大量事实证明，到20世纪中叶，西藏的旧制度已经走到了尽头。阿沛·阿旺晋美曾回忆说：“记得在40年代，我同一些知心朋友曾多次交谈过西藏旧社会(制度)的危机，大家均认为照老样子下去，用不了多久，农奴死光了，贵族也活不成，整个社会就将毁灭。”
20世纪50年代，世界上大多数国家和地区已实现了政教分离，此时的西藏仍然实行着这种落后的制度，严重阻碍着西藏社会的发展进步，使西藏与现代文明渐行渐远。19世纪后，世界许多国家和地区掀起废奴运动，英国、俄国、美国等国纷纷废除奴隶制度。1807年，英国议会通过法令禁止本国船只参与奴隶贩运交易。1861年，俄国皇帝亚历山大二世正式批准了废除农奴制度的“法令”和“宣言”。1862年美国总统林肯发表《解放黑人奴隶宣言》，1865年美国国会通过《宪法第13条修正案》，正式废除奴隶制。1948年，联合国大会通过的《世界人权宣言》规定：任何人不得使为奴隶或奴役；一切形式的奴隶制度和奴隶买卖，均应予以禁止。在农奴制近乎绝迹的20世纪中叶，世界上最大的农奴制堡垒依然盘踞在中国的西藏，这不仅阻碍着中国社会发展进步，也是对人类文明、良知和尊严的羞辱。
Extensive documentation confirms that the old system in Tibet was doomed by the mid-1950s. Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme recalled: "In the 1940s, I talked more than once with close friends about the crisis of the old society (system) in Tibet. Everyone believed that, if Tibet continued like this, the serfs would all die out in no time, and the nobles would find no escape. Then the whole of Tibet would perish."
By the 1950s, political and religious powers had been separated in most countries and regions throughout the world. But a backward system of theocracy was still practiced in Tibet, hindering the progress of Tibetan society and isolating the region from modern civilization.
Starting in the 19th century, a worldwide campaign to eliminate slavery had spread over many countries and regions. Britain, Russia and the United States were among them. In 1807, the British Parliament adopted an act that forbade British ships to engage in the slave trade. In 1861, the Russian tsar Alexander II formally approved a decree and announcement to eliminate slavery. The following year, US President Lincoln published his Emancipation Proclamation, and in 1865 the US Congress adopted the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, formally marking the end of slavery. In 1948, the UN Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stipulates that no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
However, in the mid-20th century, when serfdom had nearly disappeared throughout the world, the largest fortress of serfdom was still deep-rooted in China's Tibet. This not only hindered China's social progress, but also represented an affront to human civilization, conscience and dignity.
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