Chinese Communist Party in 1949 1

FACTORS FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY IN 1949

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 Chinese Communist Party in 1949 2

Introduction

The Chinese history was greatly impacted by the victory of the Chinese Communist

Party, that occupied the entire mainland of China and ultimately led to establishing the 'People's

Republic.' The success of the communist party was not an expected event particularly among the

ruling circles of the bourgeois politicians. But it was the Trotskyites who were more appalled,

due to the fact that the victory of the communist party was the consequence of the revolutionary

Menshevik program. Furthermore, the armed forces of the peasants had completely isolated

themselves from the urban class. There are different opinions regarding Mao's victory with

regards to what were the causes that eventually led to the success of the Chinese Communist

Party. There was not only one factor that made the CCP victorious; rather, it is was the result of

several factors that worked together in favor of the communist party.

Why and how did Communist party succeed?

Chiang Kai-shek's government arose during the atrocities during the second Chinese

revolution which is why it was natural that there was antagonism and hatred among the people.

The people were highly oppressed and the masses were exploited in the most barbaric methods.

All reactionary influences were unified under this government and only aimed to curb the

masses. The main characteristics of Chiang's regime included corruption, Asiatic dictatorship

and incompetence which were disclosed during the Resistance War (Eastman et al., 1991). The

ineffectiveness of Chiang's government was revealed with the failure of his policy of

nondefensism due to which the government was forced to fight and losing city after city.

Simultaneously, the government still had a tight control over any kind of activity by the masses;

the warlords and bureaucrats exploited this opportunity to gain from smuggling for this own
 Chinese Communist Party in 1949 3

enrichment causing national disaster. All these events embedded bitterness in the common man,

which was evident from the student demonstrations as well as the unrest among the peasants

(SNOW, 1968). The bureaucrats and militarists squeezed the peasants and stole all the

properties. The masses were infuriated leading to large scale protests and student demonstrations

which were further answered by suppression, assassinations, kidnappings and massacres.

Commerce and Industry was badly hit and workers rose in a strive due to starvation.

Mao Tse-tung wasn't even a saint but still at that time, rather than fuelling the people to

rebel against the government, he order them to wait to be liberated. The fact was that the military

force of Chiang was well equipped with American weapons and outnumbered the army of CCP.

But this army had two weaknesses: firstly, most of the soldiers were recruited after kidnappings

and secondly, the soldiers were mistreated and oppressed by the high-rank officers. Mao focused

on 'the struggle for the hearts of the people' (Eastman et al., 1991); in contrast to the corrupt and

detached policy of Chiang, Mao got involved in goals of the nation sympathized with the

peasantry. While the Communists also employed brutal methods but their administration was

effective and most importantly, the CCP gave license to the peasants so that they could

confiscate the property of their hateful landlords (SNOW, 1968).

The basic strength of the communist party was the peasant armed forces which was the

result of the peasant revolts that had exploded in the southern provinces of China. The revolts

alone did not have any hopeful future, but when they assembled their armed forces, not only they

developed but also fought a peasant war. These forces surrendered later on to the government

that had gained significant military aid from the imperialists, but once again developed when the

war broke against the Japanese imperialism (de Ven, 1968). By the end of the war, not only the

peasant army developed in numbers but also in quality, becoming stronger as a military force.
 Chinese Communist Party in 1949 4

The CCP has always had an oscillatory stance towards the government; when required, it

surrendered, dissolved the Red Army and canceled the agrarian revolution to collaborate and

support Chiang's government, but it also resisted the government and criticized its military,

economic and political advances in the war (Pepper, 1979). The common people resented the

rotten regime of Chiang; the peasant masses as well as the bourgeois intellectuals had put all

their hopes in the communist party to lead. With all this strength that CCP gained from the

people and the peasant armed forces, along with the aid that it got from the Soviet Union, victory

seemed to becomes clearer. Even though, the Soviet bureaucracy feared that a genuine revolution

would succeed headed by the peasant and working class, they still offered to help CCP to resist

the threat of the American imperialism, but to the extent that they exerted some control over the

CCP. So, not only, was CCP given political support but also material aid by the Soviet Union.

When Soviet occupied Manchuria, with the highest rural population and heavy industry,

Chiang's government got a massive blow (Eastman et al., 1991). It did give the majority of city

and mines to the official government but only after destroying the machinery and factories. It

also controlled Dairen and Port Arthur, blocking the mainline of sea communication of the

government and restricting arm supplies as well as any means of trade and exchange.

Before the Second World War, the Chinese economy and politics was under the great

influence of imperialists from America, Britain and Japan. By the end of the war, the Japanese

and British imperialism had already vanished but the American imperialists had been controlling

and helping Chiang's government with regards to monopolizing the Chinese market. By the end

of the war, almost half a million American troops had been transported into North China, Taiwan

and Manchuria. Furthermore, 53000 US marines were present in Peiping, Tientsin and northern

areas. The involvement of the American troops to this extent raised suspicion and the Chinese
 Chinese Communist Party in 1949 5

Communists protested against it. The arms and equipment of the Japanese troops that

surrendered to Soviet Union also got to the hands of the CCP, building the military apparatus of

Mao Tse-tung (Eastman et al., 1991). When the government took control of the offices that were

sponsored by Japanese administration, it was expected that the assets would be either given back

to their original owners or to new owners in an official manner. As the industrial production was

suspended, there was hundreds and thousands of layoffs. The government, rather than

compensating the factory-owners and businessmen with enterprise, did not fulfill any political

obligation and let their officials take over the wealth of the industry. The extreme corruption in

both military and administration opened the eyes of the American imperialists; the US material

was mostly possessed by the bureaucrats while the American arms reached the CCP's due to the

inefficient Kuomintang officers. Chiang Kai-shek was advised by Washington to make some

reforms like replacing some corrupt officials with democratic figures in the administration while

limiting the level of oppression and exploitation (Eastman et al., 1991). Furthermore, the US also

suggested a short-term compromise with Mao; the aim was only to manipulate and find other

ways to destroy the latter but Chiang completely refused both reforms and compromise. Having

found no way to control Chiang's government, the aid by US was completely abandoned giving a

final blow to the Chiang's regime (Pepper, 1979).

Despite all these reasons and factors that seemed to have worked in amalgamation to

make the communist party victorious, it was the economic factor that damaged the Nationalist

government the most. With the chronic rise in the prices in 1941, China experienced the worst

inflation as it soared becoming uncontrollable. The inflation resulted when China's most

productive provinces were captured by Japanese in 1937 (de Ven, 1968). Furthermore, the

inflation got uncontrollable when almost 80 percent of the government's expenditure was spent
 Chinese Communist Party in 1949 6

in maintaining the army after 1949. The government borrowed heavily while issuing more paper

money. The monetary system of China crumpled in 1949 due to the soaring heights of inflation.

The value of money had fallen drastically and there was no way that the government could make

an attempt of paying off its debts both local and foreign. Moreover, the government was facing

financial bankruptcy which further demoralized the people since the government was being

discredited. Without thinking, the government had chosen to finance the war by increasing debt

which resulted in nothing except deteriorating the economy of the nation. In order to generate its

revenue, an irrational tax system was levied on legitimate businesses that harmed the local

producers. Furthermore, the government officials, exploited the circumstances and gained

business advantages like obtaining import commodities and foreign exchange which was not

available to the common businessmen (Pepper, 1979). It could not be wrong in saying that the

defeat of the nationalists during the civil war was a blessing in disguise for the government since,

otherwise it could not have been possible for them to handle the economic collapse.

Analysis & Conclusion

While the basic factor that ensured the success of the communist party was that unlike the

KMT Government, they believed in acting in the interests of the people; the victory of the

Chinese Communist Party in 1949 was still the consequence of an array of events that led to the

failure of Chiang's government. The CCP had gained the confidence of the people and its biggest

strength was the working class, intellectuals and most importantly, the armed force that was

created by the peasants. Whereas the KMT leaders fail to provide support to the intellectual

community, the Communists made use of their support by allowing them active participation

(Pepper, 1979). The CCP focused on taking a national course and also winning the people.
 Chinese Communist Party in 1949 7

An argument can be given that it was the weaknesses of the Chiang government that

made the CCP victorious; on the other hand, the intelligent tactics by Mao could be given the

credit for this success too. Both the leaders had completely different ideologies and the most

important thing is that while Mao was an opportunist, Chiang made irrational decisions

neglecting all the opportunities at hand. Chiang had appointed people not on the basis of their

ability, but on the basis of loyalty which meant that people having more skills and talent did not

get a chance. This problem was aggravated by his poor strategies and generalship. The

Communist personnel had an exemplary behavior; rather than following the footsteps of the

KMT leaders, the Communist leaders corrected their errors and rectified any mistakes they were

making.

Among the most significant factors that played a significant role in causing this havoc

were political, social and economic reasons. The Chiang government was highly corrupt and

rather than developing the nation, the focus of the officials and bureaucrats was merely on

increasing their wealth and gaining personal benefits (Pepper, 1979). The attitude and policies of

the government towards the general public was highly oppressive and mostly, the people were

exploited for the interests of the government. Chiang's government failed to gain the popular

backing of its people. Until the government had the backing of imperialism, it was steady but due

to the very stupid decisions, it lost the support of the American aid. Earlier, it had already gotten

rid of the Japanese and British imperialists but, all the arms and weapons that was gained from

the Japanese eventually landed with the Chinese Communist Party that had already gained

popularity.

To add more, Soviet Union decide to back the CCP in order to eliminate the threat of the

American imperialists by providing them military aid. Along with political ineffectiveness,
 Chinese Communist Party in 1949 8

Chiang's government was also an economic disaster; since 1945, the government made wrong

decisions that led to the rising of prices and inflation in the country. Not only it started increasing

the debts of the country but also printing more paper money which de-valued its currency,

making the country financially bankrupt.

In the very first year of its power, the CCP implemented key programs ranging from

stabilization of the currency to introducing land reforms, while socializing the industrial sector

too (Strauss, 2006). Most significantly, the new China had stood up under Chairman Mao with a

positive support of its population. The land reforms was one of the key revolutionary efforts by

the CCP. Many of the efforts that made the new government successful had been initiated under

the Nationalist regime but could not be successful. The CCP had three advantages over the KMT

due to which its regime was successful: ideology of class struggle; dominant military control

through which coercive measures could be imposed against the enemies; and self-confidence to

engage in mass mobilization when needed (Strauss, 2006).

Considering all these elements, it can be identified that it was not only the tactics of the

Communist party that led to its victory, but it was the failure of Chiang's government that

triggered the victory of CCP. Most significantly, the way CCP focused on the people and

building the nation became the cause of their success.

 Chinese Communist Party in 1949 9

BIBLIOGRAPHY

de Ven, H. ed., (1968). Wartime Mobilization. In: War and Nationalism. New York: Grove

Press.

Eastman et al. ed., (1991). Nationalist China During the Sino-Japanese War. In: The Nationalist

Era in China. Cambridge University Press, pp.115-135.

Eastman et al. ed., (1991). The KMT-CCP Conflict. In: The Nationalist Era in China. Cambridge

University Press, pp.295-315.

SNOW, E. (1968). RED STAR OVER CHINA. New York: GROVE PRESS ATLANTIC MO,

pp.220-222.

Pepper, S. ed., (1979). The Political Costs of Economic Mismanagement. In: The Civil War in

China: The Political Struggle, 1945-1949. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.,

pp.95-131.

Pepper, S. ed., (1979). A New Beginning: The Communist Take-Over from the Kuomintang.

In: The Civil War in China: The Political Struggles, 1945-1949. University of California Press,

p.422.

Pepper, S. ed., (1979). The Politics of Civil War. In: The Civil War in China: The Political

Struggles, 1945-1949. University of California Press, p.423-435.

Strauss, J. (2006). Morality, Coercion and State Building by Campaign in the Early PRC:

Regime Consolidation and After, 1949–1956. The China Quarterly, 188(01), p.891.