Analysis Of Paternalist Terror, By Julia C. Strauss

In Julia C. Strauss’ article, Paternalist Terror: The Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries and Regime Consolidation in the People’s Republic of China, 1950-1953, she explores the connections between the threat of external warfare, the struggle of state consolidation, and the use of state-sponsored fear and state paternalism in the early years of the People’s Republic of China. Strauss argues the government of the early 1950s was able to consolidate the state because they mobilized fear and paternalism as a way to control the masses. Strauss says this comes as no surprise, because other revolutionary projects utilized the same methods. For China, however, most of the fear came during the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, while the threat from outside forces further enhanced nationalist sentiments amongst the people. Strauss first looks at the “necessity and constituencies” of the campaign, the extent to which terror penetrated people’s lives, and the ambiguities in identifying counterrevolutionaries. She then examines how the PRC was able to mobilize the people by creating municipal Party committees in order to clean out the counterrevolutionaries, and the dramatic public performances of punishing counterrevolutionaries as a means of rallying …show more content…
While this story took place before the PRC gained power, it is evident that fear is a powerful means of control. While Strauss’ article could be better enhanced by including the feelings of those who experienced either “fear” or “leniency,” her overall argument regarding the PRC’s tactic of gaining popular involvement and support is very agreeable, as historians have seen similar themes throughout other revolutionary