A Case Study Of Chinese Communist Party’s Propagandistic Network In Jiangsu In The1950s

In the age of revolution, combined with sophisticated mass movement, the excellent propagandistic work had provided the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with inexhaustible material and spiritual resources to gain power. After the victory of the communist revolution, in order to fight for the utopian political ideal, there remained a tough task in how to strengthen the propaganda affairs among the underclass to intensify their identification to the new regime and to mobilize them to participate in the national reconstruction and social transformation. On Jan lst in1951, Central Committee of the CCP decided to spread the propagandistic network to the whole country. As the carrier in socializing the propaganda affairs in1950s, propagandistic network system had effectively integrated people’s ideology into a unified national will and the mainstream ideology, and widely mobilized all sections of society, and also promoted the development of the major task and political movement.Propagandistic network system was not only the continuation of the CCP’s history, but also the imitation and experience of the Soviet’s propagandistic work system. In February1950, CCP Central Propaganda Department conducted a experimental project which was helpful to establish a propagandistic network in Northeastern China, and then introduced northeast experience to the whole country. In April1950in North Jiangsu, the experimental work of propagandistic network started in Danfeng town, Haian city. However, the establishment work of the propagandistic network in Jiangsu was decentralized because of the historical and realistic reasons, it showed different characteristics in North Jiangsu, South Jiangsu and Nanjing. The dimensions and quantities in North Jiangsu were better than others. With the establishment of Jiangsu Province in Jan lst,1953, propagandistic network in Jiangsu had taken shape. The CCP had reached the expected goal with the development of more than two years.In the1950s, propagandists and reporters were the backbone of the system, which was under the leadership of local party committee. In addition, this system covered the administrations, social groups, factories, rural areas, streets and schools. As to its nature, the operation model of propagandistic network was still from top to bottom, and mainly relied on the quality of the propagandists. Propagandists were the backbone in the construction of propagandistic network. The selection, training, purification and role of propagandists reflected that the CCP paied much attention to propaganda. All propagandists were close to the bottom class directly, and preached the policy and ideology of the new regime. However, they met various difficulities in their work because of the diversity of identities. Reporters, as the senior propagandists, set at the heart of the system. They made political reports to the bottom class, and used the rural teaching stations to guide the propagandists.Propagandists and reporters were the backbone of the propagandistic network. Non-party’s propagandistic network was the mass organizations of publicity, which included the newspaper-reading groups, clubs, private schools, night schools, radio-broadcasting groups, troupes, propagandistic teams, comic groups, singing groups, blank newspaper and so on. According to the decision of the establishing propagandistic network, it should not be limited to reporters and propagandists, but also needed to organize the appropriate form of non-party’s propagandistic network in order to form the most extensive propagandistic teams. Propagandists were distributed in the non-party’s propagandistic network, and became the backbone of various kinds of the mass organizations of publicity. So the CCP had builded up a wide range of social propagandistic network system through a combination of party and non-party’s propagandistic network, and so could effectively mobilized all social forces.When the new regime started social integration, the CCP continuously promoted the establishment and rectification of propagandistic network, and at the same time, also used propagandistic network to promote political movement smoothly. Propagandistic network and political movements cooperated with each other and brought out the best in each other. In the1950s, propagandistic network played an important role in the political movements of the war to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, agricultural cooperation and Sino-Soviet friendly, which launched by the new regime.In1953, when " one five plans" began and large-scale economic constructions started, the CCP made a policy that "give priority to the consolidation of propagandistic network and continue to develop it on the basis of consolidation". With the revocation of administrations’and schools’propagandistic network, propagandistic network in industrial and mining enterprises became strengthened, and rural propagandistic network entered a rebuilding period. By the end of1958, propagandistic network withdrew from the mainstream propagandistic channel.Propagandistic network in the1950s contributed a lot in building the mainstream ideology, mobilizing social forces and promoting political movements. It had ensured the implementation of the major task of the CCP. Meanwhile, it also strengthened the party cadres’training, trained many propagandistic cadres, advanced the standardization and instirutionalization of propagandistic work, and consolidated the CCP’s ruling status. However, it created negative influence.