Up to that point, Mao had been an important member of the party (he had been at its first congress in Shanghai in 1921), but not the leader. The very fact that the party had been forced onto the Long March suggested that his rivals’ strategies had failed, and his criticisms of the CCP’s dominant ideological line, including the attention to urban over rural revolution, had real substance. Although Mao still had rivals, the march to Bao’an was an important stage in Mao’s ascent. The Long March was to become a glorious foundation myth of the Chinese Communist Party. In reality, it was a desperate
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