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Why did the communists win the Chinese Revolution?, ., Pablo Medina,…
Why did the communists win the Chinese Revolution?
Introduction
A civil war between Nationalists and Communists and an invasion from Japanese took place from 1911 - 1945
The communist party was led by Mao Zedong
Communists had support from the Soviet Union
Nationalists were leaded by Chiang Kai-Shek
The Nationalists were backed up by the US
Japanese were defeated completely in WW2, the civil war sparked again.
Nationalists had a bigger number of soldiers, but communists won the war
Despite their fewer numbers, communists rose victorious
Ok but, Why did they win?
Nationalist Flaws
He had incompetent and corrupt officers
People hated their tax collectors
Chiang held dictatorial powers himself
Nationalists helped landlords to take back, lands that Communists had given to peasants. They also punished the peasants who participated in Mao's land distributions.
They seemed to only be interested in business while they ignored the peasants.
Few volunteered to join Chiang’s armies. They got people by kidnapping, soldiers were poorly dressed, trained and fed. They were roped together so Chiang could prevent desertions.
Chiang decided to go into war with communists in 1946
This meant that he delay other important issues such as the reconstruction of China.
He diverted all the money and resources to the war, eather than helping people
Many problems such as famine, inflation, debt, etc rose and it caused people to lose faith in the nationalists
Because of this people manifested, but they responded with censorship, beatings, arrest and even asassination.
Chiang's army was bigger than Mao's, but it was poorly led. They were not coordinated by a HQ.
Each General led their own division and sometimes even fought for food and ammo.
1 more item...
Communists Pros
Their propaganda took full advantage of the nationalist failings.
Mao Focused on getting the people on his side to gain support.
“The battle for China,” he said, “is a battle for the
hearts and minds of the peasants.”
The cadres cancelled all debts owned to landlords and distributed land to peasants and laborers. This became their own private property.
Mao´s cadres had "struggle meetings." Peasants and laborers were forced to confess the bad treatment the landlords gave them, sometimes it ended by torturing, beating or killing because they were "enemies of the people"
As more peasants and laborers acquired land, more of them had a stake in the success of the Communists. If Nationalists won, they would lose everything they had so they helped Mao giving him the resources they could such as food and recruits.
Mao destroyed the traditional landlord power structure.
Mao had a cadres, this says that land reform was the mother of all work.
Chiang made a new Kuomintang government on Taiwan, Mao said that this was part of the territory of the People´s Republic of China and this conflict remains unsolved until today.
Mao made the cultural revolution with included censorship, the red guard, murder, the red book.
Mao’s People’s Liberation Army has a central and strong command.
Mao´s generals were superior military leaders, they could train small guerilla bands to transform them into a modern conventional army.
They could take advantage from Nationalists really easily.
PLA soldiers were more respected and motivated, Nationalists soldiers often deserted, surrendered and were defeated by Mao´s armies.
To what extent did Mao's program of land reform address the original grievances of Chinese people before the civil war?
People were always scared because of all the rules and limitations that Mao gave to China population. He wanted the people to support him so he went for the best and biggest target: the peseants.
He forced the land workers to talk and say if there "bosses" gave a bad treat to them, if that was the case, he punished them.
Mao was a strong ruler. He redistributed land so people who worked in it acquired it, gaining love and followers.
It addressess the original grievances because it was a mess, but still the people followed him because they knew that if Nationalists won, they would lose all their properties.
What might Chiang Kai-Shek and the nationalists have done to improve their chances of winning the civil war?
The simple answer to this would have been to get the people on his side, which he failed miserably in doing before.
Less corruption would have helped tremendously, as the money that was supposed to be destined to the peasents was used in other things.
The nationalist party didnt care for the people at all, even going to lengths such as killing or censoring the people, which made their reputation plummet.
Overall, general concern towards the peasents rather than themselves, better political and militar organization, less corruption and just trying to solve problems instead of creating more would have completely changed the tide in Kai's favor
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Pablo Medina
Emiliano Sánchez