China – The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party 1921-49

The Origins of the CCP

 Chinese empire collapsed in 1911, with no obvious replacement for it
 Various attempts at constitutional monarchy, republic, etc
 By the time of WW1 there was no single unified government
 1919-1921 mass protests the treaty of Versailles, where German occupied china was
handed over to the Japanese
 Marxism rose up to china through japan and France
The Kuomintang
 The principal antagonists of the Chinese communist party
 Non-communist nationalists – inspired by Sun Yat-sen, who was destined to be the
first president of the Chinese government
o Was pushed out of this role, but was succeeded by Chiang
Subtitle
 Why the Chinese communist party combined with the nationalists
o Did so in the ‘united front’
o They worked together to appease the comminturn in Russia, as they believed
that was the only way for the communist party to obtain widespread support
o They cooperated in the ‘Northern Expidition’ (1926-27), designed to reunite
china and bring it together under one government
Subtitle
 Communist party wanted to work through the working-class movement, whilst the
nationalists saw this as a danger to their own survival
 12th April 1927 – units of the nationalist army, supported by local gangsters, attacked
and killed communists, wrecking the communist party in Shanghai
 Communist party loses its main urban base – with similar attacks in other cities
continue
 Believed that it was the urban revolution that would fuel them, so being pushed out
of the cities they had to reformulate
 When the nationalists had pushed them out Chiang Kai Shek declared a national
government
o However – did not actually control the whole of china
o And was not national, had no democratic mandate
 Officially functioned 1928-37
Subtitle
 Communists found refuge in the mountainous border regions between provinces,
protecting them from nationalist troops
 Had no organised working class – could only work with the peasantry, who were the
majority population with China
o They made a virtue out of necessity – developing an ideology that was based
around the leadership of the peasant movement
 There were various urban uprisings
 Needed to keep away from areas where the nationalists could attack them, so set up
in the area around Raijin, governing it 1931-34, using a central soviet government
government, running part of china but relying on peasantry
  There was immense poverty, so by redistributing landowners land they garnered
widespread support
 1931-34 – Mao is a marginal figure, one of many potential leaders
Subtitle
 1936 – the long march
 The Kuomintang used circling tactics to surround communist areas, so in response
the communists began to use guerrilla warfare, but the fifth was so successful they
could not resist it
 There was not one long march – there were several different columns heading
different ways
 Mao begins to gain more significance, with him assuming a great deal of importance
by the time the troops began to rise together
 He created a peasant basis for theoretical warfare
Subtitle
 1936-37 Yan’an period – great changes within the communist party
 Divided from the conflict zones, as far inland as they could safely be
 Gave opportunity to rethink
 1937 – Japanese imperial army takes all of eastern China
 The Chinese population were displeased to be occupied by the japenese, and this led
them – through patriotism – into the communist party, moving to communist areas
out of Japanese occupied areas
 1942-43 – mao begins to lead the main communist party after largely taking control
of education and uniformity within the camps
Subtitle
 Military victory based on the peasant policies and land reform
 Civil war 1926 – communist army calls themselves the people’s liberation party
o Moved away from the guerrilla warfare based on peasant nationalism
 1949 – people’s liberation army enters Beijing, ending the nationalists
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