The Kuomintang retreated into safe areas. The Nationalist Government did little to help the ordinary people who were forced to pay taxes even though they were starving. On the other hand, the Communists fought bravely, aided by the peasants. They took control of the countryside, and won the hearts of the people of China. The Sino-Japanese war only ended in 1945 when Japan was defeated in World War II.
The civil war and the liberation of communist China:
Chiang Kai-shek was supported by the USA and even the USSR. His army outnumbered that of the Communists 4 to 1. However, his army was not well prepared, and Chiang had allowed his government to become corrupt, making them unpopular with the peasants. The Red Army was now called the PLA or People's Liberation Army. It was popular with the peasants and middle class, and used guerilla warfare.
By January 1949, the PLA entered Beijing. In October 1949, Mao Tse-tung was installed as the latest leader of the new People's Republic of China. The PLA then swept south and the 300,000 remaining KMT forces fled to Taiwan. A communist government was now formed in china.
Mao Tse-tung:
Mao Tse-tung was born on December 26, 1893 in a small village. During the 1911 Revolution, Mao cut off his pigtail in an act of defiance against the Emperors who had decreed that the Chinese wear them. He then became a soldier in the revolutionary army of Hunan. In 1918, he became an assistant librarian at Peking University. It was here that he started to read the works of Karl Marx and to study the Russian Revolution. He became a Communist.
In 1921 Mao and a few friends decided to form the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 1926 he was head of the peasant department of the CCP. He believed that the peasants had to be armed and trained to lead the revolution. This made him unpopular with the CCP and he was dismissed from the Politburo. This did not end his political career. Instead he went back to the countryside and began to recruit a massive army of peasants. The Red Army was to be the most important force in winning power from the Kuomintang (KMT).
The Kuomintang were determined to destroy the Communists and resented the fact that Mao had created a successful soviet in Kiangsi in China. After the KMT surrounded the soviet, Mao led an army of 100,000 on what became known as the ‘Long March’.
Mao then used his Red Guard to fight against the Japanese who had invaded China. During this time he gained massive support from the peasants. The Red Army helped the villagers to defend themselves. By 1945 he had an army of a million men and ruled over 200 million people. The war against Japan ended with the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan by America. The war was over but now the KMT and the CCP fought each other to rule China.
On October 1, 1949, Mao stood on top of the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Peking and announced that China was now the People's Republic of China. The country would now be transformed into a Communist state.
Political policy:
After a century of continual fighting, Mao was determined that there would finally be peace. Under communism, all the wealth in a country is owned by the state. All business, commerce and industry as well as all the land comes under state control. In China, Mao initially took all the land away from the landowners and divided it up among the peasants. The peasants did not have to pay for this land. Over time, Mao gradually got the peasants to give their land back to the state in order to create huge communes, which could make use of scientific and modern methods of agriculture.
Mao wanted everyone to be equal. He realised that equality was also about how people felt about other people. During the Cultural Revolution, intellectuals were forced to do menial tasks such as cleaning toilets and working on the land.
Agricultural policy:
Mao had to give the peasants their land. The Agragrian Reform Law enabled the government to seize privately owned land in order to divide it among the peasants. He had to destroy the power of the landlords.
Peasants were encouraged to create ‘People's Courts' at which landlords were forced to stand trial. Mao knew that the peasants had suffered under the landlords and by giving them this opportunity to accuse their oppressors of crimes such as charging high rents or treating their tenants badly, he won tremendous support.
Collectivisation:
The Land Reform Law (1952):
Peasants continued to own their land but the idea of working collectively was introduced. Peasants formed Mutual Aid Teams in which they helped to work each other's land.
Collectives :
The next step was to persuade the peasants to form collectives. In the system, 100-300 families joined their land to create one collective family.
Communes :
A commune consists of several cooperatives joined together. About 25,000 people live in a commune, which runs like a town. The commune is responsible for all the agriculture, industry, trade, education and the army in its area.
Industrial policy:
The Communists needed to transform industry in China. Their collectives were put into a five-year plan. It came into operation in 1953. All businesses were taken over by the government. The focus was on the manufacture of steel, coal and chemicals, which would provide raw materials to build an efficient railway and communication system. This was needed to move goods and raw materials all over China.
This plan was dependent on the support of the USSR and was based on the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship. By 1956, Mao began to question his relationship with the USSR. He felt that the Soviet model did not suit China. Soviet aid ended in 1960.
Social reform:
Mao Tse-tung knew that China needed to be modernised and reformed in the social arena and in order to convince people to become Communists, fear and propaganda became essential. Roadside loudspeakers broadcast radio programmes, wall posters were produced, newspapers were strictly controlled and propaganda films were made and shown even in the most remote regions of China. People were not allowed to think independently and this process of political re-eduaction continued throughout the time of Communist government.
The hundred flowers campaign and the Great leap forward:
In 1956, Mao announced that a period of debate was going to be allowed in China. He invited people to criticise and comment on the work of the Communist government. A flood of criticism soon followed. Mao was deeply upset. The campaign was brought to an abrupt halt. Critics were arrested and lost their positions in the Party and in the universities. They were sent to labour camps to be ‘re-educated'. The only way out was to sign a humiliating retraction.
Two problems for China were that there were not enough industries to turn raw materials into products, and that agriculture was lagging behind, causing a threat of famine.
Solution:
Primarily, the ‘Great Leap Forward' aimed to increase production in agriculture and industry. Mao hoped to achieve "the work of twenty years in a single day”. Mao wanted small-scale industry to grow in the countryside. The cooperative farms were joined to form massive communes. Some people in the commune would continue to farm. The rest were given other tasks, like mining coal or ore, smelting it in backyard furnaces and creating basic tools. They built schools, roads, bridges and hospitals. Home life was replaced by shared facilities in the form of dormitories and canteens.
The Great Leap Forward turned out to be a terrible failure.
- The iron produced in backyard furnaces was of poor quality.
- Peasants were not rewarded for working harder and so many were unmotivated.
- Two years of serious drought added to the problem of lowered production. It is estimated that at least 30 million starved to death as a result.
- As the Great Leap was mainly Mao's idea, he was blamed for its failures. He remained the chairman of the Communist Party but Deng Xiao-ping and Lui Shao-qi took power.
The Cultural Revolution of 1966:
The aim of the Cultural Revolution was to get rid of ‘enemies'. An enemy was someone who was supposedly not a true Communist. The Red Guard was made up of university and school students. They actively carried out the Revolution under the leadership of Mao's wife, Jian Qing.
Enemies were arrested and dealt with in the following manner:
- Confessions
- Unfair trials: This led to many innocent people being beaten, tortured or imprisoned. Over a million people were estimated to have been killed.
- Manual labour: People branded as class enemies were sent to do manual labour.
The consequences of the Cultural Revolution
- There was a fall in industrial output
- Deng Xiao-ping and Lui Shao-qi were dismissed.
- China was plunged into years of chaos. Children denounced their own parents as anti-Communist.
- By 1976, the Cultural Revolution was spinning out of control and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) had to use force to stop the Red Guards.
- An entire generation of young people lost out on their education and the education system basically collapsed.
- Many people, particularly the intellectuals, lost faith in the Communist Party.
After the death of Mao:
In September 1976, at the age of 83, Mao died. His widow, Jiang Qing and her 'Gang of Four' claimed to be the rightful heirs of Mao. They strongly represented the ideas of Mao and had the support of those on the 'left' who wanted an even more radical form of Communism to be established in China.
The opposition led by Hua Guofeng and Deng Xiao-ping represented a more moderate approach to Communism. They were popular enough to order the arrest of the 'leftist' including the 'Gang of Four’. The 'leftist' were brought to trial and many were executed. Mao's widow was spared. Deng Xiao-ping became the Premier and the 'rightists' took control of China's destiny.
Resources:
, www.bbc.co.uk
A history book on cold war from India.
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