In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) beat the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War becoming the reigning regime in China. The new communist leadership drastically changed China’s future. Today the CCP remains in power in China, shaping every aspect of Chinese society. Academics like Chalmers Johnson argue that the CCP’s ability to mobilize Chinese peasants ultimately led to the CCP’s victory. This paper will supplement Johnson’s argument by examining how KMT economic, military, and ideological missteps led to the CCP’s victory.
The Chinese Civil War started in 1927 when the KMT ended their partnership with the CCP during the Northern Expedition, an effort aimed at unifying all of China under one political rule. The war ended
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Because the CCP had no contractual obligation to Chinese citizens, the CCP was able gain support from economic successes and go unnoticed in the case of economic failures. Therefore, being in power going into the war was actually a disadvantage for the KMT. China’s deteriorating economy during the war and the KMT’s poor economic planning began to unravel Chinese citizens’ trust and faith in the KMT’s ability to govern. The KMT’s most damaging economic misstep was inflation and the government’s inability to respond with policy measures. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the KMT was cut off from coastal cities by the Japanese invaders. These coastal city taxes were a main source of revenue for the KMT government. In order to makeup for the deficit, the government began to print money. The KMT faced a lot of criticism from the Chinese people for rising inflation. The Chinese people’s disdain for their government grew even more when the KMT was unable to fix their inflation mistake and began to implement a string of ineffective and damaging economic policies. In order to combat the rising inflation, the KMT implemented multiple contradictory and ineffective economic policies. For example, the KMT oscillated between expansion and suspension of credit. The KMT also continued to implement a tax system that discouraged the starting of businesses, while encouraging corrupt behavior. Additionally, the KMT’s economic policies focused on giving advantages to
Since the start of the 20th century, with the fall of the Qing dynasty, when China was in shambles with no industry, a corrupt government and no international presence, all the way up until today, where China has evolved into one of the strongest internationally recognized countries with a highly globalized market, the relationship between the Chinese people and its government has been debated on whether or not Chinese society is one ruled and dominated by a central government or a society where social change occurred because of bottom-up forces leading to a government for the people. China, since 1949, has been a country, which has been run by a single party state, known as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). The CCP is organized under the basis of a central, unchallenged party governing the people by the means of communism. Throughout the past century, the CCP has dictated and maintained a rule over the livelihood of its people by monopolizing Chinese politics and penalizing those who opposed it, through central command planning and on the other spectrum, radical economic reforms at the end of the 20th century in the interest of keeping the CCP in power.
The Chinese Communist Party took control of the government in 1949, after defeating the Nationalist party and its un-communist policies, laws, and views. During this time period WWII was also going on bringing with it new ideas and technologies that changed China for better or worse. With this change the peasant class experienced a major shift in rights, power, and influence. The Chinese Communist Party and the peasant class between circa 1925 and circa 1950 had a relationship that greatly benefited both sides, the Chinese Communist Party empowered the peasants and advocated for social and economic equality which strengthened the anti-japanese viewpoint and instilled a sense of nationalism.
To begin the new plan in Asia, the US gave 2 billion dollars to the Chinese nationalists, set up in Taiwan, who were fighting the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP won the war against the nationalists in 1949 by appealing to greatest population in China, peasants.This victory made the American people fearful because the government had let China go “red.” They thought that if such a big country could turn communist, then what would keep the rest of the world from turning to the same communist policies, paralleling Eisenhower’s later “falling domino”
Under Mao Zedong, China experienced profound social and economic changes. Industry increased, prostitution and opium use was reduced, and many experienced an increase in social standing as land was redistributed to the peasants, prior to collectivization. But many of the policies that were enacted had negative, even disastrous consequences, which were never properly apologized for or rectified. In 1981, 5 years after Mao’s death, the Chinese Communist Party stated that Mao was essentially 70% good and 30% bad. But Mao’s disconnect from the actualities of his policies, paranoia towards his status in the Party and his public image, and lack of foresight in regards to the consequences of his decisions had extreme ramifications on China that not only led to the death of millions, but fundamentally undermined legitimacy of the government. Through the specific policies of the Hundred Flowers campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution, Mao’s lack of understanding of his actions, and his poor treatment of those who criticized him are very apparent. And while not all of Mao’s policies and actions were disastrous, his errors outweighed his merits. In actuality, Mao’s actions were more likely 80% bad and 20% good.
During 1957, the inflation rates had increased by 3.3 %, and the unemployment rates were around 4.2%. The economic actions the government
The Japanese thought returning to a state-controlled economy would further alleviate the financial problems. However, these actions did not correct their economy. The Japanese people blamed their
As many other countries around the world China has its long history of a struggle for equality and prosperity against tyrants and dictatorships. The establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949 seemed to have put an end to that struggle for a better life. “The Chinese people have stood up!” declared Mao Tse-tung, the chairman of China’s Communist Party (CPP) – a leading political force in the country for the time. The people were defined as a coalition of four social classes: the workers, the peasants, the petite bourgeoisie and the national-capitalists. The four classes were to be led buy the CPP, as the leader of the working class.
“The Party: The Secret World Of China’s Communist Rulers,” by Richard McGregor is a book which provides detailed insight into the Communist Party of China, revealing many of the secret underpinnings of how the party is run, and explores the question of how they have continued to stay in power for so long. While other strong socialist powers, such as the Soviet Union and Eastern Germany, fell at the end of the 20th century, the CPC was able to stay in control and ultimately come out of that period even stronger. In McGregor’s own words “the party picked itself up off the ground, reconstituted its armor and reinforced its flank. Somehow, it has outlasted, outsmarted, outperformed, or simply outlawed its critics, flummoxing the pundits who have predicted its demise at numerous junctures.” Instead of letting its own ideologies weaken its power, the CPC has continually adapted and transformed its policies and goals in order to maintain their stronghold over the nation. Through his impressive list of Chinese scholars and political contacts, McGregor is able to lay out the fundamental workings inside the Chinese government and the impressive actions they’ve taken to remain such a powerful organization.
First being a balanced budget, followed by suspension of new loans from the Reconstruction Finance Bank (this source of supply of money was identified as the root cause of inflation), and lastly, reducing as well as completely eliminating subsidies. The above-mentioned policies were identified to aid in accelerating the Japanese economy. Dodge’s policies caused problems along the way in its implementation but it created a path for recovery without the help of America. The Japanese were encouraged to economize and accumulate capital through such a policy.
BIBLIOGRAPHYBarnett, A. (1965), 'Multiple factors', in Pichon Loh (ed.) 'The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest or Collapse?' D.C. Heath & Company, BostonBianco, Lucien. (1971), 'Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949' Stanford University Press, StanfordChang, Carsun. (1965), 'Chiang Kai-shek and Kuomintang dictatorship', in PichonLoh (ed.) 'The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest or Collapse?' D.C. Heath& Company, BostonChang, Kia-Ngua. (1965) 'War and Inflation' in Pichon Loh (ed.) 'T
And even the Japanese operation against the Communists had opposite effect, because Three All Campaign’s aimed at turning people against the Communists by burning down their villages and crops, murdering the peasants made the peasants hate the Japanese even more and help the Communists attack them. The Japan-China war was a great success of the Communists because, by 1945, they controlled eighteen ‘liberation areas’ in the countryside. Invariably it was the Reds to whom the Japanese submitted.
Throughout the history of China, the civil strife in China had marked a significant event. With two parties established; the Nationalist known as Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), conflicts between them began to erupt due to their difference in beliefs when CCP began to question to morality of democracy and capitalism. This led to the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949). Although many see that, “early in the civil war it looked as though the Nationalists might prevail. They controlled key cities, their well-equipped troops far outnumbered Communist troops, and they had support from the United States,” (Tamura 180) the outcome of the war was not what everyone thought to be due to many
After a bitter civil war (1946-1949), which faced the major Chinese parties Kuomintang and CCP, Kuomintang’s defeat, evidenced with Chiang’s and 200.000 people´s fled to Formosa, Mao Zedong (1893-1976), born in Shoshan, Hunan, proclaimed the new People´s Republic of China with himself as both Chairman of the CCP and President of the republic in October 1949. How did the under numbered and weak CCP, founded by the same person in 1921 manage to survive several extermination campaigns and re-organize the party to win the civil war, crushing opposition and establish the Chinese
The Chinese Communist Revolution succeeded to dispose of capitalism and imperialism. The Communists and the Nationalists started their fight in the 1920s; however, Japanese invasions forced the two sides to formulate a temporary truce to battle off the Japanese at the time of World War Two. During the war, the Nationalist Army started to fade and weaken while the Communists grew and prospered because strong guerilla tactics helped the Communists dominate against the opposition (Schaff, 2009). At the time, China was managed by European countries who took no action against the Japanese occupation, and so, China economically began collapsing. Zedong used the war to his advantage as an opportunity to see how strong his reign over the army was. Ultimately, Chairman Mao Zedong led the Communist Party to victory over the Nationalists to form the People’s Republic of China (Young, 2001). Social and economic ailments and the unfair treatment of peasants gave rise to the communist revolution in China, which resulted in the destruction of the economy and a tilt to the balance of authority between the Western powers and Communists.
In 1949 a powerful communist leader by the name of Mao Zedong came to power based on his idea for a, “Great Leap Forward.” This idea was meant to bring China’s economy into the twentieth century. He had assembled a revolutionary government using traditional Chinese ideals of filial piety, harmony, and order. Mao's cult of personality, party purges, and political policies reflect Mao's esteem of these traditional Chinese ideals and history. However, the product of this revolution created a massive national shortage in vital materials and initiated a wide scale famine to China’s people (Gabriel).