Communism in USSR and China in comparison

COMMUNISM IN THE SOVIET UNION AND CHINA

• StateWho controls the government?

• RevolutionHow is government put into power?

• Work for the state’s benefit

What roles do the people have?

• StateWho controls production of goods?

• StateWho controls distribution of goods?

What is Communism?

Major Works

Republic by Plato

Utopia (1516) by Thomas More

The Communis

t Manifesto (1848) by Karl Marx

and Friedrich Engels

Animal Farm

(1945) by George Orwell

Major Figures

COMMUNISM IN CHINA

May Fourth Movement, 1919 => Birth of Chinese Communism

Fitzgerald, Charles Patrick “The Birth of Communist China” “ it was clear that

the Western way was not the

solution, and tacitly it was

abandoned , even by the

revolutionary element ”

CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

July, 1921 =>

The First Chinese Communist Party

was formed by Chinese Marxists aided by Russian

Gregor Voitinsky

CHIANG KAI-SHEK

• Leader of Kuomintang, Nationalist Party

• Came to power in 1925

• Lacked ideological attraction to communism

• Led the Northern Expedition

• Purge of Nanking

Northern Expedition , 1926 - 28aimed at uniting the country by force

The Purge of Nankingmajor effort by Chiang Kai-Shek to destroy the Communists as his main rivals for power in China

MAO AND THE LONG MARCH

The Long March(to Shensi) in October,1934 was a massive retreat to remove the CCP and its Red Army from the blows of Chiang’s extermination campaign

UNITED FRONT IDEA AGNST JAPAN

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

1949

Mao Zedong used Marxism-Leninism to build a communist China that today embraces capitalism. Mao’s portrait was ubiquitous.

CHINA UNDER THE MAO

FIRST FIVE-YEAR PLAN

Industrialization

Collectivization of agriculture

Political centraliza

tion

1953 - 57

Main focus: development of heavy industry on the Soviet model

HUNDRED FLOWERS CAMPAIGN

“Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought to contend”

A period of debate in 1956 – 57, when citizens were invited to voice their opinions of the communist regime

GREAT LEAP FORWARD

• Slow growth of agriculture and quick industrial growthProblem

• Collectives• Promotion of equality Solution

• Loss of Stalin’s economic aid

• Decrease in economyResult

Communes

CULTURAL REVOLUTION

Aim

Restoration of power with the help of Red Guards

Outcome

Attacks on intellectuals

A large-scale purge at party posts

Appearance of a personality cult

1966 - 68

Chinese accused of being “capitalist roaders” being paraded through Beijing in 1967 during the Cultural Revolution

DENG XIAOPING AND HIS FOUR MODERNIZATIONS

• Industry

• Agriculture

• National defense

• Science and

technology

June 4, 1989 => Brutal attack on the democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Squire

COMMUNISM IN SOVIET UNION

The October Revolution, 1917 => Birth of The Soviet Communism

COMMUNISM UNDER LENIN• Totalitarian

System• Single Party • Control

over the Means of Production and Distribution

BOLSHEVIKS

Members of the majority faction of the Russian Communist Party led by Lenin

UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALISTIC REPUBLICS

RSFSR

BSFSR

USFSRUSS

R

1922

15 REPUBLICS

Subsequent years

March 4, 1919 => Comintern (The Third International ) was formed by Russian Marxists

COMINTERN (Third International)

Attempt of Marxian movements to get organized at the international level

Aim: Dominate and control over communist parties around the world

Founder: Vladimir Lenin

Active dates: 1919-1924

First conference held in Moscow, 1919, with 52 delegates

LENIN’S DEVIATION FROM MARXIST THEORY

Silencing the opposition and eliminating the threats

Closing not pro-Bolshevik newspapers

Getting rid of the Constituent Assembly

Confiscation of goods and products from the peasants

Redistribution of the materials to his troops

He felt that this was the 1st step to socialism

NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP)

• Limited private property• Compensation for goods taken from

the peasants• Profit and efficiency incentives

JOSEPH STALIN

Strong ideology of communism-loyalty towards State

Five-Year Plans(1929-1933), industry and agriculture became communal

Had created second military and industry superpower after USA

FIVE-YEAR PLANS

1929-33 => Collectivization of agriculture and development of heavy industry.

1933-37 => Triple steel and oil production; electricity and coal production

1938-42 => Focus on military base, effective productivity per capita

The Soviet Gulags (Concentration Camps) => resource for the construction of industries, esp railways and roads, mining operations, and timber industry

WWII, 1941-45

NIKITA KHRUSCHEV

Housing program; Improvement of foreign relations;

Destalinization;

“ Capitalism and Communism could coexist ”

Attempts to end the Cold War

COLD WAR

• 1949 => Creation of NATO against the communist expansion

• Invention of Atomic Bomb

• 1962 => Caribbean Crisis

• From 1945 => Spread of Communism among Yugoslavia, Southern Asia, Eastern Europe, China, North Korea

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV

Restructuring

Collapse of USSR

Supported Social-Democracy

Allowed private bussiness

SIMILARITIES

Soviet Union

Overthrow of Romanov Dynasty

Five-Year Plan under Stalin (1929-33)

Personality cult of Lenin, StalinSlow growth of agriculture and quick growth of heavy industry

REFERENCES

• Political Theories for Students, Jaime E. Noce and Matthew Miskelly, 2002

• The Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right, volume II: the Right, Rodney P. Carlisle , 2005

• An Introduction to Politics, third edition, Trevor Munroe, 2002

• A Short history of China and Southeast Asia: Tribute, Trade and Influence , Martin Stuart-Fox, 2003

• The Cambridge History of Russia, Volume III, The Twentieth Century, Ronald Grigor Suny, 2006

• A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End, second edition, Peter Kenez, 2006

• Gowealthy.com• ForeignAffairs.com

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

• Why do you think communism failed?• What are the similarities between

Stalin’s and Mao Tse-tung’s dictatorship under communism?

• Which political system in your opinion is more beneficial for current society?