Long March was a 6,000-mile (9,700-kilometer) trek undertaken by Chinese Communists to escape Nationalist (or Kuomintang) forces in 1934 and 1935. In what was actually a series of marches, the Communists traveled from Jiangxi Province, in the southeast, through parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu, and Ningxia provinces. They eventually reached Shaanxi Province, in the north. The Communists encountered attacks from the Nationalists and faced dangers from the difficult terrain. The challenges of the journey turned the survivors into a tightly-knit group under the leadership of Mao Zedong.
Background.
In the early 1920’s, China was torn apart by civil war. Chinese Nationalists won backing from southern warlords (local military leaders), and then fought northern warlords for control of the northern part of the country. In the early years of the conflict, the newly formed Chinese Communist Party worked with the Nationalists under a formal alliance, known as the United Front. But after some major victories over the northern warlords, the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek, turned against the Communists.
In 1927, the Nationalists executed hundreds of members of Communist-backed labor unions in Shanghai and purged the Communists from the Nationalist Party. In 1928, Chiang Kai-shek captured Beijing and united the eastern part of China under a single government. Faced with a hostile environment in Nationalist-controlled territory, many Communists retreated to remote areas of southern and central China. Mao established a base area, the Jiangxi Soviet, on the Jiangxi-Fujian border in southeastern China. He established a separate, independent government which he declared to be a Chinese soviet republic—that is, a state governed by a soviet, or council of workers and peasants. There, Mao developed an approach to revolution that relied on peasant support and guerrilla warfare. Mao’s approach challenged that of the 28 Bolsheviks, the dominant group in the Communist Party, whose members had all studied at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow. The 28 Bolsheviks believed that support for a Communist revolution in China must come from working-class people in the cities, as it had in the Soviet Union.
In the early 1930’s, the Nationalists made four unsuccessful attempts to crush the Communists in the Jiangxi Soviet. The Nationalists made a fifth attempt to crush the Communists in 1933 and 1934. In October 1934, the Communists were forced to abandon Jiangxi Province.
The Long March
began in mid-October. An estimated 100,000 troops, party leaders, and civilians left Jiangxi. From January 15 to 17, 1935, Communist leaders gathered in Zunyi, in northern Guizhou. At this meeting, known as the Zunyi Conference, Mao convinced the other leaders that his military strategy would lead the party to victory over the Nationalists. He secured a leading role in the Communist Party, replacing the influence of the 28 Bolsheviks. Mao consolidated his control over the party during the remainder of the march.
Mao split the Communists into groups and sent them to test different routes. This strategy confused the Nationalists. Later, the Communists trekked through high mountain passes and dangerous swamps. Difficult conditions and Nationalist attacks killed many marchers. Some people abandoned the march or were left behind because of illness or injuries. Recruits also joined the group along the way.
The Long March continued until the remaining marchers, numbering only a few thousand, arrived in northern Shaanxi in October 1935. The Communists regrouped. They eventually established a new base in the town of Yan’an.
Aftermath.
While Chiang’s Nationalist forces focused on fighting the Communists, Japanese troops seized territory in northern China. Chiang felt unprepared to fight the Japanese until he had defeated the Communists. In December 1936, Manchurian troops led by the Nationalist general Zhang Xueliang kidnapped Chiang. They released Chiang only after he agreed to abandon his war against the Communists and to fight the Japanese.
During the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945, the Communists and the Nationalists maintained an uneasy alliance against the Japanese. That war ended in 1945 with a Japanese surrender. The Communists and Nationalists then resumed fighting each other. In 1949, the Communists defeated the Nationalists and set up the People’s Republic of China.
