1. What form of government did the CPC take?

Activity 1 - What was the government?

Activity Tasks

Examine - Examine the Common Programme of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and then answer these questions:
1. What is the ideology of the new government?
2. What are the aims of the new PRC government?
3. What rights and duties do Chinese people have according to the Common Programme?
Read - Explore pages 15-22 of Weatherly, R. (2006). Politics in China since 1949: Legitimising Authoritarian Rule. Makes notes on the following questions:
1. Administrative Control - How was this achieved by the CPC?
2. Democratic Centralism - How did this political concept shape government?
3. Structure of the State - What was this like? Where did power lie?
4. Structure of the Party - How was the Party structured?
5. The Military - What was the role of the military in government?
Discuss - As a class, share your findings and try discussing the following questions:
1. How democratic was the system of government?
2. Was the structure of government efficient?
3. Who or what held most power within the government?
4. What was Mao’s role within government?

Activity Tasks

Create - Use the following sources to help you design a Padlet diagram that shows the structure of government under the CPC. It must include details about: the executive, the legislature, the judiciary, the Communist Party Organisation, the Military, the regions and provinces, and the most significant leaders with the CPC in the early 1950s:
1. Lynch, M. (2016). Access to History: China 1839-1997, pp. 154-157
2. Fairbank, J.K., & Goldman, M. (2006). China - A New History, pp. 345-351
3. Spence, J.D. (1990). The Search for Modern China, pp. 514-515 and 519-524
4. The Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
5. The Organic Law of the Central People’s Government of the PRC
6. The 1954 Constitution of the PRC
Publish - Once finished, save a copy of your diagram for your notes. Compare with other groups' diagrams.

Activity Tasks

Read - Read pages of 22-25 of Weatherly, R. (2006). Politics in China since 1949: Legitimising Authoritarian Rule and then make notes on these questions:
1. What does legitimacy mean? Why do governments need legitimacy?
2. What was the ideology of the CPC? How could you describe it?
3. What did the ideological legitimacy of the PRC government depend on?
4. How did Chinese Marxism under Mao differ from Orthodox Marxism?
5. Why was continuous revolution important to Mao?
6. To what extent did the CPC use nationalism to gain support?
Discuss - From what you have explored today, to what extent was the PRC seen as a legitimate form of government by the people? Do you think the form of government helped the CPC to consolidate power?