On July 1, 1921, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was officially established as both a political entity and a revolutionary movement, declaring its ultimate goal of building socialism in China. The CCP’s victory over the Nationalist Kuomintang Party in 1949 and the subsequent establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) under Mao Zedong cemented the CCP’s position as the sole governing party in China, a status it maintains to this day. With approximately 98 million members as of 2022, making it the world’s second-largest political party, China has gained global significance for its ambitions, particularly its goal of national rejuvenation. The political system currently envisioned in China, under the CCP, is described as ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’.
As we mark the 103rd anniversary of the CCP’s foundation, it is important to revisit the landmark events that solidified the party’s position in the country and examine its relevance in the contemporary context.
Following a brief alliance (1924-27) with the Nationalist Kuomintang Party, the CCP was forced to go underground when the former, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, violently expelled the latter from Shanghai in 1927. In response, CCP leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De established the party’s base, known as the Chinese Soviet Republic, in Jiangxi Soviet in south-eastern China in 1931, with support from the rural peasantry. However, this base soon faced military encirclement campaigns by the Nationalist Kuomintang.
The last of these campaigns, aimed at annihilating the CCP base, succeeded in 1934, prompting the CCP troops to relocate. This led to the historic Long March, a year-long trek from 1934 to 1935, during which approximately 86,000 CCP troops marched from Jiangxi Soviet to Yanan in Shaanxi, covering a distance of about 6,000 to 12,900 km.
Following this relocation, the CCP remained in Yanan throughout the Sino-Japanese War (1937-45), allowing them to establish a base outside the Nationalist Party’s direct control. In Yanan, the CCP not only grew in strength but also ultimately gained control over mainland China by defeating the Nationalists in 1949. The political significance of this historic event lies in the transformation of the CCP’s fortunes and the elevation of Mao Zedong as the undisputed leader of the CCP, who later served as the longest-reigning Chairman of the CCP’s Central Committee until his death in 1976.
Since the establishment of the PRC, the Long March has been commemorated as a symbol of uniting the CCP with the common Chinese people. Glorified as a great heroic victory, the CCP, under Mao’s leadership, propagated the Long March as a landmark event that changed the course of Chinese history. However, many details of the march have been omitted, allowing the CCP to amplify the event’s significance and make it appear more grandiose than it was.
For decades, research on the Long March, including interviews with its survivors, has been prohibited, enabling the Chinese government to rewrite history to fit its narrative, thereby making it impossible to verify the facts of this historic event. Nonetheless, researchers have raised questions about the CCP’s version of history. First, scepticism remains regarding the actual distance covered by the CCP troops during the march. While the CCP claims the distance to be 12,900 km, others estimate it to be around 6,000 km, with the most cited estimation being around 9,000 km.
Second, the CCP troops, known as the Red Army, faced violent attacks by the Nationalist Kuomintang forces, which resorted to air and ground assaults during the initial months of the march. This led to the disastrous loss of more than half of the Red Army. Only 8,000 members who travelled with the First Red Army survived, enduring not only attacks by Nationalist forces and local landlords loyal to the Nationalists but also disease, desertion, starvation, and brutal climatic conditions.
Third, Mao Zedong’s rise as the undisputed leader was not a natural course of CCP history. Before the march, Mao was removed from his leadership position by the CCP’s Central Committee. It was actually Zhu De who organised the escape trek from Jiangxi. However, Mao Zedong took advantage of discrepancies within the party and exploited party opponents to manoeuvre himself into the position of undisputed leader during the march. The portrayal of the Long March as a fully successful event is, therefore, an exaggeration aimed at legitimising the CCP and Mao’s leadership.
After the Communist Party of China (CCP) began ruling mainland China in 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong announced the launch of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. The revolution was portrayed as the CCP’s effort to eradicate the “evil habits of old society”, namely old customs, old ideas, old habits, and old culture. However, the real intent was Mao’s attempt to eliminate his enemies both within and outside the CCP. This is evident in the circular issued in May 1966, which outlined Mao’s vision for the Cultural Revolution and claimed that the CCP had been infiltrated by “counter-revolutionary revisionists” plotting to establish a “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie”.
Mao’s message was widely welcomed by youth, especially students, who were co-opted by the CCP into the Red Guards, a paramilitary unit tasked with carrying out the revolution. Consequently, the Red Guards wreaked havoc on those deemed “counter-revolutionary revisionists” or “political enemies,” leading to widespread public humiliation and many being driven to suicide. The Red Guards also engaged in physical assault, torture, and murder, as well as the destruction of cultural relics and historical sites.
The chaos unleashed by the Cultural Revolution eventually led to insurgencies within the CCP. As the Red Guards became uncontrollable, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) intervened, further aggravating violence and civilian killings. Mao then called for the “re-education” of about 16 million urban youth in an attempt to end the violence stemming from the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution officially ended with Mao’s death in 1976. This decade-long revolution successfully established the CCP as the sole legitimate political establishment in China through the sheer use of force.
While the CCP’s official estimate (1980) claims that nearly 1,800 people died in Beijing alone, Stanford sociologist Andrew Walder’s study reveals the actual death toll to be about 1.6 million.
It would be incorrect to assume that the Cultural Revolution was a singular instance of the CCP consolidating its power in China since the establishment of the PRC. A little over a decade after the end of the Cultural Revolution, China faced another horrific event at the hands of the PLA, known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989. The brutal repression of a student-led, non-violent civilian protest by the military might of the CCP’s military wing, the PLA, stands as one of the darkest historical events in China’s history. The PLA serves the political interests of the CCP, making it a crucial component in sustaining the party’s political legitimacy.
Deng Xiaoping, who succeeded Mao Zedong as the CCP’s leader, launched a military modernisation campaign in the 1980s to exert greater political control over the PLA. However, the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989, which arose in response to growing corruption within the CCP and demanded greater political freedom and transparency, was perceived as a threat to the CCP’s legitimacy and leadership. This perception is evident in the party’s ultimate response to the protest — suppression via military action.
Labelling the protesters as “counter-revolutionaries” during the Cultural Revolution, the CCP ordered the PLA, with around 20,000 troops stationed around Tiananmen Square, to use tanks and arms against the protesters on June 4, 1989. Deng Xiaoping later hailed this massacre as a “truly Great Wall of iron and steel around the party and country”. While the CCP claimed that about 200 civilians died, a UK document released in 2017 revealed the number of casualties to be at least 10,000.
This massacre marked the first instance of military onslaught on civilians in Chinese history since the establishment of the PRC. Corruption within the PLA persisted, with those showing defiance facing repercussions and those complying with the CCP being rewarded with powerful positions. The Tiananmen Square Massacre thus became a watershed moment, further politicizing the PLA under the CCP’s control.
The aforementioned historical events have had far-reaching consequences in China, particularly regarding the state of human rights in contemporary times. Since Xi Jinping assumed leadership in 2012, there have been increasing efforts to consolidate control over the CCP, ensuring his leadership remains unchallenged in his quest to make China a global power. The CCP’s capability for political repression in maintaining the country’s “political order” is now well established.
This is evident in the CCP’s systemic suppression of dissenters, minorities, human rights defenders, media freedom, and civil society groups — essentially rendering China a ‘surveillance state’. Human rights violations have deepened under Xi’s rule, with an expanded list of political targets and tightened social control.
Moreover, China’s belligerent behaviour has escalated beyond its territory, particularly in its territorial claims. The series of military drills around Taiwan, aggressive involvement in the South China Sea dispute, the repressive political climate in Hong Kong, and increasing use of global cyber surveillance and surveillance vessels in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea are all part of China’s efforts to intimidate perceived ‘enemies’ into conceding to Chinese interests.
Border encroachment attempts and disputes with neighbouring countries, mainly India, have also become more frequent in recent years. These developments, coupled with China’s ‘wolf-warrior’ diplomacy in response to international criticism of its domestic policies, have contributed to the country’s growing negative global image. This was reflected in the recent G7 Summit hosted by Italy, where countries referred to China as a ‘malign force’, despite its absence from the summit.
There is little doubt that the Chinese Communist Party has achieved a monopoly on power in the country more through force than through its claimed benevolence. On the CCP’s 103rd anniversary, it is imperative to remember the historical events that laid the party’s foundational base in China to comprehend the present state of affairs involving the country.
The writer is an author and columnist and has written several books. His X handle is @ArunAnandLive. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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