Ib Extended Essay: Why Was The Chinese Communist Party Able To Achieve Victory Over The Kuomintang In The Chinese Civil War? Essay - 1,159 words

... the take over of formerly Japanese occupied areas was not carried out effectively. 2. Peace talks of 1945 and 1946 From a political perspective, the Kuomintangs goal was, in theory, to follow the Sun Yat Sens vision of a united democratic and constitutional China. The opportunity to create a united China presented itself during the talks between Mao Tse Tung and Chiang Kai Shek in 1945 and 1946. In January 1946, an agreement had been reached among the representatives of each faction, including a much smaller party than the Chinese Communist Party or the Kuomintang, the Democratic League.


The agreement still required ratification from the leaders of each party. In the meeting of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee, under pressure from right wing members, the conditions of acceptance of the agreement, for example provincial autonomy, were changed. Because of this action, the Chinese Communists and the Democratic League felt that the agreement had been violated and that the Nationalists had betrayed them. The actions of the Kuomintang did not appear to be supporting the formation of a united China. Despite the reaction of the Communists and the Democratic League, the Nationalists continued the constitutional revision without the other two parties present. Also, the Kuomintang used more extreme measures in eliminating criticism from other, smaller, parties. In July of 1946, the poet Wen Yiduo and another, prominent members of the Democratic League, were assassinated.


The Kuomintang carried out the Constitution of 1946 and held elections in November of the following year. A National Assembly met in April 1948. The Chinese Communist Party boycotted the Nationalist government. It is apparent that the Kuomintang government was imposed and therefore undemocratic. It may be interpreted that the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai Shek did not achieve Sun Yat Sens goal of creating a unified democratic China and, at the same time, alienated the Chinese people. 3. Economic Problems Inflation was an extremely large problem for the Nationalist government after the Second World War. After the World War II, the Nationalist government returned to the coastal areas and large cities in hopes of developing the urban economy.


An important area of economic development that the Nationalist government compromised for urban industrial development was agriculture, which would have provided a solid base for industrial development. It may be argued that the Kuomintang did not carry out agricultural reforms in fear of losing the support of the landlord class in China who still controlled the majority of the farming lands of China. Thus, agriculture was not taxed. Instead, the government sought industrial development in the cities. The government relied on the printing of more money to finance the expenses of industrial development. In 1948, in comparison to pre-war values, government expenditure increased to 30 times, the deficit increased 30 times, and note issues increased 22.4 times.6 Some sources say that inflation was increasing at a rate of approximately thirty percent a month.


Remarkably, the inflation did not completely ruin urban industry, since the government had indexed wages according to the cost of living. The Kuomintang did this under the belief that, if the workers were contented, there would be less probability of a successful Communist revolution. As previously mentioned, by 1948, inflation had reached extreme levels. The Nationalists attempted to curb inflation by issuing a new currency that was backed by foreign currency, gold, and silver. Also, the government pledged to restrict the volume of bank notes being issued. These measures managed to stabilise the currency for some time, however the curren ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: chinese, chinese civil, chinese communist, chinese communist party, chinese people, civil war, communist

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