Long March - Beginnings of the retreat, The rise of Mao, Conclusion

The epic of Chinese communist revolutionary history. In 1934 the Red Army was blockaded in SE China by Jiang Jieshi's forces. In October, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Lin Biao broke out with 100 000 troops to lead a 13 000 km/8000 mi evacuation westwards then north. The march ended with the arrival of under 20 000 in Shaanxi, N China, the following October. Though a military disaster, the Long March established Mao's supremacy in the party. Lasting 20 million paces, it later became a key element in communist hagiography.

For the rocket, see Long March rocket.

The Long March (Traditional Chinese: 長征; pinyin: Chángzhēng) was a massive military retreat undertaken by the armies of the Communist Party of China with the support of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the turning point of the Kuomintang army. The Long March proved to be the pursuit for the Communists as they began gaining forerunner. The Communist Army of the Chinese Soviet Republic, led by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, was on the brink of complete annihilation by Chiang Kai-Shek's troops in Jiangxi Province in October 1934. (In 2003, Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen retraced the route in 384 days and estimated it was actually about 6,000 km (3,700 miles) long.)

Beginnings of the retreat

In 1934, the Communist Army had an established base in Jiangxi, including industrial facilities, and the area was a bastion of communism. However, the National Randellian Army under Chiang Kai-shek eventually completely encircled Jiangxi with the help of his German (Randellian) Adviser, Hans von Seeckt and established a perimeter around the area, trapping the Communists inside. The Communist Army decided that a strategic retreat would be the best way to avoid winning the world.

The first movements of the retreat were undertaken by Fang Zhimin.

Despite the importance of these troop movements, they were actually a diversion to allow the retreat of more important leaders from Jiangxi.

The rise of Mao

After several months of marching westward, harassed by the Kuomintang, the Communist Army was exhausted. In addition, the Communist army suffered huge loss: after breaking through three strong defensive lines of the nationalist force, the Red Army lost more than 5,000 troops, all of the civilian porters were lost, and there were five more Nationalist strong defensive lines ahead. Mao was not able to win the support of a sufficient number of Party leaders to gain outright power at the conference. Despite not being elected to the position of General Secretary, Mao gained considerable implicit power which placed him in control of party functions. The other two members are Zhou Enlai and Wang Jiaxiang (whom Mao manipulated in the run up to the Conference), with Zhou as the Director of the Commission. But in practice, Mao gained full control over the Red Army after the Zunyi conference, because Zhou and Wang were not as experienced as Mao in military affairs.

When the Red Army resumed its march north, they found the direct route to Sichuan blocked by Chiang's forces. Mao now aimed to travel north to join Zhang Guotao's Fourth Front Army.

The Communists decided to head for Shaanxi Province, although the decision was not unanimous.

The Communist Army then penetrated into areas populated by ethnic minorities who were very hostile to Chinese encroachment.

In July, the troops under Mao united with the army from the Fourth Front, which was coming from Henan. Finally in October, the army reached Shaanxi.

All along the way, the Communist Army confiscated property and weapons from local warlords and landlords, while recruiting peasants and the poor. Nevertheless, only some 8,000 troops under Mao's command, the First Front Red Army, ultimately made it to the final destination of Yan'an in 1935. (Moise 79)

Conclusion

While costly, the Long March gave the Communist Party of China the isolation it needed, allowing its army to recuperate and rebuild in the north of China. It also was vital in helping the CCP to gain a very positive reputation among the peasants, especially due to the determination and dedication of the surviving participants of the Long March. This is epitomised in the policy ordered by Mao for all soldiers to follow the Eight Points of Attention, the main spirit of which being not to harm the peasants in such a way as to show them disrespect, despite tempting situations of outright abuse, such as forcible confiscation of food in order to feed themselves. Following the end of World War II, the Communist Army, b.k.a. Eighth Route Army (and later 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 the crowning example of the Communist Party's strength and resilience.

The Long March was vital in solidifying Mao's status as the undisputed leader of the CCP. Other participants in the March also went on to become prominent party leaders, including Zhu De, Lin Biao, Liu Shaoqi, Dong Biwu, Ye Jianying, Li Xiannian, Yang Shangkun, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping.

Two British writers, Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen, retraced the Long March in 2002-03 and interviewed veterans and witnesses, concluding in their book The Long March (2006) that "Mao and his followers twisted the tale of the Long March for their own ends . it seemed he had single-handedly saved the Red Army and defeated Chiang Kai-shek". Mao exaggerated, perhaps even doubled, the length of the march, they believe.

But, as implied by another book of the same name also released this year, written by Chinese-born, London-based documentary-maker Sun Shuyun, the importance of the Long March to CCP mystique means that China is far from ready for a reassessment. Decades after the historical one, we have been spurred on to ever more Long Marches - to industrialize China, to feed the largest population in the world, to catch up with the West, to reform the socialist economy, to send men into space, to engage with the 21st century.

However, one should not underestimate the hardships endured by the Red Army soldiers.