History of

Communist China
 Establishment of the Party

 The First United Front (1922–1927)

 Soviet Republic of China (1927–1937)

 Second United Front (1937–1945)

 Third Civil Revolution Period (1946–1949)

 Marxist ideas started to spread widely in China after the
1919 May Fourth Movement. In June
1920, Comintern agent Grigori Voitinsky was sent to China,
and met Li Dazhao and other reformers. He financed the
founding of the Socialist Youth Corps The Communist Party of
China was initially founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in
the French concession of Shanghai in 1921 as a study society
and an informal network. There were informal groups in China
in 1920, and also overseas, but the official beginning was the 1st
Congress held in Shanghai and attended by 53 men in July
1921 and later transferred from Shanghai to Jiaxing. The birth
of the party was declared here in a boat on South Lake. It is
therefore considered by the Chinese to be one of the most
important historical places of the revolution. 
 The key players were Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Chen
Gongbo, Tan Pingshan, Zhang Guotao, He
Mengxiong, Lou Zhanglong and Deng
Zhongxia. Mao Zedong was present at the first
congress as one of two delegates from a Hunan
communist group.
 First Civil Revolution Period—the First United Front (1922–1927)

 In August 1922, Sneevliet called a surprise special plenum of the central

committee and proposed that party members join the Kuomintang(KMT,
or Chinese Nationalist Party) on the grounds that it was easier to
transform the Nationalist Party from the inside than to duplicate its
success.

 Under the guidance of the Comintern, the party was reorganized along 
Leninist lines in 1923, in preparation for the Northern Expedition.
However, the nascent party was not held in high regard: Karl Radek, one
of the five founding leaders of the Comintern, said in November 1922 that
the CCP did not enjoy a high reputation in Moscow. Moreover, it was
divided into two camps, led by Deng Zhongxia and Li Dazhao on the more
moderate "bourgeois, national revolution" model and Zhang Guotao, Lou
Zhanglong, He Mengxiong and Chen Duxiu on the strongly anti-
imperialism side
Second Civil Revolution Period—Soviet Republic of
China (1927–1937)

 In 1927, as the Northern Expedition

approached Shanghai, the Kuomintang leadership split.
The Left Kuomintang at Wuhan kept the alliance with
the Communists. Chiang Kai-shek at Nanking grew
increasingly hostile to them and launched a campaign
against them. This happened after the capture of
Shanghai, which occurred with the Communists and
Kuomintang still in alliance.
 The anti-communist drive became general. As
Chiang Kai-shek consolidated his power, various
revolts continued, and Communist armed forces
created a number of 'Soviet Areas'. The largest of
these was led by Zhu De and Mao Zedong, who
established Soviet Republic of China in some remote
areas within China through peasant riots. A number
of military campaigns from KMT army failed, but
meantime the party leadership were driven out of
Shanghai and moved to Mao's base, sidelining him.
 Chiang Kai-shek launched a further campaign which
succeeded. The CPC had to give up their bases and
started the Long March (1934–1935) to search for a
new base. During the Long March, the party leadership
re-examined its policy and blamed their failure on the
CPC military leader Otto Braun, a German sent
by Comintern. During the Long March, the native
Communists, such as Mao Zedong and Zhu De gained
power. The Comintern and Soviet Union. lost control
over the CPC. They settled in Shensi, where there was
an existing Communist base.
 Sino-Japanese War Period—Second United Front
(1937–1945)

 During the Second Sino-Japanese war (1937–1945), the CPC and KMT

were temporarily in alliance to fight their common enemy. The
Communist government moved fromBao'an (Pao An) to Yan'an (Yenan)
in December 1936.The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red
Army became army groups belonging to the national army (8th route
army and New 4th Army), and the Soviet Republic of China changed its
name as a special Shaan-Gan-Ning administration region (named after
the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia provinces at the borders of each it was
located). However, essentially the army and the region controlled by
CPC remained independent from the KMT’s government.

 In eight years, the CCP membership increased from 40,000 to 1,200,000

and its military forces - from 30,000 to approximately one million in
addition to more than one million militia support groups
Third Civil Revolution Period
(1946–1949)
 After the conclusion of WWII, the civil war resumed
between the Kuomintang and the Communists. Despite
initial gains by the KMT, they were eventually defeated
and forced to flee to off-shore islands, most notably
Taiwan. In the war, the US supported the Kuomintang
and the USSR supported the CPC, but both with limited
degrees. With the Kuomintang's defeat, Mao Zedong
established the People's Republic of China in Beijing on
October 1, 1949.
 Ruling party

 The CPC's ideologies have significantly evolved since its

founding and establishing political power in 1949. Mao's
revolution that founded the PRC was nominally based
on Marxism-Leninism with a rural focus based on China's
social situations at the time. During the 1960s and 1970s, the
CPC experienced a significant ideological breakdown with
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union under Nikita
Khrushchev and their allies. Since then Mao's peasant
revolutionary vision and so-called "continued revolution under
the dictatorship of the proletariat" stipulated that class enemies
continued to exist even though the socialist revolution seemed to
be complete, giving way to the Cultural Revolution.
 People’s Republic of China
 In 1949, Mao proclaimed China the “People’s Republic of
China.”
 Nationalists, led by Chang Kia-Shek moved to Tawain
and formed their own country.