Lesson 17 The Long March of the Chinese Workers and Peasants Red Army

Strategic Transfer and Zunyi Conference

The development of the Red Army and the base areas alarmed the Kuomintang ruling clique. In the autumn of 1933, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 500,000 troops to launch the fifth "encirclement" of the Central Revolutionary Base. In the autumn of 1933, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 500,000 troops to launch the fifth "siege" of the Central Revolutionary Base. Due to the "leftist" mistakes of Bo Gu, the head of the Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Li De, the military adviser, the Red Army fought bravely for a year and paid great sacrifices, but failed to break the enemy's "siege", but was trapped in an extremely dangerous situation. The CPC Central Committee and the Central Red Army were forced to abandon the Central Revolutionary Base and make a strategic transfer.

In October 1934, the CPC Central Committee led the Central Red Army of more than 80,000 people to break through the siege and start the Long March. The enemy mobilized its forces to pursue the Red Army. The Red Army broke through the enemy's four blockades and crossed the Xiangjiang River, but suffered heavy losses, leaving only 30,000 men. Bo Gu and the others insisted on going to Xiangxi to rendezvous with the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps, but the enemy had placed heavy troops on the way to Xiangxi in an attempt to destroy the Red Army in one fell swoop. At this critical moment, Mao Zedong decisively suggested that the Red Army should instead advance to Guizhou, where the enemy was weak. This suggestion was supported by most comrades of the Central Committee. Thus, the Red Army forcibly crossed the Wu River and captured Zunyi, a major town in northern Guizhou.

In January 1935, the CPC Central Committee held an enlarged meeting of the Politburo in Zunyi, focusing on correcting the military and organizational "leftist" mistakes of Bogu and others, affirming Mao Zedong's correct military ideas, electing Mao Zedong to the Standing Committee of the Central Politburo, and abolishing the military supremacy of Bogu and Li De.

The Zunyi Conference established the correct leadership of the new Party Central Committee with Mao Zedong as the core, which saved the Party, the Red Army and the revolution at an extremely critical moment and became a life-or-death turning point in the history of the Chinese Communist Party. This conference was a symbol of the CPC's transition from infancy to maturity.

Crossing the Snowy Mountains and Grasslands

After the Zunyi Conference, the Red Army was integrated and improved its combat power. Mao Zedong commanded the Red Army and struck west by sounding east, crossing the Red River and feinting at Guiyang to disrupt the enemy's pursuit plan. Then he marched north and crossed the Jinsha River, jumping out of the enemy's heavy encirclement. After a short break, the Red Army continued northward, crossing the Dadu River, flying over the Luding Bridge, over the towering, snow-capped mountains, walking through the endless meadows without a trace, breaking through the enemy's heavily guarded heavenly danger Lazikou, into Gansu.

The Red Army's victorious rendezvous in Shaanxi and Gansu

In October 1935, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China led the Central Red Army through hardships and dangers to reach the town of Wuqi in the revolutionary base of Shaanxi-Gansu, and the Red Army in northern Shaanxi Province, and in October 1936, the Second Red Army and the Fourth Red Army arrived in the Huining area of Gansu, and the Red Army on the one hand came to meet them. The rendezvous of the three main forces of the Red Army announced the triumphant end of the Long March.

The victory of the Red Army Long March shattered the attempt of the Kuomintang reactionaries to destroy the Red Army, preserved the base strength of the Party and the Red Army, and turned the Chinese Revolution into a safe one. The Long March of the Red Army sowed the seeds of revolution, forged the spirit of the Long March, and opened up a new dimension of the Chinese Revolution.（694words）