Consolidation and Maintenance of Power in Communist China

Authoritarian States IB History 11

Communism• Mao Zedong established a communist

government in China, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was the only legal political party and all other political parties, views, or expression of any kind were not allowed.

• Communism is a form government where the government owns all wealth and property, and then all the wealth and property is supposed to be distributed equally to all citizens. The Communist Party is the only political party allowed by law.

Party, Propaganda, Military• The CCP established its new government and

although they did hold elections only candidates from the CCP were allowed to run for election, and many CCP officials held powerful positions in government as well.

• Mass propaganda campaigns were established to promote the CCP and the new government, but they were also used for the close surveillance and supervision of China’s citizens for signs of opposition to the CCP.

• The military, called the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), was used to forcefully gain control of the must remote areas of China’s territory.

Land Reform, Purges, Cultural Revolution• By 1950 the CCP and the Chinese

Government began land reform programs to eliminate all private ownership of land from the powerful people throughout China.

• Many CCP members who Mao viewed as his opposition or enemies, were purged from the CCP, which meant they were arrested, imprisoned, or executed.

• He also started a program called the Cultural Revolution, which was intended to to highlight the poor living conditions of farmers, but became an excuse for his supporters to harass and physically attack non-communists in China’s rural areas.

Constant Fear• The CCP was able to maintain it’s

power by creating constant fear through the following methods:

• “Rectification campaigns” or the arrest, imprisonment, or execution of non-communists

• Total control of the police, courts, and all other parts of the legal system

Research Simulation• Mao’s Cultural Revolution was

intended to educate China’s population about the poor standard of living among China’s peasant farmers, but often took the form of harassment and violence against China’s non-communists.

• If you were one of China’s poor peasant farmers how would you react to both the intentions and reality of Mao’s Cultural Revolution?