D A V I D W I L L I A M M A G E ED E P A U L U N I V E R S I T Y

THE CCP AND A VIOLENT PROPAGANDA PROGRAM:

DEVELOPMENT, REFINEMENT, AND IMPLEMENTATION,

1919-1939

INTRODUCTION

Unification of the two fronts in the struggle for national liberation: cultural and military.

Power of militarized propaganda recognized during the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance, 1937-39.

“Cultural Army” emerged in 1919 and developed in conjunction with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to produce a violent propaganda program.

TERMINOLOGY

Propaganda• Dissemination• Dialogue• Influence

Violence• “…intentional use of physical force or power…against a person or group”

resulting in some form of harm• “World Report on Violence and Health,” ed. Etienne G. Krug, Linda L. Dahlberg, James

Mercy, Anthony B. Zwi, and Rafael Lozano (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2002):5, http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2002/9241545615_eng.pdf, (Accessed August 11, 2011).

Violent Propaganda• The incorporation of violence into dissemination• Or violence as the vehicle for dissemination

TERMINOLOGY

Violent propaganda: Violence in propaganda

Depiction of violence within propaganda

Mobilize population and

demonize opposition

Pictorial propaganda

TERMINOLOGY

Violent propaganda: Violence as propaganda

Act of violence inflicted upon CCP or population

Act of violence to enforce discipline, mobilize population, and/or

destabilize the opposition

TERMINOLOGY

Violent Propaganda

Program under the

auspices of an

asymmetrical military strategy

Strategic placement of both

forms of violent propaganda into a

mutually reinforcing relationship

Tactical dissemination of

mutually reinforcing violent

propaganda

THESIS

CCP militarized propaganda during Anti-Japanese War

of Resistance

CCP did not define their

machinations as a “violent

propaganda program”

Examination of propaganda program’s

development and refinement

transposed against works of Mao reveals its existence

DEVELOPMENT

The May Fourth Movement – 1919

Student-led uprising

Anti-Imperialist/ Anti-Japanese

The “vernacular language movement”

Purge of traditional, arcane Chinese from school curriculum•Long a barrier to mass education

New curriculum for those ignored by the education system• Chen Duxiu• Mao Zedong

• Need to educate masses for mobilization

DEVELOPMENT

Cultural Shift • Lu Xun

Cartoon Content

• Point out societal ills

• Prescriptive advice

Shen Bochen

• “Shandong,Qingdao”

DEVELOPMENT

• Bochen Shen, "Shandong, Qingdao,"

• Cartoon, 1919, in Keguan Bi and Yuanli Huang, Zhongguo manhua shi [A History of Chinese Cartoons] (Beijing: Culture and Art Publishing House, 1986): 339, http://read.chaoxing.com/ebook/detail_10975311.html, (Accessed June 15, 2011).

DEVELOPMENT

- 1919: “The Great Union of the Popular Masses”- Oppression connected with organization of the masses- 1922: Guangzhou-Hankou Railroad massacre- 1938: Exploitation of enemy brutality key to gaining initiative

DEVELOPMENT

• Mao’s tenure as head of the Guomindang (GMD)’s Propaganda Bureau (1925)

“Report on Propaganda” (January 1926)

Importance of illiteracy relative to propaganda efforts

Military and propaganda efforts

DEVELOPMENT

“Report on the Investigation of the Hunan Peasant Movement” (March 1927)• Pictorial Propaganda = Political Education• The necessity of force for emancipation

• Tactical dissemination of violence as propaganda

• A violent propaganda program requires tactical dissemination so as not to alienate the majority of the population.

DEVELOPMENT• "Nongminxiehui

shi nongmin ziji mou jiefang de jiguan [The Peasant Association is the Organization for Peasants seeking to Liberate Themselves],"

• Cartoon, Jiangxi, Nongmin huabao, 1927, in Keguan Bi and Yuanli Huang. Zhongguo manhua shi [A History of Chinese Cartoons] (Beijing: Culture and Art Publishing House, 1986): 352, http://read.chaoxing.com/ebook/detail_10975311.html, (Accessed June 15, 2011).

DEVELOPMENT

• Jiangxi Nongminhui, "Dadao yapo nongmin de edizhu! [Overthrow the Evil Landlord Oppression of the Peasants!]",

• Cartoon, 1927, in Keguan Bi and Yuanli Huang. Zhongguo manhua shi [A History of Chinese Cartoons] (Beijing: Culture and Art Publishing House, 1986): 354, http://read.chaoxing.com/ebook/detail_10975311.html, (Accessed June 15, 2011).

DEVELOPMENT

“Nongminxiehui shi nongmin ziji mou jiefang de jiguan”

“Dadao yapo nongmin de

edizhu”Actual landlord

exectuions

Mutually reinforcing violent

propaganda in Jiangxi province,

1927

IMPLEMENTATION

• Guerrilla warfare against Japan• “Unusual undertakings”:• Exterior lines of operations

"Exterior Lines," diagram, in Jack D. Kern, Campaign Planning: The Tools of the Trade, 3rd ed. (Fort Leavenworth: U.S. Combined Arms Center, 2009): 49.

IMPLEMENTATION: A VIOLENT PROPAGANDA PROGRAM’S EXTERIOR LINES OF OPERATIONS

Japan’s control

over the population

CCP propaganda focusing on

reality of Japanese

occupation

Propaganda posters

“Atrocious actions”

IMPLEMENTATION

• Exploitation of “brutal policies”

• The Japanese “policy” of rape – in the sense of scale and official complicity• “capture, conquer, and control [the] victim” to

compensate for some underlying vulnerability• Nicholas A, Grath with H. Jean Birnbaum, Men who Rape: The Psychology of

the Offender (New York: Plenum Press, 1979): 28, 31.

IMPLEMENTATION

Communist infiltration of police districts

Communist forces’ dismantling population’s acceptance of Japanese rule

Japanese need to control population results in construction of defense hamlets

IMPLEMENTATION

• E Zhang, "Dushu si [The Reading Dead],"

• Cartoon, 1934, in Keguan Bi and Yuanli Huang. Zhongguo manhua shi [A History of Chinese Cartoons] (Beijing: Culture and Art Publishing House, 1986): 103, http://read.chaoxing.com/ebook/detail_10975311.html, (Accessed June 15, 2011).

IMPLEMENTATION

• Japanese acknowledgment that an unsupportive population turns subjugation efforts into propaganda victories for the Communists

• Deng Xiaoping reported that propaganda highlighting Japanese brutality led to successful conscription efforts

IMPLEMENTATION

Psychological toll

Propaganda causing Japanese occupation

leaders to feel “despair”

Propaganda creating a “surging desire to

fight” in occupation leaders

Police forces physically and

mentally strained by surprise attacks

CONCLUSION

Lack of definition does not negate existence

Violent Propaganda Program solidified during early years of Anti-Japanese War of Resistance, 1937-39

Mao’s background essential to development and implementation

CONCLUSION

The May Fourth Movement, 1919 – Hunan and Jiangxi peasant uprisings, 1927

Violent Propaganda Program implemented under guerrilla warfare strategy against Japan

Mao’s revolutionary contribution to propaganda and its dissemination