Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries

A political campaign launched by the People’s Republic of China in 1950 to eliminate alleged threats to Communist rule through arrests, executions, and other punishments.

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Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns: Two campaigns launched in urban China in 1951 and 1952 against corruption, waste, tax evasion, bribery, and other alleged abuses. They followed the campaign and extended political mobilization into urban workplaces and businesses.
Chinese Civil War: The conflict between the Chinese Nationalists and Communists that ended with Communist victory on the mainland in 1949. The campaign targeted alleged Nationalist agents and remnants after the Communist victory.
Mass killing under communist regimes: Large-scale killings carried out by governments led by communist parties in different historical settings. The campaign was one episode within the broader history of state violence under communist rule.
Anti-Rightist Campaign: A 1957 political campaign in China that targeted people labeled rightists, including critics of the Communist Party. It was a later purge focused on perceived political critics rather than the early regime’s alleged armed enemies.
People’s Republic of China: A sovereign state established in 1949 under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. The new state organized the campaign to consolidate its rule.
Chinese Communist Revolution: The process by which the Chinese Communist Party established control over mainland China in 1949. The campaign was an early effort to consolidate the revolution’s new political order.
Political repression in China: The use of state power in China to restrict political opposition and dissent. The campaign established an early precedent for coercive political control in the PRC.
Cultural Revolution: A political upheaval in China from 1966 to 1976 that Mao Zedong initiated to reassert revolutionary control. Its scale and factional upheavals differed from the early 1950s campaign’s consolidation drive.
Chinese Communist Party: The political party that founded and has governed the People’s Republic of China since 1949. Party directives and local cadres organized the campaign’s implementation.
Land reform in China: The redistribution of land in the People’s Republic of China, accompanied by class-based political struggle. Land reform and counterrevolutionary suppression overlapped in local campaigns against former elites.