The Chinese Communist Treatment of Counterrevolutionaries, 1924-1949

During the period 1924-1949, amid civil war with the KMT, war with the Japanese, internal leadership disputes, and other chaotic conditions, rapid shifts occurred in the political culture of China. Patricia Griffin contends that an understanding of how the Chinese Communists created a legal system at this time is essential to a grasp of more recent events. Focusing on the Communists’ definition and treatment of counterrevolutionaries, she describes and assesses the contribution of environment, ideology, and leadership in the development of legal techniques used by the Communists in their rise to power.

In this book, translations of the major statutes concerning counterrevolutionaries during the period, together with an account of the growth of counterrevolutionary law and the legal structure, explain how the counterrevolutionaries were dealt with and how their treatment changed in response to external and internal stimuli. The author analyzes the roles of ideology and experience as determinants of law toward counterrevolutionaries and, in a final chapter, discusses the implications of the early experience for future legal developments in China. Her topic is of vital importance because of the politically sensitive nature of the subject matter and because of the time period examined.

Originally published in 1976.

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