“The importance of the Long March to the survival of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the 1930s has been exaggerated.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Candidates are required to consider the significance of the Long March rather than a give a description of the events. Many candidates may disagree with this statement and discuss the idea that the Long March (1934–1935) was a seminal time for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Indicative content

• The First United Front between the CCP and the Guomindang, GMD (Kuomintang, KMT) broke down in 1927 and the CCP retreated to the Jiangxi (Kiangsi) Soviet. This was followed by Jiang Jieshi’s (Chiang Kai-shek’s) 1930–1934 bandit extermination campaigns against the CCP. This forced the CCP’s escape from Jiangxi and the Long March.
• Figures vary, but approximately 90,000 to 100,000 members of the Red Army set out from the Jiangxi Soviet in 1934 and only 10 per cent reached the communist base in Yan’an (Yenan) a year later.
• During this time, Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) became the leader at Zunyi (Tsunyi).
• The Red Army also claimed that it was marching north to fight the Japanese. In the face of Jiang Jieshi’s initial reluctance to fight the Japanese, the Long March could be interpreted as a strategic move by the CCP in the face of the Japanese threat.
• This point was used in CCP propaganda after the event and during the Sino–Japanese War (1937–1945). CCP propaganda during the Long March included woodcut prints that depicted the Red Army as friends who recruited volunteers and also armed the peasants to fight against the Japanese.
• The CCP ideology, with its promise of land reform and equality, appealed to the peasants in the face of GMD brutality and indifference to their plight in the 1930s and, later, during both the Sino–Japanese War (1937–1945) and the Civil War between the CCP and the GMD (1946– 949).
• The Long March eventually became a legend that embodied the virtues of endurance, loyalty and sacrifice. The CCP and Mao used this for propaganda purposes both before and after the CCP victory in 1949.
• After the Red Army reached Yan’an, the Western journalist Edgar Snow was one of the first foreign journalists to travel there and interview survivors of the Long March. Although, much of what he was shown and what he subsequently published in his 1937 book Red Star over China was vetted by Mao and Zhou Enlai (Chou En-lai). Snow’s descriptions of the Long March and
  life in Yan’an were idealistic and romantic and created a myth in the West that influenced a whole generation of China watchers and historians, particularly amongst those who were left wing.
• In recent times, however, there have been a number of books published that question this popular interpretation of the Long March.

The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, the list is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.

Examiners and moderators are reminded of the need to apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and to award credit wherever it is possible to do so.

[20 marks]