ABSTRACT
In the spring of 1945, with World War II winding down in the Pacific and Europe, the Communists began planning for postwar China. On April 23, 1945, two weeks before the surrender of Germany and more than three months before the surrender of Japan, the Chinese Communist Party convened the 7th Congress in Yan’an. Almost 20 years had passed since the previous Congress had assembled in Moscow in 1928. In the two intervening decades, the CCP not only had survived its darkest hour in its struggle against the GMD and Japan, but had emerged stronger. On the eve of the 7th National Congress, the CCP claimed a membership of 1.21 million.
