success in controlling power within the PRC

Communists acting quickly: temporary bodies

Temporary bodies were set up to run the country and a provisional constitution was adopted, until, by 1954, it was possible to adopt more permanent political institutions

Communists acting quickly: The press

• Government control of the press, which was already considered normal before 1949, was continued through Xinhua, the government-controlled press agency

• This ensured that all of the mass circulation daily newspapers reported favourably on government policies and party initiatives, and therefore the new system received positive publicity from the outset

The organisation of the government: the CPPCC

• In September 1949, with victory in the civil war imminent, the Communist Party arranged a meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which took the first steps in preparing a new political system to replace that of Chiang and the Nationalists once they surrendered

• It was composed mainly of Communist sympathisers, but its 600 delegates included a range of other minority groups, such as the China Democratic League, giving it a broader appearance and therefore a greater claim to legitimacy

• The CPPCC appointed the new Central People's Government as the supreme state body and approved the Common Program, a temporary constitution to steer China through the next five years

• It also decided the various state symbols that would be used, such as the flag, national anthem, calendar and choice of capital city

The organisation of the government: the common program

• The Common Program declared that China had been transformed into a new society based on an alliance between the workers and peasants, whose interests would be represented by the Communist Party

• It guaranteed a wide range of personal freedoms, as well as gender equality, making China theoretically one of the freest countries in the world

• The reality, in practice, was of course very different, as the Common Program also gave the army and the police the right to suppress all counter-revolutionary activity, powers they used to great effect in the years that followed

The organisation of the government: ’New democracy’

• As China was not yet thought ready for full socialism, it was conceded that there would have to be a transitional period of co-operation between the working class and the existing capitalist elements of society

• However, the long-term future of these capitalist elements was clearly insecure

• In his speech 'On the People's Democratic Dictatorship, Mao had identified the four classes of people who should be allowed to have rights in the new China

• Everyone else was to be repressed

• Mao referred to this approach as New Democracy, but it was a very different type of democracy from that practised in the UK, and the way it worked is often referred to as democratic centralism

The organisation of the government: bureaux

• China was divided into six regions (bureaux) so that decisions taken at a national level could be imposed throughout the country, and the creation of regional congresses at least gave each region the impression that Beijing (the new capital) was listening to them

• However, by putting four senior Communist officials in place over each region (a military commander, an army political commissar, a government chairman and, most powerful of all, a Party secretary), the CCP was clearly taking no chances

• In some regions, this power was highly concentrated

he organisation of the government: Gao Gang’s role in the regions

• in the north-eastern Bureau of Manchuria, one man - Gao Gang - held all four posts, while elsewhere, three Party leaders (Deng Xiaoping, Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai) all held multiple posts. Such a level of central control was intended to prevent China from reverting to the warlord years of the 1920s, when powerful regional leaders had fought each other while the central government stood by, powerless.

The 1954 constitution and increasing bureaucracy

• In 1954, the new constitution was duly published, at which point China was officially confirmed as a Communist country

• It was very much based on the 1936 Soviet Russian Constitution

• The National People's Congress was created as the new legislature, and the State Council took over the functions of the Central People's Government

• Although again couched in democratic terms, with various references to elections, the Communist Party retained control of the entire electoral process

• Real power remained in the highest Party bodies, where decisions were taken before being endorsed by the state bodies

• The administrative composition of China also changed at this point

• The six regions were now subdivided into 21 provinces, five autonomous border regions and two urban centres (Beijing and Shanghai)

• This constitution was modified in 1975, but remains essentially based on that of 1954.

Changes in state organs at national level, 1949-54.

Growth in bureaucracy: statistics

As the Communist system became more established, the number of bureaucrats needed to staff it grew enormously: from 720,000 state officials employed in 1949 to an astonishing figure of nearly eight million ten years later.

Growth in bureaucracy: consequences

• may have increased the power of central government in theory, but it also worried Mao, who was well aware that such a growth of administrators could slow down the pace of revolution

• Bureaucrats behind their desks become more interested in preserving the status quo in order to safeguard their careers than in advancing the cause of revolution; and, the more paperwork there is, the longer it takes to change anything

• This bureaucratisation of the revolution is what Mao felt had gone wrong in Soviet Russia

The role of the Communist Party: CCP officials

• Leading CCP officials always held the key posts in both the state and the army

• Zhou Enlai was premier of the State Council from 1949 until his death in 1976, while for many years, Peng Dehuai was minister of defence and commander-in-chief of the PLA

• Both of these men were at the core of the Party hierarchy

• The collective leadership of the Party was theoretically responsible for deciding policy in the Politburo, but, as Mao became more powerful, it became harder to oppose him

The role of the Communist Party: Politburo

Political leaders knew they had made it to the top when they were invited to join the Politburo

The role of the Communist Party: party headquarters

The Party headquarters in Beijing was located in Zhongnanhal, the former municipal government buildings in Tiananmen Square. It is China's version of the Russian Kremlin.

The role of the Communist Party: statistics of party membership in 1949 compared to 1959

• As in Russia, party membership was restricted to those who could prove their commitment and ideological correctness

• Out of a population of about 500 million, there were 4.5 million Party members in October 1949, a figure that rose to 5.8 million by the end of 1950

The role of the Communist Party: the role of cadres

• Trained Party members, known as cadres, played key roles in monitoring the running of the civil service, legal system, schools and army at a local level, to ensure that Mao's line was being adherea to.

The role of the Communist Party: mass participation

Unlike in Russia, mass participation in Party in groups was encouraged, particularly in the Youth League (nine million members by 1953) and Women's federation (76 million members), so that ordinary people played a positive role and identified with the Party's causes. The active participation of the peasants in the land reform campaign of the early 1950s, and of the students in the later Cultural Revolution, shows that this could be very effective.

Every employed citizen belonged to a work unit (danwe) that was led by a Party cadre. The danwei issued permits to travel, marry and change jobs.

The role of the Communist Party: Danwei

Every employed citizen belonged to a work unit (danwei) that was led by a Party cadre. The danwei issued permits to travel, marry and change jobs.

the People's Liberation Army: how their importance grew 

Having defeated the Japanese and the GMD to enable the Communist Party to come to power, the PLA enjoyed a special place in Communist mythology, epitomising revolutionary values of discipline, self sacrifice and perseverance against the odds. 

the People's Liberation Army: the shrinking of the PLA

It was the world's largest army, made up of five million men in 1950, and consuming (along with the new navy and air force) over 40 percent of the state budget. Because of this cost, and the fact that it tied up so much manpower that could be better deployed elsewhere in the peace-time economy, it was reduced to 3.5 million by 1953 and 2.5 million by 1957, under the supervision of the minister of defence Peng Dehuai. By reducing the army's size in this way, Mao was also ensunng that it was the Party that was holding the gun

the People's Liberation Army: the nature of the PLA once it shrunk

As it became smaller, the PLA became more professional and more technically advanced with differentiated pay scales between clearly defined ranks. Aware that it was in danger of losing the goodwill of the peasantry, and hence its influence over it, the PLAs political department drew up a new code of conduct in 1956, stressing the need to help peasants on collective farms.

the People's Liberation Army:the PLA after 1949 

After 1949, the PLA remained of pivotal importance to the PRC. Internally, it acted as a means of indoctrination (supervising the 800,000 young conscripts who were recruited each year for a three-year term), as a workforce in the many public works projects needed to rebuild the transport infrastructure after the civil and as a way to enforce central government control 

Extemally, the PLA's role was to achieve Great Power status for China, the opportunity for which soon arose in the Korean War.