The Long March 1935: The Epic of Chinese Communism's Survival by Dick Wilson

Dick Wilson's The Long March 1935 is an account of the six-thousand mile trek across China by that nation's Communist population as they retreated from the Nationalist forces, built their own forces back up, and ultimately were able to claim victory in the Chinese Civil War . Prior to discussing the Long March, Wilson helpfully takes the reader the reader through a brief history of China, from the Han Dynasty of 184 CE to the establishment of the Chinese Republic. In doing this he provides context for the formation of the Chinese Communist Party, noting that the mistakes of the past, particularly those made during the Taiping Rebellion, "were avoided by the Communists during and after the Long March, and Mao and his comrades were constantly aware of the lessons of history" (7). He argues that Marxism, unlike other Western philosophies, is more in keeping with elements of the old Confucian tradition and, thus, is more acceptable to the Chinese (17). When writing about the Long March, Wilson is thorough in the areas he can be and candid about his ignorance of the questions that remain unanswered.

Wilson's thesis, what he hopes to accomplish in writing The Long March 1935, is an unbiased account of an event that has remained (as of the book's publication date in 1971) steeped in controversy and bias. Many of the original participants of the march, such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, were still living and regarded as pariahs in the West. Wilson notes the problem of maintaining accuracy, writing that "since 1935 there has been a gradual process of 'tidying up' history on the part of the Chinese Communists" and that "the materials collected by the Nationalists...[tend] to portray every Communist as a brutal animal and every Nationalist as a saint" (xvii).

In attempting to prove his thesis, Wilson utilizes a variety of sources. Although the bibliography he includes is only a partial bibliography, it contains works published in the West, the People's Republic of China, and its rival, the Republic of China (Taipei). He includes many firsthand accounts of the march, biographies of Chairman Mao, and histories of China from both before and after it became The People's Republic of China. He has a background in Chinese and is thusly able to read the firsthand accounts himself, without relying on a possibly biased translation. He also relies heavily on the accounts of Jerome Ch'en and Edgar Snow, two pioneers in research of this period. Wilson does not, however, provide any division or distinction as to which sources he consulted are primary and which are secondary. This would have been helpful since every source was published within the same thirty year period and, thus, the reader is not able to simply know the type of source based on the date of publication.

Helpfully, Wilson includes several appendices which provide a greater understanding of the subject matter. His account of the march is incredibly detailed and he certainly presents it in an unbiased manner, but when he lists, day by day, the miles covered during the march and the type of territory covered, it is a startling visual that shows the length that the Party traveled and how dedicated they were in their mission. In addition, he includes a chart of the command structure during the start of the march and a glossary of the most important people involved and what happened to them in the aftermath. This not only clarifies questions the reader would have about the similar names of some of the people, but it also helps to sate the curiosity of those who wonder what happened to them after the march ended and the war was fought. Wilson's informative sources, his unbiased and detailed content, and his helpful use of appendices help him to prove his thesis and create a valuable book.

Anthony Garavente, writing for Pacific Affairs, both praises and criticizes Wilson's work. Although he calls it "a very readable account of a very heroic endeavor", Garavente states that "most of the questions that had been asked about the Long March over the years could still be posed" (Anthony Garavente, Pacific Affairs Vol. 46 [Spring 1973], 123-124). He notes that Wilson adds more details to segments of the Long March and speculates intelligently about incidents in which little is known (such as what happened at Tsunyi and Maoerhkai), but leaves long-asked questions such as how the Red Army broke out of Kiangsi in 1934 unanswered (123). This criticism is certainly valid and Wilson actually attempts to address it early in his book when he explains that many of the Red Army's records, which would have helped to address the many unanswered questions of the Long March, were accidentally destroyed when they were lost or the people carrying them were drowned. Additionally, many records that were not destroyed remained under control of Communist China where they were censored or suppressed (xvi). Interestingly, Garavente's article "The Long March" that was published in The China Quarterly, is one of the many sources that Wilson cites in his book.

All in all, Wilson, particularly because he puts the Long March within the context of Chinese history and does not have it exist in a vacuum, provides a very readable, unbiased account of this seminal event in what would eventually become The People's Republic of China. It is a wonderful source for providing insight into this period of history.

Source:

Dick Wilson, The Long March 1935: The Epic of Chinese Communism's Survival