AP World History 8.3-8.4: Spread of Communism and Decolonization

Chinese Communist Revolution

The Chinese Communist Revolution was the social and political transformation led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), beginning in 1927 and culminating in the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. It was closely connected to the Chinese Civil War and the Cold War.

Why are the beginning and end dates of the Chinese Communist Revolution debated?

The CCP's official historical framing often begins the revolution with the party's founding in 1921, while some historians emphasize the later Civil War. Possible starting points for the final Civil War phase include the end of the Second United Front in 1941, Japan's surrender in 1945, or the resumption of full-scale war in 1946.

What event is commonly used to mark the end of the Chinese Communist Revolution?

The proclamation of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. Fighting continued afterward in some regions, and the Nationalist government did not fully evacuate to Taiwan until December 1949.

How did the Chinese Communist Revolution differ from the Chinese Civil War and the Cultural Revolution?

The Communist Revolution refers broadly to the political and social process that brought the CCP to power from 1927 to 1949. The Chinese Civil War was the principal military conflict between the CCP and Nationalists, while the Cultural Revolution was a later movement beginning in 1966.

Century of humiliation

A term used for the period of Chinese decline, foreign intervention, unequal treaties, territorial concessions, and internal weakness preceding the Communist Revolution. These conditions encouraged Chinese nationalism and opposition to imperialism.

Northern Expedition

A military campaign launched by the KMT in 1926 to defeat the northern warlords and unify China under nationalist leadership. Its successes expanded KMT territory but also intensified class and ideological conflict within the United Front.

What internal problems weakened China before the Communist Revolution?

Economic stagnation, official corruption, military weakness, rural poverty, peasant rebellions, and political fragmentation weakened both the Qing dynasty and the later Republic of China. China had also fallen under the influence of foreign powers.

How did the fall of the Qing dynasty contribute to revolutionary conditions?

The Qing dynasty collapsed in 1912, but the Republic of China failed to create stable national authority. By 1917, China had fragmented into competing warlord factions, leaving many people dissatisfied with the republican government.

How did foreign imperialism affect Chinese political development?

Japan and Western powers imposed unequal treaties, obtained territorial concessions, and gained opportunities to exploit China's economy. Many Chinese viewed the republican government's inability to resist imperialism as evidence that a more radical political transformation was needed.

Landlord system in rural China

A rural social and economic structure in which landlords and wealthy peasants controlled much of the agricultural land, while many peasants owned little or none and had to rent plots. Regional conditions varied, but landlessness and insecure tenancy were especially severe in parts of southern China.

Why did land ownership contribute to peasant dissatisfaction in China?

Many peasants had to rent land and surrender large portions of their harvest or income as rent. Small, infertile plots, poverty, and recurring famine left much of the rural population receptive to promises of land reform.

Sharecropping in revolutionary-era China

A tenancy system in which peasants paid the landlord with a proportion of the harvest rather than a fixed rent. In some areas, landlords demanded roughly 40% to 60% of the harvest, while in parts of Shanxi the landlord's share could reach about 80%.

What forms of rural exploitation existed besides high rents?

Landlords could profit through usury, corruption, theft of public funds, side businesses, forced personal service, and control of local politics. These practices reinforced economic, social, and political inequality in villages.

How did urban intellectuals become receptive to Marxism?

The failure of the 1911 Revolution and the Republic of China to modernize the country or improve social conditions led intellectuals to explore socialism and Marxism. Journals, study groups, and the New Culture Movement spread these ideas in urban centers.

New Culture Movement

An intellectual and cultural movement that challenged traditional authority and promoted new political and social ideas. In cities such as Shanghai, it helped create an environment in which socialism, Marxism, and nationalism gained influence.

New Youth

A journal edited by Chen Duxiu that helped popularize left-wing and Marxist ideas among China's urban intelligentsia during the 1910s and 1920s. It became an important vehicle for political radicalization.

May Fourth Movement

A mass protest movement that began in 1919 after the Versailles settlement transferred German rights in Shandong to Japan. It combined anti-imperialism with opposition to the weakness of the Chinese government and brought students and broader urban groups into political activism.

Why did the Russian Revolution appeal to Chinese radicals?

The Bolshevik Revolution offered a model of rapid modernization and revolutionary change in a society viewed as semi-colonial. Leninist organization also seemed adaptable to China, where a disciplined vanguard party could lead a broader revolution.

Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

A Leninist revolutionary party founded in Shanghai in July 1921 by urban intellectuals and activists influenced by Marxism and the Russian Revolution. The CCP later became the ruling party of mainland China.

When and where was the Chinese Communist Party founded?

The CCP was founded at its First National Congress in Shanghai on July 23, 1921. Its early membership was small and concentrated among students, workers, and urban intellectuals.

Why did the early CCP adopt a Leninist vanguard-party model?

Chinese Marxists increasingly concluded that informal study groups were inadequate for revolutionary change. They therefore favored a disciplined organization led by professional revolutionaries, following the Leninist model.

How did the CCP's membership change between 1921 and 1925?

The party grew from about 50 members in 1921 to roughly 200 in 1922 and about 2,400 in 1925. Despite this growth, it remained much smaller than the Kuomintang and was initially concentrated in cities.

First United Front

An alliance between the CCP and Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang (KMT), formalized in 1924, to defeat China's warlords and unify the country. CCP members joined the KMT as individuals, making the CCP the left wing of a larger nationalist coalition.

Sun–Joffe Manifesto

A January 1923 agreement that formalized cooperation among Sun Yat-sen's KMT, the Soviet Union, and the Chinese Communist movement. It helped establish the political basis for the First United Front.

What was the two-stage theory that influenced the First United Front?

The theory held that a society considered feudal or semi-colonial first needed a capitalist or bourgeois-democratic revolution before a socialist revolution could succeed. This rationale encouraged the CCP to cooperate with the nationalist KMT.

How did Soviet assistance strengthen the KMT during the First United Front?

The Soviet Union provided advisers, funding, and military assistance, including support for the Whampoa Military Academy and the National Revolutionary Army. This helped the KMT prepare for a campaign against the warlords.

May Thirtieth Movement

A 1925 protest movement in Shanghai against foreign interference, unequal power, and the privileges of the International Settlement. The police shooting of demonstrators provoked outrage and helped the CCP recruit workers.

Canton–Hong Kong strike

A major strike beginning in June 1925 that opposed foreign control and interference in China. It strengthened the CCP's labor movement and contributed to rapid growth in Communist membership.

Why did the First United Front break apart in 1927?

KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek feared the growing influence of Communists and independent labor and peasant movements. After consolidating power, he ended the alliance and ordered violent repression of the CCP, beginning with the Shanghai Massacre.

Shanghai Massacre

The 1927 purge in which Chiang Kai-shek's forces attacked and killed large numbers of Communists and leftist workers in Shanghai. It marked the collapse of the First United Front and the beginning of the first phase of the Chinese Civil War.

How did the 1927 purge change CCP revolutionary strategy?

The CCP was driven from major cities and forced to retreat into remote rural areas. Communist leaders increasingly focused on peasant mobilization, land reform, rural base areas, and guerrilla warfare rather than urban labor revolt alone.

Mao Zedong's view of the peasantry

Mao argued that China's huge peasant population could become the main force of revolution. His position challenged CCP leaders who expected urban workers to lead a more conventional Marxist revolution.

Hunan Report

Mao Zedong's 1927 analysis of rural unrest in Hunan, which argued that peasant rebellion was justified, powerful, and capable of transforming China. It helped establish Mao as an important authority on rural revolution.

Jiangxi Soviet

A Communist-controlled rural base in Jiangxi that functioned as a state within a state. Under Mao's leadership, it became a center for experimenting with land reform, peasant organization, and revolutionary administration.

What was the significance of the Long March?

After severe military defeats, Communist forces undertook a retreat to a new base in northwest China in 1934–1935. The march preserved the movement, strengthened Mao's authority, and helped create the political and military leadership that later guided the CCP to victory.

How did Mao become the undisputed leader of the CCP?

Mao gained authority through his rural revolutionary strategy and his leadership during the Long March. After the march, the CCP carried out ideological campaigns that reinforced loyalty to Mao and to a peasant-based revolutionary path.

Yan'an Rectification Campaign

A campaign of ideological self-purification conducted after the CCP established its base in northwest China. It strengthened organizational discipline and consolidated allegiance to Mao's leadership and strategy.

Why did Japan's invasion create an opportunity for the CCP?

Japan's aggression allowed the CCP to present itself as a patriotic force resisting imperialism. By conducting guerrilla warfare behind Japanese lines, the Communists expanded their influence and built support while the Nationalists appeared more focused on suppressing internal opponents.

Xi'an Incident

In 1936, Nationalist officers sympathetic to resistance against Japan kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek and pressured him to negotiate a ceasefire with the CCP. The incident helped produce the Second United Front.

Second United Front

The renewed CCP–KMT cooperation formed to resist Japan after the full-scale Japanese invasion of China in 1937. Although the alliance was uneasy, it enabled the CCP to expand its rural bases and influence through anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare.

How did the Second Sino-Japanese War affect the balance between the CCP and KMT?

The war weakened the Nationalists through military losses, economic disruption, and political dissatisfaction. The CCP used resistance operations and effective local organization to expand its support, especially among peasants.

Why did the Chinese Civil War resume after World War II?

Japan's surrender in 1945 created a struggle over Japanese-held territory, weapons, and political authority. Peace negotiations failed, and full-scale fighting resumed after Chiang Kai-shek launched a major offensive against Communist bases in Manchuria in June 1946.

How did postwar economic conditions weaken the Nationalists?

Urban unemployment, runaway inflation, and government corruption reduced confidence in the Nationalist government. The presence of U.S. Marines in Chinese cities also intensified anti-imperialist resentment, particularly among students.

What external support did each side receive during the resumed Civil War?

The Nationalists received military support from the United States, while the CCP received support from the Soviet Union. Internal political legitimacy and organization, however, were also crucial to the outcome.

People's Liberation Army (PLA)

The Communist military force that conducted the successful campaigns of the final phase of the Chinese Civil War. Its victories forced the Nationalist government to retreat from mainland China to Taiwan in 1949.

How did the CCP defeat the Nationalists between 1946 and 1949?

The Communist People's Liberation Army launched a series of successful campaigns that broke Nationalist military power and captured major regions and cities. Communist support among peasants, effective rural organization, and Nationalist corruption and economic crisis contributed to the victory.

Establishment of the People's Republic of China

Mao Zedong and other CCP leaders proclaimed the PRC in Beijing on October 1, 1949. The Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan, while the CCP established control over mainland China.

What major conflicts continued after the PRC was proclaimed in 1949?

Fighting continued in places such as Hainan into 1950, and the PRC took control of Tibet in 1951. Some anti-Communist insurgencies also continued in western and southwestern provinces for years afterward.

How did the Communist victory affect the Cold War?

China became the world's largest socialist state by population and an important socialist power. After the later Sino-Soviet split, it became a distinct third force within the Cold War and supported communist movements internationally.

Why did the Chinese Communist victory alarm the United States?

U.S. policymakers feared that communism would spread across East and Southeast Asia, an idea associated with the domino theory. The United States consequently undertook military interventions against forces supported by China in Korea and Southeast Asia.

How did the Chinese Revolution influence other revolutionary movements?

The CCP's success provided a model of peasant-based revolution, guerrilla warfare, and rural political organization. It inspired Maoist parties and communist movements in several countries.