Impact of the Long March
Communist ideology in action
Mao Zedong's ideas were spread to hundreds of villages encountered during the Long March. Methods used to spread ideology included:
- mass meetings during which slogans such as 'destroy the landlord' and 'divide the land' were chanted
- education programs by cadres who remained in villages to build party cells
- land confiscation from wealthy landlords and redistribution to peasants
- respectful treatment of the peasants and their possessions
- the use of the Eight Points of Attention
as rules for the Red Army. These provided a new experience for peasants as traditionally the imperial soldiers, warlord armies and the Nationalist forces had been brutal and avaricious towards them.
Mao's report
In December 1935 Mao's report on the Long March emphasised:
'it is a manifesto , an agitation corps and a seeding machine .... It has sown many seeds in eleven provinces which will sprout, grow leaves and blossom into flowers, bear fruit and yield a crop in the future. To sum up, the Long March ended in our victory and the enemy's defeat.' (Buggy 1988, p 240)
Some critics have questioned the validity of this statement given the enormous loss of life and general suffering.
Long term impacts
The Long March was romanticised and became part of Chinese Communist Party legend. Communist paintings, books and posters emphasised the importance of the Long Marchers' spirit of self-sacrifice and bravery. Leaders of the event achieved hero status within the CCP.
A series of posters dedicated to famous Long March sites can be found at the following website: www.chineseposters.net . Search for: Zunyi, Luding Bridge and Yan'an.
Click on the 'open' button below to access the activity.
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