capitalists after 1949 prompted by the ‘Notice to Merchants and Intellectuals’ that Mao issued after taking Changting in 1929.Further reading:Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From t

A New Communist Order in Changting (March 1929)

Jan 13th, 2024 34m 7s

Looking at what Mao and Zhu De did to install a new Communist order after conquering Changting.Further reading:Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh

Leaving Donggu, Taking Changting (February to March 1929)

Dec 7th, 2023 22m 50s

How the Fourth Red Army spent their time in Donggu, and how they took the first city in the new base area in the Jiangxi-Fujian border region.Further reading:Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949Agnes Smedley,

From Dabodi to Donggu: The Retreat from the Jinggangshan Continues (February 1929)

Oct 19th, 2023 20m 48s

The Mao-Zhu Army raises funds in Ningdu and moves on to the Donggu base area for rest and recovery. Background on Donggu.Link to map of Jiangxi province: https://www.chinamaps.org/china/provincemaps/jiangxi-province-map.htmlFurther reading:Stua

Running for Their Lives: The Retreat from the Jinggangshan (January to February 1929)

Oct 12th, 2023 22m

Mao and the Fourth Red Army break the encirclement of the Jinggangshan and retreat across southern Jiangxi with the Guomindang in hot pursuit.Link to map of Jiangxi province: https://www.chinamaps.org/china/provincemaps/jiangxi-province-map.htm

Frameworks for Thinking about Tragic Historical Shortcomings of the Socialist Experience

Oct 4th, 2023 28m 28s

Answering a listener question on the Great Leap Forward famine.Further reading:Mobo Gao, The Battle for China’s PastUnited Nations, “Losing 25,000 to Hunger Every Day”Minhaz Merchant, “Churchill’s Bengal Famine”Karl Marx, CapitalMike Davis, Lat

The End of the Sixth Congress

Sep 28th, 2023 33m 4s

We wrap up our discussion of the Sixth Congress with a discussion of the political line coming out of the congress, and some related issues.Further reading:Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist PartyChang Kuo-t’ao [Zhang Guotao

Clashing Communists and Comintern Guidance: The 6th Congress Gets off to a Rocky Start

Sep 21st, 2023 21m 22s

Qu Qiubai’s report and proposal are disputed, and the Comintern intervenes to restore order.Further reading:Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist PartyChang Kuo-t’ao [Zhang Guotao], The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party (2 vo

Bukharin on the Nature of the Chinese Revolution in 1928

Sep 14th, 2023 38m 8s

Our third (and last) close look at Bukharin’s speech at the 6th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, held in Moscow in the summer of 1928.Further reading:Nikolai Bukharin, “On the International Situation and the Tasks of the Chinese Communi

Bukharin on the Theory of the Productive Forces (and Mao’s counterpoint on New Democratic Revolution)

May 27th, 2023 24m 51s

Bukharin articulates a vision of the Chinese Revolution at the 6th Party Congress which is highly colored by the non-revolutionary Marxism of the 2nd International.Further reading:Nikolai Bukharin, “On the International Situation and the Tasks

The ‘Third Period’ of the World Revolution: Bukharin’s Speech at the Sixth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (June 1928)

May 20th, 2023 25m 18s

Nikolai Bukharin kicks off the party congress with a very long speech.Further reading:Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist PartyChang Kuo-t’ao [Zhang Guotao], The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party (2 volumes)E. H. Carr, Foun

Preparations for the Sixth Party Congress (April to May 1928)

May 13th, 2023 21m 43s

The decision to hold the Sixth Party Congress in Moscow, and some of the political debate inside the Communist Party of China leading up to that Congress.Further reading:Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to

The Bailu Conference: Suppressing Orders from the Party Congress and Preparing to Leave the Jinggangshan (January 1929)

Feb 16th, 2023 24m 1s

Potentially explosive guidance arrives in the Jinggangshan from the 6th Party Congress of the Communist Party, and plans are laid to break out of the enemy encirclement.Further reading:Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jingg

The Base Area under Economic Blockade and Unification with the Fifth Red Army (End of 1928)

Feb 2nd, 2023 29m 25s

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:St

Vagrants, Mercenaries, and Rich Peasants (November 1928)

Nov 27th, 2022 41m 10s

A close reading of a couple portions of Mao’s November 25, 1928 report to the Central Committee.Further reading:Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base AreaStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From th

Transforming, Building, and Purging the Party (September to November 1928)

Oct 31st, 2022 25m

Finishing our close reading of the resolution of the Border Area Party Congress of October 4 to 6, 1928. Also, the reorganization and purge of the party following the Communist recovery of the Jinggangshan base area after the August Defeat.Furt

Opportunism and Self-Criticism: The Jinggangshan Party Congress Resolution of October 1928

Oct 20th, 2022 29m 26s

A discussion of the concept of opportunism as it developed in the international communist movement, and a close reading of the self-critical portion of the resolution of the Border Area Party Congress of October 4 to 6, 1928.Further reading:Len

“Why Is It that Red Political Power Can Exist in China?” (October 1928)

Sep 15th, 2022 41m 13s

A close reading of the portion of the resolution of the Border Area Party Congress of October 4 to 6, 1928, which later became a key early text in the Maoist canon.Further reading:Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangsh

The August Defeat (Part 2): The Communists Strike Back (August to November 1928)

Jul 31st, 2022 24m 8s

The Communists fight to regain lost territory, and ethnic tensions explode among the peasants in the base area.Further reading:Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base AreaStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power,

The August Defeat (Part 1)

Jul 24th, 2022 21m 54s

The 29th Regiment goes against Mao’s orders and decides to stay in Hunan, with disastrous results for the Communists.Further reading:Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base AreaAgnes Smedley, The Great Road: The

The Yongxin Joint Conference and Mao’s July 4, 1928 Report to the Hunan Provincial Committee

Jul 17th, 2022 27m 30s

Mao explains his refusal to comply with orders from the Hunan Provincial Committee.Further reading:Stephen Averill, Revolution in the Highlands: China’s Jinggangshan Base AreaStuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangsha

Clandestine Transcripts of Revolutionary Globalization: The Shining Paths of Late Cultural Revolution Maoism

Apr 28th, 2022 44m 40s

A talk that I recently delivered at the University of Hamburg, focused on the development of a new socialist political economy late in the Cultural Revolution and how this influenced the Communist Party of Peru.Further reading:Alessandro Russo,

Nuclear War and Communist Revolution

Mar 7th, 2022 30m 10s

In light of the Ukraine crisis, a historical look at communist thinking on the connection between a third world war and revolution.Further reading:Sergei N. Goncharov, John W. Lewis, and Xue Litai, Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao, and the Korea