Mao’s China.
Origins of the People’s Republic of China.
Years
before 1911.
From the
second half of the 19th century China was destabilized by a number
of events. The first, and to many historians the most important, factor that
destabilized China was western Imperialism. At the same time as European powers
were colonizing Africa they turned their hungry eyes towards China and Asia.
The British were most influential in China, but also Germany, Portugal and
France tried to gain influence over China.
The second
factor that led to a destabilization of China was the fact that China was run
by unpopular dynasty since 1644. The Emperor of China belonged to the Manchu
people (out of Manchuria) but the majority of the Chinese belonged to the
Han-people.
This meant
that Europe pressured a weak central government and made them look weak.
This led to
numerous problems in China, since China was a strict hierarchical country. Much
like Russia actually. The emperor was a true ruler in the sense that all
decisions had to go through him. Rural China, were in round numbers 90 % of the
population lived and worked, was feudal in every meaning of the word. Landlords
owned the land, peasants worked in serfdom and paid tribute to the landlords.
From 1850
and forwards there were a lot of rebellions against the Emperor, led by
landlords or others that disliked the government. The Western Powers also got
involved and supported different landlords in different times. The most famous
rebellion of the 19th century is the Taiping rebellion.
The
structure on the countryside also led to vast corruption in China, the
landlords ran their areas and fought rivals with private armies, setting up
their rule and laws. This of cause contributed to the weakness of the emperor.
This all
happened in a country that for centuries had seen it self as the center of the
earth. When Japan launched a war against China 1895, it became apparent to the
Chinese people that they were hopelessly behind in development and that the
need for changes were huge and acute.
Summing up:
China was falling behind due to internal problems with a unpopular emperor. The
backwardness was proven to the Chinese people when the western powers could
exercise pressure on the “middle kingdom”. The second thing to prove this was
the Japanese success first over China and then over Russia.
The
Revolution of 1911 and Warlordism..
After the
revolution of 1911, which were more of a civil war between landlords that
spread to the major parts of the country were at the end one warlord, Yuan
Shikai, could seize power and get the temporary cooperation with the other
warlords.
When Yuan
Shikai died in 1915, he was succeeded by Sun Yat-sen, former and leader of the
Nationalist Party Goumindang, GMD. Well at least if you study GMD’s official
history, as a matter of fact the Chinese society at this time fell into a
period called “Warlordism”. The same warlords that had united under Yuan now
turned against each other and threw the country in a condition of civil war.
4th
May Movement and the New Youth-periodical.
New Youth
was an intellectual periodical that greatly influenced university students all
over China. Young Mao read the ideas and got very influenced by the ideas. New
Youth meant that in order for a modernization of China to be able to take
place, there had to be a complete moral and cultural transformation of China,
only then could social reforms take place. They saw no way of renovating the
old China, it had to go, and be replaced by something completely new and
modern. The way to accomplish changes was through changing the ideas of the
people – “reeducate” the people. Among the strongest voices in the New Youth
movement we find the future leaders of CCP, Chinese Communist Party. The class representing the old for the
movement was the old landlords.
We get here
two pieces of the puzzle, why “thought control” became so important for Mao,
and why he turned Marxist.
On 4 May
1919 the Paris Settlement was announced in China, Japan was to get control over
the former German areas of China. This set of a landslide of protest, boycott
of foreign establishments and rebellions and increased the hatred against
western powers, especially among the followers of the New Youth movement.
This
convinced Mao and his followers that the western powers were evil imperialistic
and had no interest in helping China.
In 1920 the
CCP is formed by Marxist converts, many of them coming from the 4th
May Movement. They saw in the Bolshevik revolutions both the New Youth demands
for a new way of living as well as an alternative to the western democracy that
had proven so treacherous towards their cause.
The GMD
and CCP – from cooperation to counterrevolution.
The
Nationalist Party was formed in July 1921. After the suggestion of Lenin the
CCP choose to cooperate and later ally it self with GMD. Why? The main target
for both parties were to bring order and untie Chine in a period of Warlordism.
The First
United Front is set up in 1923 , together they launch campaigns to unite China.
After 1925
and the death of Sun Yat-sen, the military leader Chiang Kaishek took over.
In 1927
Kaisheck launched a counterrevolution against Mao and the communists almost
wiping them out.
Why this
split?[1]
q
Marriage of convenience bound to tear apart
q
By 1927 GMD-CCP alliance had conquered the majority of
southern half of China
q
GMD began to restrict CCP membership and. sparked by
incidents of urban uprisings threatening Jiang’s power base, the split became
evident
q
April 12, wholesale liquidation of the Communists;
Shanghai Massacre
Consequences:
q
CCP grew from 130 members (1922) to 60,000 by 1927
q
CCP forced underground by Jiangs’ purges
q
Realization that power could only come from the barrel
of a gun
q
The CCP had to have an army, a territory (base) and a
government to revolutionize the country.
Mao set up
the first Soviet Republic in Jiangxi, but GMD and Kaishek found him and in
1934-35 Mao had to flee with his comrades. This has later been called the Long
March.
After the
Long March, the Yan’an Legacy.
Out of
approx 80 000 men and 35 women that originally set of from Jiangxi fewer than
10 000 survived, including Mao’s brother Mao Zetan. During this walk Mao emerge
as the Chairman of the CCP. He had had problems before, and started out as
leader of the first Red Army.
During his
long march Mao experienced the voluntaristic faith of the people, something
that influenced him a lot. The March also gave the survivors a clear feeling of
that their mission was sacred and that through ordeal and trouble strength and
success would come.
Mao
commented the long march saying that it appeared as death didn’t want him,
giving him the notion that he was a man with a destiny to bring changes to
China.
In 1936
Mao and his comrades set down in the north of the Shaanxi province in a village
called Yan’an.
In this
village a communist society was organized, today this is a sacred place for
communists.
Yan’an
became the center for communists who went on pilgrimages here. The Spirit of
Yan’an became a notion among communists almost like the settlers in USA in
their pioneer years.
For Mao
the Yan’an years were very important. Since he managed to reorganize the
village of Yan’an and created an ideal communist society there with the help
and voluntarism of the people, Mao was convinced that the same thing could and
should be done in the rest of China. If you only can change the mind of the
people, an idea he got from the New Youth Movement, great things could be
accomplished. This proved to be fatal for millions of Chinese twenty years
later…
In a
parallel universe, our history would end here, Mao would have been unknown and
the experiment would have failed eventually, but in this universe coincidence
will play in the hands of Mao.
The
Sino-Japanese War 1937 – 1945.
CCP and
GMD agreed on a Second United front against Japan in 1937. Kaishek wasn’t
strong enough to fight the Japanese and needed help from the communists.
The
Japanese occupation increased the economic problems in the countryside,
increasing the hatred against foreigners, something that supported the
communists, since Kaishek had cooperated with the Japanese occupied Manchuria
before the war.
In August
1945 US drops the nuclear bombs over Japan and by that ends the war
abruptly. Civil War breaks out again.
US supported the Nationalists but eventually the communist won the civil war.
Why did
the communists win?
1)
Corruption in the areas ruled by GMD, who were dependent on the old landowner
class in financing their war. They also held support in the cities by
capitalists.
2) The
farmers, the majority of the people, hated corruption and disliked the
inequality of the countryside.
3) The
Communists were very well organized and disciplined. They ended corruption and
were harsh on the landowners. All this was popular politics in the countryside.
4) The
Communists ran a guerilla war against the ill-equipped GMD army.