The

Communist
Party of
China—A
History to the
Present
Joe Strehlow
11/30/08
3°

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 Is the Communist Party of China really about the people? Is it not the point of

Communism to help and advance the people, instead of just leading to a detrimental society?

The reader may decide that for his or herself after reading this dissertation. Communism is a

form of government with a socioeconomic structure that promotes an equal and classes

society. Communism in China has developed over time with many significant events directly

involving Chairman Mao Zedong, it has had many powerful leaders, and yet China has many

governmental flaws as well.

Communist ideas first spread to China in 1919 after the May Fourth Movement, which

was a movement that protested the government’s acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles, one of

the many World War I treaties. The Communist Party of China was initially founded by Chen

Duxiu and Liz Dazhao. When Communism officially began in China in 1921, it was led by

the General Secretary, the highest ranking official directly involved in Communism (Meyer

22-31). However, more significant events happened in 1943, when Mao Zedong came to

power. Mao founded Maoism, a derivative of Communism that uses guerilla war tactics to

surround enemy cities. Maoism is structured to have no social classes, like other Communist

forms of government, and mainly uses peasants as soldiers. (Staar 82). Mao Zedong earned

the respect of the Chinese people during the Chinese Civil War between the Communists and

the Nationalists. Mao defeated the Nationalist Party Chiang Kai-Shek. Mao demonstrated his

true leadership at the Long March, a massive military retreat, which began prior to Mao’s

reign in 1934. The Long March was executed to avoid the military of the Chinese National

Party. This allowed him to gain power because he was supported by the Chinese people

(Modern China 1). During Mao’s reign, he began the Great Leap Forward,

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which spanned from 1958 to 1961. This was a social as well as an economic plan to convert

China from a low-class, agrarian nationality into a modernized agricultural and industrial

economy. Many people were diverted from collecting the harvest into working in industrial

steel mills and constructing buildings, which led to most of the food supply rotten before it

could be collected. After the first year, the weather took a turn for the worst. In 1959, the

Yellow River flooded, flooding crops and drowning people. In parts of China that were most

severely affected by the climate, some cases of cannibalism occurred. The Great Leap

Forward is now recognized as one of the world’s major economic disasters, as tens of millions

of people died of famine. To regain control of the party after the failure, on May 16, 1966,

Mao began the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, or more simply known as the Cultural

Revolution. Mao campaigned, largely with the help of Lin Piao, to rid the Chinese

government of a system of social class and regarding all the classes as equal, which led to a

drastic downfall throughout China (Staar 203-205).

China has had some of the most important Communist leaders of all time. From 1921

until 1943, the highest rank of the Communist Party of China was the General Secretary of the

Communist Party of China Central Committee, or more simply, the General Secretary. The

title “Chairman” was used from 1943 to 1982. Since 1982, the General Secretaries served as

party leaders. Peng Zhen was the fourth Chairman of China, who engaged in many military-

related actions while incarcerated. He founded the Shanxi Province in northern China. Lin

Piao was a Communist military leader who helped guide the Chinese to the Communist

victory in the Chinese Civil War. He was also a key figure in the Cultural Revolution because

he helped Mao reveal why it was a necessity for China. The successor to Mao was Chairman

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Hua Guofeng, who is best known for putting a complete end to Mao’s Cultural Revolution. In

addition, he helped restore the economy of China as well as its political stability. Another

significant leader was Deng Xiaoping, who wanted to completely engage in Chinese

economic reform. The goals of his reforms were the Four Modernizations, which were

advancing agriculture, industry, technology, and defense; he introduced these in 1975. These

were designed to make China one of the greatest economic powers by the twenty-first century.

These also allowed China to have a more open economic market. Mao Zedong was the most

influential Chinese Communist leader; although he did his best to promote equality, his ideas

led to many epic failures (Chai 113, 179, 307-310).

The Chinese Communist system of government is flawed in many ways, ways that

contradict basic human psychology; if a federal system does not give its people gratification,

or at least the ability to gain satisfaction, the populace of the nation will rebel and attempt to

overthrow their corrupt government. Communism degrades its common people until they are

just all on one social level; they cannot progress or move up the social ladder, as there is not

social ladder. Communism needs a more formatted method of handling and distributing the

wealth and taxation. People cannot gain privileges unless they are part of a larger governing

body, as privileges cannot be given to the governed people unless they can be divided up

evenly amongst the general public. Communism is a failed federal and legislative system, as

in order for it to properly function, its high-ranked individuals must give up some power,

which is not how a typical human being functions. Furthermore, Communism does not

incorporate human incentives into its beliefs. Humans will not behave appropriately if they

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are unable to move up in society, or at least benefit from doing their roles (Brzezinski 57-66,

90-91, 110-124).

Communism in China has developed over time with many significant events, has had

many powerful leaders, and yet has many governmental flaws as well. The Communist

Party of China has developed greatly over time with many events of world importance, as

well as world leaders, but no matter how much it continues to develop, Communism will

never be successful, as it contradicts the way the human brain processes its ideas; it

disagrees with basic human psychological functions. Some significant Chinese events

regarding Communism are the Long March and the Great Leap Forward. The strongest

Chinese Communist leader was Chairman Mao Zedong, with his ways to try and help his

people. Communism violates the way human reason functions because it forces leaders to

give up power and it gives the governed populace no motives.