This week, we covered the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War. For Wednesday, I read about the influencer and about the Tokyo Trials painting. I also read the Moise textbook. It strikes me that Chiang Kai Shek could almost be taken as a textbook case for how not to fight a war. I understand that he had serious problems with being able to trust his troops, but his refusal to distribute weapons effectively, or wholeheartedly cooperate with the Americans, or even try to instill better discipline in his army is incredible. It also leaves me with a question, similar to the one that I asked last week: if Chiang’s forces were so pitifully underprepared for war, what made them so much more dangerous than the communists who faced them? One of the most important points that comes out of the textbook reading is how Chiang threw his advantage away by deploying his most effective troops in isolated positions in an attempt to hold as much territory as possible. How “good” could these troops really be? I expect that some sort of inquiry into the Second World War, Warlord Period, and Chinese Civil War armies will be the basis of my show and tell. In particular, I am interested in how the various armies were formed, equipped, and trained, since so much attention has been paid to the impact of troop quality in the ultimate communist victory.
For Friday, I read the Rectification Campaign document as well as the Ding Ling writing. One of the most interesting things about the Rectification Campaign is how relatively early Mao Zedong wrote it. To me, this indicates that Mao was already relatively secure in his position, since it takes some level of comfort to be able to start weeding out one’s own side. The earliness of the document also shows the degree of discomfort that Mao had with free press or free thought. By requiring that all art be answerable for its political implications, Mao was ensuring unity while sacrificing growth or development in his party. I was particularly struck by the way that Mao mandates discussion and debate on party principles, but in the same breath lays out how people who express the “wrong” views are to be dealt with.
“Mao Zedong: The Rectification Campaign.” In The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection, Third ed. Edited by Janet Chen et. al., W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.
Moïse Edwin E. Modern China: A History Third ed. Harlow, England: Pearson/Longman, 2008.
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