Communists Take Power in China

Qing Dynasty Collapses

  • In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Qing Dynasty weakened until it collapsed
  • Sun Yat-Sen became the first provisional president of the Republic of China, and eventually gave power to Yuan Shikai
  • After some time, Yuan Shikai declared himself emperor-- people were unhappy with this, as China had moved past dynastic rule
  • Because China was no longer centralized, the Warlord Era began

Warlord Era

  • Regions were controlled by different warlords with their own militaries
  • After Sun Yat-Sen’s death, Jiang Jieshi began to continue his movement with the Kuomintang/Guomindang (Nationalist) movement
  • However, after WW1 ended, an anti-imperialist movement arose in China (people were done being controlled by countries with spheres of influence)
  • From this movement, the Chinese Communist Party was created
    • Called for a Communist party in the government
    • Seen as a threat by Jiang Jieshi, so he sent members of the Kuomintang (KMT) to massacre communists and sympathizers
    • The KMT and the CCP quickly became locked in conflict: the Chinese Civil War

Chinese Civil War

  • Communists-- Red Army, heavily persecuted by Nationalists and forced to retreat
  • Nationalists had the advantage at first, nearly destroying the organizational structure of the CCP
  • However, Mao quickly gained followers-- especially through the Long March in which the Red Army escaped the KMT in a long march across China
  • However, the fighting was interrupted when Japan invaded China

WW2 in China

  • The Red Army and the Nationalists temporarily stopped fighting each other to work together to fight off Japan
  • Mao Zedong and the Communists:
    • Controlled most of northern China
    • Mobilized peasants for a guerilla war against Japan
    • Promoted literacy and improved food production, won loyalty for this
  • Jiang Jieshi and the Nationalists:
    • Controlled most of southern China
    • Were aided by the US but most of the money was kept by corrupt officers
    • Had an army of 2.5 million but saved their strength for the battle against the Red Army of the communists
  • After WW2, the fighting between the Communists and Nationalists resumed

Civil War Resumes

  • The Nationalists had a larger army and aid from the US, but little popular support
  • Communist troops were loyal due to Mao’s promise to return the land to peasants
  • The Red Army took control of China’s major cities
  • Mao gained control of China and the Nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan
  • The People’s Republic of China and the USSR signed a treaty of friendship soon after

Transformations in China

  • Chinese troops expanded into Tibet, India, and Inner Mongolia
  • Mao issued the Agrarian Reform Law
    • 10% of the rural population controlled almost all the farmland
    • This law allowed Mao to seize their lands and divide them among the peasants
    • His forces killed over a million landlords who resisted
    • This greatly reduced economic inequality
  • Private companies were nationalized (became owned by the government)
  • Campaign to Suppress Counter-revolutionaries-- public executions targeting:
    • Former KMT officials
    • Businessmen accused of “disturbing” the market
    • Former employees of Western companies
    • Intellectuals whose loyalties were suspicious
  • Campaign to reduce opium addiction, which nearly eradicated the problem but executed drug dealers and forced addicts into treatment
  • Hundred Flowers Campaign-- people were encouraged to share ideas and criticisms about the government, but a few months later the policy was reversed and people who had spoken out were executed
  • Mao created a Five-Year Plan setting high industrial production goals that greatly increased Chinese production

“Great Leap Forward”

  • Meant to further the success of the Five-Year Plan
  • Called for larger collective farms called communes
    • Giant farms of thousands of acres of farmland
    • Supported thousands of peasants
    • Everything was communally shared
    • No one owned any personal items
  • Because only the state profited, people had no incentive to work
  • The program ended after crop failures caused a famine that killed millions

Post Sino-Soviet Split

  • After the Great Leap Forward backfired, Mao took less of a role in the government
  • The government leaders began to move away from his strictly socialist ideals
    • Farm workers could live in their own homes
    • Farmers could sell crops grown on private plots
    • Factory workers could earn wage increases and promotions
  • Mao was unhappy with this and thought it weakened social equality
  • He convinced millions of young people to form militia units called Red Guards
  • They led an uprising, the Cultural Revolution, with the goal of creating a society where all were equal

The Cultural Revolution

  • Working peasants were heroes, while intellectuals and artists were considered dangerous
  • Red Guards shut down schools and made intellectuals "purify” themselves through hard labor
  • Historical artifacts and cultural sites were destroyed to eliminate traditional parts of society
  • Anyone who was considered a threat was persecuted and even killed

End of the Cultural Revolution

  • Thousands were killed or imprisoned during the Revolution
  • The chaos endangered farm production and caused factories to shut down
  • The army was ordered to put down the Red Guards and the Communist Party began to restore order

US and Russia Involvement

  • The US helped Jiang Jieshi set up a Nationalist government in Taiwan
  • The USSR gave aid to Communist China and the countries pledged to defend each other if one was attacked
  • However, as time passed, China and the USSR began to clash more often
    • Fought over border disputes
    • Political competition to be seen as the leader of the Communist movement
  • Sino-Soviet Split-- CCP ideology separated from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
    • After Stalin’s death, the USSR began to branch out and seek worldwide coexistence
    • The CCP wanted to root out capitalist and traditional elements of society and became strictly Marxist

Worldwide Effects

  • China provided military and financial support to Communists in Korea and Vietnam
  • Mao helped expand communism in Latin America (Cuba, Peru, Bolivia)
  • Latin American communist leaders came to China to learn about Mao’s techniques for ruling
  • African revolutionaries later did the same and used these tactics in their own countries