The Futian incident () is the common title for the December 1930
purge
In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...
of a battalion of the
Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet's "
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 ...
" at Futian (now in
Ji'an
Ji'an () is a prefecture-level city situated in the central region of Jiangxi province of the People's Republic of China while bordering Hunan province to the west. It has an area of and as of the 2020 census, had a population of 4,469,176, of ...
's
Qingyuan District). The Futian battalion's leaders had mutinied against
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) ...
's purge of the Jiangxi Action Committee, ordered on the pretext of its alleged connection to the
Anti-Bolshevik League and ties to
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...
.
Background
In response to the
Anti-Bolshevik League incident
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 revolutionary base in Jiangxi province. Mao Zedong accused his political rivals ...
, the Futian battalion rebelled against Mao, claiming that Mao was attempting to arrest 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 ...
, and surrender to the
KMT army. The officers of the first battalion, 174 regiment, 20th Corps, led by Liu Di (刘敌) retreated to the town of Yongyang, where they raised banners reading 'Down with Mao Zedong!' and sent appeals to the CCP Central Committee in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
. In response to the rebellion, in June 1931, Mao called the troops and their officers to a meeting, saying that they would discuss and resolve their differences. 200 came to a local hall, but as soon as they were all seated, troops who were loyal to Mao disarmed them and executed them.
During the Futian incident Zhu De and Peng Dehuai were unequivocal supporters of Mao, despite their different political positions. This allowed Mao's position as leader of the Red Army to be vindicated.
Further developments
In September 1956, Mao admitted that the purges during the Anti-Bolshevik League incident, as well as 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 ...
and subsequent massacre.
See also
*
Chinese Soviet Republic
The Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was an East Asian proto-state in China, proclaimed on 7 November 1931 by Chinese communist leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War. The discontiguous territories of the ...
*
Anti-Bolshevik League incident
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 revolutionary base in Jiangxi province. Mao Zedong accused his political rivals ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Futian Incident
Massacres in China
1930 in China
Political and cultural purges