What is the Long March spirit?

1. Historical background

From September 1933 to the summer of 1934, the Red Army in the Central Soviet Area conducted its fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign. Li De, a military adviser sent by the Communist International, first implemented an adventurist offensive strategy and then a conservative defensive strategy. As a result, the Red Army failed in repeated battles and the Soviet area was shrinking.

In April 1934, the Central Red Army fought a decisive battle with the Kuomintang army in Guangchang, Jiangxi Province. It suffered heavy losses and the situation was critical. In July, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission of the Communist Party of China ordered the 7th Army Corps of the Red Army to form an advance team to go north to resist Japan, advance to the borders of Fujian, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi, and establish a new Soviet area; it ordered the 6th Army Corps of the Red Army to break out of the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area and march westward , went to central Hunan to develop guerrilla warfare.

The Central Revolutionary Military Commission sent two legions to march north and west respectively, with the intention of mobilizing the Kuomintang's "encirclement and suppression" troops to reduce the pressure on the Central Soviet Area, but failed to achieve their goal.

In early October, the Kuomintang army attacked the central area of ??the Central Soviet Area and quickly occupied the Xingguo, Ningdu, and Shicheng lines. The Red Army's room for maneuver became even smaller, and it was no longer possible to break the Kuomintang army's "encirclement and suppression" campaign in the Soviet area, so it was forced to withdraw from the Soviet area and embark on the Long March.

In October 1936, the three main forces of the Red Army met in Huining, Gansu Province, and retained about 30,000 troops. The great Long March of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army fought in 14 provinces, broke through the encirclement and interception of hundreds of thousands of Kuomintang troops, climbed over the snow-covered mountains all year round, passed through the vast and inaccessible grasslands, overcame numerous difficulties and obstacles, and finally completed the arduous task of strategic transfer. At this point, the Long March ended successfully.

2. Significance

The Long March of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army is a great epic of revolutionary heroism. It declares to all of China and the world that the Chinese Communist Party and the people's army under its leadership are an invincible force. The Red Army’s Long March created the great Long March spirit.

The spirit of the Long March is a vivid reflection of the revolutionary demeanor of the Chinese Communists and the People’s Army, a concentrated display of the Chinese nation’s national character of constant self-improvement, and the highest expression of the national spirit with patriotism as its core. . The spirit of the Long March provided a strong spiritual impetus for the Chinese revolution to continuously move from victory to victory.

After the Red Army’s Long March successfully arrived in northern Shaanxi, Comrade Mao Zedong once made such an incisive summary of the Long March: “The Long March is a manifesto, the Long March is a propaganda team, and the Long March is a seeder. The Long March is based on our victory and the enemy. It ended in failure."

Extended information

Causes of the Long March:

Reason 1: The failure of the fifth counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression" was the most direct and important outcome of the Red Army's Long March. Reasons

There are two main reasons for the failure of the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign in the Central Soviet Area. One is that the enemy is powerful, and the other is that our party made mistakes. In September 1933, Chiang Kai-shek gathered 500,000 troops and launched the fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Central Soviet Area. As the war situation developed, the Kuomintang troops gradually occupied most of the central revolutionary base area.

During this period, Wang Ming’s “Left” dogmatism occupied a dominant position in our party. He broke away from the reality of the Chinese revolution, denied the basic situation that the enemy was strong and we were weak, and demanded that the Red Army adopt an active offensive line, making the Red Army completely strategically passive.

Chiang Kai-shek combined the financial and military power of the whole country, while the Central Red Army had less than 100,000 men. In addition, the Soviet area had limited financial and material resources, and the disadvantage was obvious. The fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign in the Central Soviet Area faced failure, and the party and the Red Army fell into a serious existential crisis.

Reason 2: Considering a new situation in the revolution, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China took the initiative to carry out a strategic shift

When it was no longer possible to crush the enemy's "encirclement and suppression", the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China The central government proposed the idea of ??strategic shift in May 1934 and reported it to the Communist International. Because the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China implemented Wang Ming's "Left" wrong line, the Central Red Army was in a very difficult situation under the Kuomintang's "encirclement and suppression".

As a result, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China led the Central Red Army to evacuate the Central Soviet Area and went to Xiangxi to join He Long's Second Red Army Corps to rebuild the revolutionary base and reopen a new situation for the revolution.

Reason 3: The original relatively stable strategic pattern was broken, and the local Long March eventually evolved into the Long March of the entire main Red Army

The Central Red Army withdrew from the Central Soviet Area, causing the Red Army in other places to be affected by the Kuomintang army Under increasing pressure, the Sichuan-Shaanxi revolutionary base areas are bearing the brunt.

In addition, one of the important reasons for the Long March of the Second and Sixth Red Army (the Second Red Front Army) was that the enemy situation was serious and it was very difficult to establish and preserve revolutionary base areas; the transfer of the 25th Red Army was also due to the strengthening of the Kuomintang army. The "clearance and suppression" of Hubei, Henan, and Anhui regions.

It is already very difficult to persist in the local revolutionary struggle. Therefore, the Red Army in various places went on long marches one after another. A very important reason was that the strategic shift of the Central Red Army broke the relatively stable strategic pattern.

Reason 4: The historical background of anti-Japanese and national salvation became a major factor that directly affected the decision-making, process and direction of the Long March

The "September 18th" Incident was the beginning of Japan's attempt to destroy China. Incident" was a prelude to Japan's imminent launch of a full-scale war of aggression against China. The national contradiction between China and Japan has become the main contradiction in Chinese society, and resisting Japan and saving the nation has become the most urgent task for the entire nation.

The Chinese Communists will never sit back and watch the fall of the Chinese nation. Although the Red Army is in adversity, it still stands on the front line of saving the nation from peril.

Before and after the start of the Long March, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China organized two anti-Japanese advance teams to go north to fight against Japan. That is to say, the military strategic shift was closely linked to the political strategic change, and the Red Army The general direction of progress is linked to the establishment of forward positions to resist Japan. Resisting Japan and saving the nation is an existing factor that will inevitably have a major impact on the Red Army's Long March.

Therefore, the Long March started with a tragic failure, but it was brewing the greatest turning point in the history of the Chinese Communist Party; it was a difficult journey that had to be taken, but it eventually created the beginning of the Chinese revolution. A new situation.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Long March

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