China's
New Democratic Revolution (1919-1949)
Under the influence of the October Revolution in Russia, China's May 4th
Movement arose. During this great anti-imperialist, anti-feudal
revolutionary movement led by patriotic students, the Chinese proletariat for
the first time mounted the political stage. The May 4th Movement marked
the change of the old democratic revolution to the new democratic
revolution.
In enabled Marxism-Leninism to further spread and link up with
the Chinese people's revolutionary practice, and prepared the ideology as well
as the cadres necessary for the founding of the Community Party of China.
In 1921, Mao Zedong, Dong Biwu, Chen Tangqiu, He Shuheng, Wang Jinmei, Deng
Enming and Li Da, representing the communist groups in different places
throughout the nation, held the First National Congress in Shanghai, founding
the Communist Party of China (CPC). In 1924, Sun Yat-sen, pioneer of
China's democratic revolution and the founder of the Kuomintang (KMT), worked
together with the Communist Party of China to organize workers and peasants for
the Northern Expeditions (historically known as the Great Revolution).
After Sun Yat-sen passed away, the right-wing clique of the KMT headed by Chiang
Kai-shek staged a counter-revolutionary coup d'etat in 1927, murdering
Communists and revolutionary people, and founded the Kuomintang regime in
Nanjing. Thus the Great Revolution ended in failure. After that, the
CPC led the Chinese people to wage the 10-year Agrarian Revolution War against
the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, which is also known as the "10-Year
Civil War."
In July 1937, Japan launched all-out aggression against China. The
Kuomintang armies started a series of battles, which gave relentless blows at
the Japanese invaders. In the enemy's rear area, the Eight Route Army and
the New Fourth Army, under the leadership of the CPC, fought against most of the
Japanese forces and almost all the puppet armies under extremely difficult
conditions, thus playing a decisive role in the victory of the War of Resistance
against Japan.
From June 1946, the Kuomintang armies launched an all-round attack on the
Liberated Areas led by the CPC, and an unprecedented large-scale civil war
started. To thoroughly emancipate the Chinese people, the CPC led the army
and people in the Liberated Areas to start the nationwide War of Liberation.
Through the Liaozi-Shenyang, Huai-Hai and Beiping-Tianjin campaigns, the CPC
overthrew the rule of the Kuomintang and won a great victory in the new
democratic revolution in 1949.
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