he brink of falling apart. The last stand of the old guard was an attempted coup in August 1991. It was easy for the plotters to take over the central government, but they found it impossible to topple Yeltsin and the Russian Federation government. The coup collapsed within days, and the Community party was outlawed. The fate of the August coup showed how little vitality was left in the Soviet Union's central government, and it was not long before appropriate conclusions were drawn. In another quieter coup in December, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus declared that a Commonwealth of Independent States would replace the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This declaration only ratified the reality of republican independence.Gorbachev bowed to the inevitable and resigned at the end of the year. The 74-year-old history of the Soviet Union had come to an end (Grolier). After Russia, China was the next major country to adopt to the communist system of beliefs. It was on October 1, 1949 that Mao Tsetung pronounced the establishment of the new Chinese Communist state: the People's Republic of China. It was for this reason that Mao and over 10,000 people set off on what was to be called The Long March. They began in the Jiangxi province where their ranks rapidly grew and became known as the Fourth Red Army. It was comprised of peasants and soldiers who were in favor of a Communist regime, or were in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist views. Mao's army never numbered more that 85,000 peasants, while Chiang's forces, the Kuomintang, numbered 200,000 well-equipped troops. The odds were definitely against Mao. It was for this reason that he favored guerrilla warfare. Mao described these tactics in his Little Red Book:When the enemy advanced, we retreat.When he camps, we harass.When he tires, we attack.When he retires, we pursue.Our weapons are supplied us by the enemy.In 1934, Chiang encircled the Jiangxi province in which Mao ...
