They received their nickname because of their strong support for the orthodox political positions advocated by Joseph Stalin and Pavel Mif.
They ended Li Lisan's aggressive policy of assaulting the cities and attempted to bring the far-flung Chinese soviets under stricter central control.
[3] Sun Yat-sen University was founded in 1925 as part of the First United Front agreement that the Soviets had brokered between the CCP and the KMT.
[7] The thirteen who are included on some but not all lists are Kai Feng, Chen Weimin [zh], Du Ting, Guo Miaogen, Li Yuanjie (李元杰), Wang Baoli (王宝礼), Song Panmin, Xiao Tefu (肖特甫), Xu Yixin, Yun Yurong, Wang Xiu, Shen Zhiyuan, and Liu Qunxian (female).
[8] Although the members of the faction were thereafter scattered and never reunited as a group of twenty-eight, upon their return to China a significant minority would play a major role in the politics of the CCP.
[9] Those who reached Shanghai in 1930 joined the rising tide of criticism against Li Lisan, who at that time dominated party leadership.
[10] However, contrary to what many early western sources assumed, the 28 Bolsheviks did not play a significant role in ousting Li Lisan.
[12] In January 1931 the Central Committee of CCP held its 4th Plenary Meeting, and with the presence and direct support of Pavel Mif, Wang Ming and his group won a landslide victory.
Although Wang Ming returned to Moscow after a short stay in Shanghai, Bo Gu and Zhang Wentian both took the position of General Secretary of Central Committee of the Party in turn, and led the Chinese revolution in a radical/pro-left manner.
Shortly after the march began, party leaders held an enlarged congress to determine the direction and leadership of the revolution.
Frederick Litten writes[13] agreeing with Kampen that there was no such faction in the Jiangxi Soviet and goes further to question whether the group acted in any kind of coordinated way at all.