The Communist Party of China did not dominate the revolution or the war with Japan but instead played a de minimis role in society and the fighting in order to survive until 1945.
Lenin believed that revolution could only be accomplished by professional cadres advancing the dictatorship of the proletariat to replace capitalism with communism. "Revolution was war, violence its very foundation." Moscow encouraged its followers in Beijing to foster Bolshevism. The CCP was founded in July 1921. The decade saw a contest develop between the Communists and the Nationalists for control of the revolution. It was a time of violent factionalism and chaos. Stalin ordered the creation of a Red Army, which began murdering its opponents. As the Nationalists prevailed in the field, the CCP turned to raiding, looting, and terror. Their actions were analogous to the banditry of the warlords. Their main source of revenue was "plunder and ransom."
By the end of 1931, the CCP was on the verge of collapse. Its soviets were troubled, chaotic, and violent. Mao controlled the largest, Jiangxi, the capital of communist China. The Jiangxi Soviet ultimately failed after it was defeated by Chiang's Nationalists. The Long March ensued in October 1934.
The Communists headed west, away from the coastal regions and into the mountains. Within a month, the Red Army had lost half of its effective strength as Chiang's troops hounded their every step. A year later, Mao led his 8,000 survivors to Yan'an after traveling 6,200 miles. The CCP was reduced to a total national membership of 40,000. "Their message of proletarian uprising against capitalism, despite fifteen years of relentless agitation funded by Moscow, had failed to find much of a reception among the workers in any of the country's many towns and cities." Nonetheless, Moscow continued to fund the CCP and provide advisors to help communism survive.
During the second half of the 1930s, Mao avoided large-scale battles with the Japanese and left most of the fighting to the Nationalists. The Communists instead consolidated power and increased their support in rural regions. They emerged stronger by conserving their military forces while expanding their political control. They also focused on propaganda, convincing many foreigners that they were China's patriotic defenders. This approach continued after the Republic of China declared war on the Axis powers on December 8, 1941. Mao left most of the fighting to Chiang, who was engaged alongside the Allies and receiving their support. Mao believed his forces were far enough removed from the battlefields that they would not become Japan's primary target and that the Japanese would continue to wear down Chiang and his armies. Meanwhile, the CCP worked assiduously across the countryside to build the political infrastructure that would serve it after the war. To this day, the CCP promulgates the story of its heroic battles against Japanese imperialism.
Three days after Hiroshima, nearly one million Soviet troops stormed into Manchuria. "The unconditional surrender of Japan was met with jubilation across China, but took both Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong by surprise." The Communists infiltrated the south and undermined everything the government undertook. Faced with an enemy armed by the Soviets while ruling a country devastated by years of war, Chiang accepted a cease-fire arranged by the United States. By October 1946, both sides were fighting again. The conflict dragged on as each side inflicted unspeakable horrors on the civilian populations caught in the middle and merely trying to survive.
By the end of 1948, the prize of Manchuria belonged to the Communists, and in January 1949, the People's Liberation Army marched into Beijing. The ensuing Huaihai Campaign saw hundreds of thousands "clash in the greatest battle in Chinese history." Chiang withdrew to the south as the Communists overran the country, and the Nationalists ultimately fled to Taiwan.
This book has been lauded for the depth of its research and its dismantling of the widely accepted view that the CCP heroically fought the Japanese oppressors. For Western readers, however, the cultural disconnect and the difficulty of keeping track of unfamiliar people and place names can make this period of Asian history especially challenging.
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