The Rise of the CCP
- Barnaby Y.
- Apr 15, 2025
- 4 min read
The CCP – Chinese Communist Party – celebrated the 75th consecutive year in charge of the People’s Republic of China in 2024, though their centennial passed three years prior, in 2021. This 28 year gap is filled by the power struggle between the KMT (Kuomintang), also referred to as the Guomindang or the Chinese Nationalist Party, and the CCP, which was briefly disrupted by the second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.
Predating these modern government structures was the Qing dynasty, which ended in 1911 after the Wuchang Uprising. In the resulting absence, the KMT took charge, renaming the nation as the Republic of China. Though the leader of the Nationalist Party changed many times from its beginnings to its fall in 1949, the most well-known leader is Chiang Kai-shek, who rose to power in 1925, just two years before the beginning of the Chinese Civil War.
The CCP was formed in 1921, based on Marxism-Leninism ideologies, popularized after the Russian Revolution. They came together to protest against the Nationalist leadership, claiming to be the ‘true government’ of China. The KMT opposed, insisting their own right to lead the nation and civil war officially broke out on August 1st, 1927. Importantly, the U.S. became the first country to recognize the KMT as China’s governing party.
A decade later, the second Sino-Japanese War began, briefly halting internal conflicts in order to protect China against invading Japanese troops. After the Nanjing Massacre, the U.S. returned and provided support, notably limiting trade with Japan and creating the AVG (American Volunteer Group) within the Chinese Air Force. This later foreshadows the nature of the U.S.-China relationship, particularly during WWII.
WWII started in 1939 and the second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, with both ending in 1945. The bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941 properly involved the United States in WWII, and marks the merge of the two wars.
China’s role in WWII primarily circles around Japan; spreading Japanese forces thin with continued resistance, providing air bases for U.S. bombers, and pre-establishing relations with Western nations that restricted Japan’s access to vital materials such as oil and weaponry. This leads to Japan’s eventual downfall, with two repelled offensives in 1945, the Soviet Union’s involvement in Manchuria, and the U.S. atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki which forced Japan to surrender.
This cleared the schedule for Chinese forces, so to speak, allowing the civil war to continue for another four years. With the second highest WWII death tolls, millions of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons), and famine ravaging numerous regions in the nation, China was incredibly unstable in the aftermath of the wars.
The CCP took advantage of this vulnerable state, reignited the civil war and began a revolution. Though U.S. forces attempted to mediate and reach an agreement diplomatically, members of the CCP continued to fight, battles taking place all across the nation. Attempts were made to discuss a coalition government, though talks were often interrupted or cancelled due to sieges or fights breaking out.
The U.S. withdrew many troops and stopped attempting to negotiate a compromise between the two parties in 1947. This was followed by a spread of communism in East Asia, leading to an American mission to investigate China and Korea, with results that prompted a request for 300 million USD from the U.S. government to aid China. Despite clear support from the U.S., financially, militarily, and politically for the Nationalist party, the CCP continued to push the KMT out of North China, steadily advancing inwards.
Rapidly losing power and trust from their citizens, China fell into depression and the KMT fell out of favour. Realizing this, Chiang Kai-shek, president of the Nationalist Party, pleaded with the four Western powers (U.S.A., U.K. Soviet Union, France) and to assist in peace talks. Mao Zedong, leader of the CCP, refused to participate in them if any of his eight demands were not met, which would assure Communist rule over China. Chiang, realizing defeat, resigned as president and passed leadership onto General Li Tsung-jen.
Meanwhile, Communist forces continued to take land from the Nationalists, and ‘negotiations’ were finally entered though it became obvious that they were largely a formality, with the CCP decimating Nationalist military. The China that is known today, the People’s Republic of China, was declared to be the nation’s official title on August 1st, 1949. Shortly after, the Soviet Union recognized the CCP to be the legitimate leaders of this newly titled nation, and by December many other countries had followed suit.
Since, China has remained under Communist rule, rising from the ashes of World War II and the second Sino-Japanese war with a red, starred flag that slowly consumed the blue dragon.
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