The Anti-Bolshevik League incident, or AB League Incident (''AB tuan shijian'', AB 团事件), was a period of political purge in the territory of a
Chinese Communist
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
revolutionary base in
Jiangxi
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...
province.
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
accused his political rivals of belonging to the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
intelligence agency "Anti-Bolshevik League". Mao's political purge resulted in killings at
Futian
Futian District () is one of the nine districts comprising the city of Shenzhen, China. The district is home to the government and Municipal Committee of Shenzhen, as well as the city's central business district (CBD).
Name
There are two theori ...
and elsewhere, and the trial and execution of
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
officers and soldiers.
Origins
One account says that in December 1926, the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
in
Jiangxi
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...
created a counter-intelligence organization, known as Anti-Bolshevik League, to deal with the
Communist Party of China
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
and emergent state of
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. The league supposedly consisted of handful of people and was dissolved following the April Second Uprising of 1927 in
Nanchang
Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...
.
A very different account is given in
China's Red Army Marches, a strongly pro-Communist account by US author and journalist
Agnes Smedley
Agnes Smedley (February 23, 1892 – May 6, 1950) was an American journalist, writer, and activist who supported the Indian Independence Movement and the Chinese Communist Revolution. Raised in a poverty-stricken miner's family in Missouri and Co ...
. The issue remains controversial.
Background
The purge occurred as a result of tensions between Mao's Red Army and other local communist forces. Under the
Jiangxi Soviet
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into hi ...
government (formally established in November 1931), Mao started a political purge against the Jiangxi Action Committee, accusing its members of belonging to the Anti-Bolshevik League and having "
liquidationist" tendencies. In response, 120 members of the JAC were arrested, and 17 executed.
In response to the purge, a local Red Army faction in Futian rebelled against Mao, claiming that Mao was attempting to arrest
Zhu De
Zhu De (; ; also Chu Teh; 1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party. Born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan, he was adopted by a wealthy uncle at ...
and
Peng Dehuai
Peng Dehuai (; October 24, 1898November 29, 1974) was a prominent Chinese Communist military leader, who served as China's Defense Minister from 1954 to 1959. Peng was born into a poor peasant family, and received several years of primary edu ...
, and surrender to the
KMT army. Mao's forces destroyed the rebel communists in response (early December 1930).
The rebellion, known as the
Futian incident The Futian incident () is the common title for the December 1930 purge of a battalion of the Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet's "Chinese Red Army, Red Army" at Futian (now in Ji'an's Qingyuan District, Ji'an, Qingyuan District). The Futian battalion's leaders ...
, highlighted the friction that existed between factions of the Red Army during the early days of the Communist revolution. The incident also vindicated Mao's position as leader of the Red Army, with Generals
Zhu De
Zhu De (; ; also Chu Teh; 1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party. Born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan, he was adopted by a wealthy uncle at ...
and
Peng Dehuai
Peng Dehuai (; October 24, 1898November 29, 1974) was a prominent Chinese Communist military leader, who served as China's Defense Minister from 1954 to 1959. Peng was born into a poor peasant family, and received several years of primary edu ...
giving their unequivocal support, despite their political differences.
According to Agnes Smedley's 1934 account in ''
China's Red Army Marches'', another body called the "Social Democrats" was also involved - allied to but separate from the alleged Anti-Bolshevik League. It was in favor of moderate land reform and of reducing rents but not of abolishing landlords.
Further developments
In September 1956, Mao admitted that the purges, in particular the Futian incident, were a mistake, in which the wrong people were killed.
["Literature of Chinese Communist Party", 1991; Issue 3] In 1988, President
Yang Shangkun
Yang Shangkun (3 August 1907 – 14 September 1998) was a Chinese Communist military and political leader, President of the People's Republic of China (''de jure'' head of state) from 1988 to 1993, and one of the Eight Elders that dominated ...
commissioned an investigation into the Futian incident, which recommended the rehabilitation of the victims, but it was never followed up due to the
Tiananmen Square protests
The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anti-Bolshevik League Incident
1930 in China
Political and cultural purges
Persecution of Christians
Human rights abuses in China
Massacres in China