Consequences of China’s Civil War and the Chinese Communist Party’s State Establishment and Government Concept

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to develop a plan in 1948 to establish and run the new state, emphasizing land reform. The Common Program adopted when establishing the People’s Republic of China assured universal suffrage, People’s Congresses at every level, and government organizations at every level, but this was contingent on the completion of land reform. Universal suffrage would consolidate the results of the revolution (the seizure of power by the exploited class) after land reform had thoroughly destroyed the power base of the “landlords and rich farmers” and the “exploited class” had completely seized power. Such a vision had commonality with governance that was realized after the correction of the “far-left phenomenon” of January-February 1948. Given the structure of the ruling system at the end of China’s Civil War and the similarities with the People’s Congress, it is necessary to reposition the Common Program. It was not set up to demonstrate that the new state and government would be constituted and run unitedly but to advocate that the state and the government had legitimacy through “the support of all the people” where the “class enemy” could seize power if the universal suffrage was held before the reform.