The East Turkestan People's Revolutionary Party (; ) was a Uyghur communist party and armed

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

group in

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

. It was founded in 1969 or earlierJames Millward, ''Violent Separatism in Xinjiang: A Critical Assessment, Policy Studies'', East-West Center Washington, 2004. during

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, and was the largest armed separatist group in the Xinjiang conflict before its dissolution in 1989.David D. Wang, ''East Turkestan Movement in Xinjiang'', Journal of Chinese Political Science, Springer Netherlands, June 1998.

Purpose

The ETPRP's goal was to initiate a second " Revolution of the Three Districts" to establish an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Marxist–Leninist Uyghur state in the Xinjiang region, with help from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Support from the Soviets increased during the

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by divergences that arose from their ...

and subsequent border dispute.

History

The ETPRP was founded in 1969 or earlier in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It was made up of mainly

Uyghurs The Uyghurs,. alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as the ti ...

, but also had a small number of Kazakh fighters.Rémi Castets
Opposition politique, nationalisme et islam chez les Ouïghours du Xinjiang
Les Études du CERI, October 2004. According to Chinese

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

Zhang Yuxi, the ETPRP may have been established secretly in 1963. Former members of the ETPRP claimed that the party had around 60,000 members and 178 underground branches in 1969; however, this had not been verified by a third-party. After a failed insurrection in 1969, the ETPRP gradually weakened due to the arrest and exile of most of their members. The ETPRP blamed the Soviets for their "lack of commitment" to their cause. The party disbanded in 1989.

References

1969 establishments in China 1989 disestablishments in China China–Soviet Union relations Communist parties in Xinjiang Defunct communist militant groups Defunct communist parties East Turkestan independence movement Left-wing nationalist parties National liberation armies Nationalist parties in China Political parties disestablished in 1989 Political parties established in 1969 Pro-independence parties Political parties of minorities in China {{Communist-party-stub