Salt of the Earth
The Political Origins of Peasant Protest and Communist Revolution in China
- 446 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Salt of the Earth
The Political Origins of Peasant Protest and Communist Revolution in China
About this book
On October 1, 1949, a rural-based insurgency demolished the Nationalist government of Chiang-kai Shek and brought the Chinese Communists to national power. How did the Chinese Communists gain their mandate to rule the countryside? In this pathbreaking study, Ralph A. Thaxton, Jr., provides a fresh and strikingly original interpretation of the political and economic origins of the October revolution.Salt of the Earth is based on direct interviews with the village people whose individual and collective protest activities helped shape the nature and course of the Chinese revolution in the deep countryside. Focusing on the Party's relationship with locally esteemed non-Communist leaders, the author shows that the Party's role is best understood in terms of its intimate connections with local collective activism and with existing modes of local protest, both of which were the product of rural people acting on their own grievances, interests, and goals.The author's collection and use of oral historiesâfrom the last remaining eyewitnessesâand written corroborative materials is a remarkable achievement; his new interpretation of why China's rural people supported and joined the Communists in their quest for state power is dramatically different from what has come before. This book will stimulate debates on the genesis of popular mobilization and the growth of insurgency for decades to come.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1997.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- CONTENTS
- TABLES, MAPS, AND FIGURE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- PEASANT MEMORY AND ORAL HISTORY: A NOTE ON METHODOLOGY
- ONE Bureaucratic Capitalism and the Emergence of Popular Antistate Protest
- TWO State Making and the Intrusion of the Shuijingtuan into the Peasantsâ Salt Market
- THREE The Peasant Saltmakersâ Struggle in Puyang
- FOUR Qian Kou Village: The Police Attack on Prosperity
- FIVE The Police Attack on Impoverished Qi Ji
- SIX The Battle with the Bicycle Cops in Subsistence-Level Fanzhuang
- SEVEN Peasant Resentment, War, and National Resistance
- EIGHT Community, Culture, and the Persistence of Rural Collective Action: Qian Foji in the CCP-Led War of Resistance
- NINE The Popular Fear of the Return of the Kuomintang Fiscal Center and the Outbreak of Civil War
- Conclusion
- NOTES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- INDEX