How China Was Lost To Communism

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reached however, communism involves the abolition of private property by a revolutionary movement; responsibility for meeting public needs is then in the hands of the state (Gurley).
As a concept of an ideal society, communism is derived from ancient sources, including Plato's Republic and the earliest Christian communes. In the early 19th century, the idea of a communist society was a response of the poor and the dislocated to the beginnings of modern capitalism. At that time communism was the basis for a number of utopian settlements; most communistic experiments, however, eventually failed. Most of these small-scale private experiments involved voluntary cooperation, with everyone participating in the governing process (Gurley).
Later the term communism was reserved for the philosophy advanced by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their Communist Manifesto and the movement they helped create in Central Europe. Since 1917 the term has denoted those who regard the Russian Revolution as a model that all Marxists should follow (Gurley). However emphasis on western and central European communism decline between 1920-1980, in which communist movements were often linked with Third World countries striving for national independence and social change.
Republic Years
The Chinese Republic maintained a tenuous existence from 1912 until 1949. Although a constitution was adopted and a parliament convened in 1912, Yuan Shih-k’ai never allowed these institutions to inhibit his personal control of the government (Clubb). When the newly formed Kuomintang (Nationalist Party, or KMT), headed by Sun Yat-sen, attempted to limit Yuan’s power, first by parliamentary tactics and then by an unsuccessful revolution in 1913, Yuan responded by dismissing parliament, outlawing the Kuomintang (KMT), and ruling through his personal connections with provincial military leaders (Clubb). Sun Yat-sen took refuge in Japan. Yuan, however, was forced by popular...