Topic 8.4 Notes – Spread of Communism After 1900

What Communism and Redistribution Meant After 1900

This topic gets tricky because communism, socialism, and redistribution overlap, but they are not the same thing.

• Communism comes from Marx. He argued that history is driven by class struggle, especially between the bourgeoisie (owners) and proletariat (workers). The goal was ending private ownership of the means of production and creating a classless society.
• Marxism-Leninism adapted that idea into a real political system. Lenin argued a vanguard party should lead the revolution. In practice this meant one-party rule, nationalization, and central planning.
• Maoism adapted communism to China. China did not have many factory workers, so Mao treated peasants as the main revolutionary force.
• Socialism is broader. It can mean more equality and more government control of the economy, but it can still work through elections, reform, and mixed economies.

Policies you need to keep straight

The big AP point is simple. Redistribution did not always equal communism.

Why Communist and Socialist Movements Attracted Support

These movements spread where old systems looked broken.

• Unequal landownership mattered a lot. Peasants often worked land they did not own, paid high rents, and stayed in debt.
• Weak or corrupt governments could not fix inequality, so radical movements looked more credible.
• Foreign imperialism made communism attractive because taking back land or industries could look like national liberation too.
• In anti-colonial struggles, nationalism and class revolution fused together. That is why China and Vietnam matter so much.
• War, occupation, inflation, and collapse created openings for revolution.
• The Soviet Union gave a model and support, but local conditions explain why people joined.

Standard examples

• China and Vietnam tied communism to anti-imperial resistance.
• Ethiopia combined land inequality with state crisis.
• Cuba mixed inequality, dictatorship, and resentment of U.S. influence.

How China Became Communist

China’s revolution makes more sense when you see how state weakness kept piling up.

• The Qing dynasty collapsed in 1911, leaving a weak republic and rule by warlords.
• The May Fourth Movement in 1919 attacked foreign control and Chinese weakness. It helped spread Marxism.
• The CCP was founded in 1921. Its main rival was the Guomindang led by Sun Yat-sen, then Chiang Kai-shek.
• In 1927, Chiang purged communists. That pushed the CCP into the countryside.
• Mao built support through rent reduction, literacy, land promises, and guerrilla warfare.
• The Long March of 1934 to 1935 saved the CCP and made Mao its top leader.

Japanese aggression

Japan changed everything, and this map helps you see why. The shaded occupation zones spread across eastern China, and the striped areas mark communist base regions that expanded during the war.

China at the end of World War II

• Manchuria was seized in 1931.
• Japan launched a full invasion in 1937.
• The CCP and Nationalists formed the Second United Front.
• The Nationalists were weakened by war losses, inflation, corruption, and poor morale.
• The CCP gained support by resisting Japan and organizing rural communities.

Communist victory in 1949

After WWII, civil war resumed. The CCP won because it had peasant support, discipline, stronger leadership, and because the Nationalists had lost legitimacy. On October 1, 1949, Mao declared the People’s Republic of China. Chiang retreated to Taiwan.

How Communist Rule Reshaped China

Once in power, the CCP changed both society and the economy.

• Land reform destroyed landlord power, often through struggle sessions, violence, and executions.
• The Marriage Law of 1950 expanded women’s rights.
• The First Five-Year Plan built heavy industry with Soviet-style planning.
• Agriculture moved from redistribution into collectivization.

Great Leap Forward

In 1958, Mao tried to industrialize fast through people’s communes and backyard furnaces.

Backyard furnaces during the Great Leap Forward

Local officials lied about harvests, the state took grain based on fake numbers, and villages starved. The famine from 1959 to 1961 killed tens of millions. This is one of the clearest AP examples of how extreme state control plus repression caused catastrophe.

Cultural Revolution

In 1966, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution to attack “capitalist roaders” and regain control. Red Guards targeted intellectuals, officials, and the Four Olds. The result was humiliation, violence, persecution, and chaos. China became a one-party authoritarian state with major social change and repeated repression.

Other Redistribution Movements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

China was the biggest case, but similar pressures showed up elsewhere.

• Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh tied communism to anti-French and anti-Japanese struggle. After Dien Bien Phu in 1954, Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel. Communist victory came in 1975. Land reform and later collectivization included coercion and executions.
• Ethiopia saw the Derg overthrow Haile Selassie in 1974. Under Mengistu, it used “land to the tiller,” nationalization, collectivization, and villagization. It also used terror, caused displacement, and ruled harshly.
• Kerala in India elected a communist government in 1957. It passed land reform through law, protected tenants, and stayed democratic.
• Iran’s White Revolution in 1963 was the Shah’s noncommunist land reform program. It also promoted literacy, women’s suffrage, and infrastructure.
• In Latin America, Cuba under Fidel Castro became Marxist-Leninist after the 1959 revolution, used land reform and nationalization, and built one-party rule. Noncommunist examples include Mexico’s ejidos under Lázaro Cárdenas and Chile under Allende.