Yenan, the Second United Front, and the War against Japan¶
Core Argument¶
The Long March had consolidated a peasant-soldier Maoism with an authoritarian command structure, confirming the CCP's abandonment of any orientation toward the urban working class. The Second United Front represented the Chinese variant of the Popular Fronts directed by the Comintern, involving an abrupt shift from adventurism to social patriotism and subordination to Chiang Kai-shek. Mao's New Democracy synthesised this class collaborationist doctrine, providing the conceptual basis for what would become capitalist restoration.
The CCP's compliance with Moscow's directives was secured through substantial Comintern subsidies, then approximately US$2,000,000 annually. When Chiang Kai-shek was seized at Sian in December 1936 by General Chang Hsueh-liang's officers demanding an anti-Japanese programme, Moscow intervened to condemn the action and ordered the CCP to secure Chiang's release. Mao initially supported a 'people's trial' but was overruled; Zhou Enlai negotiated Chiang's release on mild terms. The CCP subsequently renounced revolution, dissolved the Soviet governments, and reorganised the Red Army into the 8th Route Army under nominal KMT control. Land seizures were halted, women's rights were abandoned, and the Party proposed alliance with the National Revolutionary Army.
Opposition from peasants, radical Party elements, and soldiers was overcome through a rectification programme of structured political indoctrination. Wang Shiwei's Wild Lilies (March 1942) had criticised the CCP's hierarchical privileges and Mao's personal conduct, attacking the five-tier food system and three-tier clothing allocation that contrasted elite abundance with rank-and-file subsistence. After public struggle sessions found him guilty of absolute egalitarianism and anti-Party activity, Wang was imprisoned and later executed during the 1947 evacuation from Yenan. Mao's Yenan Talks broadened the campaign against dissident writers, demanding literature serve workers, peasants, and soldiers under Party direction. The Rectification Campaign (1942–44) isolated Party members into work groups, subjected them to daily peer criticism, and eliminated internal democracy and free speech.
Despite these repressive measures, the 8th Route Army successfully infiltrated behind Japanese lines into northern provinces where villagers had spontaneously formed militias and elected underground administrations. By 1939, the CCP had established six liberated zones covering thousands of square kilometres with up to 20 million people. Land and property of traitors were seized, redistributing 15% of agricultural land, while rents were cut and a three-year debt moratorium imposed. However, tension between Communist and Nationalist forces grew as the CCP expanded its control. In January 1941, the Southern Anhwei Incident saw 10,000 Communist troops attacked by 80,000 KMT troops, with 5,000-6,000 Communist casualties. Thereafter, Nationalists spent as much or more resources attacking Communists as fighting Japan.