The New Chinese Power Structure

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  • Created by: evasophia
  • Created on: 12-03-18 17:59
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  • The New Chinese Power Structure
    • The CCP coordinated the government and set targets for the economy, as well as controlling the education and prison systems.
      • Important members of the CP held keys roles in government.
        • Peng Dehuai was the minister of defense and also the commander-in-chief of the PLA.
    • Party cadres helped to enforce the Party's policies.
      • They controlled schools and the legal system and monitored the PLA and the civil service.
        • They also controlled permits needed for travel or marriage, access to housing or to food.
      • They also monitored work units called Danwei - every employee belonged to one.
    • Massive organisations like the All-China Fed of Democratic Youth helped to indoctrinate the young, whilst the All- China Fed of Women helped mobilise women in support of the regime's campaign on issues such as birth control and divorce rights.
    • In Sept 194, the CP organised the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) to meet in Beijing.
      • It appointed the ministers who formed the new governments, i.e the Central People's Government and created the temporary constitution of the Common Programme.
        • It set out a range of rights including gender equality, educational opportunity and protection of religious belief.
        • It also emphasised the leading role of the CCP, whilst giving powers to the PLA and police to crush opponents to make Mao the head of state.
      • In reality, the CPPCC did whatever the Politburo told them to.
    • The Politburo was made up of important Communist leaders.
      • It has 14 members, but the key decisions were made by the five-man standing committee.
        • Mao was the chairman of the committee whose decisions became laws, and also included Zhoue Enlai and Liu Shaoqi.
    • A burgeoning bureaucracy was needed to introduce land reform, run the cities and introduce centrally planned economics.
      • The  number of state officials increased rapidly from 720,000 to 7.9 million from 1949-1959.
    • The PLA was vital ; "All political power grows out of the barrel of a gun".
      • It was used to round up bandits and criminal gangs who terrorised many Chinese citizens so attacking them gained the CCP more public support.
      • They played a key role in building popular support for the CP through rebuilding China's shattered infrastructure such as bridges, roads, rail links and canals.
      • They were also hugely influential during the Korean War, acting as a form of Communistic propaganda. As many as 800,000 new recruits were indoctrinated each year.
    • The country was under the control of Mao Zedong, a ma who held massive personal prestige and influence.
      • Mao Zedong Thought became the guiding principles of the new government.
    • The new system of governance was called 'democratic centralism'. It was meant to be democratic at local level, villages and town councils would elect reps.
      • These reps could travel to regional congresses to declare their areas views and the regional congresses elected reps which carried on up a hierarchy of organisations until the central governors in Beijing heard.
        • Despite this, at no point was there ever a chance to vote in favour of a different political party taking power.
    • Mao, Politburo, Central Committee, National People's Congress, PLA, Local CCP Branch

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