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