Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries

The Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries (Chinese: 鎮壓反革命運動; pinyin: zhènyā fǎngémìng yùndòng, abbreviated as 鎮反; zhènfǎn) was the first campaign of political repression launched by the People's Republic of China designed to eradicate opposition elements, especially former Kuomintang (KMT) functionaries accused of trying to undermine the new Chinese Communist Party government. It began in March 1950 when the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued the Directive on elimination of bandits and establishment of revolutionary new order (Chinese: 關於嚴厲鎮壓反革命分子活動的指示), and ended in 1953.

Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries
鎮壓反革命運動
Part of the Cold War in Asia
A poster promoting the campaign, 1951
Date1950–1953
Location
China
Methods
  • Capital punishment
  • Arrest
    • Resulted in
    • 712,000 - 2,000,000 people executed
    • 1,290,000 people imprisoned
    • 1,200,000 people subject to control at various times
    Parties

     Republic of China remaining forces

    • Republic of China Armed Forces
    • KMT spies


    Secret societies and gangs
    Number
    3,000,000
    History of the
    People's Republic of China
    Mao era
    Transition and Deng era
    Jiang and the third generation
    Hu and the fourth generation
    Xi and the fifth generation
    History of
     China portal

    The campaign was implemented as a response to the rebellions that were commonplace in the early years of the People's Republic of China. Those targeted during the campaign were thereafter labeled as "counterrevolutionaries", and were publicly denounced in mass trials. Significant numbers of "counterrevolutionaries" were arrested and executed and even more sentenced to "labor reform" (Chinese: 勞動改造; pinyin: láodòng gǎizào). According to the official statistics from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese government in 1954, at least 2.6 million people were arrested in the campaign, some 1.3 million people were imprisoned, and 712,000 people were executed. Scholars and researchers either accept the numbers of the executions, or give their own estimates ranging from 500,000 to 1 or 2 million.

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