To What Extent Does China Deserve to Be Described as a Totalitarian State in the Years 1949 – 1957?
China in the years 1949 – 1957 can be described as a totalitarian state due to various aspects which were controlled, including New system of government was formed after several unstable years, nationalization of private sectors, making china self reliant, control of the media, infiltration of party cadres, education, hundred flowers campaign, mass mobilization. The CCP constructed a system of government that was centralized, pseudo-dictatorial and encouraged complete subservice to the state.
When the CCP came into power in 1949 China was in a state of disarray following the turbulent years of civil war and the warlord era. Therefore, a new system of government was established, and promptly banks, gas, electricity supplies and transport industries were nationalized. The monopolization of the industries portrayed the CCPs want for centralized control in China. However we can also argue that these steps were necessary and even welcomed due to years of instability, a strong government was needed.
In previous years, China had suffered from humiliation and losses in the hands of the Japanese and other western powers. A predominant factor of the CCP’s popularity was the peoples desire to restore China as a powerful, independent nation, free from the influence of ‘foreign devils.’ Mao shared this aspiration and consequently, began to alienate China from the foreign powers and purge the country of capitalist and bourgeois influence.
In 1950 the process of getting rid of foreigners accelerated, particularly in result of the armed conflict in Korea involving China and America. Missionaries were arrested and charged with being spies, priests and nuns expelled from the country. Any institution that had Western links, businesses, universities, churches came under supervision while mass rallies were organized to draw ordinary Chinese citizens into a growing frenzy of suspicion.
The paranoia in China lead to the Suppression of Counter-revolutionaries campaign which was
When the CCP came into power in 1949 China was in a state of disarray following the turbulent years of civil war and the warlord era. Therefore, a new system of government was established, and promptly banks, gas, electricity supplies and transport industries were nationalized. The monopolization of the industries portrayed the CCPs want for centralized control in China. However we can also argue that these steps were necessary and even welcomed due to years of instability, a strong government was needed.
In previous years, China had suffered from humiliation and losses in the hands of the Japanese and other western powers. A predominant factor of the CCP’s popularity was the peoples desire to restore China as a powerful, independent nation, free from the influence of ‘foreign devils.’ Mao shared this aspiration and consequently, began to alienate China from the foreign powers and purge the country of capitalist and bourgeois influence.
In 1950 the process of getting rid of foreigners accelerated, particularly in result of the armed conflict in Korea involving China and America. Missionaries were arrested and charged with being spies, priests and nuns expelled from the country. Any institution that had Western links, businesses, universities, churches came under supervision while mass rallies were organized to draw ordinary Chinese citizens into a growing frenzy of suspicion.
The paranoia in China lead to the Suppression of Counter-revolutionaries campaign which was