History of the Chinese Communist Party

This article details the history of the Chinese Communist Party.

China
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
China
Leadership
Leadership generations
Succession of power
National leaders
Orders of precedence
Related systems
Communist Party
History
Constitution
Organization
United Front
Ideology
Legislative
Presidency
Executive
Military
Military history
Supervision
Publicity
Cross-Strait relations
Foreign relations
Related topics
 China portal

History during the Revolution

Establishment of the Party
Flag of the Communist Party of China
Flag of the Communist Party of China before the 1990s
Location of the 1st Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921, on Xintiandi, former French Concession, Shanghai.

Marxist ideas started to spread widely in China after the 1919 May Fourth Movement. In June 1920, Comintern agent Grigori Voitinsky was one of several sent to China, where he met Li Dazhao and other reformers. While in China, Voitinsky financed the founding of the Socialist Youth Corps.[1]

"For Marxists, China presented a problem. It had not gone through a bourgeois stage of development, so, in strict orthodoxy, it should not be ready for revolution. But the Bolsheviks could not ignore the potential of such a country.

"Moscow sent several emissaries to try to organize a party, helping its cause by announcing the renunciation of Tsarist-era railway and concession rights in China. One of the agents worked with Chen Duxi to draft a manifesto... In June 1921, Hans Sneevliet, an overbearing Dutch agent from the Communist International ... arrived in Shanghai, and arranged a meeting in a deserted girl's school in the French Concession to which thirteen of the fifty-seven declared Communists were invited...

"There, they proclaimed the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party." (The Penguin History of Modern China, Penguin 2008, pages 143-4.)

The preliminary organization and recruitment for a Chinese Communist Party were done by Grigori Voitinsky, who led the foundation, [2][3][4][5][6]Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in 1920 and 1921 as a study society and an informal network. Informal meetings were held in China in 1920 as well as overseas.

The official beginning of the Chinese Communist Party was the 1st Congress held in Shanghai and Jiaxing in July 1921. Some say the congress was composed of 13 men, but the official CCP version is 12, and other sources also disagree.

The birth of the party (totaling 50 to 60 members) was declared while a meeting was held on a boat on South Lake. The formal and unified name Zhōngguó Gòngchǎn Dǎng (Chinese Communist Party) was adopted and the final agenda was carried out. The key delegates in the congress were Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Chen Gongbo, Tan Pingshan, Zhang Guotao, He Mengxiong, Lou Zhanglong and Deng Zhongxia.

Mao Zedong was present at the first congress as one of two delegates from a Hunan communist group. Other attendees included Dong Biwu, Li Hanjun, Li Da, Chen Tanqiu, Liu Renjing, Zhou Fohai, He Shuheng, Deng Enming. Two representatives from the Comintern were also present, one of them being Henk Sneevliet (also known by the single name 'Maring'[7]). Notably absent at this early point were future leaders Li Lisan and Qu Qiubai.

First Civil Revolution Period—the First United Front (1922–1927)

In August 1922, Sneevliet called a surprise special plenum of the central committee. During the meeting Sneevliet proposed that party members join the Kuomintang (KMT, or Chinese Nationalist Party) on the grounds that it was easier to transform the Nationalist Party from the inside than to duplicate its success. Li Dazhao, Cai Heshen and Gao Yuhan opposed the motion, whereupon Sneevliet invoked the authority of the Comintern and forced the CCP to accept his decision.[8] Under the guidance of the Comintern, the party was reorganized along Leninist lines in 1923, in preparation for the Northern Expedition. The nascent party was not held in high regard. Karl Radek, one of the five founding leaders of the Comintern, said in November 1922 that the CCP was not highly regarded in Moscow. Moreover, the CPC was divided into two camps, one led by Deng Zhongxia and Li Dazhao on the more moderate "bourgeois, national revolution" model and the other by Zhang Guotao, Lou Zhanglong, He Mengxiong and Chen Duxiu on the strongly anti-imperialism side.[9] Mikhail Markovich Borodin negotiated with Sun Yat-sen and Wang Jingwei the 1923 KMT reorganization and the CCP's incorporation into the newly expanded party. Borodin and General Vasilii Blyukher (known as Galen) worked with Chiang Kai-shek to found the Whampoa Military Academy. The CCP's reliance on the leadership of the Comintern provided a strong indication of the First United Front's fragility.[10] The death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925 created great uncertainty regarding who would lead the party, and whether they would still work with the Communists. Despite the tensions, the Northern Expedition (1926–1927) led by the Kuomintang, with participation of the CCP made quick gains in overthrowing the warlord government.

Second Civil Revolution Period—Soviet Republic of China (1927–1937)

In 1927, as the Northern Expedition approached Shanghai, the Kuomintang leadership split. The left-wing of the Kuomintang, based in Wuhan, kept the alliance with the Communists, while Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing grew increasingly hostile to them and launched a campaign against them. This happened after the capture of Shanghai, which occurred with the Communists and Kuomintang still in alliance. André Malraux's novel, Man's Fate (French: La Condition Humaine), is based on these events.

The anti-communist drive became general. As Chiang Kai-shek consolidated his power, various revolts continued, and Communist armed forces created a number of 'Soviet Areas'. The largest of these was led by Zhu De and Mao Zedong, who established Soviet Republic of China in some remote areas within China through peasant riots. A number of KMT military campaigns failed, but in the meantime the party leadership were driven out of Shanghai and moved to Mao's base, sidelining him.

Chiang Kai-shek launched a further campaign which succeeded. The CCP had to give up their bases and started the Long March (1934–1935) to search for a new base. During the Long March, the party leadership re-examined its policy and blamed their failure on the CCP military leader Otto Braun, a German sent by Comintern. During the Long March, the native Communists, such as Mao Zedong and Zhu De gained power. The Comintern and Soviet Union lost control over the CCP. They settled in Shaanxi,[11] where there was an existing Communist base.

The Western world first got a clear view of the main base of the Chinese Communist Party through Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China. Snow was also the first person to present Mao as the main leader - he was previously seen as just a guerilla leader and mostly as second to Zhu De (Chu Teh).[12]

Sino-Japanese War Period—Second United Front (1937–1945)
The Party leadership in 1938. Front row, left to right: Kang Sheng, Mao Zedong, Wang Jiaxiang, Zhu De, Xiang Ying, Wang Ming. Back row, left to right: Chen Yun, Bo Gu, Peng Dehuai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhang Wentian

During the Second Sino-Japanese war (1937–1945), the CPC and KMT were temporarily in alliance to fight their common enemy. The Communist government moved from Bao'an (Pao An) to Yan'an (Yenan) in December 1936.[13] The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army became army groups belonging to the national army (8th route army and New 4th Army), and the Soviet Republic of China changed its name as a special Shaan-Gan-Ning administration region (named after the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia provinces at the borders of each it was located). However, essentially the army and the region controlled by CPC remained independent from the KMT's government.

In eight years, the CCP membership increased from 40,000 to 1,200,000 and its military forces - from 30,000 to approximately one million in addition to more than one million militia support groups.[14]

It is a well accepted idea that without the Japanese invasion, the CCP might not have developed so fast. This accelerated development is attributed by some to the lack of attention the CCP paid to the war against Japan, they argue that the Chinese Communists took advantage of the KMT's preoccupation with the Japanese to gain an edge on the nationalists. This, however, wasn't entirely true as the Chinese Communists did wage costly Hundred Regiments Offensive and guerrilla wars against Japanese occupied areas.[15] However, there are some sources that suggests that Mao Zedong did collude with the invading Japanese forces to assist them in effectively attacking KMT forces [16]

Third Civil Revolution Period (1946–1949)

After the conclusion of World War II, the civil war resumed between the Kuomintang and the Communists. Despite initial gains by the KMT, they were eventually defeated and forced to flee to off-shore islands, most notably Taiwan. In the war, the United States supported the Kuomintang and the Soviet Union supported the CCP, but both to limited extent. With the Kuomintang's defeat & retreat to Taiwan, Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 1949.

As ruling party

On 1 October 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong formally proclaimed the establishment of the PRC before a massive crowd at Tiananmen Square. The CCP headed the Central People's Government.[17] From this time through the 1980s, top leaders of the CCP (like Mao Zedong, Lin Biao, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping) were largely the same military leaders prior to the PRC's founding.[18] As a result, informal personal ties between political and military leaders dominated civil-military relations.[18]

Chinese communists celebrate Joseph Stalin's birthday, 1949.

Stalin proposed a one-party constitution when Liu Shaoqi visited the Soviet Union in 1952.[19] Then the Constitution of the PRC in 1954 changed the previous coalition government and established the CCP's sole ruling system.[20][21] Mao said that China should implement a multi-party system under the leadership of the working class revolutionary party (CCP) on the CCP's 8th Congress in 1956.[22] He had not proposed that other parties should be led before,[23] although the CCP had actually controlled the most political power since 1949.[24]

During the 1960s and 1970s, the CCP experienced a significant ideological separation from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[25] By that time, Mao had begun saying that the "continued revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat" stipulated that class enemies continued to exist even though the socialist revolution seemed to be complete, leading to the Cultural Revolution in which millions were persecuted and killed.[26]

Following Mao's death in 1976, a power struggle between CCP chairman Hua Guofeng and Vice-chairman Deng Xiaoping erupted.[27] Deng won the struggle, and became the "paramount leader" in 1978.[27] Deng, alongside Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, spearheaded the Reform and opening policy, and introduced the ideological concept of socialism with Chinese characteristics, opening China to the world's markets.[28] In reversing some of Mao's "leftist" policies, Deng argued that a socialist state could use the market economy without itself being capitalist.[29] While asserting the political power of the Party, the change in policy generated significant economic growth.[30] The new ideology, however, was contested on both sides of the spectrum, by Maoists as well as by those supporting political liberalization. With other social factors, the conflicts culminated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.[31] The protests having been crushed, Deng's vision on economics prevailed, and by the early 1990s the concept of a socialist market economy had been introduced.[32] In 1997, Deng's beliefs (Deng Xiaoping Theory), were embedded in the CCP constitution.[33]

Flag of the Communist Party of China from 17 June 1951 to 21 July 1996

CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin succeeded Deng as "paramount leader" in the 1990s, and continued most of his policies.[34] In the 1990s, the CCP transformed from a veteran revolutionary leadership that was both leading militarily and politically, to a political elite increasingly regenerated according to institutionalized norms in the civil bureaucracy.[18] Leadership was largely selected based on rules and norms on promotion and retirement, educational background, and managerial and technical expertise.[18] There is a largely separate group of professionalized military officers, serving under top CCP leadership largely through formal relationships within institutional channels.[18]

As part of Jiang Zemin's nominal legacy, the CCP ratified the Three Represents for the 2003 revision of the party's constitution, as a "guiding ideology" to encourage the party to represent "advanced productive forces, the progressive course of China's culture, and the fundamental interests of the people."[35] The theory legitimized the entry of private business owners and bourgeois elements into the party.[35] Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin's successor as general secretary, took office in 2002.[36] Unlike Mao, Deng and Jiang Zemin, Hu laid emphasis on collective leadership and opposed one-man dominance of the political system.[36] The insistence on focusing on economic growth led to a wide range of serious social problems. To address these, Hu introduced two main ideological concepts: the Scientific Outlook on Development and Harmonious Socialist Society.[37] Hu resigned from his post as CCP general secretary and Chairman of the CMC at the 18th National Congress held in 2012, and was succeeded in both posts by Xi Jinping.[38][39]

Anti-CCP message in a stamp on a one yuan banknote

Since taking power, Xi has initiated a wide-reaching anti-corruption campaign, while centralizing powers in the office of CCP general secretary at the expense of the collective leadership of prior decades. Commentators have described the campaign as a defining part of Xi's leadership as well as "the principal reason why he has been able to consolidate his power so quickly and effectively."[40] Foreign commentators have likened him to Mao.[41] Xi's leadership has also overseen an increase in the Party's role in China.[42] Xi has added his ideology, named after himself, into the CCP constitution in 2017.[43] As has been speculated, Xi Jinping may not retire from his top posts after serving for 10 years in 2022.[18][44]

In June 2020, Cai Xia, a retired professor of CPC's Central Party School, voiced criticisms against Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the CPC, in which she compared Xi to a "mafia boss" and the ruling Communist Party a "political zombie". In a 20-minute audio on social networking sites, she said that everyone is Xi's slave, and that there is no human rights or rule of law. She suggested that Xi should retire.[45] On 17 August 2020, Cai Xia was expelled from the CPC's Central Party School and her retirement pensions were cancelled.[46]

On 24 July 2020 the CPC expelled an outspoken and influential property tycoon, Ren Zhiqiang, who denounced CPC general secretary Xi. He went missing in March after criticizing Xi, and later his case was passed to the judiciary system for criminal investigation.[47]

On 1 October 2020, U.S. Congressman Scott Perry introduced legislation to add the CCP to the Top International Criminal Organizations Target (TICOT) List and provide the United States law enforcement agencies a strategic directive to target the CCP's activity.[48]

On 21 October 2020, the Subcommittee on International Human Rights (SDIR) of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development condemned the persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang by the Government of China and concluded that the Chinese Communist Party's actions amount to genocide of the Uyghurs per the Genocide Convention.[49][50][51][52]

See also

References
  1. Schwartz, Benjamin, Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao, Harper & Row (New York: 1951), p. 32-35.
  2. 张, 申府. ""一大" 前后: 中国共产党第一次代表大会前后资料选编, 第 2 卷". Google Books. 中国社会科学院.
  3. 毛, 泽东. "中国共产党创建史研究文集". Google Books. 百家出版社出版.
  4. 張, 國燾. "我的囘憶". Google Books. 明報月刊出版社.
  5. Chiang, Kai Shek. "Soviet Russia in China a summing up at seventy". Internet Archive. Central Cultural Relics Supply Company, Liming Culture.
  6. Liu, Jianyi. "The origins of the Chinese Communist Party and the role played by Soviet Russia and the Comintern". Semantic Scholar. University of York.
  7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-01. Retrieved 2008-10-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. Schwartz, p. 41.
  9. Schwartz, p. 37-38.
  10. Schwartz, p. 50-51.
  11. Mao Tse Tung Ruler of Red China by Robert Payne, page 174
  12. The Morning Deluge, by Han Suyin, footnote on page 367
  13. Mao Tse Tung Ruler of Red China by Robert Payne, p 175
  14. Benjamin Yang,From Revolution to Politics: Chinese Communists on the Long March Westview 1990, p. 307
  15. The Battle of One Hundred Regiments, from Kataoka, Tetsuya; Resistance and Revolution in China: The Communists and the Second United Front. Berkeley: University of California Press, [1974].
  16. Truth of Mao Zedong’s Collusion with the Japanese Army
  17. Hunt, Michael (2014). The World Transformed 1945 to the present (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 118.
  18. Miller, Alice. "The 19th Central Committee Politburo" (PDF). China Leadership Monitor, No. 55.
  19. 哲, 師 (1991). 在歷史巨人身邊——師哲回憶錄. Beijing: 中央文獻出版社. p. 531.
  20. 子陵, 辛 (2009). 紅太陽的隕落：千秋功罪毛澤東. Hong Kong: 書作坊. p. 88.
  21. 理羣, 錢 (2012). 毛澤東和後毛澤東時代. Taipei: 聯經. p. 64.
  22. 中央統戰部研究室 (2010). 統一戰線100個由來. 華文出版社.
  23. "中國民主同盟第二次代表大會". democracy league.
  24. 鯨文, 周 (1959). 風暴十年——中國紅色政權的真面貌. Hong Kong: 時代批評社. pp. 58–59.
  25. Kornberg & Faust 2005, p. 103.
  26. Wong 2005, p. 131.
  27. Wong 2005, p. 47.
  28. Sullivan 2012, p. 254.
  30. "History of the Communist Party of China". Xinhua News Agency. 29 April 2011. Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  31. Sullivan 2012, p. 25.
  32. Vogel 2011, p. 682.
  33. Vogel 2011, p. 684.
  34. Sullivan 2012, p. 100.
  35. Sullivan 2012, p. 238.
  36. Sullivan 2012, p. 317.
  37. Sullivan 2012, p. 329.
  38. "Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping meet delegates to 18th CCP National Congress". Xinhua News Agency. 16 November 2011. Archived from the original on 29 September 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  39. Kate O’Keeffe and Katy Stech Ferek (14 November 2019). "Stop Calling China's Xi Jinping 'President,' U.S. Panel Says". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  40. "Xi Jinping's Anti-Corruption Campaign: The Hidden Motives of a Modern-Day Mao – Foreign Policy Research Institute". www.fpri.org. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  41. Staff writer (20 September 2014). "The Rise and Rise of Xi Jinping: Xi who must be obeyed". The Economist. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  42. Mitchell, Tom (25 July 2016). "Xi's China: The rise of party politics". Financial Times. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  43. Phillips, Tom (24 October 2017). "Xi Jinping becomes most powerful leader since Mao with China's change to constitution". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  44. "The 7 Men Who Will Run China". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  45. 安德烈 (4 June 2020). "前中共中央党校教授蔡霞：换人 中国才有希望". RFI. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  46. "The CCP's Central Party School (College of National Administration) severely dealt with the serious violation of discipline by retired teacher Cai Xia". CCP's Central Party School (College of National Administration). Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  47. "A Chinese Tycoon Denounced Xi Jinping. Now He Faces Prosecution". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  48. U.S. House. "Perry Introduces Bill to Protect Americans from Chinese Criminal Activity". U.S. House. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  49. "STATEMENT BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNING THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION OF UYGHURS AND OTHER TURKIC MUSLIMS IN XINJIANG, CHINA". Subcommittee on International Human Rights (SDIR) of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. 21 October 2020. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  50. Joshua Lipes (21 October 2020). "Canada's Parliament Labels China's Abuses in Xinjiang 'Genocide,' Urges Government Action". Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  51. "China slams Canada after report calls Uighur policy 'genocide'". Al Jazeera. 22 October 2020. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  52. Barry Ellsworth (22 October 2020). "Canadian MPs deem China's actions vs Uyghurs 'genocide'". Anadolu Agency. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020. the Subcommittee is persuaded that the actions of the Chinese Communist Party constitute genocide as laid out in the Genocide Convention," it said.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.