A Study Of The Chinese Peasant Party (1947—1949)

A large number of middle parties emerged on the stage of Chinese politic after the victory of the Anti-Japanese war,which played an important role during the time when the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China were in confrontation.The Chinese Peasant Party was founded in Shanghai in May 1947,hoping to achieve“political democratization” and “military nationalization” through the way of political reform.It focused on the rural areas,and worked on improving the political consciousness of the peasant and the revival of rural society.The Chinese Peasant Party claimed to be “a party of representing peasants”,and paid great attention to solving the rural issues and concerned about the interests of the peasant,however,it was destroyed in June 1949 beacuse that the Communist Party of China defined it as “a party of landlords and rich peasants”.This thesis insists the historical principle of reproducing the real visage of history on the basis of historical data.It tries to outline the developing process of the Chinese Peasant Party,analyse the nature and historical status of the party and provide useful references for solving the “three rural issues”by narrating the the content of the Chinese Peasant Party's establishing background,organizational profile,policy claim,practical activity,inter-party relation and so on.After World War II,the social environment of the confrontation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China provided development space for the middle parties,and the increasingly serious rural problem attracted widespread concern of agricultural intellectuals,so the Chinese Peasant Party was founded under this background.The party had taken four level organization,constructing branches actively,absorbing party members widely and raising funds by all possible means.In this way,it ensured the normal operation of the organization.The Chinese Peasant Party put forward many advocates of politics,economy and society,and founded agricultural school,farms and enterprises,which promoted socio-economic development in rural areas.At the same time,it conducted extensive contacts with other Peasant Party and various sectors of the United States,which improved the international influence.The Chinese Peasant Party was born in the special historical period,so it carried out flexible inter-party communication activities.Its attitude towards the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China had undergone the change from “absolute neutrality” to “incline to the Communist Partyof China”.Through combing the development process of the party and analying the party's programme and advocates,we can find that it is neither a party on behalf of peasants nor a party of landlords and rich peasants,in fact,it is the bourgeois parties concerned about the rural issues.