Was the Application of Terror the Main Method of Consolidation for Mao and the CCP between 1949 and 1952?
Was the Application of Terror the Main Method of Consolidation for Mao and the CCP between 1949 and 1952?
Many would have cause to argue that terror was Mao’s ‘weapon of choice’ in consolidating his and the CCP’s power and control over the Chinese people; however, there are certainly other factors such as overwhelming military and political control, or persecution of certain demographics that could be considered to be just as important as the use of fear to force the masses into submission.
While the use of terror was an extremely useful and powerful tool for Mao, the threat of violence and death could only carry weight if there was substance behind the talk. Therefore this made the use of actual violence from the military all the more infamous throughout China. Mao having been the founder of the People’s liberation army (PLA), he had a supremely loyal, extremely powerful army fully committed to carrying out his will. This was shown in China’s ruthless and brutal invasion of Tibet in 1950. Any signs of an independent Tibetan culture were erased, and open resistance was crushed by the PLA within 6 months of the invasion having commenced, and the notion of Tibet declaring independence from China after this event was an impossible one. The same, hostile takeover policy occurred again in the western province of Xinjiang. These unflinching, public displays of power ordered by the Mao and the CCP were evidence that the government was capable of extreme brutality and completely uncompromising when it came to the notion of having independence from China or not complying with the wishes of the CCP. The army’s mass killings removed many of those who might have sought to challenge Mao’s leadership, and sent a clear message of what the consequence of deciding not to fall in line to any other potential non conformists, thus advancing Mao’s consolidation of power.
Aside from the use of the army to keep the population in good behaviour, what could also be said to have had a
Many would have cause to argue that terror was Mao’s ‘weapon of choice’ in consolidating his and the CCP’s power and control over the Chinese people; however, there are certainly other factors such as overwhelming military and political control, or persecution of certain demographics that could be considered to be just as important as the use of fear to force the masses into submission.
While the use of terror was an extremely useful and powerful tool for Mao, the threat of violence and death could only carry weight if there was substance behind the talk. Therefore this made the use of actual violence from the military all the more infamous throughout China. Mao having been the founder of the People’s liberation army (PLA), he had a supremely loyal, extremely powerful army fully committed to carrying out his will. This was shown in China’s ruthless and brutal invasion of Tibet in 1950. Any signs of an independent Tibetan culture were erased, and open resistance was crushed by the PLA within 6 months of the invasion having commenced, and the notion of Tibet declaring independence from China after this event was an impossible one. The same, hostile takeover policy occurred again in the western province of Xinjiang. These unflinching, public displays of power ordered by the Mao and the CCP were evidence that the government was capable of extreme brutality and completely uncompromising when it came to the notion of having independence from China or not complying with the wishes of the CCP. The army’s mass killings removed many of those who might have sought to challenge Mao’s leadership, and sent a clear message of what the consequence of deciding not to fall in line to any other potential non conformists, thus advancing Mao’s consolidation of power.
Aside from the use of the army to keep the population in good behaviour, what could also be said to have had a