People's History of Ideas Podcast

We conclude our close reading of Mao’s January 5, 1930 letter to Lin Biao. In this episode, Mao discusses his method for understanding the possibilities for revolution in China, as well as the particular tactics to be employed by the Red Army. He also conducts a minor self-criticism.
Further reading:
Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930
Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949
Mao Zedong, “A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire”
Some names from this episode:
Lin Biao, commander of the first column of the Fourth Red Army
Lu Diping, general who ruled Hunan from 1928–29 and Jiangxi from 1929-31
Episode artwork:
Envelope from a different letter that Mao wrote to Lin Biao
Subscribe on Substack: peopleshistoryofideas.substack.com
Support the show

We begin our close reading of Mao’s January 5, 1930 letter to Lin Biao.
Further reading:
Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930
Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949
David Apter and Tony Saich, Revolutionary Discourse in Mao’s Republic
Mao Zedong, “A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire”
Some names from this episode:
Lin Biao, commander of the first column of the Fourth Red Army
Li Lisan, leading Communist
He Long, leader of a soviet in the Hunan-Hubei border region
Li Wenlin, leader of Donggu base area
Fang Zhimin, leader of Northeastern Jiangxi soviet
Episode artwork:
Picture of a prairie fire (in Illinois)
Subscribe on Substack: peopleshistoryofideas.substack.com
Support the show

This interview with Dr. Aminda Smith of Michigan State University touches on topics including why good PRC history is left history; thought reform, reeducation through labor, and brainwashing; the veracity of the propaganda produced for a global audience during the Mao years; and the Maoist legacy in China today.
Further reading and watching:
Aminda Smith, Thought Reform and China’s Dangerous Classes
Aminda Smith, “The Maoism of PRC History”
Aminda Smith, “Brainwashing and World Revolution”
Aminda Smith, “The Legacies of 'Brainwashing': Cold War Ideology and Modern Chinese History” (the content of this talk is similar to the paywalled book chapter on brainwashing)
Stephen Andors, China’s Industrial Revolution
Positions Politics website
H-PRC website
Brian DeMare, Land Wars: The Story of China's Agrarian Revolution
Richard Wolin, The Wind From the East: French Intellectuals, the Cultural Revolution, and the Legacy of the 1960s
Philosophy is no Mystery
Mao Zedong, “On Contradiction”
Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China
Zheng Yangwen, Ten Lessons in Modern Chinese History
Maurice Meisner, Mao's China and After
Jonathan Spence, The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution
Rebecca Karl, Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History
Yueran Zhang, “Leninists in a Chinese Factory: Reflections on the Jasic Labour Organising Strategy”
“Seeing through Muddied Waters, Part 1: Jasic, Strikes & Unions”
“New Alliance of Students-Workers in Struggle of Union Formation: The Case of Jasic Conflict”
“Longing for the Cultural Revolution in China Today”
Rae Yang, Spider Eaters: A Memoir
Support the show

The story of how the co-founder and first General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party became a Trotskyist.
Further reading:
Gregor Benton, China’s Urban Revolutionaries: Explorations in the History of Chinese Trotskyism, 1921-1952
Gregor Benton, Prophets Unarmed: Chinese Trotskyists in Revolution, War, Jail, and the Return from Limbo
Lee Feigon, Chen Duxiu: Founder of the Chinese Communist Party
Chang Kuo-t’ao [Zhang Guotao], The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party (2 volumes)
Tony Saich, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist Party
Jane Price, Cadres, Commanders, and Commissars: The Training of the Chinese Communist Leadership, 1920-1945
Some names from this episode:
Chen Duxiu, co-founder of the Communist Party of China
Li Dazhao, co-founder of the Communist Party of China
Zheng Chaolin, Chinese Trotskyist
Li Lisan, leading Communist
Yin Kuan, resigned as Provincial Secretary in Anhui
Peng Shuzhi, resigned as Provincial Secretary in Zhili
Wang Zekai, Chinese Trotskyist
Liu Bojian, former Provincial Secretary in Hubei
Ren Xu, Chinese Trotskyist
Xiang Ying, Jiangsu Provincial Secretary following the 6th Party Congress
Cai Zhende, member of Jiangsu Provincial Committee
Zhou Enlai, head of the Organization Department of the Central Committee
Wang Ruofei, sent to work in a factory in Moscow as punishment for Trotskyism before recanting
Qu Qiubai, top leader of Communist Party from the summer of 1927 until the Sixth Congress
Zhang Guotao, leading Communist 
Episode artwork:
Chen Duxiu with Peng Shuzi in 1932
Support the show

Responding to listener queries about the evidence behind this common assertion regarding the KPD’s underestimation of the fascist threat.
Further reading:
Jane Degras, ed., The Communist International, 1919-1943: Documents, vol. 3: 1929-1943
International Press Correspondence
Communist International journal (1933)
Documents from the 13th Plenum of the ECCI
Some names from this episode:
Chen Duxiu, co-founder of the Communist Party of China
Hermann Remmele, leading KPD Reichstag member
Heinrich Brüning, German Chancellor from 1930-1932
Osip Piatnitsky, leading Comintern figure
Wilhelm Pieck, leader of KPD from 1934
Episode artwork:
Autonome Antifa (M) poster from 1991
Support the show