Part 4/17:
The history of China’s Communist Party begins in the early 1920s. Initially, the CCP was a relatively moderate, intellectual party focused on ideas and academia. It was Mao Zedong, not one of the original founders, who transformed the CCP into a dominant political force through brutal means. Mao’s rise was characterized by violence, terror, and ruthless power consolidation, using tactics such as executing landlords, fabricating confessions, and purging rivals within the party. His governing style was based on rule by fear, endorsing violence as a tool otherwise antithetical to true socialism.