The situation which the Communists faced in 1949 was catastrophic. Tens of millions had been killed in the previous 10 years in the struggle between Nationalists and Communists and the efforts to repel the Japanese. China was not industrialised. Chinese agriculture was at subsistence level and in some parts of China there was famine. There was no administration to speak of and the Communists who had taken power were experienced guerrilla fighters but not administrators.
The system of government which emerged from this chaos was centred in the CCP. Mao was chairman of the CCP and also chairman of the Central People’s Government. Although Mao did not make every decision, no policy he did not agree with would be carried out. Those who did not support the CCP were identified as counter-revolutionaries and the Three and Five Antis campaigns targeted opponents by using intimidation, imprisonment in laogai and execution. These campaigns altered the social structure of China and enabled the CCP to establish the one-party state.
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