Chinese Communist Revolution (1949)

During the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949, Chinese communist leader and revolutionary Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China (PRC). Prior to this, there had been widespread civil war between China's communist revolutionaries and the dominant Chinese nationalists. This civil war had persisted, on and off, since the 1920s. Though fighting continued for years after the establishment of Mao's government, the widespread civil war had ended.

Overview

Beginning in the 1920s, the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were engaged in a brutal civil war over the domination of China. In their earlier years, the two parties were allied. They worked together under the common banner of liberating China from the control of several brutal local warlords. However, the alliance was short-lived. When the KMT came under new leadership in 1927, it immediately broke the alliance and began attacking its former allies in the CCP. Mao, along with a small communist army, was quickly defeated and retreated south to regroup.

The outnumbered and outgunned CCP began learning and perfecting guerilla tactics, hiding among the peasants while recruiting from them and attacking from ambush and then retreating back into hiding. It inflicted heavy casualties on the militarized KMT, which seemed to harden the resolve of its leaders. Members of the KMT eventually surrounded the CCP's primary stronghold in southern China with the intent of exterminating every communist they found. Mao and the CCP managed to create a hole in the blockading KMT forces and retreated to remote villages. It was during the communist party discussions in these villages that Mao gained prestige and solidified his path to leadership.

When the Japanese invaded China in the early 1930s, the CCP guerillas were the primary military resistance for many areas. Because of this, the CCP's "Red Army" was flooded with recruits from peasants, swelling its numbers, and afterwards leaving the CCP with a well-trained army of combat-tested veterans. KMT troops also fought against the Japanese but in vastly smaller numbers. Mao also used the war against the Japanese to finalize his control of the CCP by campaigning against any leaders who disagreed with his views or tactics.

Soon after, the United States forced Japan's surrender in World War II, and Japan ceased to be a threat to the Chinese. In the ensuing power vacuum, the KMT and the CCP once again went to war for control of China. This time, the war went differently for the communists. The war was brutal and lasted from 1945 to 1949, but the CCP used its large and experienced Red Army to crush the remaining KMT soldiers. This marked the beginning of the People's Republic of China (PRC), led by the CCP, which had Chairman Mao as head of state. Much to the dismay of many western powers, a communist government had been successfully installed in China.

After the Chinese Communist Revolution, the CCP took complete control of the government. It then took control of all land, agriculture, news media, and general industry. Much of this was established with help from the Soviet Union, which was more than happy to lend aid to another potential communist world power. Mao and the rest of the Chinese communists then turned to reshaping Chinese society.

Next, the CCP instituted a reform program it called the "Great Leap Forward," which was meant to catapult China from a farming-based economy into an industrial economy in just a few years. This program was a disaster and led to widespread famine, protests, and then violent police and military crackdowns on the protestors and any perceived dissidents. The final death toll is uncertain, but it's estimated that 20 to 43 million Chinese citizens died. People who failed to follow the communist political discourse in a way that pleased their superiors were labeled "counter-revolutionary" and subject to imprisonment, labor, or death.

All of this, coupled with a cooling of political relations with the Soviet Union, led to a small restructuring of the communist party. Mao took responsibility for the failure of the Great Leap Forward, temporarily retreated to Shanghai, and played a more minor role in running the CCP.

Mao returned to power for the last time several years later by orchestrating the Chinese Cultural Revolution. During this time, Mao had his people distribute little red books filled with propaganda about purging the party of traitors to the nation's youth. These youth, deemed the "Red Guard," effectively became a reserve force of the CCP's army. They instituted brutal mob violence against anyone who spoke out against the communist party or Mao. They also gave the names of suspected traitors to the authorities, who often beat and executed them based on hearsay evidence. Members of the Red Guard even turned on their families—they reported parents and older siblings who criticized Mao or the Cultural Revolution. This period, much like the Great Leap Forward, is looked back on as a terrible mistake.

While still a communist state, the Chinese government is significantly more modernized today. The economy, though heavily regulated and still largely state-owned, has become much more capitalist in practice. In official statements by the CCP, the famines and deaths during the Great Leap Forward are primarily attributed to natural disasters. However, many members of the former Red Guard have come to profoundly regret their actions and have publically apologized and called for change.

Tyler J. Biscontini

Bibliography

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