Mao was setting up local communist cells in Hunan when he received the invitation to travel to Shanghai for the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Party founders Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao were unable to make it to that first meeting, and Mao’s attendance lent him higher standing in the party afterwards.
By the time Sun died in 1925, Chiang had maneuvered himself to inherit the leadership of Nationalist party. With his well-trained army and modern tactics, Chiang set about reunifying China, conquering warlords one by one. In 1927, having brought most of China under control, Chiang suddenly turned his sights on his own allies in the… Read more »
Chen’s tenure at the top of China’s Communist Party was short. He became uncomfortable with Stalin’s rigid leadership and was soon entertaining “revisionist” thoughts. He was blamed for the failure of the Party to spark revolution in China’s cities and was finally expelled from the party in 1929. As war raged across China, Chen lived… Read more »