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The Baise Uprising was a short-lived uprising organized by the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
(CCP) in northwestern
Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
around the city of Baise. It officially began on December 11, 1929, and lasted until late 1931. The uprising established the Seventh
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
and a
soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
over a number of counties in the You River valley. It drew support from a pre-existing movement of Zhuang peasants led by Wei Baqun, and focused on land redistribution in the area it controlled. After a brief but costly attempt to capture Guangxi's major cities, the soviet was suppressed and surviving soldiers made their way to
Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...
. Today, it is most famous for the role played by
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...
, who was the CCP Central Committee's leading representative in Guangxi during the Uprising. Deng was strongly criticized, both during the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
and by modern historians, for the uprising's swift defeat and his decision to abandon the retreating Seventh Red Army.


Background


Donglan peasants' movement

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
is a province in southwestern China with several minority communities, the largest of which is the Zhuang. In the early 1900s, the Zhuang of the You and Zuo River valleys still retained an independent identity and frequently came into conflict with
Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...
administrative officials. Wei Baqun was the son of a family of wealthy Zhuang peasants from
Donglan County Donglan County (, Zhuang: ) is a county of northwest Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China ...
. Inspired by the rise of
Chinese nationalism Chinese nationalism is a form of nationalism that asserts that the Chinese people are a nation and promotes the cultural and national unity of all Chinese people. According to Sun Yat-sen's philosophy in the Three Principles of the People, Chin ...
, Wei organized a company of peasants to take part in the National Protection War. He subsequently joined the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
(KMT or Nationalist Party) and led a local rebellion against corruption, warlordism, and the abuses of local elites. The rebellion succeeded in establishing him as a popular leader in Donglan, but it was eventually put down and Wei was forced to leave Donglan. He spent the next few years in the KMT stronghold of
Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...
. There, he came in contact with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members who were supporting the KMT in the
First United Front The First United Front , also known as the KMT–CCP Alliance, of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was formed in 1924 as an alliance to end Warlord Era, warlordism in China. Together they formed the National Revolution ...
. As part of their strategy to defeat the warlords, the two parties were organizing peasant associations in counties across southern China. Wei attended classes at the Peasant Movement Training Institute and toured several of the Communist-led peasant associations near Guangzhou. He was deeply impressed by Communist ideas, although he did not yet become a member of the CCP. Wei returned to Donglan in 1925 as the KMT's special agent to organize peasant associations in Guangxi. He quickly reestablished contact with his supporters and they began the process of rebuilding the peasants' movement along the model of the organizations Wei had witnessed in Guangdong. The peasant associations made themselves popular with policies such as reduced taxes, banditry crackdowns, and especially the abolition of rent and debt collection. Membership in the Donglan's peasant associations reached 20,000 by September 1925 and quadrupled to 80,000 by late 1926, greater than those in any other county in Guangxi. The rapid growth of peasant movements in Donglan and elsewhere across southern China disturbed the conservative wing of the KMT. Guangxi was governed by a group of warlords known as the
New Guangxi clique The New Guangxi clique (), led by Li Zongren, Huang Shaohong, and Bai Chongxi, was a warlord clique during the Republic of China. After the founding of the Republic, Guangxi served as the base for one of the Old Guangxi clique, one of the mo ...
, aligned with the KMT's right-wing, and in February 1926, Governor Huang Shaohong sent in soldiers to suppress the Donglan peasants' movement. They perpetrated a bloody massacre of peasant leaders, but were withdrawn under pressure from the KMT's left-wing. Wei himself survived by retreating into the mountains. The same pattern repeated itself the following year when the right-wing of the KMT orchestrated a takeover of the entire party and a purge of the Communists (see below). Once again, Nationalist forces briefly occupied the county before withdrawing and allowing Wei and his followers to re-assume control.


Overthrow of the Guangxi clique

By 1929, the Kuomintang had completed the
Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT) against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The purpose of the campaign was to reunify China prop ...
, re-unifying the
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
. But in the process, the KMT had split into left- and right-wings: the left wing wanted to maintain the First United Front with the CCP, while the right-wing saw the CCP as subversive and wanted to break the alliance. In the end, right-winger Chiang Kai-shek defeated
Wang Jingwei Wang Zhaoming (4 May 188310 November 1944), widely known by his pen name Wang Jingwei, was a Chinese politician who was president of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China, a puppet state of the Empire of Japan. He was in ...
's left-wing faction and commenced a bloody purge of the Communists. The CCP went underground and eventually decided on a strategy of creating rural
soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...
. The Communists took advantage of the fact that many of the warlords who had allied with the KMT during the Northern Expedition were itching for an opportunity to rebel. The New Guangxi clique launched just such a revolt in March 1929. Chiang managed to defeat the New Guangxi clique only by bribing two of their subordinate generals, and Yu Zuobo, to betray and overthrow them. Possibly unbeknownst to Chiang, Li and Yu were left-wing Nationalists, and after coming to power, they restored the policies of the United Front. The CCP quickly took advantage of the situation. They sent cadres to infiltrate Guangxi, including Yu Zuoyu (the younger brother of Yu Zuobo) and Zhang Yunyi, an experienced military officer who had served in the KMT's
National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; zh, labels=no, t=國民革命軍) served as the military arm of the Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) from 1924 until 1947. From 1928, it functioned as the regular army, de facto ...
. They managed to receive high posts in the administration and organized Communist cells inside the Guangxi army. Later that year,
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...
arrived representing the party's central committee. It was during this time that Wei Baqun formally decided to join the Communist Party.


Events


Start of the Uprising

In October 1929, Wang Jingwei convinced Li Mingrui and Yu Zuobo to launch an uprising against Chiang Kai-shek and restore the left-wing of the KMT to power. The Communists in Guangxi strongly opposed this idea because it had little chance for success and put their own plans for local insurrection at risk. They could not convince Li and Yu to change their minds, but they did get them to leave behind a substantial garrison force in Nanning in case of defeat. Li and Yu's offensive was indeed quickly defeated. Zhang Yunyi led a mutiny that took control of the Nanning garrison, and led the majority of the army northwest to Baise. Yu Zuoyu and the rest of the army escorted the defeated generals southwest to Longzhou. Yu Zuobo went into exile, but Li Mingrui decided to join the Communists. Baise and Longzhou were chosen for their economic value: Baise was a center of the opium trade and Longzhou was an import customs post on the border with
French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...
. Over the next few months, the Communists were able to tax Baise's large opium industry to pay for recruiting new soldiers and expanding the peasant movement across a number of neighboring counties. The Communist leadership initially took a cautious approach to governance and presented themselves as part of the official United Front government instituted by Yu and Li. Historians Alexander Pantsov and Steven Levine argue that this was because the Zhuang peasant movement had been motivated by ethnic hatred of the Han, and it took the Communists time to appeal to them on the basis of class. In November, the Communists in Baise received a letter from the Central Committee authorizing them to create a Guangxi Front Committee and openly seize power. On December 11, 1929 (the second anniversary of the Guangzhou Uprising), the Guangxi Front Committee proclaimed the creation of the Seventh Red Army and the You River Soviet (aka the Youjiang Soviet). Estimates of the initial strength of the Seventh Red Army range from 4,000 to 10,000 men. Zhang Yunyi was appointed overall commander and Wei Baqun was made commander of the third column. Because Deng had left to report to the Central Committee in person, his deputy Chen Haoren became the secretary of the Front Committee and leader of the Soviet. Diana Lary notes how this leadership cadre was dominated by outsiders, mainly of Han ethnicity. Wei, who had led the revolution in the You River valley for over a decade, was demoted to a subordinate commander.


Land reform

Land reform was one of the most important priorities of the You River Soviet. The Communists launched a propaganda drive in December 1929 urging peasants to rise up and redistribute the land of landlords and wealthy peasants. They plastered posters throughout Baise and sent cadres to the villages to distribute pamphlets and give speeches. In the spring of 1930, Deng Xiaoping, Wei Baqun, Chen Haoren, and Lei Jingtian (another Guangxi peasant revolutionary) met in Donglan to write a new land law for the You River Soviet. Formal ownership of all land was transferred to the Soviet, although most landholders were allowed to continue cultivating their land. Only the largest landowners and counterrevolutionaries had their land seized, and it, along with the land held by institutions, was divided up among the poor. Taxation was reduced and made progressive. These policies were likely influenced by Deng's experience in the
Jiangxi Soviet The Jiangxi Soviet, sometimes referred to as the Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet, was a soviet area that existed between 1931 and 1934, governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It was the largest component of the Chinese Soviet Republic and hom ...
. Some villages opted for collective management of land and even, in the case of Wei Baqun's home village, for collective farming.


Military confrontations and defeat

From December to February 1930, Deng Xiaoping returned to Shanghai to report to the Central Committee. The Committee endorsed the course that the Guangxi Front Committee had taken in Baise and ordered the agrarian revolution be continued. They directed Deng to reunite the forces that had occupied Longzhou with the main army in Baise, and to use this combined force to expand the You River Soviet northwards. The ultimate goal would be to link up with Mao Zedong in Jiangxi. Meanwhile, the soldiers in Longzhou had launched their own uprising, inspired by Baise. They formed the Eighth Red Army, and together with the Seventh Red Army in Baise, launched a pincer attack on Nanning. They expected the city to be weakly defended by the only recently re-established New Guangxi clique. However, the Seventh Red Army was defeated in a quick series of battles by their better-trained and armed opponents. Around the same time, Deng Xiaoping arrived in Longzhou and ordered the Eighth Red Army not to join the doomed attack. He led the army north towards Baise, but it was intercepted and destroyed. The remnants that reached their destination were absorbed into the Seventh Red Army. In late summer, Deng once again made the trip to Shanghai to receive directions from the Central Committee. Director of the Propaganda Department Li Lisan had formulated an aggressive strategy of attacking cities to quick-start a nationwide revolution. Applied to Guangxi, the "Li Lisan Line" meant that the Red Army had to abandon the You River Soviet and liberate the cities of south China, starting with
Liuzhou Liuzhou (; , Standard Mandarin: , Liuzhou Yue dialect: International Phonetic Alphabet, iəu53 ʦəu44 is a prefecture-level city in north-central Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The prefecture's population was 4 ...
. Over objections from the other Guangxi Communists—especially Wei Baqun—Deng insisted on following this line. The army departed from Baise in September 1930 but failed to take Liuzhou. They decided to make for Mao Zedong in Jiangxi instead. This route took them through rough, mountainous terrain in winter. The Guangxi soldiers were unprepared for cold weather and casualties were high. Less than a third of the troops who set out made it to Jiangxi. When the army was close to Mao Zedong's base area, Deng Xiaoping went ahead to make contact. On the way back to his army he realized that it was under attack by Nationalist forces. Rather than going to take command, he sent a message to the army to fight their way through and left for Shanghai. Eventually, a portion of the army was able to join Mao and became part of the Red Army units there. After the departure of the Seventh Red Army, the You River Soviet came under immediate attack by the New Guangxi clique. Wei Baqun again retreated to the mountains with his peasant forces, but he was eventually betrayed and executed.


Legacy

Both at the time and later, Deng Xiaoping's leadership and, especially his decision to leave his army, have faced serious criticism. A Central Committee post-mortem in 1931 singled out his behavior as an example of "rightist opportunism and a rich peasant line". In 1945, a former commander of the Seventh Red Army spoke out against Deng for his actions during the uprising, although Mao Zedong protected Deng from any serious repercussions. During the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
,
Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...
uncovered these criticisms and accused Deng of desertion. Deng admitted that leaving the army was one of the "worst mistakes of islife" and that "although this action was allowed by the party, it was politically horribly wrong." Modern historians and biographers tend to agree. Uli Franz calls leaving the army a "serious error". Benjamin Yang calls the whole uprising a "tragic failure and dark period in eng'spolitical life." Diana Lary places blame for the uprising's failure more broadly on the "ineptitude" of both the local leaders and the CCP Central Committee.


See also

* Outline of the Chinese Civil War


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{coord missing, Guangxi History of the Chinese Communist Party Baise 1929 in China Military history of Guangxi Military operations of the Chinese Civil War (1927–1937) Protests in the Republic of China (1912–1949) Chinese Communist Revolution