People's History of Ideas Podcast · Matthew Rothwell
Mao’s March 20 Letter to the Central Committee, and the 5th Red Army’s Retreat from the Jinggangshan (January to April 1929)
March 10, 2024·25 min·2 clips
Snow fell a foot deep. Peng's army climbed sheer precipices in the dark. Hungry, nearly encircled, they punched through anyway.
As heard by us
A March 20 letter turns retreat, losses, and shifting warlord conflict into a sharp study of revolutionary strategy.
A March 20 letter gives this episode its spine, as Mao Zedong accounts for the Red Army's losses after leaving the Jingangsheng base and then lays out a path through western Fujian and southern Jiangsha.
Why you'd press play
You get a close look at Mao using a bruising retreat as the frame for a flexible plan: guerrilla warfare, mass mobilization, and an independent regime in western Fujian and southern Jiangsha.
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