Mao Zedong

=== Nanchang and Autumn Harvest Uprisings: 1927 ===
[[File:中國工農紅軍軍旗.svg|thumb|Flag of the [[History of the People's Liberation Army#From the founding of the People's Liberation Army to the Korean War|Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army]]]]

Fresh from the success of the Northern Expedition against the warlords, Chiang turned on the Communists, who by now numbered in the tens of thousands across China. Chiang ignored the orders of the [[Wuhan Nationalist government|Wuhan-based left KMT government]] and marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by Communist militias. As the Communists awaited Chiang's arrival, he loosed the [[White Terror (mainland China)|White Terror]], massacring {{formatnum:5000}} with the aid of the [[Green Gang]].{{sfn|Feigon|2002|p=42}}<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=106}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=61–62}}</ref> In Beijing, 19 leading Communists were killed by [[Zhang Zuolin]].{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=106–109, 112–113}}{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=62}} That May, tens of thousands of Communists and those suspected of being communists were killed, and the CCP lost approximately {{formatnum:15000}} of its {{formatnum:25000}} members.{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=62}}

The CCP continued supporting the Wuhan KMT government, a position Mao initially supported,{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=62}} but by the time of the [[5th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP's Fifth Congress]] he had changed his mind, deciding to stake all hope on the peasant militia.{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=63}} The question was rendered moot when the Wuhan government expelled all Communists from the KMT on 15 July.{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=63}} The CCP founded the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China, better known as the "[[History of the People's Liberation Army#From the founding of the People's Liberation Army to the Korean War|Red Army]]", to battle Chiang. A battalion led by General [[Zhu De]] was ordered to take the city of [[Nanchang]] on 1 August 1927, in what became known as the [[Nanchang Uprising]]. They were initially successful, but were forced into retreat after five days, marching south to [[Shantou]], and from there they were driven into the wilderness of [[Fujian]].{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=63}} Mao was appointed commander-in-chief of the Red Army and led four regiments against Changsha in the [[Autumn Harvest Uprising]], in the hope of sparking peasant uprisings across Hunan. On the eve of the attack, Mao composed a poem—the earliest of his to survive—titled "Changsha". His plan was to attack the KMT-held city from three directions on 9 September, but the Fourth Regiment deserted to the KMT cause, attacking the Third Regiment. Mao's army made it to Changsha, but could not take it; by 15 September, he accepted defeat and with 1000 survivors marched east to the [[Jinggang Mountains]] of [[Jiangxi]].<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=64}}; {{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=122–125}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=46–47}}</ref>