Becoming Political

Unbeknownst to the Chinese communists at the time, in fleeing to the remote Jinggang Mountains to get away from their deadly enemies, the communists arrived at what not only has since been called “the birthplace and cradle of the revolution,” but also the time and place when the Communist Party of China encountered the rural jianghu spirit. This is the story of how this encounter with these rural bandits changed the party forever. It offered the beginnings of a partisan tradition that would become the leitmotif of Maoism and the beginnings of the “signification of Marxism.” More generally, it was also the moment and the means by which the party-state began transforming itself into a war machine.