Governmental Organization
Since the Party’s takeover of in October 1949, the government and bureaucratic setup had to transfer its system of governance into a communist run state. The communist party at the time of the shift was called the Chinese Communist Party, or the CCP. This party would include representatives from all of the “democratic parties, the people’s organization of China, the People’s Liberation Army…various regions and localities, and the nationalities throughout China as well as overseas Chinese”.[1] It would later rename the Soviet Chinese nation “the People’s Republic of China” in 1949 after Mao Zedong’s announcement.
This government would become responsible over the future of China’s direction in nearly all aspects of life including, political outlooks, economic reforms, social unification, cultural change, institutional reforms, legislative standardization, military injunctions, etcetera. This party council would collaborate through annual Congress meetings, reporting on the plans, policies and production capabilities of the state along with other aspects of administration that could be improved on.[2] This entire Congress was overseen by the leading influential dictatorial figure, Chairman Mao Zedong. According to Schram, Mao saw himself as the Marxist-Theoretician that had to guide the Revolution; however, Schram tended to see Mao’s theoretical doctrine relate back to class struggle – without reasonable solutions, focusing on the unquestionable triumph of the Communist Party.[3]
This style of governance would coincide with the earlier Soviet structure that was under Stalin’s rule, with Mao as the leader of the working class socialist and communist movement who happened to indirectly control the military. This would especially be seen in Mao’s red book, a dogmatic tool of propaganda that listed Mao’s Marxist doctrines during the “Second Phase” of the Revolution. Mao would be noted in the preface as “the greatest Marxist-Leninist of our era. He has inherited, defended and developed Marxism-Leninism with genius, creatively and comprehensively”[4]. With this description propagated to the young populace who sought a resurgence of a cultural revolution, it was not surprising that the influence of Mao Zedong came back full-force in the Great Leap Forward.
Despite other figures such as Peng Dehuai as the commander-in-chief of the People’s Liberation Army[5], or Li Fu-ch’un the Chairman of the Planning Commission[6], all were replaceable to Mao’s authoritative dictatorship in the end. After both were implied to be Counter-revisionists in the 1960s Chairman Mao would write about the socialist contradictions within society as well as those that were within the bureaucratic communist government.
Conclusion
In conclusion the organization of the communist party within China throughout the early stages until Mao’s death in 1976 went through waves of controversial rivalry which would lead to Mao Zedong’s dictatorship over the People's Republic of China.
[1] Mao Zedong, The Writings of Mao Zedong, 1949-76, (New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 1986): p. 3.
[2] Franz Schurmann, Ideology and Organization in Communist China. (Berkely: University of California Press, 1966): pp. 117-119.
[3] Stuart R. Schram, The Political Thought of Mao Tse-tung, (London: Pall Mall Press, 1963): p.111.
[4] Preface in, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung: New amplified ed, ed. Stuart R. Schram and A. Doak Barnett, (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1967).
[5] Mao Zedong, The Writings of Mao Zedong, 1949-1976, (New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 1986): pp. 32-34.
[6] Harvard University, Communist China 1955-1959, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962): p. 42.
Since the Party’s takeover of in October 1949, the government and bureaucratic setup had to transfer its system of governance into a communist run state. The communist party at the time of the shift was called the Chinese Communist Party, or the CCP. This party would include representatives from all of the “democratic parties, the people’s organization of China, the People’s Liberation Army…various regions and localities, and the nationalities throughout China as well as overseas Chinese”.[1] It would later rename the Soviet Chinese nation “the People’s Republic of China” in 1949 after Mao Zedong’s announcement.
This government would become responsible over the future of China’s direction in nearly all aspects of life including, political outlooks, economic reforms, social unification, cultural change, institutional reforms, legislative standardization, military injunctions, etcetera. This party council would collaborate through annual Congress meetings, reporting on the plans, policies and production capabilities of the state along with other aspects of administration that could be improved on.[2] This entire Congress was overseen by the leading influential dictatorial figure, Chairman Mao Zedong. According to Schram, Mao saw himself as the Marxist-Theoretician that had to guide the Revolution; however, Schram tended to see Mao’s theoretical doctrine relate back to class struggle – without reasonable solutions, focusing on the unquestionable triumph of the Communist Party.[3]
This style of governance would coincide with the earlier Soviet structure that was under Stalin’s rule, with Mao as the leader of the working class socialist and communist movement who happened to indirectly control the military. This would especially be seen in Mao’s red book, a dogmatic tool of propaganda that listed Mao’s Marxist doctrines during the “Second Phase” of the Revolution. Mao would be noted in the preface as “the greatest Marxist-Leninist of our era. He has inherited, defended and developed Marxism-Leninism with genius, creatively and comprehensively”[4]. With this description propagated to the young populace who sought a resurgence of a cultural revolution, it was not surprising that the influence of Mao Zedong came back full-force in the Great Leap Forward.
Despite other figures such as Peng Dehuai as the commander-in-chief of the People’s Liberation Army[5], or Li Fu-ch’un the Chairman of the Planning Commission[6], all were replaceable to Mao’s authoritative dictatorship in the end. After both were implied to be Counter-revisionists in the 1960s Chairman Mao would write about the socialist contradictions within society as well as those that were within the bureaucratic communist government.
Conclusion
In conclusion the organization of the communist party within China throughout the early stages until Mao’s death in 1976 went through waves of controversial rivalry which would lead to Mao Zedong’s dictatorship over the People's Republic of China.
[1] Mao Zedong, The Writings of Mao Zedong, 1949-76, (New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 1986): p. 3.
[2] Franz Schurmann, Ideology and Organization in Communist China. (Berkely: University of California Press, 1966): pp. 117-119.
[3] Stuart R. Schram, The Political Thought of Mao Tse-tung, (London: Pall Mall Press, 1963): p.111.
[4] Preface in, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung: New amplified ed, ed. Stuart R. Schram and A. Doak Barnett, (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1967).
[5] Mao Zedong, The Writings of Mao Zedong, 1949-1976, (New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 1986): pp. 32-34.
[6] Harvard University, Communist China 1955-1959, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962): p. 42.