Although the CCP and the Nationalists were now fully established political parties, neither could take real control of China. Both parties, although worlds apart, had a common foe that diminished the power the central government had; these enemies were the warlords. The warlords were powerful men who ran regions of China like independent nations. Each party on its own could not have defeated the warlords, who had their own armies and vigilante police forces, therefore the two parties had to team up and out their political views aside to defeat their adversaries.
After the success of the march north (1926), which saw all the warlords either defeated or surrendering, the CCP and the Nationalists parting company in the bloodiest of fashions. The Nationalists saw the return march through Shanghai as an opportunity to exterminate the ever-growing CCP army. The Nationalist army was ordered by leader Chiang Kai-shek to kill as many CCP soldiers as possible.
On face-value this may not seem like a reason for the eventual success of the CCP but the remaining Communists – and vitally leader Mao Zedong – fled to the countryside regions and formed their own state; the Jiangxi Soviet. The Communists in the Jiangxi area won the support of the peasants by their many changes and vast improvements to the region. Peasants were all given an equal share of land, and taxes on this land were lowered significantly. Other improvements to the public services were the building of schools by the CCP; this helped to break the vicious cycle of poverty. Women were won around by the CCP as barbaric traditions such as foot-binding and arranged marriages were outlawed. The Red Army were also seen as a friendly and respectable defence force, their code of conduct stipulated that they were always to be courteous and honest with the peasants.
Winning the support of the masses, as in the peasants, would always be the key to success in China; it could always be said that if a party has the support of the masses then they will take control of a country. This was always an obstacle with the Nationalist party who failed to abandon partly their capitalist ideas.
With the CCP taking more and more land from the Nationalists, Chiang Kai-shek knew that something had to be done about the CCP. In 1930 he launched his first ‘Extermination Campaign’ against the CCP. He sent a large army into the Jiangxi Soviet, but they were beaten with consummate ease by the CCP. This was due to the CCP using guerrilla tactics, such as ambushing groups of Nationalist soldiers and attacking at nighttime. Chiang launched three more campaigns and three more times he failed to stop the strength and will of the CCP.
His fifth and final extermination campaign in 1934 would have more success. Chiang changed the tactics of his army by building blockhouses and digging trenches so the CCP could not use their guerrilla tactics against them. The CCP, too, changed their tactics as Otto Braun became their new military leader. Braun sent the Red Army into head-on battles where they were easily picked off.
By October 1934 the future of the CCP looked bleak, the only way to survive this campaign was by running from the enemy. Eighty-seven thousand Red Army soldiers set off from Jiangxi but many were killed and suffered badly on their march to another Soviet in the North of the country. Again, this does not seem like a reason for the CCP’s eventual ascension to power in China, but the Long March brought much triumph to them. The Long March formed tight bonds between the soldiers and saw spiritual leader Mao back at the helm. Mao was a highly acclaimed leader and motivated his people well. In addition, on the way to the Yanan Soviet, the message of the CCP was spread to more peasants that won yet more support for the party. Ultimately, without the Long March, the CCP would have been eradicated; therefore there would have been no Communist party to come to power in 1949.
Despite the hatred between the CCP and the Nationalists, once again in 1938 they had to join to defeat another common for, the Japanese. After invading mainland China in 1937, the Japanese had over-run many large cities and ports without any challenge from the Nationalist party. The public wanted the forces to crush the Japanese but Chiang Kai-shek did not want war – this lost him support amongst his followers. It was only after Chiang was kidnapped by a Manchurian warlord that he realised going to war with the Japanese was the only way for his total control of China.
The war helped the CCP come to power in 1949 as they were strengthened by yet another victory, and one more foe was crossed off the now decreasing list of enemies. It also proved to the public that the CCP were prepared to stand up against adversaries of the entire Chinese nation. It also showed the Nationalist party in a bad light, the public were starting to realise that the Nationalist party may not fulfil all of their promises.
After the Japanese were fully removed from China, the CCP took advantage of their location and quickly moved into liberation areas. These liberation areas saw the implementation of reforms seen in already significant soviets such as Yanan. This brought more people to see the fantastic leadership the CCP could bring to China.
The Nationalist party did not like the CCP taking more and more land from them and Civil War had out broken in 1945. The Nationalists looked set to win the war with great ease; they had three million American troops, much better weapons than the CCP, all the major cities, main railways lines and the support of many foreign countries. The Nationalists had this phenomenal equipment yet were still beaten by the inferior CCP army. This was firstly due to the problems seen in Nationalist areas; inflation was rapid and soon enough nobody could afford the basic means to live. This forced people to loot and riot just to survive. The Nationalist Blue-shirts tried to control this through harsh methods but this only sent more people on to the side of the CCP. The CCP’s victory was also down to the fantastic military leadership of Mao Zedong, who brought his men together and motivated them in such a manner to beat a much stronger army at the Battle of Huai-Hai.
There is no one single reason for the Chinese Communist Party coming to power in 1949; their success is one of great complexity and it saw many desperately needed changes and improvements to the newly named People’s Republic of China. In my opinion I think that the major reason for the success of the CCP was because of the people, the people who sided with the CCP after that’s what the CCP believed in equality for all and the CCP not only believed in but implemented this equality.
