When Sun Yat-sen announced his policy of alliance with the Soviet Union in 1923, Deng strongly supported it and was appointed to the preparatory committee for the Whampoa Military Academy which the Russians helped the Chinese Nationalists build.

To contend against the KMT, the Chinese Communists were forced to shift their bases to the countryside and mountain areas.

[5] Deng vigorously attacked Chiang Kai-shek as a dictator, angering the Nationalist government in Nanjing.

[6] His tomb is located near Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum on Zhongshan Mountain near Nanjing[7] Deng's views were socialist but after he left the Nationalists, he did not align with other parties, insisting that China's revolution should not be reined in to fit the needs of Russia or the Comintern.

[4] After Deng's death, his party supported the short-lived Fujian People's Government which opposed Chiang Kai-shek and sought an alliance with the Chinese Communists.