How the Communist Manifesto Impacted China

Communism is a political theory advanced by Karl Marx. Marx argued against capitalism, in which property was owned by private entities. The Communist theory advocated for public ownership of property and a system where people are compensated according to their needs and abilities (Nolan 10).
Karl Marx was born in 1811 to a Jewish Lawyer in Trier, Prussia. He studied law and philosophy. At that time, Paris was a centre for socialist thought. Marx adopted an extreme form of socialism called communism (Marx 18-24). This ideology called for a revolution by working-class people to tear the capitalist world. Marx made friends with a fellow Prussian, Friedrich Engels, with whom they shared views. They worked together for two years, developing their philosophy of communism. The two philosophers became leaders of the working-class movement. In 1847, they were asked by the League of the Just, a discrete society that comprised revolutionary German workers in London, to join their organization. Marx and Engels obliged, and they renamed the group the Communist League. They organize to unite with other German worker institutions in Europe. The Communist League commissioned Marx and Engels to write a manifesto that contained a summary of the doctrines of the team.

Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto on the 21st of February, 1848. It was published in London by the Communist League, a group of revolutionary socialists who were born in Germany (Marx 25-32). The political pamphlet is argued to be a significant influence in history. The manifesto proclaimed that the history of class struggles and the unstoppable victory of the working class would bring to an end societal classes. The Communist Manifesto was published for the first time in German as Manifest der Kommunistichen Partei (Manifesto of the Communist Party). At the time it was printed, it had little impact. However, its ideas reverberated later, in the 20th century. By 1950, almost half of the world’s countries lived under Marxist governments.

Communism in China

In 1921, China formed the Communist Party of China, and by 1927, it was under Mao Zedong. Mao led the people through revolutions, and the party gained control in 1947. China followed a Soviet model of development as an example through a Soviet model. In the 1950’s Mao developed Maoism from a split of Marxism and Leninism. He was unsatisfied with Khrushchev's idea of the peaceful co-existence of capitalism and communism. He advocated for a strong communist tradition, and he instituted the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The latter was meant to transform China into an industrialized nation, and the latter was for conquering and punishing enemies (Uhalley 62-80). However, both initiatives failed, hence causing famine and death of millions of people and suffering for those who did not join the Communist Party.

Impact of Communism on Agriculture

The Chinese agricultural sector was impacted both positively and negatively. Mao Zedong invested a better share of the country’s resources in the agricultural system. The production rate of farm products increased (Perkins 108). The investment had a positive impact on the society. China was able to produce enough food for its sustenance. The country did not have hunger problems, and the government and its citizens could concentrate on other issues. An increase in agricultural production also had a positive impact on the economy. The state-grown produce was cheap in the market.

Mao wanted to achieve more from the agricultural sector. He initiated the ‘Great Leap Forward’. He shifted private farms to a common place where every person could contribute. During this time, most people in China lived as peasants. Mao gave land to the people, and he grouped them into communes. Each commune was given land, and they were expected to work and produce food that would sustain them. Unfortunately, this move created a dramatic shift where most people could not adapt. This move affected society negatively. There were internal wrangles between the people who could not agree on the contributions that each of them should make. The system also failed as people became ill, and others died of starvation. As a result, the agricultural business fell due to many factors, including poor soil care, adverse weather and insufficient transportation of crops to the market. The downfall of this sector caused hunger and famine, which killed about 30 million people (Barman 24-32).

An initiative by the Chinese communist leader to make the iron industry prominent also failed. The leader withdrew most of the farm workforce to work on melting scrap metals, pots, metals and pans to make steel. The industry was not sufficient enough for the people. At the end of it, most people abandoned farming and adopted the melting industry, which was unsuccessful. Farm production declined, and the food that the communes farmed was not enough to sustain the large population. Precious coal was wasted melting the items that were rendered useless. This initiative harmed the agricultural sector. It caused famine and death. The people were afraid of telling Mao Zedong that the idea was not working, and it took them a long time to divert from the industry, a time when irreversible damage had been caused. Communism had a positive impact in China, but over-excitation caused negative consequences.

Famine

China encountered a great famine during the communist period under Mao Zedong. Mao invested in the agriculture sector, and at first, it flourished, and people had enough food to sustain the entire population. People worked hard on the farms, and food was cheap since it was locally produced. Later on, Mao came up with unattainable ambitions. He wanted to establish a steel industry. Most of the people who worked on the farms started working in the steel-making industry (Kuisong, 30-52). They spent a lot of time in a venture that was not only wasteful but also unsuccessful. Even when Zedong realized that the industry could not compete favourably, he failed to make changes. The agriculture industry suffered a shortage of workforce. The produce declined while the population was growing fast. The food produced was not enough to sustain the people, and more than 30 million people died of hunger and disease.

The famine that befell China resulted from decisions made by Mao Zedong and the fear of the people confronting him. Mao had a big ego. He wanted to achieve big dreams even when they were not achievable. The Cultural Revolution instilled fear in the people who could not confront their leader and tell him that things were not working. They were forced to be loyal and could follow the orders given for fear of losing their families and even their lives.

Impact on Chinese Economy

The Communist Manifesto led to the implementation of Marxism ideas in the Chinese economy. Communism advocated for empowering everyone, yet a few elites controlled it. The ideology proposed that accumulated profits be shared throughout the country. However, this was not the case in China. People worked very hard to earn high profits for the nation. Unfortunately, the government kept a better share of the earnings and was unwilling to change to a different system of governance. During the initial years when China adopted communism, the economy improved. The success was attributed to success and efficiency in the agricultural and production sectors. At that time, China exceeded its 5-year plan goals (Henry 20-27). However, later on, it was realized that these were false assumptions that led to decisions that caused the downfall of the agricultural industry.

When Mao introduced the ‘Great Leap Forward,' he hoped that it would be a period of economic growth. He expected people to work on the farms and forge tools from melted iron. The introduction of this idea drew most people who worked on the farms to work on producing iron tools. However, this idea did not work since the tools were insufficient to sustain the people. Mao visited a large steel mill in Manchuria in January 1959. During this visit, he learned that high-quality steel could only be produced by large industries and not use small blast furnaces. However, Mao had a great revolutionary spirit that he did not want to dampen. He did not cancel the furnace program, and people continued working in an industry that was not giving any benefits. Later, in 1959, the program ended at a time when it had caused a lot of damage. Most of the people had stopped working on farms, and this caused a decline in agricultural production that caused hunger and famine.

The iron smelting idea burned surplus coal that could have been used for the railways. There was little left to support the railway industry, which eventually failed. The adoption of the industry had dire consequences for the economy. It caused a decline in agricultural production and used resources that were meant for the railway industry. It contributed to famine. The Great Leap Forward idea failed terribly because of unattainable goals that the communist leader, Mao Zedong, set. The communist idea under Mao causes severe consequences to the Chinese economy due to mistakes made by the leader.

Impact of communism on culture

Communism affected the Chinese culture. During the communist period, Mao Zedong led the Chinese people to a cultural revolution that destroyed the remains of the cold culture. The old culture was replaced by a Maoist ideology that was named after the leader. This catastrophic period for China leads to the creation of a unique culture. Large quantities of political art were produced, and people were forced to take them. Art that was meant for beauty was discouraged (Henry 65). The sole purpose of art became political: to glorify China and Communism. All forms of art became propaganda for the Communist Party. Taking joy in anything unrelated to the party was considered ‘bourgeois.’

Under the new culture, the political environment pressured the people’s loyalty to the country. It portrayed it as of great importance for the people to be loyal to the government than to their families. This ideology caused enmity between family members who disobeyed the government. The Maoist ideology went against the traditional belief that children were expected to respect their parents. Most of the youth in China were brought up during the communist era. They were told to love Mao, and they were great supporters of his ideologies. Their feelings and followership for him were greater than their loyalty to the parents. They followed suit to challenge established authority, including their teachers and parents. Even during the protests of the Tiananmen Square protests, which took place 13 years after Mao’s death, the defilement of his image was not acceptable.

The Mao cult put a Cultural Revolution motion. This was a major influential policy in China. The revolution began in August 1966 and took place for two years. Some people claim the government ended the revolution, but others believe the death of Mao caused the end of the Cultural Revolution in China. The subsequent period of modernization in China is attributed to the Cultural Revolution that resulted from communism. However, other scholars oppose this position, attributing modernization in China to destroying cultural artefacts, traditional religions, and educational facilities. The major reason for the revolution was to separate people from ideas that were against a communist country.

Tiananmen Square

On the 16th of August 1966, 11 million Red Guards went to Tiananmen Square to listen to encouragement from Mao (Watson, 54). They carried the wishes of Mao and were forcefully moved to rural areas to do manual labour on behalf of the party. Most of the people who were in these campaigns were students who had been affected by loyalty to the state, and they could not return to their homes.

Chinese citizens who were not members of the communist party suffered the wrath of the party leader. Their houses were broken into, and the artefacts that were believed to be bourgeois were damaged. The Red Guards humiliated, beat and killed people who had a bourgeois attitude. Some people committed suicide due to public humiliation. When Mao was confronted with these facts, he advised that those who tried to kill themselves should not be saved. He claimed that China was very populated and could not be affected by the absence of a few people.

The new culture did not allow the police and local authorities to intervene in any actions that the Red Guard and the attacks on the people took. The guards had a strong belief in the communist ways. Additionally, they did not have an option since failure to embrace the belief could make them lose their homes, family and even their lives.

Mao Zedong was not worried that the Cultural Revolution would cause hardship and negative reactions from the people. He did not have any vision of a better life for the Chinese people. Mao had a Little Red Book that was only concerned about two issues: how to win and how to punish the enemies after winning (Uhalley 75). He could punish even the Chinese. However, he believed in the Marxist theory.

The Communist Manifesto had a great impact on the world. It brought a revolution against capitalism, in which private entities owned property and a large segment of society suffered. Karl Marx, together with Friedrich Engels, wrote the Communist Manifesto, which contained the wishes of the working-class citizens who embraced communism. The Communist theory advocates for public ownership of property. It also argues that compensation should be based on people’s abilities and needs.

Conclusion

China was among the countries that adopted the Marxist idea of Communism. Mao Zedong led the country in forming the Communist Party of China. He led a revolution that destroyed old cultures and encouraged people to embrace communism.

Communism had both positive and negative effects in China. The ideology had an impact on the agricultural sector. It also affected the economy and culture of the Chinese people. Mao Zedong invested in the agricultural sector, and it was doing well. The produce increased, and the food was enough to sustain its rapidly growing population. The state-produced food was cheap in the market, and the economy improved. Before communism was introduced I China, the Chinese lived as peasants. Mao introduced a commune system where people were grouped and given land. The agricultural sector performed well until when Zedong launched the ‘Great Leap Forward’ idea. He initiated steel production where people could melt pans, pots and other metallic things to form steel. The majority of the farm workforce was withdrawn to work in the industries. However, the industry failed because high-quality steel can only be produced by large factories and not in furnaces. The agricultural sector failed due to the insufficiency of a workforce, bad weather, and poor soil maintenance. The industry had also used coal that would have been used for the railways, causing the railways to fall, too. At this point, there was a great decline in the Chinese economy. The country was faced with a great famine, and over 30 million people died.

The Cultural Revolution that resulted from adopting Communism in China had adverse effects on the people. Mao emphasized loyalty to the government and made it more important than loyalty to the family. Family members turned against each other. The youth were committed to Maoist ideologies and turned against parents, teachers and other authorities. People who did not adopt Communism suffered, their houses were destroyed, and they were humiliated in public making some of them to commit suicide.

Communism in China under Mao Zedong was more of feudalism. As much as he believed in the Marxist ideology of communism, he did not consider the people's interests. The greatest mistakes he made were the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. These initiatives caused suffering and chaos in society. Generally, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, China experienced more negative effects than benefits of communalism.

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