From Revolution to Politics: Chinese Communists on the Long March

The PRC plays a crucial role in the Communist world, because of both its vast size and its unique form of communism. This comprehensive history of the Long March of the Chinese Communists presents new interpretations of their crucial geographic and strategic transformation. Drawing on previously inaccessible sources, Dr. Yang’s systematic account clarifies heretofore obscure political and military details of the Long March. The author chronicles Mao’s gradual rise to power, showing the Communists’ transformation from revolutionary idealists to political realists. With its careful assessment of the evolution of CCP strategies and factions, this book provides an important analysis of the party’s revolutionary momentum and political structure.

Benjamin Yang is a research fellow for the John King Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University. He received his undergraduate education at Beijing University and spent several years in jails in China as a political prisoner during the Cultural Revolution.