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The Chinese Revolution 1949 The Chinese Revolution 1949

The Chinese Revolution 1949

The Chinese Revolution 1949

On October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The announcement ended the costly full-scale civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which broke out immediately following World War II and had been preceded by on and off conflict between the two sides since the 1920’s.

The creation of the PRC also completed the long process of governmental upheaval in China begun by the Chinese Revolution of 1911. The “fall” of mainland China to communism in 1949 led the United States to suspend diplomatic ties with the PRC for decades.

For Marxists, the Chinese Revolution was the second greatest event in human history, second only to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Millions of human beings, who had hitherto been the beasts of burden of imperialism, threw off the humiliating yoke of imperialism and capitalism, and entered the stage of world history.

The first Chinese Revolution of 1925-7 was a genuine proletarian revolution. But it was aborted by the false policies of Stalin and Bukharin, who subordinated the Chinese working class to the so-called democratic bourgeoisie under Chiang Kai-shek.

The Chinese Communist Party was dissolved into the bourgeois Kuomintang (KMT), and Stalin even invited Chiang Kai-shek to be a member of the Executive Committee of the Communist International.

This disastrous policy led to a catastrophic defeat in 1927 when the “bourgeois democrat” Chiang Kai-shek organized the massacre of the Communists in Shanghai. The smashing of the Chinese working class determined the character of the Chinese Revolution subsequently.

The remnants of the Communist Party fled to the countryside, where they began to organize guerrilla war based on the peasantry. This fundamentally changed the course of the Revolution.

The situation in China before Revolution:-

1. Before the revolution; China was ruled by oppressive and exploitation feudal system which were disliked by the workers. This feudal class comprised the feudal dynasty (class) at home but also there were imperialist powers which had invested in China, these imperialist powers exploited the workers by giving them low wages Working long hours and living in poor condition or situation.

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2. The serfs were tortured, harassed and over worked by the Land Lords.

3. All the land belong to the land Lords and majority of the peasants were land less hence they obliged to work under the feudal lords who paid them low wages and made them to work long hours etc this increased enmity among the Chinese.

4. Geographical condition; China had harsh climatic conditions which led droughts, famine hunger and starvation but also floods and epidemic diseases were common among the Chinese.

5. There were rampant unemployment among the people in China hence the huge number or majority of China had no employment and they lived like beggars.

6. There were poor provision of infrastructure and social services in China. E.g. there were no good roads, ports and harbor, telecommunication no education facilities which made majority illiterates and poor medical care which led massive death among the people in China.

7. China was highly divided into two classes whereby at the top there was King, group of literate, Land Lords and at the bottom were the serfs who were the majority being exploited by the land Lords.

8. Chinese industries were poorly developed; whereby these industries used low and poor technology but also industries were un evenly developed and distributed however these industries were owned by the capitalist in the West who invested in China and therefore industries played a minimal role in national economy because they were very backwardness and they were not own by the people of China rather foreigners.

9. Japan was a traditional enemy of China where she used to attack China for raw materials e.g. In 1931 Japan attacked Manchuria which was the part of China etc.

CAUSES OF THE CHINESE REVOLUTIONIN 1949

1. Good leadership of Mao Tse-Tung. Mao managed to mobilize the peasants in the country side to against the feudal dynasty and later they succeeded to make a revolution in 1949.

2. The philosophy of Confucianism. These philosophies developed among the people in China which was insisting on cooperation, unit working hard and resting exploitation, humiliation and oppression of the feudal class and the foreign imperialist; hence the philosophy of Confucianism led people in China to unite themselves under the comrade of Mao Tse-Tung to make the Chinese Revolution in 1949.

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3. An autocratic rule of the feudal class in China; during the feudal class the Chinese were oppressed exploited, tortured, harassed by the feudal class in their country, they had no freedom to talk and propose anything about the development of their country therefore they united under the leadership of Mao Tse-Tung to make the Chinese revolution in 1949.

4. The problems of the Chinese /Massive. During the feudal rule the Chinese society faced with a lot of problems like unemployment, Famine and hunger, floods in the country, droughts, epidemic diseases, poor provision of social /services and Chinese society to be unsatisfied with the ruling feudal class therefore decided to unite together under the leadership of Mao Tse-Tung to make Chinese revolution in 1949.

5. The teaching of Karl-max and Engels accelerated to Chinese revolution because Mao who was a founder of Chinese revolution read the books of Karl max and Engels which was about the revolution as the solution to establish socialism in the world history; therefore Mao understand well the theory of Max and Engels who insisted on revolution to insist socialism hence Mao used the teachings of Karl-max to mobilize and unite his fellow Chinese to make the revolution in 1949.

6. The failure of Chinese rule to end the conflict with Japan was also another cause for Chinese revolution 1949. During the feudal rule in China; Japan which was the traditional enemy of China used to attack and annex some parts of China for raw materials likecoal and iron ore and the Chinese rule kept quite during those enormities e.g. In 1931 when Japan attacked Manchuria, 1937, 1936 and 1940’s hence the people accrued the feudal ruling class for failure to dissolve the conflict hence they have support Mao Tse-Tung for Chinese revolution in 1949.

The Chinese Revolution 1949

The Chinese Revolution 1949 The Chinese Revolution 1949

POLITICAL & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA SINCE 1949

The revolution in China which was conducted by Chinese communist party under comrade Mao Tse-Tung for almost 30 years (from 1921 – 1949) was mostly centered in struggle in rural areas, hence it was peasant based revolution and therefore far within 30 years Mao Tse-Tung become popular and government large mass support.

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NB; – There was no specific training for those who wanted to join the revolution; it involved all peasants. It started in the rural areas and spread to town; this is because the revolution in China involved more peasants rather than the working class and this is why Marxist scholars have argued that the Chinese revolution was against the Marxist way of conducting a socialist revolution.

After the revolution, the following political and economic development was seen in China, this was due to the various strategies adopted in order to build China.

1. Industrialization policy

This policy Chinese did the followings:-

(a) Nationalized all the industries which were previously under, the imperialist and Japanese control, these industries were put under the control of the government in Municipalities and rural areas.

(b) At Shanghai and Hong Kong a modification of the control of the private own of industries were done whereby workers were allowed to supervise their employers activities, working conditions, raw material and sell the finished goods.

(c) The soviets (USSR) model of heavy industries was adopted during 1953 to 1957 that is there were five years development plan;this was capital intensive which led to heavy industrialization in China.

(d) The great leap forward of 1958-1960 was adopted; this policy was first industrialization whereby people were allowed to use their own initiatives towards industrialization.

2. On Land policy

The Chinese government under the communist party led by Mao Tse-Tung did the following strategies on land;

(i) All the land was taken from the land lords and given to the peasants.

(ii) The great revolution on land was done where by the rapid change in agricultural period was adopted such as to improve the varieties of seeds in order to increase production, the use of fertilizers, prevention of soil erosion, land reclamation, deep ploughing, plant protection, close plating, floods control in the river of Yang Tse– Kiang, Si-Kiang and HwangHo, pest and diseases control, irrigation system and seeds improvement.

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