Lesson 24: Victory in the People's Liberation War

Land Reform in the Liberated Areas

After the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Communist Party of China (CPC) adjusted its land policy and changed the policy of rent reduction and interest reduction during the War of Resistance to the land policy of land ownership by the cultivator. The outline stipulated that landowners' land should be confiscated, the land system of feudal exploitation should be abolished, the land should be allocated to those who cultivate it, and land should be distributed equally according to the rural population. Subsequently, the general line of land reform was formulated: to rely on the poor and the peasants, to unite with the middle peasants, to eliminate the feudal exploitative land system in a systematic and separate manner, and to develop agricultural production.

In accordance with the general line of land reform and the provisions of the Outline of China's Land Law, land reform campaigns were carried out in various liberated areas. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the land reform in the liberated areas was successfully completed after more than a year of hard work and struggle, and the vast number of peasants were given land, houses, grain and clothing.

The land reform in the liberated areas brought about fundamental changes in class relations and land ownership in the countryside and stimulated the peasants' enthusiasm for revolution and production. The peasants joined the army and the war in large numbers, providing an important guarantee of manpower and material resources for the victory of the People's Liberation War.

The Three Great Battles and the Liberation of Nanjing

In the summer of 1947, Liu Bo Cheng and Deng Xiaoping led the main forces of the People's Liberation Army of Jin, Hebei and Lu Yu to cross the Yellow River in the southwest of Shandong Province and advance thousands of miles into the Dabie Mountains, directly threatening Nanjing and Wuhan and opening the prelude to the strategic offensive of the People's Liberation Army. Subsequently, the People's Liberation Army in other battlefields also turned to attack one after another. After successive battles, the People's Liberation Army annihilated more than 2 million elites of the Kuomintang army and forced the main forces of the Kuomintang army to retreat to the isolated cities of Shenyang, Beiping and Xuzhou, and to fight passively in defense.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China thought that the time was ripe for a strategic battle and decided to launch the three major battles of Liao-Shen, Huaihai and Pingjin.

In September 1948, the Battle of Liao Shen was launched. Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan commanded the Northeast People's Liberation Army to first capture Jinzhou in Liaoning Province, cutting off the enemy's retreat to Guanzhou in one fell swoop. Subsequently, Changchun and Shenyang were captured and all of Northeast China was liberated.

In November, the Central Plains Field Army and the East China Field Army, under the command of Liu Bo Cheng, Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping, Su Yu and Tan Zhenlin, launched the Huaihai Campaign in a vast area centered on Xuzhou, annihilating a large number of enemy troops. By January 1949, the Huaihai Campaign ended victoriously. The victory of the Huaihai Campaign liberated a vast area north of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Almost simultaneously with the Huaihai Campaign, the People's Liberation Army of Northeast China swung into China and launched the Pingjin Campaign together with the People's Liberation Army of North China under the command of Nie Rongzhen. The PLA divided and surrounded the Kuomintang army in the isolated cities of Beiping, Tianjin and Zhangjiakou, and captured Zhangjiakou and Tianjin by force to threaten Beiping. In early 1949, Beiping was peacefully liberated. The victory of the Pingjin Campaign led to the liberation of all of North China.

The three battles wiped out and reorganized more than 1.5 million Kuomintang troops, and the main force of the Kuomintang army was basically eliminated, greatly accelerating the victory of the People's Liberation War in the whole country.