|
China THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was formally
established, with its national capital at Beijing. "The Chinese
people have stood up!" declared Mao as he announced the creation of
a "people's democratic dictatorship." The people were
defined as a coalition of four social classes: the workers, the
peasants, the petite bourgeoisie, and the national-capitalists. The
four classes were to be led by the CCP, as the vanguard of the
working class. At that time the CCP claimed a membership of 4.5
million, of which members of peasant origin accounted for nearly 90
percent. The party was under Mao's chairmanship, and the government
was headed by Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) as premier of the State
Administrative Council (the predecessor of the State Council).
The Soviet Union recognized the People's Republic on October 2,
1949. Earlier in the year, Mao had proclaimed his policy of
"leaning to one side" as a commitment to the socialist bloc. In
February 1950, after months of hard bargaining, China and the
Soviet Union signed the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual
Assistance, valid until 1980. The pact also was intended to counter
Japan or any power's joining Japan for the purpose of aggression.
For the first time in decades a Chinese government was met with
peace, instead of massive military opposition, within its
territory. The new leadership was highly disciplined and, having a
decade of wartime administrative experience to draw on, was able to
embark on a program of national integration and reform. In the
first year of Communist administration, moderate social and
economic policies were implemented with skill and effectiveness.
The leadership realized that the overwhelming and multitudinous
task of economic reconstruction and achievement of political and
social stability required the goodwill and cooperation of all
classes of people. Results were impressive by any standard, and
popular support was widespread.
By 1950 international recognition of the Communist government
had increased considerably, but it was slowed by China's
involvement in the Korean War. In October 1950, sensing a threat to
the industrial heartland in northeast China from the advancing
United Nations (UN) forces in the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (North Korea), units of the PLA--calling themselves the
Chinese People's Volunteers--crossed the Yalu Jiang River into
North Korea in response to a North Korean request for aid. Almost
simultaneously the PLA forces also marched into Xizang to reassert
Chinese sovereignty over a region that had been in effect
independent of Chinese rule since the fall of the Qing dynasty in
1911. In 1951 the UN declared China to be an aggressor in Korea and
sanctioned a global embargo on the shipment of arms and war
materiel to China. This step foreclosed for the time being any
possibility that the People's Republic might replace Nationalist
China (on Taiwan) as a member of the UN and as a veto-holding
member of the UN Security Council.
After China entered the Korean War, the initial moderation in
Chinese domestic policies gave way to a massive campaign against
the "enemies of the state," actual and potential. These enemies
consisted of "war criminals, traitors, bureaucratic capitalists,
and counterrevolutionaries." The campaign was combined with partysponsored trials attended by huge numbers of people. The major
targets in this drive were foreigners and Christian missionaries
who were branded as United States agents at these mass trials. The
1951-52 drive against political enemies was accompanied by land
reform, which had actually begun under the Agrarian Reform Law of
June 28, 1950. The redistribution of land was accelerated, and a
class struggle (see Glossary)
against landlords and wealthy
peasants was launched. An ideological reform campaign requiring
self-criticisms and public confessions by university faculty
members, scientists, and other professional workers was given wide
publicity. Artists and writers were soon the objects of similar
treatment for failing to heed Mao's dictum that culture and
literature must reflect the class interest of the working people,
led by the CCP. These campaigns were accompanied in 1951 and 1952
by the san fan ("three anti") and wu fan ("five
anti") movements. The former was directed ostensibly against the
evils of "corruption, waste, and bureaucratism"; its real aim was
to eliminate incompetent and politically unreliable public
officials and to bring about an efficient, disciplined, and
responsive bureaucratic system. The wu fan movement aimed at
eliminating recalcitrant and corrupt businessmen and
industrialists, who were in effect the targets of the CCP's
condemnation of "tax evasion, bribery, cheating in government
contracts, thefts of economic intelligence, and stealing of state
assets." In the course of this campaign the party claimed to have
uncovered a well-organized attempt by businessmen and
industrialists to corrupt party and government officials. This
charge was enlarged into an assault on the bourgeoisie as a whole.
The number of people affected by the various punitive or reform
campaigns was estimated in the millions.
Data as of July 1987
|
