Result of the Long March & Leadership of Mao Zedong
This is the reason Mao exaggerated the hardships of the Long March, turning a military retreat into a symbolic triumph.
What is to build legitimacy through propaganda that portrayed the CCP as heroic survivors and defenders of China?
This was one major reason the CCP's land reform policies increased peasant loyalty in Yenan.
What is that confiscated landlord land was redistributed to poor peasants, giving them economic security?
This explains why the CCP gained popularity even though they fought fewer direct battles than the Nationalists.
What is that CCP propaganda portrayed them as heroic defenders while highlighting KMT failures?
This major social issue caused peasants to resent the KMT even before the war with Japan.
What is the failure to implement land reform, leaving millions landless and impoverished?
This explains why the Long March helped Mao rise above rivals like the "28 Bolsheviks."
What is that the March allowed Mao to present his leadership as proven in crisis, giving him moral authority over other factions?
This explains why foreign observers like Edgar Snow gave such positive reports of Yenan.
What is that the CCP controlled what visitors saw, hiding repression and showing only model villages?
This is why the Japanese invasion weakened the KMT more than the CCP.
What is that the KMT bore the brunt of fighting and casualties, losing cities and resources while CCP bases were largely ignored?
This contradiction made the KMT’s anti-opium campaign lose credibility with the public.
What is that the KMT secretly controlled and profited from the opium trade while pretending to suppress it?
This was one of Mao’s stated purposes of the Long March, described metaphorically as a “seeding machine.”
What is spreading CCP ideology and planting support across rural China?
This was the deeper political purpose behind Mao’s Rectification Movement beyond improving CCP discipline.
What is eliminating internal rivals and solidifying himself as the unchallenged leader of the CCP?
This strategic approach allowed the CCP to expand influence into rural areas during wartime.
What is using guerrilla warfare and “filling the power vacuum” in areas Japan had already abandoned?
This political development showed that Chiang was becoming increasingly authoritarian.
What is the creation of the New Life Movement and censorship policies resembling European fascism?
This is why peasants were more likely to support the CCP after the Long March than the KMT.
What is that Mao instructed Red Army soldiers to respect peasants and their property, earning their trust?
This describes why Mao focused so heavily on the peasantry rather than the urban working class as the base of revolution.
What is that China lacked significant industrialization, making peasants the only large group capable of driving revolution?
This is why nationalist sentiment greatly benefitted the CCP during the war.
What is the CCP’s ability to portray themselves as the true patriots defending China from Japanese imperialism?
This reason explains why many urban workers turned away from the KMT during the 1930s
What is that the KMT passed factory reform laws but failed to enforce them, leaving workplace abuses unchanged?
This was the strategic long-term benefit of the Long March beyond military survival.
What is establishing a secure CCP base in Shensi/Yenan that allowed rebuilding and future expansion?
This was the reason the Rectification Campaign transformed from study sessions into a widespread terror movement
What is Mao’s use of accusations, torture, and purges to enforce ideological conformity and remove opposition?
This explains why the KMT’s military failures in 1937–38, especially the flooding of the Yellow River, damaged public trust.
What is that the KMT’s desperate tactics caused massive civilian suffering, making them seem incompetent and uncaring?
This was the CCP’s propaganda advantage that made the KMT appear illegitimate.
What is portraying Chiang as corrupt, serving elites, and unable to defend China against Japanese invasion?