We try to be politically neutral here on Crash Course, but we are always opposed to intellectuals doing hard labor. But anyway, within four years of the end of World War II, the communists routed Chiang Kai-shek's army and sent them off to Taiwan. And these military victories paved the way for Mao to declare the People's Republic of China on October 1st, 1949. So once in power, Mao and the PRC were faced with the task of creating a new socialist state. He promised early on that the working class in China would be the leaders of a people's democratic dictatorship. Oh, democratic dictatorships, you're the best. It's all the best parts of democracy and all the best parts of dictatorship.