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The peasant movements of the 1920s were among the first testing grounds of Communist propaganda. Even during the First United Front with the Guomindang (GMD) from 1923 to 1927, young Communist activists had by and large assumed leadership over the political work in the villages. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had under Chen Duxiu's leadership gradually prepared for revolutionary cooperation between workers and peasants. In Sino-Marxist historiography, peasant uprisings and peasant wars are interpreted as the precursors of the modern revolutions. 1. The Communist Peasant M…

Within the social hierarchy of traditional China peasants ranked second, right below the literati-officials (elites) and still above craftsmen and merchants. In the People's Republic, peasants have similarly received a positive rating as a revolutionary class. These official conceptions, however, stand in stark contrast to reality. While the peasants were at all times praised in terms of ideology, they nevertheless were extensively ostracized in daily life. The term peasantry thus refers to thre…