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11 - Building a Totalitarian Regime

From the Chinese Soviet to the People’s Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2025

Chenggang Xu
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
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Summary

Chapter 11 focuses on the creation, expansion, and operating mechanism of the communist totalitarian regimes in China. Its coverage starts from the first of these regimes, the Chinese Soviet Republic, founded in 1931, up to the founding of the nationwide regime, the People’s Republic of China, and the establishment of a full-fledged classical totalitarian system. The key communist totalitarian strategies were state mobilization and domination, including land reform and the suppression of those deemed to be counterrevolutionaries. The chapter explores the regime’s progression from decentralized to centralized totalitarianism, detailing how power became more concentrated over time. The final section explores the “Sovietization” of the state, describing the construction of a classical totalitarian system, following the Soviet model, which was characterized by strict centralized control and ideological uniformity. This transformation laid the groundwork for the pervasive and enduring nature of the Chinese communist state.

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Chapter
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Institutional Genes
Origins of China's Institutions and Totalitarianism
, pp. 499 - 542
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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