Communism in China, Essay Example

Communism is an ideology, economic and political, that opposes capitalism and liberal democracy, and where the system advocated for is a classless one. In the classless system, there is no existence of private property because all the products are possessed communally. Communism is a term that covers different ideologies. The modern term used came from Victor d’Hupay, who was a French aristocrat from the eighteenth century (Pruitt, 2019). The French aristocrat insisted on living in communes where all property would be shared equally, and all individuals would benefit from their general effort. The idea was not new during that time because, in a book found in the Bible known as Acts, there was such a system used by the first-century Christians where holding property was common. The system used by the first-century Christians was called Koinonia, which inspired the late religious groups from the 17^th century to avoid private ownership. There is also the socialist system which is an essential economic philosophy that encourages public ownership and not private. China is one of the few countries that is using the communist system, which has worked for the country. Fostering a robust economic environment for the citizens is the aim of the government so as to ensure everybody is comfortable. This paper will analyze the effect of communism on Chinese economic activities in the 1950s-60s.

The two systems, communism, and socialism, try to fix the issues caused by a free-marketing capitalist system, such as exploitation of the workers and the increase in gap difference between the poor and the rich. Socialism emerged during the industrial revolution period because the gap between the wealthy and the poor increased immensely. In communism, all the property is controlled by a strong government, and one is given wealth according to their needs. From modern Chinese stories, previously, the property was owned privately, and the government in place had no control of the economy or the rich families. There were large plantations owned by different families and used captured slaves to toil the lands and work for the families. In villages, there were some families that were rich than others. The low-income families used to work on the farms of the rich families to get basic needs. Imperialist oppression is what created modern China and helped it become successful. Because of unequal treaties that were made after the ending of the opium war, China was not able to charge more than 5% on foreign imports (Naughton, 2006). China was incapable of protecting its industries from unfair competition made by Western manufacturers. The foreigners got the right to operate their industries in areas that had treaties, and the western industries used the cheap labor from Chinese people to their advantage. The western industries also used cheap investment capital and advanced technology to establish their industries properly. By destroying the handicraft industries that were native, the people were impoverished by imperialism, and there was political instability. The Chinese economy was linked to the world market, which affected the Chinese producers. The producers from China were imperiled by the changes on whims of demands and prices on the world market. Foreign poaching affected the sovereign rights of China and impacted their social, economic, and political tribulations in the early nineteenth century.

In the 1950s, when the “communist party of China” took power, reforms were greatly experienced where the country wanted to become a great socialist nation. The objectives on the economic terms were the enhancement of living standards, industrialization, reducing income differences, as well as military paraphernalia manufacturing. The country managed to build military equipment such as a boat with armor to fire. The difference was that military equipment created in China was of low quality and expensive compared to imported equipment. This is because the majority of the materials for manufacturing military equipment were imported from foreign countries, making the production cost expensive. China’s economy was anguishing from the effects of warfare that happened for many years. Many factories and mines were destroyed during the war, and China had unfair treaties with other nations. The treaties impacted the economy of China because the western industries performed unfair business practices. The communication and transportation systems were destroyed, immensely crippling the economic activity in China. This made China embark on the economic restoration process quickly through the restoration of transportation and communication systems. The banking structure was centralized and nationalized beneath the umbrella of “People’s Bank of China.” The monetary system, restricted government budgets, and tightened credits were implemented to control inflation, and the currency’s value was maintained. The state trading companies that were established helped to regulate and stimulate the business process in China. The state-established companies competed with private companies to purchase, manufacture and sell products to the consumers. Ownership of industries transformed slowly where the majority of the industries were under state control. Enterprises that were owned privately were gradually and progressively brought under control of the state. Landownership and agriculture experienced major reforms where half of the lands that were productive and could be farmed were redistributed from the landlords and given to the prosperous farmers. Families that had previously farmed successfully and had little land were given land by the government to increase the food production of the country. After the reformations, the price stability of the nation was established, and the business was restored. The agriculture and industry sectors regained their before ultimate levels of production, and the objectives were attained by the government.

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