Zhang Guotao
| s = 张国焘
| w = Chang Kuo-t'ao
}}
Zhang Guotao (November 26, 1897 – December 3, 1979) was a Chinese revolutionary who was a founding member of the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and rival to
Mao Zedong. During the 1920s he studied in the
Soviet Union and became a key contact with the
Comintern, organizing the CCP labor movement in the
United Front with the
Kuomintang. From 1931 to 1932, after the Party had been driven from the cities, Zhang was placed in charge of the
Eyuwan Soviet. When his armies were driven from the region, he joined the
Long March but lost a contentious struggle for party leadership to Mao Zedong. Zhang's armies then took a different route from Mao's and were badly beaten by local Muslim
Ma clique forces in
Gansu. When his depleted forces finally arrived to join Mao in
Yan'an, Zhang continued his losing challenge to Mao, and left the party in 1938. Zhang eventually retired to Canada, in 1968. He became a Christian shortly before his death in
Scarborough, Ontario (a suburb of
Toronto), in 1979. His memoirs provide valuable and vivid information on his life and party history.
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