AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA

 AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHINA

1900 China. At the beginning of the 20th Century life in China, under an emperor was much the same as it had been for hundreds of years. Men wore their hair in long queues as a sign of subservience to the dynasty. A man without a queue could be beheaded.

1911 A military revolt overthrew the emperor.   China was declared a Republic. Two men led the struggle, Mao Zedong  and Chiang Kaishek  The government at first was weak in the face of hundreds of warlords throughout the country, each controlling its territory. Dozens of military commanders moved into the vacuum.  The warlords fought each other People's lives were devastated.  Some made fortunes growing opium .  Some were Christians.  Many more landlords supported  foreign powers like England, France,  Germany, the US and Japan.  They all lived in special areas. They were hated by the majority of Chinese.  They had pushed China to the verge collapse.

1914 Japan declared war on Germany, sent troops to Shandong, and seized all special rights that Germany had enjoyed in China. 

1915 Japan compelled Yuan  Shikai to recognize its 21 demands, gaining control of railways, tax revenue, mines and forest resources, and rights of army training through huge loans.   

1918 Japan sent thousands of troops to occupy northeast China. The Chinese warlords were lackeys of Japanese imperialism. They sold out the country externally while carrying our autocratic rule internally. 

1919 THE MAY 4TH MOVEMENT. The May 4th movement was anti imperialist anti feudal revolutionary movement. Inspired by the Bolshevik revolution, it was unable to accept the failure of China in the Paris peace conference, which was manipulated by the US Britain and France. The Chinese set up 7 conditions aimed at restoring Chinese sovereignty, but the conference refused to discuss them. the articles related to Shandong were decided by the 3 powers and China was not allowed to attend. 100,000 protested in Jinan. 10,000 students in Beijing signed a telegram demanding the abolition of the treaty. Thousands demonstrated in Tien An Men, were cut ofF by foreign police. The students, enraged, rushed to Zhang Zongxiang's house and set it on fire. 

The students made speeches in the streets calling for boycott of Japanese goods. The collaborationist government arrested 900 students. The patriotic movement swept over the whole country. Merchants closed their shops. Students, workers and shop keepers struck in 150 cities. These antics forced the Chinese representatives in Paris to refuse to sign the treaty. Rudimentary Marxist ideas became popularized. Pragmatism, stating that truth is what works, became popular. The pragmatists wanted less theory and more results. Guild socialism also became popular, advocating syndicalism, took hold. They advocated relying on the gentry and business class to develop industry, and strengthening the unions.  A "New Village" movement sprang up, a kind of utopia. Anarchism, absolute freedom,  was popular among the students, who fancied themselves more radical the more extreme they behaved. These all had an anti-feudal significance. Marxists advocated transforming the economy through class struggle. China's working class was small. 

1920 The communists expounded the relationship between freedom and discipline, freedom and unity, and freedom and obedience. The May 4th movement set the stage for the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai. 

1921 THE CHINESE COMMUNIST Party. The Communist Party of China held its first Congress in Shanghai, with Mao Zedong Zedong Zedong in attendance. Chinese capitalists had made some headway, but were hindered by the imperialists, the warlords' wars and heavy taxe, as well as poor transportation. The national bourgeoisie became involved in politics, hoping to improve their situation, harmed by imperialist competition. There were proposals to shift power to the provinces, to write a new constitution, to abolish military governors. Worker's strikes broke out across the country. The 1st national labor Congress was sponsored by the Kuomingtang, the communist Party the anarchists and others. Many strikes were successful in getting rights and the movement was at high tide. The enemies were the imperialists, the feudal warlords and the political bureaucrats. The Congress voted a two stage policy; to support the democratic bourgeois revolution and also to carry out a revolution against the bourgeois class.  They formed a democratic united front with the Kuomintang..  Sunyatsen assumed the post of provisional president of the republic. 

1922 The Comintern suggested that Sun get together with the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China and obtain the needed cooperation to defeat the warlords. This was formally achieved in 1923.

1923 Soviet representative Michael Borodin arrived and was appointed by Sun as organization advisor. 

The child emperor PuYi  was placed on the throne on the throne. The National Army drove the last Qing dynasty out of the Imperial palace.  The Zhili troops were defeated. The first national congrsess was held in Guan.  Zhou Enlai. , advocated self-emancipation of the chinese nation, freedom from imoerialism, and full equality for nationalities in China.The Kuomintang established the Whampoa military academy with Chiang Kaishek  as commandant.

1924 THE KOUMINTANG. China. Sun Yat Sen addressed these problems. He was the leader of a coalition group call the national Party.  He appealed to foreign countries to help him defeat the warlords, but most refused. Only the Soviet Union offered  help.  The other countries did not want China  to be united, on the principle of divide and rule.  One Soviet condition was to allow the Chinese Communist Party to join in the effort. The Soviets helped Sun Yat Sen set up a military Academy.  Patriotic youth from over China joined .  Some were nationalists,  some were communists.  They trained for the Northern expedition. Sun Yat Sen appointed his protegé,  Chiang Kaishek Kai Shek,  commander of the Academy.  Chiang Kaishek Kai Shek had attended  military school in Japan.

1925. China. Sun Yat Sen died. A struggle for power within Party began, breaking the fragile unity.

1925 The warlords desperately tried to hang on to power in the face of the National assembly movement, supported by Sun Yatsen. Democratic rights were to be shared by all. Equalization of land ownership, regulation of capital. Sun died in Beijing. The Guzhenghong strike, where  Gu was killed, sparked the may 3d movement. Thousands of students filled the streets of Shanghai. The British police fired into the crowd, killing 4 demonstrators. Workers from 113 factories and 102 foreign-owned factories struck in protest. The imperialists continued to shoot down demonstrators. The Communist Party of China decided to change tactics, from worker's struggle to economic struggles and boycotts. The strike in Hong Kong went on for 16 months. The Mongolian peoples revolutionary Party was founded. Soldiers from the military academy embarked on an expedition to crush the warlords in Guandong. At the same time the right wing of the Kuomintang assassinated Liaoozhongkai, a communist member.  The Kuomintang rightists opposed the communists and tried to usurp power. 

1926 The Second National Congress was called in apparent unity between the two rivals. Chiang Kaishek  framed the cruiser Zhongshzn incident. He ordered two ships sent in from the navy, then denied that he had done so in an attempt to spread the rumor that the communists were planning a takeover. He declared martial law unilaterally, putting communist leaders and the Soviet advisory group in custody. This was a step for Chiang Kaishek to consolidate power. Still, the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang were formally united and as the Northern Expedition set out to overthrow the reactionary rulers in Beiyang. In less than 10 months they annihilated the main forces of two warlords, fought from Guangdong to Wuhan, Nanjing and Shanghai and expanded the revolutionary area from the Zhujiang valley to the Yangtze.

1926 THE NORTHERN EXPEDITION. Chiang  Kai Shek was appointed commander in chief of the Northern expedition.  In six months they defeated 34 warlords. The people welcomed them as liberators. The soldiers always paid for  what they ate and drank. They told the  peasants not to pay their debts.  Some left-wing communist were overzealous in destroying family traditions such as religion and other customs.  This fed into  Nationalist  propaganda that the communists were inhuman and against China, that they had a secret plot to "Sovietize" China and enslave the population. 

1927 British soldiers killed and wounded many at a mass rally, three uprisings shattered the warlords garrisoned in Shanghai. Trade union membership increased to 1.2 million, many becoming the backbone for suppressing counter revolution. Membership in peasant organizations rose to 5 million. The peasant masses rose up to overthrow the landlords and set up their own political power and armed forces. They fought for reduction of rents, interests and deposits, rendering an economic blow to the landlords. They also opposed the 3 feudal authorities; clan, religious and masculine. Mao  Zedong  refuted the attacks on the peasant movement by Marxists who wanted the supremacy of the workers. The Red army created the guerrilla tactic as; "the enemy advances, we retreat. The enemy camps, we harass, The enemy tires, we attack The enemy retreats, we pursue." Mao Zedong Zedong pointed out that China was a large semi-colonial country with an imbalanced economic and political development, and this made the development of Red areas possible. The theoretical foundations of  the Party included setting up Red base areas, systematically founding political power, deepening the agrarian revolution, and expanding people's armed forces. There was great  revolutionary progress and great counterrevolutionary advances. Britain, the United States, France, Italy and Japan had 60 warships anchored off the Shanghai coast. While carrying out this gun boat diplomacy, they adopted various sinister means of divide and conquer, to split the revolutionary camp into moderates and extremists. The conclusion was to support Chiang Kaishek at the head of the military dictatorship and the big Chinese bourgeoisie, and oppose the Communist Party.  In April armed gangsters disguised as workers rushed out from foreign concessions to attack the worker's pickets. The reactionaries, on pretext of mediating discussion among workers disarmed their pickets. Over 1,700 guns were seized and more than 300 workers and communists were killed or wounded. 200,000 Shanghai workers protested the massacre and staged a strike. They held a parade in the rain, and were attacked by ambushing troops. 100 were killed outright, there were countless wounded. Chiang Kaishek then banned strikes and parades, dissolved the federation of trade unions, closed down revolutionary organizations, and arrested and killed communists at large. Chiang Kaishek established another national government in Nanjing to replace Wuhan's national government, and ordered the Kuomintang to purge the Party. 2,000 communists and workers were arrested and 5,000 disappeared.  200 trade unions were closed down. A mammoth movement against Chiang Kaishek was launched in Wuhan. The Kuomintang central committee moved to expel Chiang Kaishek from the Party as a lackey of the imperialists. But the Wuhan government had become isolated, surrounded by warlords. The british and Japanese sent warships to threaten the Wuhan government, and closed down trade to create economic difficulties. Wuhan found itself with a shortage of commodities and war materials, soaring prices and workers unemployment. The imperialist designs began to take effect. The Wuhan government turned gradually to the right. The Party itself had sunk into a right opportunist mode and failed to give the revolutionary movement correct guidance. They tried to win Chiang Kaishek to the left and gain his support. In doing so they only succeeded in joining him. The issue was; should the revolution be expanded, or deepened? Borodin, the Soviet advisor suggested an equally disastrous ultra left policy, of launching an offensive on the bourgeoisie both politically and economically. He instructed the Party to mobilize 20,000 communists and 50,000 workers to establish a new revolutionary army. In the face of the powerful right elements in the Party, the Communist Party of China was split. By July Wangjingwei issued a coup against the Party, and the final break between the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang took place, bringing about the failure of the national revolution. Zhou Enlai and others led a march toward Guangdong, but were defeated by the superior Kuomintang forces. Nevertheless, this was the first salvo of an independent Chinese Communist Party that was to fight the reactionaries and win. The Party held a conference  to discuss their mistakes and define future revolutionary policy. Mao Zedong  made a famous speech pointing out that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. It was decided that the Party now would exercise armed struggle as the key form and the agrarian revolution as the central content. The conference dealt with the rightists within the Party, but neglected to pay attention to the ultra left adventurists. In December an uprising in Guang dong. Zhou Enlai declared the establishment of the first Soviet political power in China. Failure to evacuate the armed forces to the countryside in time in the face of the enemy's onslaught made the revolutionary forces suffer great losses. In a reaction against the right, left putschism confused the bourgeois democratic revolution with socialism and thought that in order to overthrow the landlords the bourgeoisie must also be overthrown. Believing the tide was rising, instead of ebbing as in fact it was, they opposed any retreat and demanded continuous attack, suffering heavy losses with little to gain. 

1927 Chiang Kai Shek planned to purge the Communists when the army reached Shanghai.  Communist workers organized by Chou En Lai had taken control of the city.  They eagerly awaited for the Chiang  Kai Shek army to arrive, unaware of their murderous intent.  The Nationalists ambushed Communists and killed thousands.  They disbanded the worker's guards.  100,000 workers poured out into the streets in protest.  They were fired upon.  The streets ran with blood .  Many protestors were arrested.  Unions were closed.  Thousands were executed .  Chiang  Kai Shek established a national government in Nanking, thus controlling   the economic heartland. It gave him international prestige . He named himself the heir  to Sun Yat Sen. He married Sun Yat Sen's sister in law. She was a Methodist and had gone school in the United States.  China became modernized and middle-class, adopting western technology and science.  New hospitals were built. Transportation was modernized.  The currency system was unified.  Education was expanded .  The Nationalists used American techniques in social, political and economiuc organization.  The Communists used Soviet techniques in contrast.  To prevent a resurgence of the Communists, Chiang Kaishek turned  China into a police state.  Communists went underground. The Nationalist slogan was "Better to kill an innocent by mistake than let Communists go."  Working conditions were brutal. Child labor was common. Children and others  worked 17 hours a day.  The Communists told them, "You do the work and they take the money."  The Communist Party at the time  believed, as did Marx, that  revolution would be led by workers, but some disagreed. In Jiang Xi,  Mao Zedong  believed the peasants would be the driving force.  In south China there was a huge gap  between rich and poor. Rents were high and taxes were collected decades in advance.  Young girls were sold because their parents could not afford to keep them.  The Communists organized peasant associations and worked for  social reform.  Violent class struggles erupted.  Some landlords were beaten to death.  Food and clothing were distributed free among the peasants.

1928 Chiang Kaishek launched another northern expedition which now was intercepted by the Japanese imperialists. 10,000 civilians and soldiers were killed or wounded in a week by the Japanese.the Kuomintang issued directives that it would be responsible for training the citizens in elections, recalls, political formulations and decisions and it had full responsibility for the country, as such it took on the mantle of the government for all of China. It divided the national government into the executive, legislative and judicial branches. This govt suppressed the worker-peasant movement and slaughtered the opposition. In the next 5 years more than one million communists and supporters were killed. Feudal relations of the landlords exploiting the peasants did not change. The comprador-bourgeoisie were protected. The four big families represented beaurocrat-capitalism, and even the national bourgeoisie was not emancipated. The only difference was that the governmentt was less feudal and more strongly comprador in character.  The 6th national Congress of the Communist Party was held in Moscow, with Zhou Enlai and others attending. It affirmed that the Chinese revolution was still a bourgeois-democratic  revolution against imperialism and feudalism, and that the central task of the Party was to win over the masses. This played a positive role in Chinese policy, but it failed to estimate the role of the intermediary classes and the internal contradictions within the reactionary forces by lumping them all together. The over-emphasis on working class origin was also at odds with the reality of China.

1929 Chiang Kaishek's enemies were not only the Communist Party, but there were many warlords within the Kuomintang that jockeyed for power and wanted to displace him. After the war against the Fengtian clique, he proposed to reorganize and discharge the 2 million strong army and use the money saved for reconstruction. His real reason was to weaken the forces of Feng, Yan and Guangxi factions and to strengthen his own position. He demanded every group hand over power to the central authority but they refused.. Large scale warlord wars broke out.At the 9th Party Congress in Fujian, Mao Zedong Zedong pointed out various non-proletarian ideas in the Communist Party, including a purely military viewpoint, ultra democracy, disregard for organizational discipline, absolute egalitarianism, subjectivism, individualism, ideology of roving rebel bands, remnants of putchism, etc. Methods of correction included education and discipline.  

1930 Chiang Kaishek ordered a general offensive against Yan and Feng. Each side employed about 1 million soldiers each along a line of a thousand kilometers . The war lasted 5 months and brought disaster to the people. 300,000 soldiers were killed, countless wounded and extensive property losses.  The basic task for the communists was to solve the land problem. The peasants burned land deeds and distributed farmland among themselves. This boosted agricultural production and formed an economic base for the Red army. Property of the landlord class was to be confiscated and distributed equally among the people on a per capita basis. Those who had too much would be forced to give to those who had too little. The peasants could use the land but were not allowed to sell or buy it.

1930 Mao Zedong  organized the Red Army.  In spite of the fact the Reds were still relatively small in number, the nationalists were frightened.  The very people under attack were the  base of Chiang  Kai Shek's  support. He launched a series of military campaigns in Jiang Xi.  They were defeated. 9,000 members of the 18th division were wiped out. Not one escaped .

1931 The Soviet Areas. Chiang Kaishek, relying on backing of the US and British imperialists defeated all his opponents in the Kuomintang. He started to consolidate his position politically. He  called a National Assembly.he maneuvered to establish his dictatorship and oppose the people. He publicly praised fascism. He said communism was inherently ruthless and China did not need it. He said it put stress on individual freedoms. He claimed the communists were feathering their nests. The meeting passed a resolution to suppress the "Red bandits" on a large scale.  For the previous five years the Chinese Communist Party had been expanding and had successfully established base areas in dozens of counties. Peasants were now allowed to own land. They had the right to rent, borrow, sell or buy. Reliance should be placed on poor peasants and farm laborers, while uniting the middle peasants, neutralizing the rich peasants and eliminating the landlord class. An ultra left policy surfaced in the Party at this time. The line was to defend the USSR in direct contradiction with the danger posed by Chiang Kaishek and the Japanese invasion. Li san erroneously felt the cities should be organized first into a general uprising, followed by world revolution. As a result a number of base areas were lost. The Party put a stop to this ultra left theory. By attacking this left opportunist theory, Wang Ming declared it was really right opportunism, and implemented his ideas which were farther to the extreme left. In spite of this the Soviet areas prospered. The Reds smashed the Kuomintang's encirclement and suppression campaigns paying with 20,000 casualties, killing and wounding 70,000 of the enemy in 3 campaigns. Mao Zedong developed the strategy of affirm active defense, oppose passive defense, lure the enemy in deep, concentrate troops to wage mobile wars, wars of quick decision and wars of annihilation. In addition to the two main warring groups there were several smaller groups who could not fit themselves in either way. They were mainly national capitalists, petty bourgeois intellectuals, and reformists from other classes. They formed third parties, groups dedicated to reorganizing the Kuomintang, human rights groups, and rural development groups. There also existed a Trotskyite faction that appeared among Chinese students in Moscow. They ooposed both the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party center. Japanese troops dynamited a section of of the south Manchuria railway and falsely blamed Chinese troops. On this pretext they attacked Beidaying and Shenyang. Japanese troops stationed in Korea crossed the border to station themselves in the northeast.

1931 Japan invaded Manchuria. Chiang  Kai Shek  chose a policy of non-resistance.  The Japanese attacked Shanghai

1932 The anti- Japanese Democratic Movement. Japanese troops attacked Zhou Enlai and Harbi. The puppet state of Manchukuo was set up, with PuYi as its chief executive. His guardian was a de facto ruler of Manchuria. The Japanese set about conquering all of China, and the fight against the US and Britain receded into second place. Chiang Kaishek refused to resist the invasion. They worked within the league of nations to petition Japan to withdraw, but without success. A wave of indignation swept the country against the Japanese and the Kuomintang's inaction. The Chinese Communist Party, the Soviet government and the Red army issued calls to wage a national revolutionary war and drive the aggressors out of China. Tens of thousands of students petitioned the Kuomintang to take action against the Japanese, but the Kuomintang suppressed the students instead. There was a nation-wide boycott of Japanese goods. Donations by peasants, students, and urban petty bourgeoisie were sent from all over the country in support of the resistance, spearheaded by the Red army. The Nanjing and Guangdong. Zhou Enlai factions of the Kuomintang met to discuss a united national government and stopping internal contention and resisting foreign aggression. Actually what they did was share political booty and scramble for power under the guise of united action against a national calamity. Their talks centered around the distribution of Party, political and military power among themselves. Under the guise of unity, each side tried to undermine the other. The Party headquarters of the Hu clique was set up in Guangdong .. Under those conditions Chiang Kaishek adopted a policy of making concessions in order to get an advantage. He resigned. The Japanese occupied areas without much effort. This caused further criticism of the Kuomintang. Chiang Kaishek then met with Wang, who agreed to handle domestic and foreign affairs while Chiang Kaishek returned as head of the military,  and they pushed Hu out of the government.  The Japanese then attacked shanghai.Chiang Kaishek affirmed his policy of internal pacification before resistance to foreign invasion. Chiang Kaishek supported an extensive spy system. 400 people were killed at a public funeral. Assassinations of dissidents became common. The conference of the shanghai anti imperialist league was destroyed by Chiang Kaishek's special agents and 80 people were arrested. The Bao-Jia system of organizing households to inform on revolutionary activities was controlled by the landords and gentry. Chiang Kaishek's propaganda machine advocated feudal ideas such as manners, justice, integrity, honor, loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, love, faith, righteousness, harmony and peace–all upper cl

1932 Japan setup a puppet government in Manchuria, installing the emperor Pu Yi as head of state.  The Chinese were angered and humiliated, but demonstrations against Japan were everywhere.

1933 Dissident members of the Kuomintang launched the Fujian incident. They established a people's revolutionary government, advocating the elimination of imperialist forces in China, abolishing unequal treaties, overthrowing the counterrevolutionary government, getting rid of all feudal forces, distributing farmland on a per capita basis, developing national capital, improving the livelihood of the workers and peasants, ensuring that the working people enjoy absolute freedom and equality, etc. these were demands of the middle stratum. The Chinese Soviet Provisional Government concluded an agreement with Fujian and waged a struggle against Chiang Kaishek. This marked the breakup of the Kuomintang. Chiang Kaishek  tried to attack Fujian and also tried to bribe officers of the Red army. The Japanese, American and British naval vessels and gunboats coordinated with Chiang Kaishek. Chiang Kaishek mustered 630,000 troops for his fourth encirclement and suppression campaign, this time against the Soviet areas. The Red army annihilated 3 enemy divisions and captured 10,000 troops. This victory led to the expansion of the Soviet areas. The red army grew to a total of 300,000. Chiang Kaishek ran a blockade against the Soviet areas, forbidding the transportation of military supplies, articles of daily use, seeds and draught animals. Anyone helping the "bandits" (the Reds) would be shot. Chiang Kaishek launched the fifth encirclement and suppression campaign. 500,000 Kuomintang encircled the Soviet areas. The communists had 80,000 troops, but under the wrong guidance of Bo Gu and Otto Braun, and missed the chance of turning a defensive position into an offensive attack. 

1934 The Fujian government , under assault, collapsed.  The Japanese called Manchuria the Manchu empire and named Pu Yi as emperor. Chiang Kaishek started his "New Life" movement to organize the population along military, productive and artistic lines. His intention was to shackle people's words and deeds and make them submissive to the dictatorship.new culture meant traditional culture mixed with western capitalist values. The 6th Central Committee plenary session of the Party was held in the Soviet areas. They decided to break out of the encirclement and set out for Fujiana and Hunan. This was the beginning of the Long March. They were 86,000 strong, but because of wrong tactics by the leadership they suffered heavy losses and were reduced to 30,000. after a meeting in Zunji to take stock of the situation and the disastrous consequences of the Bo Gu and Otto Braun policies, Mao  Zedong, Zhou  Enlai and Wang Jiaxiang were elected as military directors. This meeting marked a maturation of the Party and put an end to ultra left adventurism.

1934 Chiang  Kai Shek launched the "New Life" movement , a mixture of Confucian values and European fascism. The movement failed  to solve the peasant's problems.  His fifth military campaign was a success.  The Communist International sent an advisor, Otto Braun. Mao Zedong Tse Tung disagreed with Braun and lost his position as head of government.  Guerrilla tactics were abandoned. The nationalists were better armed and Braun's new tactic of direct confrontation did not work.  The Nationalists were winning.  The Communists lost popular support because of the divisiveness of their internal struggles.  There were traitors among them.  Some changed with the wind. Communists were tortured. Women were threatened with the gang rape.  The National lists set up concentration  camps.  87 thousand Communists broke out of the  blockade and  set out on the Long March.

1935 THE LONG MARCH. The Central Red army arrived in Sechuan, where they organized two divisions, the left route army and the right route army. The right route army led by Mao Zedong  annihilated a division of the Kuomintang plus a regiment of the enemy troops and laid  the foundation for the establishment of the national revolutionary headquarters in the northwest. Other detachments joined the main forces of the Red army, numbering over 20,000. the Red guerrilla forces in the 14 areas of the 8 provinces fought for 3 years and contributed much to the Chinese revolution. The Northeast anti-Japanese allied army engaged the puppet armies in thousands of battles and crushed their numerous expeditions, striking heavy blows to the Japanese invaders. The Japanese imperialists created the North China incident, where they plan to make 5 provinces autonomous and secede from the central Chinese government. The Kuomintang once again compromised. They agreed to withdraw the Northeast army, the central army and the 3rd regiment from Hebei, banning all anti-Japanese organizations. The Gahar agreement guaranteed the Japanese free travel in Qahar province. China should recognize Manchukuo and the Chinese and Japanese should jointly contain the communist Party. The crisis in north China had reached its peak. There were large demonstrations from universities and middle schools in Beijing demonstrated against Japanese imperialism. 10,000 broke through police lines and opposed autonomy in the north. Afterwards they went out to the countryside to integrate themselves with workers, peasants and soldiers. Under Mao Zedong's guidance, the Soviets were turned into people's Soviets, and the Chinese Communist Party formed a united front with the national bourgeoisie, as long as the workers retained the leading role. 

Chiang Kaishek had placed himself between the Japanese on one hand and Britain and the US on the other. The Kuomintang was split between supporting one or the other faction. The pro Japanese faction suffered a setback. In spite of public pronouncements on suppressing the communists, he started secret talks with them, embarking on a policy of both suppression and appeasement. 6,000 students from Beijing university presented a petition to the Kuomintang government in north China with the slogans ‘ oppose autonomy in north China' and ‘down with Japanese imperialism.' 

1935 On foot, the Communists crossed  34 Rivers,  eight mounting ranges and walked 6000  miles. 30 to 40,000 people died on the way from starvation and illness. At this point Cho En Lai sided with Mao Zedong  against Braun. The masses also supported Mao Zedong. From this time on the Chinese received little help from the Soviet Union.  Mao Zedong Tse Tung made it a point to look out for the men and women under his care.  He would give his personal ration to another soldier.  He earned their undying devotion.  They finally reached Yunan. Mao Zedong  asked. " although we are now only 6000 left, are we stronger or weaker?" The answer was they were stronger. After all they had gone through, those who were left were "pure gold". 

1936 Incensed at his collaboration, some National officers kidnapped Chiang Kaishek,  in an effort to force him to resist Japan.  Finally Chiang Kaishek  was released.  He at last agreed to work with the Communists against Japan.  This was the beginning of the United Front.

People all over the country demanded resistance against Japan and opposed fighting a civil war.  The Chinese Communist Party made preparations for the armed resistance against Japan and the Chinese traitors. Chiang Kaishek issued orders for a general offensive against the Red army, which rose to repulse the enemy attack, wiping out the 78th division of the whites.

THE XI'AN INCIDENT. Zhang and Yang issued an order to arrest Chiang Kaishek, saying they guaranteed his personal safety. They put forward 8 propositions to the Nanjing government, among them, stopping all civil wars, releasing all political prisoners, lifting the ban on mass patriotic movements, and convening a national salvation meeting. The Japanese attempted to continue the civil war to gain ground. Zhou Enlai and others formed a delegation to talk to Chiang Kaishek, forcing him to promise to reorganize the Kuomintang and the National government, release political prisoners, stop suppressing the Chinese Communist Party, cooperate with the Red army in resisting Japana, and convening a general convention to discuss the way forward. Chiang Kaishek was released and the issue was resolved peacefully. However, this signalled a turning point, and the civil war was effectively ended. 

1937 A full scale invasion by Japan in China marked the beginning of World War Two in Asia.  Shanghai was bombed.  There were huge civilian casualties, upwards of 200,000 in Nanking alone.   Chiang Kaishek appealed to the world for support and money, much of which he pocketed.the Chinese Communist Party put forth 5 demands; (1) Stop civil war and unite to resist the Japanese (2) guarantee freedom of speech, assembly and association, and release all political prisoners (3) Hold a conference with all political viewpoints to save the nation (4) organize war against Japan (5) improve people's livelihood. If the Kuomintang implemented these provisions, the Chinese Communist Party would place itself under the Nanjing Central government and military and stop confiscating the land of the landlords. The Kuomintang in turn proposed ‘peaceful unification' if the Red army was disbanded, the Soviet government liquidate, communist propaganda was stopped, class struggle was ended. The Chinese Communist Party agreed to take these steps backward for the sake of unifying the forces against Japan. Chiang Kaishek was unable to stem the tide of the Chinese people rising up to defeat and drive out the invaders. The position of the Japanese was unsteady. There were pro-American and pro-British forces in the Nanjing government, the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party were cooperating, the US and Britain were giving aid to Chiang Kaishek, the relations between China and the USSR were close. China had entered a new historical stage. The Japanese attacked shanghai, the hub of international trade and the home of British and American commerce. Chiang Kaishek had no choice but to fight back. Once again the Chinese Communist Party called for a united front, mobilizing the entire country, reforming the political structure, improving people's standard of living, and liquidating traitors and spies. Guerrilla war was reinstated. People all over the world organized in support of China. With heavy fighting and huge losses to the Chinese, the main cities and the communication lines fell under Japanese control. Having captured shanghai, the Japanese moved on toward Nanjing. The Chinese were forced to move the government to Wuhan. Chiang Kaishek decided to defend Nanjing, but it fell on December 13. The Japanese launched a competition to kill rape and loot, which lasted 6 weeks. Over 300,000 Chinese were massacred. One third of the houses were burned. 

1938 CHANGES IN THE STALEMATE. Chiang Kaishek  ordered the dikes of the Yalu River broken in on effort to flood the area and  stop the Japanese, but he only succeeded in flooding 11 cities and thousands of villages.  Millions were made homeless.  Hundreds of thousands died.  The government moved to Sechuan province, and in protest many  Chinese moved to Yunan so they could join the Communists and fight the Japanese at last.  The Communists reduced land rent and taxes.  They had political education and military training. They held elections.  The Communists avoided  the  ultra left and violent tactics of the past.  They recognized that the peasants wore not necessarily more progressive than some middle class members.   Women became liberated and treated as equals.  The Party established a solid base of support and the resistance was beginning to take hold. In response, the Japanese scorched earth campaign of terror was "burn all,  kill all,  loot all".the eigth route army fought 1,500 battles on inflicted 50,000 casualties on the enemy. The population of the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines reached 50 million. Mao Zedong wrote a treatise on how to win a protracted war, refusing the theory of quick victory. He pointed out 3 stages; defense, stalemate and counterattack. Use of initiative and flexibility in conducting offense within the defense, quick decisions and coordinating exterior line operations with interior ones. Now there were 3 areas in China, the Kuomintang area, a one-Party dictatorship in the hands of the landlords and the bourgeoisie,  the liberated area, where were the national united front and the Chinese Communist Party and the new democracy,  and the enemy-occupied area, where the Japanese gathered traitors to establish a puppet regime and colonial rule. Japanese casualties amounted to  447,000, with an insufficient force and growing war expenditures. Anti war feelings were growing among the Japanese people. In contrast the Chinese were more resolute, especially in the face of Wang Jingwei and Zhou Enlai.  Fohai  tried to sign a peace treaty of surrender and escaped in time to make it to Hanoi. Britain offered to mediate a peace treaty with Japan, hoping to get concessions which would allow it to continue its business dealings. The Chinese Communist Party issued a call to fight the anti-communist and capitulationist elements. 

1939 The 8th route army engaged the Japanese and puppet troops in over 6,900 operations and wiped out 113,000.in an attempt to have ‘one Party and one leader', Chiang Kaishek took sun's 3 principles and adapted them for his own ends. He organized a bogus National Government in Nanjing, which made secret agreements with Japan. In the areas under occupation, the Japanese imperialists carried out inhuman rule and unbridled plunder. They set up the Manchuria heavy industry company to monopolize iron and steel, light metals, automobiles, aircraft and coal, and plundered the farms for grain. The migrated 1 million peasants. Much of this was practiced under fake "Sino-Japanese" cooperation.  The administration of these enterprises and the profits wound up in Japanese hands. In the countryside, the invaders appropriated land, collected taxes, made fire sale price purchases, looted grain, farm animals and other property. There was rationing for the Chinese, but not for the Japanese army. Young men were pressed into forced labor. This created broad secret support for the communists in the occupied areas. The Chinese Communist Party countered with 3 principles of their own; uphold Sun's genuine 3 principles, understand the relationship between communism and the people, stick to the theory of revolution by stages, not by a single revolution. At this time the Party repudiated both left and right errors, by evolving the theory of Chinese democracy. Mao Zedong declared the way; 1United front, 2Armed struggle and 3Building of the Party. He said that China must go through 2 stages- the democratic revolution and then the socialist revolution. The old democracy was led by the bourgeoisie, the new democracy was led by the proletariat. The new democracy must be anti-imperialist and anti-feudal conducted by the broad masses and is different from socialist democracy. The new democracy combines politics, the economy and culture. The German-USSR war broke out. Germans invaded Poland and Czechoslovakia. 

1940 The 8th route army engaged the Japanese and puppet troops in over 2,400 operations putting 51,000 out of action. The hundred-regiment campaign involved 105 regiments with 400,000 troops plus 200,000 peasants in support. They fought 1,824 battles wiping out 46,300 Japanese and puppet troops. Vast expanses of lost territory were recovered. The Communist Party had grown to 800,000 and the population in the base areas to some 100 million. Calls for patriotism by the Kuomintang were really rallying support of filial piety to the dictatorship of the military, landlords and bourgeoisie, and for rejecting "alien ideas". It deceptively carried out plans for a "constitutional government", without any intention of reform. The enthusiasm for writing a constitution petered out when the Kuomintang saw that the people took the issue seriously. Mao Zedong wrote at this time "we cannot repeat the ultra left error of all struggle and no alliance or the right opportunism of all alliance and no struggle. The revolution must combine both alliance and struggle. He evaluated the United front into 3 strata; the progressive, the intermediate and the diehard. He formulated the policy of developing the progressive forces, winning over the middle and isolating the diehard ultra left. The formula for the united front in  the composition of the organs of power was one third for the communists, one third for the other progressive forces, and one third for those who were neither left nor right. Every Chinese at the age of 18 enjoyed the right to elect and be elected regardless of class origin, nationality, sex, political belief, Party affiliation or educational level. Local political councils in the liberated areas were elected in this way. The Party issued a directive to educate the people in the liberated areas on national democratic revolution and on the science and theory of Marxism. There were 1,300 primary schools with 43,000 students. In the border region there were 7,600 primary schools and 469,000 students. Colleges and universities turned out trained personnel. The media acted as a great educational instrument. Cultural and educational work in the countryside made progress. This was the embryonic form of the new China. At this time Japan signed a military treaty with Germany and Italy. . this moved Britain and the US to ally with China for the sake of strengthening their positions and resisting the war in the Pacific. The axis powers and the allies both tried to win Chiang Kaishek over to their side. He ordered the 8th route army and the new 4th army to move north, and if they refused he threatened to wipe them out. The diehard Kuomintang forces slaughtered the new 4th army as it arrived in Maolin. The intermediate forces were shocked at the wanton action and started to decisively turn away from the Nationalist army. The diehards carried out a high-handed policy toward them as well as toward the communists. The intermediate sectors organized their own groups in protest, The League of Chinese Democratic Political groups. This marked the growth of the political strength of the middle class. 

1941 THE OUTBREAK OF THE PACIFIC WAR.  The Nationalists  attacked the Communists and ended the United front.  Japan was winning the war.  They launched an attack on Pearl Harbour, forcing the United States to ally itself  with China. General Stillwell was sent as commander in China, . The war effort was also hampered by Nationalist  corruption and war profiteering. Nationalist conscripts were tied together with ropes, to stop them  from running away. The Nationalists  put sand in the rice and pocketed the difference. One and a half million men died of starvation or illness under  Chiang Kaishek's Nationalists  army. In spite of this Chiang Kaishek was hailed as a hero in  US propaganda, to stop the Communists and continue the money  flowing to the Chiang Kaisheks. No one had to account for the money, and much of it simply disappeared. Japan took the opportunity of the war in Europe to demand hands off China from Britain, Japan and the Netherlands, or it would declare war. The US secretary of state sent Japan a memo demanding that Japan withdraw its troops from China and Viet Nam. Japan's reply was to launch an areal attack on Pearl Harbor. After that, Japan made a sneak attack on (British) Singapore. The flames of war spread from Hawaii to the Malay peninsula. Germany and Italy declared war on the US. The Chinese Communist Party made a declaration uniting with all anti-Japanese forces, including Britain and the US. Many European, Asian and American countries declared war on Japan. President Roosevelt suggested Chiang Kaishek be set up as supreme commander in China, and sent Joseph Stillwell to be chief of staff. 

1942 Japan occupied the Philippines, Guam, Wake, Hong Kong, Malaya, Burma, East Indies, Indo China.  and Singapore. Further, it set its sights on India and Australia. Western and Asian countries signed a common manifesto guaranteeing the use of all their resources against the fascist allies, declaring they would not sign a separate truce agreement. China and the US reached an agreement for a loan of $500 million. The international anti-fascist united front was formally established. The destiny of the Kuomintang became more closely identified with the US. Chiang Kaishek made a blackmailing statement that he would sign a separate peace treaty with Japan if he did not continue to receive aid money. The Chinese people were firmly opposed to capitulation and forced Chiang Kaishek to wait and see. The US bombed Tokyo. The Japanese captured Rangoon. The Chinese army fought them in Burma and along the Indian border. The Kuomintang government announced that because of the war, censorship of all media would be put into effect. People's civil rights were deprived. In the north the resistance dwindled, and people took up guerrilla war as a form of resistance. The local guerrillas and militia nearly doubled in number. They employed landmines, tunnel and ‘sparrow' warfare to inflict casualties. The evacuated people in danger and hid their livestock. Their constant task was to organize and arouse the masses, unfold political offensives against the enemy, striking blows against the police, secret agents and traitors, destroy puppet organizations and local powers, attack the enemy's strongholds and set ambushes. The people fought heroically. Mao Zedong called a meeting to evaluate the Party's style of work, to rectify subjectivism, sectarianism and stereotyped Party writing and sloganeering as well as encouraging combining theory with practice, maintaining close links with the masses and carrying out criticism and self criticism. The aim was to achieve high unity politically and ideologically, to learn from past mistakes and avoid future ones, to cure the sickness and save the patient. The incorrect method of merciless blows and ruthless struggles was thus avoided. The Japanese concentrated large forces in midway island, only to suffer a disastrous defeat. The US had turned from defensive battles to the offensive. US troops landed on Guadalcanal where they put up a stubborn fight. In the interest of fighting the Japanese, the US and Britain signed a treaty with China giving up all extraterritorial rights in the country. This was among one of the first equal treaties China had brought to the table since the European colonization period. In Cairo Roosevelt, Churchill and Chiang Kaishek agreed that Manchuria, Taiwan and Penghu island should be returned to China from Japanese control. China had emerged as a world power. 

1943 The Kuomintang and high ranking officials took advantage of the war to profit by it. This resulted in the rapid expansion of bureaucrat capital. , the issuance of bonds, increase of taxes, inflation, controlling of foreign exchange and the buying and selling of gold, mobilizing the sale of particular commodities and turning the economy into a state monopoly. Chiang Kaishek was president of the board of directors of the Bank of China. Commerce openly became a monopoly. The government operated many commercial companies with private names. The government borrowed grain from the peasants by force, interest-free. Workers in the cities were also heavily exploited. The greed of the bureaucrat capitalists eventually plunged the country into economic collapse. Japan exercised control over ordinary Chinese. In the public order they issued ‘good people identity cards' in the non-public order they practiced their ‘kill all, burn all, loot all' policy. People were persecuted, plundered and massacred. The Chinese Communist Party grew to 900,000. In Europe, the Battle of Stalingrad provided a significant turn in the anti-fascist war. The Soviets wiped out a total of 1.5 million enemy troops. 3,500 tanks and 3,000 airplanes. From that time on, the Germans went on the defensive and the Soviets on the offensive. In North Africa, the German-Italian forces surrendered. The Anglo-american forces landing in Italy led to the downfall of Mussolini. The people's resistance within the fascist block was also growing in Germany, Italy Rumania, Bulgaria and Hungary. There were fundamental changes as well in the Asian, Australian and Pacific battlefields. The Japanese were forced to withdraw from Guadalcanal. They began to suffer one defeat after another.

The Kuomintang published a magazine called China's destiny, in which the viewpoint of the fascist clique was explained.  It prepared public opinion for another onslaught against the communists. In the face of the Japanese occupation of his country, Chiang Kaishek was preparing for   civil war. The counter offensive in the press was swift and overwhelming. Zhou Enlai published an article defending democracy,  the destruction of fascism ideologically, the destruction of  Chinese feudal thinking, and ultra idealistic obscurantism, refuting the slander that the communists were traitors and warlords. With the obvious decline of fascism in the world, opinion throughout China forced Chiang Kaishek to switch from battle plans to ideological struggle. 

1944 The Americans traveled  to Yunan and  met the Communists for the  first time. The Communists needed American help, because there was little Soviet support.. Even though the Americans were anti-Communist, they could see could see that the Communists had massive popular support. Stillwell  arrogantly attempted  to head  Chiang Kaishek's army himself  and incidentally arm Communist troops. Chiang Kaishek refused. Stillwell insisted he knew best, and Americans with experience in China were fired or resigned. Roosevelt, at the suggestion of Chiang Kaishek, recalled Stillwell and replaced him with Hurley, who declared he would talk to Chiang Kaishek, but not to the communists. Patrick Hurley  was to mediate between Chiang Kaishek and the Communists. His arrogance weakened his effectiveness.  For example, he called Mao Zedong '  "moose dung". Not surprisingly,  the Communists mistrusted him, and he in fact supported Chiang Kaishek.   He said the obstacle to China's unification was the Chinese Communist Party. At the same time the US was equipping the Kuomintang with large quantities of military aid in an attempt to strengthen them over the Party and to rob the fruits of victory in the war of resistance. Using a similar tactic, in June the allied forces landed in Normandy to open up a second battle field and make sure they could control the Soviet advance after the coming fascist defeat. As a reaction against fascism, the pro democracy movement sprang into life with the publication of Constitutional Government, inviting the public to hold forums establishing a democratic China. The Party called for the Kuomintang to put an end to one-Party dictatorship and to form a coalition government.

1945 THE FINAL VICTORY OF THE WAR. The Soviet army conquered Berlin. Germany signed an unconditional surrender. The Potsdam declaration demanded the Japanese government to immediately declare unconditional surrender of all its armed forces.  The Soviet union declared war on Japan .. The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese  surrendered.  Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill met at Yalta to  agree on the end of the war. They discussed dealing with Germany, Poland and Japan. Their agreement on Japan infringed on China's sovereignty. The USSR was to recover the rights enjoyed by tsarist Russia in China's northeast. The Soviets made it clear to the US and the Kuomintang that they would support Chiang Kaishek  in his attempt to unify China and back his national government. The war of resistance in China was bound to end in victory and China was on the eve of great change Chiang Kaishek became  the hero of China in the media. The question remained,  who would take the Japanese  surrender in the north?. Nationalist troops were airlifted to get there first. Civil war seemed inevitable.  Mao Zedong  and Chiang Kaishek met for talks for  the first time in 20 years. The talks led nowhere. Truman sent George Marshall to mediate, but  the  agreements broke down. Marshall supported the Koumintang in initiating a civil war against the Communists. 

CIVIL WAR. The civil war began. Communist support lay in the vast countryside. The Communists launched an even more  radical land reform movement. The poor divided up the land of the prosperous. Some veteran Party members from more affluent families were also attacked. Innocent people got beaten. The peasants  went out of control, and  the Communist leadership tried to calm things down. The fury of the poor became mob rule. 5 months later the land reform movement was brought to a halt.  Chiang Kaishek made a speech at the 6th  National Congress where he talked glibly about ‘constitutional government ‘ and ‘handing power back to the people', but his further speech on ‘defending the republic' and refusing a coalition government gave the lie to his pretensions of democracy. There was further general talk about ‘improving the lives of the people'. Also Chiang Kaishek stressed the elimination of the class struggle. Chiang Kaishek ordered the Japanese forces to defend themselves so as to prevent the people's forces from accepting the surrender. He ordered the puppet troops to maintain local order by force. The Chinese Communist Party convened its 7th national Congress where different members reported on the liberated areas, the Party constitution and the united front. Mao Zedong pointed out that what remained was the struggle between left over fascism and the anti-fascist forces, democracy and anti-democracy, national liberation and national oppression. The present task was for China to  build a coalition government for a China that was independent, democratic, united and prosperous. The basic political line of the Party was the mass line.Mao Zedong called to vigorously expand the liberated areas.the Chinese Communist Party demanded that the Kuomintang recognize popularly elected governments and anti-Japanese forces, avoid civil war, demobilize the army, provide relief to refugees and Reduce taxes, abolish laws that impede people's right to free speech and assembly, abolish the secret services and release political prisoners, and set up a coalition government with free elections. The China Democratic League urged the country to seize the opportunity to build China into a genuine democracy by nationalizing land and establishing state and public property. It urged reconstruction with the efforts of the entire nation. Internationally, it called for a balance between the US and the USSR. Domestically, for peace and unity, for the nationalization of the armed forces through democratic politics, and elections at various levels of power, economically, that the state cultivate capital and the land problem be resolved, socially, to work out a distribution system and lay the foundation for cooperation between labor and capital, with the free organizations of autonomous unions and peasant associations. Kuomintang troops launched attacks on the people's forces, but were beaten back. 

1946 The four big families expanded their holdings to 20 billion dollars. Chiang Kaishek  attempted to continue the same feudal-fascist dictatorship that existed before the war. The US intended to use the  Kuomintang  government to control China while the Kuomintang  kept asking for money.  The US could not afford to wage war against the Chinese communists, seeing it had just come out of a world war and public opinion would be overwhelmingly against it, so they opted for trying to reach a compromise while strengthening the Kuomintang. They reached and agreement with the Kuomintang  in an unequal and aggressive treaty covered with phrases of ‘friendship' ‘equality' and mutual benefit', which in reality enslaved China and in which the Kuomintang sold out China's sovereignty and interests. It gave US nationals the right to reside, travel, carry on commercial, manufacturing, processing, scientific, educational, religious and ‘philanthropic' activities, explore and exploit mineral resources, hold, construct and lease land and buildings, that the US would not be subject to greater taxation than the Chinese and there would be no restrictions on the importation of US goods.  The Chinese Communist Party rejected this plan out right. The Kuomintang wanted a one party dictatorship and refused to compromise with the communists.the Kuomintang  prepared for an all-out civil war. It moved 1.3 million men to the front and seized 40 county towns in the liberated areas, trying to split them in two. To counter the superior numerical force armed with the latest weapons, the Chinese Communist Party concentrated on wiping out segments on the enemy one by one. Concentration of forces would be primary, and dispersal of forces secondary. A female student at Beijing university was raped by US soldiers, which triggered off a nation-wide protest. Poverty-stricken people in the cities participated in food riots where they stole rice and other goods from stores and warehouses. 

1947 Massive economic problems were undercutting Chiang Kaishek's support in the cities. The currency system was in chaos. Inflation was rampant, doubling as it went.   The homeless and starving filled city streets.  Black market trading was widespread. In the north there was famine. The US continued to help Chiang Kaishek against the Communists even though Chiang Kaishek's forces were  embezzling the much needed  aid.  The war and foreign aid became a comfortable and profitable way of life. Finally, the Communists mounted a major offensive to resolve the situation. In the year of fighting, the Chinese liberation army wiped out 1,120,000 enemy troops while it grew from 1,200,000 to 1,950,000 troops. It was thus able to switch to the offense. Because of Chiang's intransigence, the bourgeois democracy that many had hoped for became an impossibility. More and more people from all walks of life began to support the Chinese Communist Party, the Red army and the liberating forces. The military posture turned unfavorable to Chiang's troops. As a result of concentrated offensives, his main forces were massed at the eastern and western flanks, leaving the center and rear weakly defended. With 3 armies, the People's Liberation Army broke through the center and advanced to the enemy's rear, pinning down both flanks. After 2 months of fighting it established a firm foothold in western Henan. Soon after it built a base area. In December the 3 armies linked up 3 newly liberated areas into one contiguous territory. The People's Liberation Army annihilated 750,000 enemy troops. Moving from fighting in the liberated areas to fighting in the Kuomintang  areas. Their policy was to overthrow Chiang's army and establish a democratic coalition government, confiscate bureaucrat capital, develop the industry and commerce of the national bourgeoisie. Improve the lives of the people, abolish feudalism in land redistribution, recognize ethnic minority rights, abrogate all treasonous  treaties. In this way the Kuomintang  reactionaries and other enemies were isolated and social productive forces were protected. The US gave the Chiang Kaishek government 27 million dollars, then 18 million more. The total value in aid , loans, materials and services was 4,34 billion dollars. 

1948 The Communists won control of North China. National troops crossed over, bringing entire divisions with them. The confiscated weapons were largely supplied by  the US via Chiang Kaishek. People were sick of fighting, and saw the Communists as the only force capable of bringing peace. After the victory in the North, the battle for Central China began. The Nationalists  fled in terror before the Communists. They had lost all popular support. The US gave the remaining Chiang Kaishek government 400 million dollars. It complained  that the Chinese who had benefited from American relief had no right to oppose American policies. Against a backdrop of ‘rebellion suppression' by the Kuomintang , textile workers on strike, student protest, a massive patriotic movement broke out. The people in the Kuomintang  areas shifted to active coordination with the People's Liberation Army. In a retrenchment action, some Kuomintang  members together with democratic groups issued a manifesto declaring opposition to imperialism and opposition to feudalism, alliance with Russia, toleration towards the Chinese Communist Party, and assistance to peasants and workers in order to, in their words,' remain in its leading position in the revolution". The bourgeois democratic movement in China had developed to a new stage. The People's Liberation Army grew to 2,800,000 men and women. Chiang Kaishek lost 2,600,000 troops and their strength was reduced to 3,650,000. Their army had been cut up into 6 isolated groups throughout the country. Panic purchasing started suddenly and spread to all cities in the Kuomintang   areas. The value of the the collapse of the economy accelerated the Kuomintang's downfall.  Gold certificates dropped 40% in one day. Now the US pressured Chiang Kaishek to resign, and in new years day he issued a statement that he was ‘retiring'. 

1949 THE  PEOPLE'S   REPUBLIC. In January, the People's Liberation Army started a general offensive against Tianjin's enemy troops. The city was liberated and its commander captured. Other Kuomintang  troops were closed off from escape, and had to accept peace terms. The Kuomintang  had been bankrupted by the war. Vicious inflation, the flood of American goods, the annexation of bureaucrat capital and heavy taxation forced the economy to close down.  under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party underground organization, the officers and men guarding the fortifications of Nanjing renounced their allegiance to the Kuomintang  and blockaded the route to the Yangtse. After the main forces of the People's Liberation Army forded the river, the Kuomintang's  officers fled Nanjing, first to Chongqing and then to Taiwan. Others fled to Viet Nam.   Th liberation army marched into Nanjing and placed a Red flag atop Chiang Kaishek's presidential palace. The liberation of  Nanjjng  proclaimed the downfall of the Kuomintang.  The People's Liberation Army had wiped out a total of 6,250,000 enemy troops. The liberation army entered Beijing to take it over. It held a grand marching ceremony. At 3 pm on October 1, --300,000 gathered at Tien an Men square to welcome the People's Republic. The feudal oppression of millennia, the 100 year old imperialist aggression and the 22 year old Kuomintan grule had come to an end. The people became masters of the country, the working class became the leading class, the socialist state-owned economy became the leading sector. This meant that China was now able to become a prosperous, modernized and powerful country thanks to the socialist system. The victory of the Chinese revolution dealt a blow to the worldwide colonial system and gave impetus to wars of national liberation. Triumph of the Revolution. Peace negotiations with the Nanking government were formed, declaring a cease fire. The Chinese Communist Party promised lenient treatment of war criminals, officers and men. The People's Liberation Army liberated China's largest city and most important economic center, wiping out more than 150,000 enemy troops. The remaining forces under Tang Nbo fled by sea.   In Shanghai,  people were leaving in droves because "the Communists were coming". Chiang Kaishek took many art treasures and the entire  national treasury with him and escaped to Taiwan. The Communists headed for Nanking and Shanghai. In a last desperate measure, the remaining Nationalists in Shanghai  murdered all the Communist sympathizers they could find. In Tien An Men,  Mao Zedong  proclaimed the People's Republic  of China.  He proclaimed that the Chinese people had stood up, that China now belonged to the freedom-loving and peace loving nations of the world, and would work to foster its own civilization and well-being.. China would consider both public and private interests, benefit both labor and capital, stress mutual assistance between city and country and between China and other countries. Culture and education were new-democratic, namely of a national scientific and mass character. All the nationalities would be equal. Regional national autonomy would be exercised. The revolution was to safeguard the country's independence, freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity, uphold international peace and oppose imperialist aggression and war.  

ANTITHESIS. The new political conference included the Chinese Communist Party, the democratic parties, the people's organizations, democratic personages from all walks of life. The people's democratic dictatorship was based on the alliance of workers and peasants. The economic sectors to be encouraged were state owned companies, cooperative economies, the state-capitalist economy private capitalism, small commodity economy and semi-natural economy. Economies that were monopolistic would be nationalized. The transition to socialism would be gradually substituting these economies. Mao warned against arrogance of self-styled heroes and the sugar coated bullets of the bourgeoisie.  Zhou formulated strategy, tactics and policy based on the need to overcome the wide gap between industry and agriculture and the backwardness of industry. Private capitalism would be allowed to expand, but with restrictions. New forms of class struggle would be based on restriction versus opposition to restriction. Mongolia undertook self-government and autonomous government. 

Mao Zedong and his colleagues wanted to transform the lives of 1/4 of mankind and transform China into a modern industrial power. They set up a network of Party  branches at local  levels. Political equality for everybody. The people would be masters and everybody would have enough to eat and wear.  Women had no rights up to then, only obedience to father to husband and to son.Women became legally equal to men. Arranged marriages were stopped.  People were organized into work units which provided health care jobs, housing education   Everybody belonged to a work unit.  In the countryside the changes were profound. During the revolution Mao Zedong had won peasants support. Now he gave them land. Party officials told peasants to seize land from the landlords. After they discussed it they decided if the landlord was worth setting free or beaten. Many died. Officials encouraged peasants to humilliate the landlords. Nearly half of China's arable land was distributed to peasants. Gradually life became better. Now it was the people who were the masters. People saw that they benefited,  so they supported the Party.  Liu Shao Chi Chou en Lai Dung Shao Ping   Liu was an economic planner.Mao Zedong dared to challenge communist orthodoxy to fit the conditions of China.