Between January and October 1950 almost 4000 people were

Last updated: 10/11/2023

Between January and October 1950 almost 4000 people were arrested as counter revolutionary agents and in July 1950 Zhou signed an order for the campaign which soon became known as Eliminate Counter Revolutionary Elements to be stepped up Mao gave his official support and in February 1951 the government issued the Regulations These were based on the Common Programme and defined counter revolutionary crimes as those which tried to disrupt or overthrow the newly established People s Democracy This campaign was also directed at the secret societies of various religious sects such as the Buddhists and members of the criminal gangs that had long operated in urban areas and had often collaborated with the GMD to eliminate trade union and communist militants Those found guilty faced life imprisonment or execution The harshness of these Regulations reflected in large part the CCP leadership s concerns over the threats posed by Taiwan and the US which openly backed the GMD as the legitimate rulers of China In addition the scale of this campaign is not too surprising given that it followed closely on from an extremely bitter and violent civil war lasting more than 20 years However there were many cases where those accused of counter revolution were released while many others were given short prison sentences or sent to labour camps The campaign involved large numbers of people according to historian Michael Dillon up to 80 per cent of the population were involved in what became a mass movement Factories schools government offices and neighbourhood organisations formed committees to root out counter revolutionaries As Source 2 7 shows mass meetings were held in which people were encouraged to denounce to the security forces and police those who had supported