3 - Mao and the Party Flashcards

You will learn about: the ideology and leadership of Mao Zedong the role of the Communist Party in the new government the importance of mass Party membership in consolidating support for the regime the part played by mass campaigns against corruption and the bourgeoisie in consolidating the regime

1
Q

What happened at a ceremony on 1 October 1949?

A

Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People’s Republic of China

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What had Mao done by 1949?

A

Established himself as leader of the Chinese Communist Party

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Mao was leader because his thinking was more relevant to China. Why was this the case? (4) (3)

A

Other leaders

  • trained in theory and practice in Soviet Union
  • they followed orthodox Marxist theory
  • this emphasised importance of proletariat
  • their aim was to build communist party membership in cities among factory workers

Mao

  • 1% of population industrial workers (early 1920s)
  • therefore could never form support base
  • believed peasants to be revolutionary force
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What was Mao Zedong thought based on? How did he adapt it to suit China? (5)

A
Marxist ideology
\+ self-reliance, continuing revolution, class struggle, learning from the people, mass mobilisation
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Self-reliance: The revolution was fought to liberate China from who?

A
Foreigners/ foreign influence
Feudal landlords (exploitative, unequal, outdated)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Self-reliance: China did seek aid and advice in the 19150s from one country though. Who was it?

A

Soviet Union

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Continuing revolution: Why was ‘continuing revolution’ needed?

A

Landlords and bourgeoise still owned most of the property

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Continuing revolution: What did Mao believe was the advantage of the ‘continuing revolution’?

A

= commitment to aims
= people more likely to fight against return of old ways
= essential for each gen to be involved in the struggle to prevent the threat of a counter rev

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Class struggle: What did Mao believe the Communist Party would become without a class struggle?

A

The new ruling class

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Class struggle: How did Mao attempt to arrest the gradual detachment of the Communist officials from the people?

A

Periodical rectification of the party

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Class struggle: What happened in struggle meetings?

A

-public criticism
-self-criticism
potentially
-re-education by attending indoctrination meetings and working in the fields with peasants

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Class struggle: What was the purpose of class struggle meetings?

A

They were a method of putting psychological pressure on anyone suspected of being in opposition to the regime

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Learning from the people: What were the people going to act as?

A

A check on the power of the Party

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Learning from the people: What was Mao determined not to happen?

A

For the CP to become similar to the SU and issue orders in a dictatorial and commandist fashion

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Mass mobilisation: What did Mao have firm belief in?

A
  • the essential goodness of people

- China’s millions + revolutionary zeal = could achieve anything

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Mass mobilisation: Name some works mass mobilisation was used to build. (4)

A
  • dams
  • roads
  • major industrial projects
  • cultivation of land
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Mass mobilisation: What did Mao not believe was the key to economic advancement?

A

Managers and experts

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What were the 4 challenges faced by the new government in 1949?

A
  • peasants taken from their land in order to fight wars = food shortages + decrease in industrial production
  • Guomindang government left a legacy of inflation = no money
  • communist victory in civil war created a rift with West = no help
  • new gov. not yet in control of all areas of China = a divided nation (to some extent)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What was the short term priority for the government after coming into power?

A

Stabilise the economic and political situation

Also extend its control

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

How were 4 challenges faced by the new government in 1949 sovled? (6)

this needs a detailed and long answer.

A
  • inflation brought under control by regulating economy: cuts in public expenditure; taxes rasied, new currency - neminbi - introduced
  • property of Guomindang supporters confiscated
  • all foreign assets (apart from SU assets) confiscated
  • banks, gas, electricity and transport nationalised
  • 3 ‘reunification’ campaigns (1950-1) PLA established central gov. control in Xizang (Tibet), Xinjiang, Guandong
  • new system of gov. established
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

In order to build develop agriculture and industry Mao needed the support of who?

A

‘national bourgeoisie’ = factory owners, intelligentsia and businessmen

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Who provided the personnel for the government officials and factory managers?

A

Educated middle class

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

How many parties participated in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in 1949?

A
  • 14 (excluding CPC)

- parties were tolerated as long as they did not threaten CPC power

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What were the 3 strands of gov. for the People’s Republic of China?

A
  • The State bureaucracy at national, regional and local levels
  • The Communist Party at national, regional and local levels
  • The Poeple’s Liberation Army
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

Which strand of the gov. was at the heart of the PRC

A

The Communist Party

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

Who were all the Parties key decisions made by?

A

The standing committee made up of selected members (5) of the politburo (14)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What was the membership of the CPC in October 1949?

A

4,448,000/ 500,000,000

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What was the membership of the CPC in December 1949?

A

5,821,604/ 500,000,000

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

Define ‘cadres’

A
  • people who were fully indoctrinated in Party ideology and methods
  • given leading roles at local level in administration and political education
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

Where did the CPC establish branches? Why?

A
  • in all areas of national life e.g shops, factories, schools, neighbourhoods
  • to keep an -_- on everybody
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

What does ‘danwei’ translate to?

A

Work unit

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

Every Chinese citizen living in an urban area belonged to a…?

A

Danwei

33
Q

What did the danwei control? What could the danwei issue?

A
  • allocations of; housing, grain, cooking oil and cloth

- issued permits for; travel, marriage, army, university and changing employment

34
Q

What was the danwei colloquially referred to?

A

The iron rice bowl

35
Q

How many men were in the PLA in 1950?

A

5 mil

36
Q

What percentage of the State budget was spent on the PLA?

A

41

37
Q

What happened to the PLA in 1950?

A

It was decided that it should be partially demobilised

38
Q

How many men were in the PLA in 1953?

A

3.5 mil

39
Q

How many conscripts did the PLA receive each year?

A

800,000

40
Q

How long did each conscript of the PLA serve for?

A

3 years

41
Q

Why did the PLA occupy a ‘special place’ in the mythology of the Chinese communist revolution?

A
  • struggles against Japan and Guomindang made the PLA’s soldiers heroes
  • they came to epitomise revolutionary virtues
42
Q

What were the revolutionary virtues cultivated by Mao?

A

Discipline, self-sacrifice, endurance and perseverance against overwhelming odds

43
Q

How were the PLA used in peace time?

A
  • propaganda
  • worked in rural areas which helped indoctrinate peasants
  • put to work on public building projects
44
Q

What was the ‘Production and Construction Army’? What was its role?

A
  • the demobilised PLA unit ‘The First Field Army’

- tasked with developing untapped mineral resources and agricultural land

45
Q

Name 2 key weapons in the CPC’s struggle to control the population of China.

A
  • terror

- repression

46
Q

What were the types of machinery of repression used by the State?

A
  • propaganda campaigns to isolate and shame
  • police
  • the courts (increasingly replaced by communist committees)
  • imprisonment
  • execution
47
Q

What were the forced labour camps known as?

A

Lao-gai meaning ‘reform through labour’

48
Q

By the summer of 1951, all Chinese citizens over the age of 15 had to acquire what and from whom if they wished to move to another area?

A

Official residence permits from the police and obtain permission

49
Q

What were people encouraged to do?

A

Inform on each other

50
Q

Prostitution and drug dealing was virtually stamped out by?

A

1953

51
Q

Tobacco production was placed under what?

A

Government monopoly

52
Q

What were the four mass campaigns in the years 1950-2?

A

The

  • Resist America and Aid Korea campaign
  • Suppression of Counter-revolutionaries campaign
  • Three-Antis campaign
  • Five-Antis campaign
53
Q

When did China and US become involved in the armed conflict in Korea?

A

October 1950

54
Q

What happened to Christian churches during the Resist America and Aid Korea campaign?

A
  • forcibly closed
  • property seized
  • priests and nuns expelled from country
55
Q

What happened to foreigners (including missionaries) during the Resist America and Aid Korea campaign?

A

Arrested and charged with being spies

56
Q

When was the Suppression of Counter-revolutionaries campaign launched?

A

October 1950

57
Q

What was the definition of ‘counter-revolutionary?

A
  • anyone with links to the GMD regime
  • ‘bandits’ (those in criminal gangs)
  • members of religious sects
58
Q

How many people did the authorities claim to have uncovered as counter-revolutionaries in Shanghai?

A

40,000

59
Q

How many people did the authorities claim to have uncovered as bandits in Guandong? How many other criminals were caught?

A
  • 52,620

- 89,701

60
Q

How many people were executed as a result of all the arrests in the Suppression of Counter-revolutionaries campaign?

A

28,332

61
Q

Where were the majority of executions carried out?

A

In public

62
Q

When was the Three-Antis campaign started?

A

late 1951

63
Q

Where was the Three-Antis campaign started? Where was it later extended to?

A
  • Manchuria

- the rest of the country

64
Q

What were the targets of the Three-Antis campaign?

A
  • corruption
  • waste
  • obstructionist bureaucracy
65
Q

Who was in the firing line during the Three-Antis campaign?

A
  • managers
  • state officials
  • party members
66
Q

What were the methods used in the Three-Antis campaign?

A
  • mass meetings at which officials and managers were denounced
  • investigations by Party committees followed
  • eventual humiliation of the guilty
67
Q

What were the party members forced to do in the Three-Antis campaign?

A
  • self-criticisms

- group pressure to ‘rectify’ their errors of thought/ deed

68
Q

The Three-Antis campaign succeeded in rooting out which corrupt practices?

A
  • bribery

- influence

69
Q

When was the Five-Antis campaign launched?

A

January 1952

70
Q

Who was the Five-Antis campaign directed against?

A

Bourgeoisie

71
Q

What were the targets of the Five-Antis campaign?

A
  • bribery
  • tax evasion
  • theft of State property
  • cheating on government contracts
  • economic espionage
72
Q

What was organised in the Five-Antis campaign?

A

Group criticism sessions for employers to confess their own crimes or to denounce others

73
Q

How many mass meetings were there in February 1952 in Shanghai alone in the Five-Antis campaign?

A

3,000

74
Q

What did the guilty in the Five-Antis campaign face as punishment for their crimes?

A
  • enormous fines
  • confiscation of property
  • labour camps
75
Q

What was (surprisingly) not a major feature of either the Five-Antis campaign or the Three-Antis campaign? What happened instead?

A
  • execution

- suicides rather than humiliation

76
Q

How many are estimated to have taken their own lives during the Five-Antis campaign and the Three-Antis campaign?

A

2 to 3 million

77
Q

When did Mao begin his first major purge of the CPC?

A

Late 1953

78
Q

Gao Gang (1902-1954). (6)

A
  • little formal education
  • virtually illiterate
  • effective organiser
  • joined CPC 1926
  • during civil war responsible for the planning of the economic recovery of Manchuria
  • became head of the Central Planning Commission in 1952
79
Q

Rao Shushi (1903-1975). (4)

A
  • joined CPC 1925
  • during civil war political commissar of the Shandong Field Army
  • became governer of the East China (Shanghai) region
  • 1953 rose to become minister in charge of Party’s organisation department