The CPC’s Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress in the Zhaotong Region during the New Democratic Revolution

（1.School of Ethnology and Sociology，Southwest Minzu University，Chengdu， 610041，Sichuan，China;

2. School of Community for the Chinese Nation， Southwest Minzu University， Chengdu， 610041，Sichuan，China;

3.Yiliang County Xincheng Middle School， Zhaotong， 657600，Yunnan，China）

JOURNAL OF ETHNOLOGY， VOL. 14， NO.2， 93-103， 2023 （CN51-1731/C， in Chinese）

DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1674-9391.2023.2.011

Abstract：

The New Democratic Revolution was a period of exploration for the CPC （Community Party of China） in its carrying out of ethnic work and promotion of the development of ethnic unity and progress. Documentation shows that the Party’s firm leadership over ethnic policies during this period effectively promoted exchange， interaction， and integration among all ethnic groups， and cultivated a consciousness that all ethnic groups should unite as one family and work together with one heart and one soul. The Partys regional ethnic work in this period" appeared to be a vivid miniature of the Partys overall ethnic work， which offers a high theoretical value for modern academic research and practical value for publicity and education. However， current theoretical studies on this issue are still relatively weak on the whole， mainly focusing on historical narration， and regularity and empirical refining are inadequate.

In order to be able to effectively tackle the above problems， this paper takes the Zhaotong area，known as the “feudal fortress of Yunnan” as its research object to explore the CPC’s promotion of ethnic unity and progress in the Zhaotong region during this historical period of the New democratic revolution. Findings show that the main problems of the development of national unity and progress in the Zhaotong area during the period of the New Democratic Revolution were： 1） The" oppression of ethnic groups in the Zhaotong area was caused by strong feudal forces， and their manipulation of conflicts; 2）" a lack of social， cultural， and economic development factors counteracted societal unity and the pursuit of development among compatriots of all ethnic backgrounds; 3） numerous armed groups that were infighting undermined the order of development in the region and reduced the space for the development of various ethnic communities. Faced with the objective reality of both the difficult situation in the Zhaotong area and a weak Party organization， the CPC decided to launch a “SixSphere Integrated Plan” to promote ethnic unity and progress in Zhaotong region; records show this plan worked quite well. Specifically， this “SixSphere Integrated Plan” aimed to take advantage of the establishment and improvement of the Partys ethnic working mechanism， take the improvement of the livelihood and welfare of ethnic minorities as its basis， the cultivation of a backbone for ethnic minorities as its starting point， a wide spread of new ideas as its guidance， the expansion of revolutionary armed resistance teams of all ethnic groups as its assurance， and the building up an united ethnic front as a superb weapon.

In summary， based on the investigation of the Partys “Sixsphere integrated plan” of ethnic work in the Zhaotong area （ where the three provinces of Yunnan， Sichuan， and Guizhou meet ） during the period of New Democratic Revolution， together with a timely summary of the Partys experience in regional ethnic policy in this historical period， this study interprets the CPC’s political stance of upholding the peoples supremacy and tries to explain the significance of upholding the Partys overall leadership over ethnic work against the background of “two overall situations”. This is conducive to guiding the Chinese people of all ethnic groups to have more confidence in the path of solving ethnic problems with Chinese characteristics.

Key Words：

the period of New Democratic Revolution; CPC; Zhaotong; ethnic unity and progress