Long-Lasting Loyal Protesters: The Legacy of Pre-regime Communist Rule in China

• In Event: Loyalty, Protests, and Popular Resistance in Asia

Abstract

The paper investigates the long-lasting effects of pre-regime communist rule on citizens’ political attitudes and behavior. Examining the long-term impact of CCP’s rule in its old revolutionary base areas, the article shows that individuals who grew up in counties exposed to more communist rule before 1949 exhibit more regime support, while the party’s rule has also increased citizens’ contentious behavior. The author argues that both the positive effects on pro-regime attitudes and contentious behavior result from the party’s pre-regime mobilization effort, for which the purpose was to support the party but, by nature, was anti-regime and rebellious. Mechanism tests suggest that the propaganda of local governments on their revolutionary traditions contributes to the persistence of these effects. The paper is the first to document the legacy of pre-regime communist rule on political attitudes and behavior and furnish valuable perspectives for the broader authoritarian resilience discourse.

Author

• Yongkang Tai, Harvard University