Communism in China

The Chinese Civil War

Dates: 1927-1937 and 1946-1950 (with a pause to fight the Japanese)

Two sides Communists (CCP), led by Mao Zedong Nationalists (KMT), led by Chiang Kai-shek

October 1, 1949: Mao declares the People’s Republic of China

Maoism

Version of Marxism adapted to Chinese conditions

Rural peasants as revolutionary class

“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun”

The Great Leap Forward

Date: 1958-1961 Ambitious plan to modernize and

industrialize China’s economy Organized villages as communes –

everything was collectively owned Move towards industrializing the

countryside – “backyard furnaces”

“Strike the battle drum of the Great Leap Forward ever louder” (1959)

“The grain belongs to the granary. Don’t waste even one piece of food!”

“The vegetables are green, the cucumbers plump, the yield is abundant”

“The future of the rural village”

“More pigs, more fertilizer, higher grain production”

In your notebook: Based on these posters, what do you think was the result of the Great Leap Forward?

Results of the Great Leap Forward Quotas were completely unrealistic Commune leaders overstated production

numbers, for fear of punishment Prioritizing industry over farming led to

massive famine Estimated to cause between 20 million and 45

million deaths Communist Party abandoned the Great Leap

Forward in late 1960

The Cultural Revolution

Date: 1966-1976 Attempt to restore

Mao’s control over China and the Communist Party

Targeted intellectuals, political opponents, anyone with wealth…

Ended with Mao’s death in 1976

Results of the Cultural Revolution

Terror induced by overzealous “Red Guards”

Millions of people forced into hard labor

Tens of thousands of executions

Removed most of Mao’s political enemies from power