From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

[The War Monger]

Arise! All who refuse to be slaves!
Let our flesh and blood forge into a great wall!
As the people face there greatest peril,
Every person's forced to expend their very last cry.
Arise! Arise! Arise!
Million hearts beat as one,
Brave the enemy's fire, March on!
Brave the enemy's fire, March on!
March on! March on! On!​

It was seen by several contemporary western authors of the time, particularly Edgar Snow, author of 'Red Star Over China' that it was in China that the seeds of communism which had been sown by the CCCP accross Eursia had taken root most deeply. With the completion of the long march and the consolidation of a defensible position for the Soviet Republic of China, as it was then known, being rightly identified by Snow as the key turning point which would change the face of the political landscape within Asia and then the World throughout the course of the Second Great War.

It was the political acumen and personal drive of Mao Tse-Tung which is most often identified as the most major cause for the success of the Chinese Communists but his actions were ones which can be identified as distinctly non-communist. The largest of these was the bartering and conclusion in late 1936 of the 'Dalian Manifesto', the contents of which are classified even today. I was fortunate enough to meet the man on the 15th anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China, just a year before his death in 1954. Though by that stage Chairman Mao as he was then referred to had lost much of his youthful energy and drive, the evidence of his achievements were clear to see. As such when approaching the history of the early years of the People's Republic I have been forced to attempt to stop what I have seen and know of the PRC as it is today and treat the subject with an unbiased eye.

Dr. Aaron Hughes, BA, MA, PhD
Resident Lecturer at the University of Birmingham
Excerpt from 'The True Unholy Alliance; China in the Second Great War'.​

 

[The War Monger]

Chapter 1 ~ The Warlords Era

In 1934 the Chinese Communist Party who had managed to set up a independent state within China as a whole in Jiaoxi province, were forced due to the invasion of their state by the Kuomintang to enact a retreat. The problem lay however in how to travel from Jiaoxi in the south to Shanxi in the mountainous north and so the longest military retreat in history occured, with almost 100,000 men and their dependents setting off towards Shanxi it is estimated that casualties during the trek were around 70% in total with around 30,000 men making it to Shanxi.

While costly, the Long March gave the Communist Party of China (CPC) the isolation it needed, allowing its army to recuperate and rebuild in the north of China. It also was vital in helping the CPC to gain a positive reputation among the peasants due to the determination and dedication of the surviving participants of the Long March. Mao wrote in 1935:

"The Long March is a manifesto. It has proclaimed to the world that the Red Army is an army of heroes, while the imperialists and their running dogs, Chiang Kai-shek and his like, are impotent. It has proclaimed their utter failure to encircle, pursue, obstruct and intercept us. The Long March is also a propaganda force. It has announced to some 200 million people in eleven provinces that the road of the Red Army is their only road to liberation."

In addition, policies ordered by Mao for all soldiers to follow, the Eight Points of Attention, instructed the army to avoid harm to or disrespect for the peasants, in spite of the desperate need for food and supplies. This policy won support for the Communists among the rural peasants.

Hostilities ceased for a short time following the Xi'an incident and it was during these months, that the Chinese Communist Party expanded and strengthened its influence. With the rapid expansion of the Chinese People's and Worker's Army and its successful drive, though severely outnumbered, into the lands of the Ma Clique in an unexpected winter march the three branches of the Ma family were quickly defeated. This subdual and absorbing of the Ma lands allowed Mao Zedong and his communists to continue its policy of creating new militias to bolster the more professional troops.

At the start of the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 the Chinese People's and Worker's Party (herafter referred to as the CPWP) had more than doubled in number to nearly a quarter of a million men under arms. With their training by the veterans of the Great March, Mao Zedong was confident that the militias which made up half of his armies would be able to stand against the ill-trained and ill-equipped forced of Chiang Kai-Shek should hostilities resume.

Prof. Josh Fellows-Campbell BA, MA.
Resident Lecturer at Bristol University
Excerpt from 'From Long March to Long Rule ~ The CCP 1933-1940'
​

 

[The War Monger]

Chapter 1 ~ The Warlords Era

When attempting to understand the reasons for the decisions taken by Mao Zedong in the years following 1936 it is important to look at the apparent psyche of the man himself. As has been mentioned in the introduction to my work the definitive biography of Mao Zedong and the early communist movement can be found in Edgar Snow's 'Red Star Over China' and it is one of his interviews with the man who was to become Chairman Mao that is a vital insight into the mind of the man who was to change Asia. If you direct your attention to the overhead projector behind me I shall bring up a transcribed version of the question asked and the answer of Mao Zedong;

Question: In actual practice, if the Chinese revolution were victorious would the economic and political relationship between Soviet China and Soviet Russia be maintained within the Third International or a similar organization, or would there probably be some kind of actual merger of governments? Would the Chinese Soviet Government be comparable in its relation to Moscow to the present government of Outer Mongolia?

Answer: I assume this is a purely hypothetical question. As I have told you, the Red Army is not now seeking the hegemony of power but a united China against poor leadership and internal squabbling alongside any foreign influences aimed at destabalising it.

The Third International is an organization in which the vanguard of the world proletariat brings together its collective experience for the benefit of all revolutionary peoples throughout the world. It is not an administrative organization nor has it any political power beyond that of an advisory capacity. Structurally it is not very different from the Second International, though in content it is vastly different. But just as no one would say that in a country where the Cabinet is organized by the social-democrats, the Second International is dictator, so it is ridiculous to say that the Third International is dictator in countries where there are communist parties.

In the U.S.S.R., the Communist Party is in power, yet even there the Third International does not rule nor does it have any direct political power over the people at all. Similarly, it can be said that although the Communist Party of China is a member of the Comintern, still this in no sense means that Soviet China is ruled by Moscow or by the Comintern. We are certainly not fighting for an emancipated China in order to turn the country over to Moscow!

The Chinese Communist Party is only one party in China and in its victory it will have to speak for the whole nation. It cannot speak for the Russian people or rule for the Third International but only in the interest of the Chinese masses. Only where the interests of the Chinese masses coincide with the interests of the Russian masses can it be said to be obeying the will of Moscow. But of course this basis of common benefit will be tremendously broadened, once the masses of China are in democratic power and socially and economically emancipated like their brothers in Russia.

When Soviet government have been established in many countries, the problem of an international union of soviets may arise, and it will be interesting to see how it will be solved. But today I cannot suggest the formula, it is a problem which has not been and cannot be solved in advance. In the world of today with increasingly close economic and cultural intimacies between different states and people, such union would seem to be highly desirable, if achieved on a voluntary basis.

Clearly, however, the last point is of utmost importance; such a world union could be successful only if every nation had the right to enter or leave the union according to the will of its people, and with its sovereign intact, and certainly never at the 'command' of Moscow. No communist ever thought otherwise, and the myth of 'world domination from Moscow' is an invention of the fascists and counter-revolutionaries.

The relationship between Outer Mongolia and the Soviet Union, now and in the past, has always been based on the principle of complete equality. When the people's revolution has been victorious in China, the Outer Mongolian republic will automatically become a part of the Chinese federation, at its own will. The Mohammedan and Tibetan people, likewise, will form autonomous republics attached to the Chinese Federation. This I believe and I shall see this very China united under the Red Star of equality and freedom, no matter the path I must take to see it so.

Now it is here that I and other historians such as Fellows-Campbell and Drummond have identified the subtle indicators, forshadowing the future actions of Mao Zedong, notice what he identifies as the enemy he is pitching his CCP against, how he artfully avoids the question of how he will maintain Chinese seperation from total subversion by Moscow, but most of all note his closing statement, he vows to achieve his goal of unification under communism 'no matter the path he must take' this is a clear indication that the dialogue in Dailian must have already began as early as July, 1936.......

Dr. Aaron Hughes, BA, MA, PhD
Resident Lecturer at the University of Birmingham
Excerpt from a lecture to final year students of Modern Asian Studies.​

 

[The War Monger]

Chapter 1 ~ The Warlords Era

Nobody wants him,
He just stares at the world,
Planning his vengeance,
That he will soon unfold.

Nobody wants him,
They just turn their heads,
Nobody helps him,
Now he has his revenge. ​

Looking around carefully as he walks from one of the many zig zagging alleys between the wooden buildings which make up much of the sprawling mass of the suburbs of Shanghai the operative is careful to keep the package he bears well hidden. Checking the tube of bamboo which he keeps strapped to his back has not become unstoppered he steps into the shadows as a KMT patrol passes by the mouth of the alley on the main street heading towards the governmental offices in that area. Pulling the nodescript grey cloth face covering up to shade all of his face but his eyes and pulling down the short billed cap he wears he quickly darts accross the main boulevard to the alley on the opposite side.

Moving on in this way he eventually arrives at the side of the government building, abandoned at this time of night. Pulling from the deep pockets of his coat a small pot of glue and a brush he begins to unroll posters from the bamboo tube on his back, quickly pasting three onto the wall on either side of the main building he glances around as he hears the click of military heels against the cobbled square. Finishing with his last poster onto the wall he runs quickly around towards the shadows of the alleys but as he makes his way to enter a shot cracks against the wood above his head.

Turning slowly he sees a single soldier, an officer by his uniform pacing slowly towards him a revolver held loosely in his right hand. As the gun is raised by the officer the man dives forward tackling the mans legs and they tumble to the cobbles. Wrestling over the gun the man eventually manages to twist it from the officer grasp, with a single shot the life flees from the KMT soldier's eyes and the man is free to flee. Before he does however he knows he cannot waste this opportunity, dragging the man to the steps of the govermental building he props him sat up between the posters proclaiming the true way, the Way of the Red Star, the Way of Mao Zedong. The man, runs, and soon is just one among the millions living in Shanghai, the great city on the coast.

 

[The War Monger]

Chapter 1 ~ The Warlords Era

Because sometimes you feel tired, feel weak,
and when you feel weak, you feel like you want to just give up.
But you have to search within you, you got to find that inner strength
and just pull it up out of you and get that motivation to not give up and not to quit,
no matter how bad you want to just fall on your face and collapse.​

"Let this meeting of the General Council of the Chinese Soviet Republic commence, the date is the 29th June 1936. The leading staff present are Marshal Mao Zedong, General Zhu De, General Li De, General Zhou Enlai and Lietenant General Bo Gu. This extraordinary meeting of the general staff has been called by Comrade Mao in regards to serious news which has been delivered to him in his position at the head of the soviet. Comrade Mao, if you would like to begin?"

Shuffling the papers on the desk before him into order then standing with a readjustment of the short billed cap he had taken to wearing Mao Zedong gestures for his aid to begin handing out a printed document. Once the entirety of the general staff had recieved the document he cleared his throat quietly before beginning to talk in his almost insiduous, quiet but authorative voice.

"Gentlemen, ever since the succesful drive into the lands which used to be under the control of the Ma Clique of the veteran divisions under General Zhou the world has begun to take notice of our efforts here in China. While you are all aware of this I am sure you are not aware of much except for the slow trickle of supplies arriving in our lands from both certain elements of the British via their holdings in India and the mountains of Burma. In addition to this the aid granted to us by our brothers in the Russian Soviets cannot be underestimated, enabling us to continue the expansion of our armed forces so that they finally begin to be a force which should be able to stand against the Kuomintang forces under the dog Chiang.

However, what you will not all have known was the dialogue opened with our soviet by the Japanese. Before you all express your disgust with this and put forward protestations that they cannot be trusted, I remind you of the precarious position we occupy within China. Our brothers in the USSR are not able to aid us due to the problems of enforcing the rule of the soviets in the far west and others do not dare support us openly. I put to you that this dialogue with Japan is the best opportunity we have to crush Chiang and his armies, and unify this nation of ours.

I recognise that, perhaps, you all will not accept me at my word and I can say with certainty that no arrangment or alliance has been agreed with Japan to this date. We have been invited to send a delegation in secret to the Japanese holdings in Dalian, the advised route for this passes through the province of Outer Mongolia and as such will not be revealed to any of the warlords.

I put to you all that I shall head this delegation and will see what it is that Japan offers to us. If there offer is good and allows us to spread the true form of governance we employ here in our Soviet than I should like to agree to an arrangment with the Japanese. So what say you all?"

Standing quickly Zhou Enlai waits a second before speaking, mastering an expression of what could only be called distaste which was spread plainly accross his face. Lossening fingers which gripped the edge of the meeting table tightly he begins to speak, his raspy voice almost uncouth in comparison to the silky tone of Mao before him.

"Mao, Comrade, we do not need these Japanese dogs! Look to my successes to the west, look to your own achievements against Chiang at Xi'an. We are winning the hearts and minds of our people, within a decade I am confident we can inspire the people to throw down the KMT even without our presence here in the north acting as beacon to them! The Empire of the Rising Sun has always coverted to rule here in China as you know as well as any of us, what then has changed? What will they require of us to achieve our aim? I say any concession is too far, that we do not send men to Dalian and stand alone in our attempts to liberate China from the KMT and the Warlords which hold it!"

Smiling slightly Mao waits for the general to wind down from his impassioned speech and resume his seat before replying to and destorying his argument.

"General, when on campaign your ability to spot the weaknesses in an enemy and achieve success are unmatched within China and perhaps the whole of Asia but let me say to you now, we do not have the decade for which you ask. As you know we have some position within Manchuria and the people sympathetic to our cause there have begun to filter back word of troops being called up by the Japanese puppet Pu Yi as well as the landing of a sizable force of the Imperial Japanese Army with their associated air support.

We do not have ten years, I doubt we even have more than a single year before Japan engineers some way to begin a way with the KMT and their puppet warlords. They have for us some offer which they deem important enough to invite us to their holdings and I say that if we plan to survive we must talk to them. General Zhou you saw how poort the training and leadership is among the armies of the KMT forces, if we can butcher them so easily when we were outnumbered three to one imagine with what ease the Empire of the Rising Sun will cut through them.

We have no choice, we have to accept their offer to talk, I see no other way in which we can influence or deflect any outcome which leads to Japan controlling all of China, do you?"

Looking around the room calmly and noting the slight nods and quiet murmours of agreement of all present Mao returns a more definitive nod before turning and striding quickly from the room.