ecause of this
unorthodox attitude, he was for years severely attacked as a
deviationist.

When Chiang Kai-shek separated from the KMT in 1927, the main body of
the KMT remained in Hankow as the legal government. But now, while
Chiang Kai-shek executed all leftists, union leaders, and communists who
fell into his hands, tensions in Hankow increased between the Chinese
Communist Party and the rest of the KMT. Finally, the KMT turned against
the communists and reunited with Chiang Kai-shek. The remaining
communists retreated to the Hunan-Kiangsi border area, the centre of
Mao's activities; even the orthodox communist wing, which had condemned
Mao, now had to come to him for protection from the KMT. A small
communist state began to develop in Kiangsi, in spite of pressure and,
later, attacks of the KMT against them. By 1934, this pressure became so
strong that Kiangsi had to be abandoned, and in the epic "Long March"
the rest of the communists and their army fought their way through all
of western and north-western China into the sparsely inhabited,
underdeveloped northern part of Shensi, where a new socialistic state
was created with Yen-an as its capital.

After the fall of the communist enclave in Kiangsi, the prospects for
the Nationalist regime were bright; indeed, the unification of China was
almost achieved. At this moment a new Japanese invasion threatened and
demanded the full attention of the regime. Thus, in spite of talk about
land reform and other reforms which might have led to a liberalization
of the government, no attention was given to internal and social
problems except to the suppression of communist thought. Although all
leftist publications were prohibited, most historians and sociologists
succeeded in writing Marxist books without using Marxist terminology, so
that they escaped Chiang's censors. These publications contributed
greatly to preparing China's intellectuals and youth for communism.

When the Japanese War began, the communists in Yen-an and the
Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek agreed to co-operate against the
invaders. Yet, each side remembered its experiences in 1927 and
distrusted the other. Chiang's resistance against the invaders became
less effective after the Japanese occupied all of China's ports;
supplies could reach China only in small quantities by airlift or via
the Burma Road. There was also the belief that Japan could be defeated
only by an attack on Japan itself and that t