The Korean War 1950-1953

By the end of WW2, the Korean peninsula was occupied in the south by US forces, and soviets
on the north. The division between both sides was set in the 38 th parallel. The Soviet Union
established a communist dictatorship in the North under the leadership of Kim Il-sung, a former
guerrilla leader who went on to surround himself in a cult of personality. The US meanwhile
held elections in the South and a President, Syngman Rhee, was chosen. Both occupying forces
withdrew from Korea by 1949. The USSR left behind a well-equipped and trained North Korean
army. It had at its disposal 135,000 men, supported by tanks and artillery. On June 25th, 1950,
the conflict escalated when forces from North Korea invaded the south with the support of the
Soviet Union. Over 80,000 troops marched from the north all the way to the Southern borders
where they captured Seoul, the Capital of South Korea in just 3 days. In order to stop further
spread of communism, Truman managed to get the UN Security Council and advance on invaded
territory. Zhou Enlai, the propaganda mastermind of Mao’s regime described this as an
imperialist invasion that required immediate Sino-intervention. Although there were clear
political conflicts between Mao and Stalin, the idea of a monolithic power with its HQ in
Moscow, was powerful enough to worry allied power’s officials after the fall of china to
communism. The fact that UN and US forces allied with the South Korean military did not stop
pushing after the 38th parallel unsettled Mao, who deployed his troops after convincing his
commanders, who wanted to use Chinese troops to crush opposition in China. Mao convinced
them by arguing that US was ambitious to invade China and that the border between communist
China and other non-communist countries should not be crossed. This border was called the
Bamboo Curtain. Its believed that by sending troops to North Korea, Mao was hoping to get
soviet military technology. The threat of nuclear war by the US was called a bluff by Mao. In
order to mobilize the masses, Zhou Enlai began a propaganda campaign against US that claimed
that there was a threat for biological warfare. The propaganda engine went into overdrive after
there was a confirmed disease vole in Manchuria. It was concluded in Moscow that these
allegations against US were false.

Impact of Korean War

After a truce was called, Chinese propaganda called victory, even with the fact that Chinese
troops deaths were nearly at a million. Clearly, this number were not issued officially in Chinese
media. After their defeat in Korea, PRC was not recognized by the UN or US, who only took
Taiwan as the official representative of the Chinese people. This led to an advance of the PRC
troops over Taiwan. Chinese economy was severely affected by the war, and the government
decided to take grain and supplies from peasants. Urban production went down considerably as
well. There was also a big pressure on the budget due to the fact that Russia wanted repayment
for war supplies.

Mao and Stalin

There were clear tensions between this two leader due to their differences on their way of
thinking and handling masses, plus the fact that Stalin failed to support the CCP during the
revolution. Stalin believed that it should be the industrial proletariat, not the peasants, that should
lead the revolution. Even though, Mao declared that China should emulate Russian
achievements. After the signing of the Sino-soviet treaty of alliance, USSR supported China with
a $300mill loan. Used to reform the industrial economy. Mao did not want to rely on foreign
powers, so even with a great interest rate on the loan, he repaid the debt. The increasing
mutualism between the two powers led to a great Chinese socio-economical advance, as well as a
political organizational learning. The death of Stalin sent Sino-soviets relations back to the
tensions of the past due to the conflicts between Mao and Khrushchev.

Mao’s grip on power

Mao seemed to be unstoppable in the party, so was the advance of Chinese industrialization and
growth as an international power. Nevertheless, Mao’s paranoia was growing as well (In 1954,
with exponential industrial growth, Mao’s paranoid thoughts were at their peak, due to rebellious
behaviors from party officials, who were eventually killed or sent to prison charged with
treason).

Registration system
Due to severe requisition on grain in the fields and violent responses to peasant complains from
the militias, many peasants and rural workers left the countryside. In 1955, after 20mill people
became rural migrants, the government extended a household-registration system similar to the
internal passport used in USSR. To control the peasants masses, Chinese officials used a system
of ration cards.

Impact of de-Stalinization

In 1956, three years after Stalin’s death, Khrushchev criticized the cult of personality held on
Stalin and held him responsible for his purges, deportations and torture of party members. He
also criticized his agricultural reforms. His speech led to revolts in Poland, Hungary, rural areas
and other soviet satellites. In China, there were several protests in rural areas. Mao took these
allegations as a personal attack. CCP propaganda removed this criticism from the media.

The Hundred Flowers campaign

In 1957, Mao encouraged open criticism to the party, which was mild at first but quickly
escalated into allegations of corruption in the party. Fearing the worst, Mao stopped the
campaign and started an anti-rightist movement against enemies of the regime. Those labeled
rightists were all critics and even some party members. The accused were executed, committed
suicide or sent to “re-education” fields. This campaign is often seen as a trick from Mao to get
critics out in the open to easily take them down and further control the party.

Purge of Peng Dehuai

At a party gathering in Lushan, Peng Dehuai, the minister of defense, spoke openly against
agricultural reforms and denounced the famine that took the life of 40mill Chinese people,
thinking that more officials were going to join his cause. This only got him criticism and was
called a traitor, getting him purged from the party.

Tibetan Uprising

In 1959, Tibet rose against Chinese occupation. Since 1950, the Tibetan rebels were forced
underground. Due to the rebellion, people from the Tibet were arrested, tortured and
disappeared. Tibetan religion came under attack and the state further intervened in the people’s
way of living. The Dalai Lama was forced to flee his country to northern India to campaign for
Tibetan independence. His mention by Tibetans was prohibited and Tibetan religious practices
were banned. The Panchen Lama was arrested after he issued a report that claimed that 20% of
the Tibetan population had been imprisoned and that a half of them died while in prison. Zhou
Enlai later claimed that these allegations were true even after Mao claimed that there were not.