ABSTRACT
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) formally established a military arm on August 1, 1972. Then known as the Red Army, its members included idealistic but untrained communists, deserters from warlord armies, peasant militia, and bandits. Mao Zedong believed that the last category was the most numerous. His complaints about officers mis-treating their troops, lack of discipline, and “the roving insurgency mentality”—i.e. banditry—indicate the difficulties of welding this disparate group into a fighting force in support of communist goals. Communist leaders were concerned that the Red Army would degenerate into the warlord bandit force that formed an important part of its origins.
