The Chinese Communist Party

Question 1

What is the CCP?

Answer 1

The Chinese Communist Party.

Question 2

When and where was the CCP founded?

Answer 2

Shanghai, 1921

Question 3

What was Cominterm?

Answer 3

An international communist organisation, founded by the new USSR after Lenin’s revolution, with the aim of
spreading communist ideology abroad.

Question 4

How did the Cominterm benefit the CCP?

Answer 4

The CCP looked to Cominterm for advice after the successful Russia revolution in October 1917. They
supplied the CCP with money and training for its members, with many being sent to Russia. In return, the
CCP would follow the strategy of the Cominterm advisors.

Question 5

What role did the USSR play in the creation of the First United Front?

Answer 5

Communist leaders in Moscow saw the GMD as the leading revolutionary force in China, and told the CCP
to join the GMD and operate as a communist bloc within it. This was the First United Front (1923).

Question 6

Why did the USSR regard the GMD higher than the CCP?

Answer 6

According to Marxism, societies develop through different stages, and in the 1920s, China was still emerging
from the feudal stage. The USSR saw no possibility of a communist revolution in the short-term. They
believed that the GMD would lead China into the stage of a bourgeoisie capitalist society, whereby a
communist revolution would then be possible.

Question 7

What was the Long March 1934-35?

Answer 7

By 1927, the CCP had grown significantly, concerning Jiang Jieshi. The GMD attack on the CCP in
Shanghai, known as the Shanghai Massacre triggered a series of military campaigns against the CCP. The
remaining 80,000 members who embarked on the Long March to escape the GMD attacks embarked from
Jiangxi in 1934. Trekking over 6000 miles and evading GMD assaults, the remaining 5000 CCP members
reached Yan’an in 1935.

Question 8

Who were the Twenty-Eight Bolsheviks?

Answer 8

Chinese communists who had been educated in the Sun Yat-Sen University in Moscow for training by the
Russian Communist Party in Marxist ideology.

Question 9

What was the Politburo?

Answer 9

The ruling council of the CCP.

Question 10

What was Mao Zedong’s background?

Answer 10

Born in 1893, Mao was the son of a prosperous grain merchant. Mao was university educated before getting a
job at the Beijing University library, becoming involved in Marxist groups.

Question 11

Who led the Long March?

Answer 11

Mao Zedong.

Question 12

How significant was Mao for the CCP prior to the Long March (4)?

Answer 12

1) Founding member of the CCP in 1921.
2) Became the head of the Peasants Training Institute in 1924, improving basic literacy amongst peasants and
organising Peasants Associations against landlords. This work with the peasants developed his own version
of Marxism - Maoism.
3) Mao led the Autumn Harvest Uprising in Changsha after the Shanghai Massacre in 1927, which was a
complete failure and he was arrested.
4) After escaping, Mao led the CCP to Jiangxi where they established the Chinese Soviet Republic, and was
elected Chairman of the Politburo of the Chinese Soviet Republic.

Question 13

Who was Zhou Enlai (4)?

Answer 13

1) Enlai studied in China, Japan and France, where he joined a CCP branch.
2) Returning to China, he worked for the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy.
3) He became the Political Commissioner of the Red Army when the CCP fled to Jiangxi, and became the
Vice-Chairman of the CCP in Yan’an in 1935.
4) He then served as the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976.

Question 14

Who was Kang Sheng?

Answer 14

Trained by the Soviet secret police in Moscow in the 1930s, supporting the 21 Bolsheviks. Returning to
China in 1937, he transferred his allegiance to Mao, serving as the secret police chief.

Question 15

What were the power struggles in the CCP in 1936 (2)?

Answer 15

1) A political struggle for control over the CCP between those wanting to follow the Cominterm and those
who wanted a more independent CCP.
2) An ideological struggle between those who wanted to follow orthodox Marxism (led by the 28 Bolsheviks)
and those who wanted to adapt it to Chinese circumstances (Mao).

Question 16

What positions did Mao hold in 1936 (2)?

Answer 16

1) Chairman of the CCP’s Military Council.
2) Chairman of the Politburo.

Question 17

How was Mao’s position strengthened by 1938 (4)?

Answer 17

1) His leadership of the Long March.
2) One of his main rivals, Zhang Guotao defected to the GMD.
3) Another rival, Wang Ming, was outvoted in an important Politburo meeting.
4) Established alliances with important CCP members, e.g. Zhou Enlai.

Question 18

What was the Yan’an Rectification Campaign 1942-43 (3)?

Answer 18

1) A purge of all remaining critics and doubters of Mao within the party.
2) Party members were forced to read prescribed texts, and attend ‘struggle meetings’ where humiliating self criticisms would be made.
3) This was enforced by the CCP secret police, led by Kang Sheng, who would utilise torture.

Question 19

What was the main consequence of the Yan’an Rectification Campaign?

Answer 19

Mao Zedong Thought was the official ideology of the CCP by 1943, and was reinforced in 1945 upon the
publication of a new Party Constitution.

Question 20

How did Mao create a cult of personality during the Yan’an years (5)?

Answer 20

1) Rewriting of Party history and his role to portray him as a great visionary.
2) Propaganda myths about the Long March, emphasising his heroism.
3) Portraits illustrating Mao in the sun’s rays.
4) The referral to him as ‘Chairman Mao’ or ‘The Great Helmsman’.
5) The publication of the song ‘The East is Red’.

Question 21

What were the 7 tenants of Mao Zedong Thought?

Answer 21

1) The role of peasants as a revolutionary class.
2) National self-reliance.
3) Continuing revolution.
4) Class struggle.
5) Learning from the people.
6) Mass mobilisation.
7) National revolution.

Question 22

Why did Mao see peasants as the revolutionary class?

Answer 22

Unlike in Russia, industrial workers were only a tiny subsection of the Chinese population, too small to serve
as a revolutionary basis. Furthermore, the CCP had been driven out of the cities. Mao saw the peasants, who
were the large majority of the population, and were poor and exploited, as the potential revolutionary force, if
provided with leadership.

Question 23

What was the idea of national self-reliance?

Answer 23

Mao hated China’s exploitation in the 19th century at the hands of imperial powers. Mao wanted China to be
a powerful and independent nation, and was uncomfortable about the USSR and China’s unequal
relationship.

Question 24

What was the idea of continuing revolution?

Answer 24

Mao believed that revolution would continue after the CCP took power, as class enemies would still hold
power in the early years of CCP rule. Mao thought that a commitment to revolution reinforced ideology,
ensuring support for the regime and minimising the threat of counter-revolution.

Question 25

What was the idea of class struggle?

Answer 25

Mao feared that upon coming to power, members of the CCP could become the new ruling class, exploiting
the peasants like the old ruling class, and becoming detached from the people through obsession with power
and status. Mao therefore believed in periodical rectification campaigns/purges within the CCP.

Question 26

What was the idea of learning from the people?

Answer 26

Mao believed that the Party should be embedded in the people, where masses would participate on policy
discussions, whilst acting as a check on the CCP to not become dictatorial and unjust. Mao was determined
for the CCP to be unlike the commandist USSR.

Question 27

What was the idea of mass mobilisation?

Answer 27

Mao wanted to mobilise the people to achieve specific objectives, such as the building of infrastructure. Mao
believed that, once mobilised, the people could do anything, and that they would not need financial
incentives once convinced of the superiority of socialism.

Question 28

What was the idea of national revolution?

Answer 28

Mao wanted peasants and national bourgeoisie to unite against the ‘enemies of the nation’, including feudal
landlords and foreign imperialists, led by the CCP.

Question 29

What is a cadre?

Answer 29

Someone who had been fully indoctrinated in Party ideology and methods, and were given leading roles at
local level administration and political education.

Question 30

What is commandism?

Answer 30

The top-down approach of the USSR communist leadership, who believed themselves above the people.

Question 31

Who were the national bourgeoisie?

Answer 31

Members of the bourgeoisie who Mao saw as potential supporters of the CCP against the GMD and who
were prepared to support the national struggle against imperialism.

Question 32

What were the main policies of the CCP in 1936 (3)?

Answer 32

1) Land reform.
2) Social reform.
3) A United Front with the GMD.

Question 33

What was the policy of land reform (1930s)?

Answer 33

In the long-term, the CCP wanted to confiscate land from landlords, and redistribute to the peasants. Whilst
in Jiangxi, the CCP would execute landlords and confiscate their land. Not wanting to alienate potential
supporters in the fight against the Japanese, and in accordance with the Second United Front, the CCP only
secured rent reductions and improved farming methods for poorer peasants. After 1946, they continued with
their more radical approach.

Question 34

What was the policy of social reform?

Answer 34

Under CCP controlled areas, social changes were implemented, such as the ending of arranged marriage, in
order to set the groundwork for the introduction of these changes when they controlled all of China.

Question 35

Why did Mao want a United Front with the GMD (2)?

Answer 35

Mao saw the fight against the Japanese as the Chinese priority, and the only way to beat them was alongside
the GMD. Furthermore, an alliance would relieve pressure from potential GMD attacks.

Question 36

What were the main reasons for Mao’s undisputed position at the head of the CCP by 1945 (5)?

Answer 36

1) Tactical flexibility.
2) Political alliances.
3) The Yan’an Rectification Campaign.
4) The success of the Long March.
5) Mao’s cult of personality.