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Chinese Communist Revolution

The Chinese Communist Revolution was a social and political revolution that culminated in the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. For the preceding century, China had faced escalating social, economic, and political problems as a result of Western imperialism, Japanese imperialism, and the decline of the Qing dynasty. Cyclical famines and an oppressive landlord system kept the large mass of rural peasantry poor and politically disenfranchised. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was formed in 1921 by young urban intellectuals inspired by European socialist ideas and the success of the October Revolution in Russia. The CCP originally allied itself with the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party against the warlords and foreign imperialist forces, but the 1927 massacre of Communists in Shanghai ordered by Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek forced them into the Chinese Civil War, which would last more than two decades.

This article is about the political and social revolution. For military actions, see Chinese Civil War. For the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976, see Cultural Revolution.

Date

1 August 1927 – 1 October 1949
(22 years and 3 months)

China

Early Nationalist military dominance forced the Communists to abandon their strategy of appealing to the urban proletariat, instead basing themselves in the countryside as advocated by Mao Zedong. Mao rose to become the Chairman of CCP during the Long March while the CCP narrowly avoided complete destruction. The Communists led by Mao once again formed a United Front with the Kuomintang to fight the Japanese occupation of China beginning in 1937. The CCP made effective use of the situation to rebuild their movement around the Chinese peasantry. Following the Japanese surrender in 1945, China became an early hot spot in the Cold War. The United States continued to funnel large amounts of money and weapons to Chiang Kai-shek, but corruption and low morale fatally undermined the Nationalist army. The Soviet Union's decision to let the communists take control of Japanese weapons and supplies left behind in Manchuria, on the other hand, proved decisive. The Communists were able to mobilize a massive army of peasants with their program of radical land reform and gradually began winning open battles against the KMT. In 1948 and 1949 the Communist People's Liberation Army won three major campaigns that forced the Nationalist government to retreat to Taiwan. On 1 October 1949, Mao formally proclaimed the People's Republic of China.


The Communist victory had a major impact on the global balance of power: China became the largest socialist state by population, and, after the 1956 Sino-Soviet split, a third force in the Cold War. The People's Republic offered direct and indirect support to communist movements around the world, and inspired the growth of Maoist parties in a number of countries. Shock at the CCP's success and the emerging geopolitical domino theory postulating its spread across East Asia led the United States to stage successive military interventions in Korea and Southeast Asia. The CCP remains in government in mainland China, and is the second-largest political party in the world.[2]

Start and end dates[edit]

Many historians agree with the Chinese Communist Party official history that the Chinese Revolution dates to the founding of the Party in 1921. A few consider it to be the latter part of the Chinese Civil War, since it was only after the Second Sino-Japanese War that the tide turned decisively in favour of the Communists. That said, it is not entirely clear when the second half of the civil war began. The earliest possible date would be the end of the Second United Front in January 1941, when Nationalist forces ambushed and destroyed the New Fourth Army. Another possible date is the surrender of Japan on August 10, 1945, which began a scramble by Communist and Nationalist forces to seize the equipment and territory left behind by the Japanese.[3][4] However, full-scale warfare between the two sides did not truly recommence until June 26, 1946, when Chiang Kai-shek launched a major offensive against Communist bases in Manchuria.[5] This article is focused on the political and social developments that contributed to the Revolution, rather than the military events of the Civil War, so it begins with the founding of the Communist party.


The most common date used for the end of the Revolution is the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949.[6][7][8][9] Nonetheless, the Nationalist Government had not evacuated to Taiwan until December, and significant fighting (such as the conquest of Hainan) continued well into 1950 and the takeover of Tibet in 1951.[10][11] While never posing a serious threat to the People's Republic, the Kuomintang Islamic insurgency continued until as late as 1958 in the provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, and Yunnan.[12][13][14] ROC soldiers who had fled into the mountains of Burma and Thailand worked with the CIA and KMT to finance anti-Communist activities with drug trafficking well into the 1980s.[15] No formal peace between the ROC and the PRC has ever been negotiated.[16]

First phase of the Civil War (1927–1936)[edit]

Shanghai Massacre[edit]

On April 12, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and his right-wing faction of the KMT ordered the massacre of the Communists in Shanghai.[128][129] The White Terror spread nationwide and the United Front collapsed. In Beijing, 19 leading Communists were killed by Zhang Zuolin.[130][131] That May, tens of thousands of Communists and those suspected of being communists were killed, and the CCP lost approximately 15,000 of its 25,000 members.[131] Only in Wuhan, where leftist sympathizer Wang Jingwei split from Chiang and proclaimed a rival nationalist government, were the Communists safe to hold their Fifth National Congress.[132] However, under pressure from Chiang, Wang eventually purged Communists from his government and declared his loyalty to the right-wing government in Nanjing.[133][134][135]

Aftermath of World War II

Loss of China

John F. Melby

Cultural Revolution