4.2 - Consequences of Chinese Revolution Flashcards

1
Q

Challenges Facing China at CCP Assumption of Power

A
  • Lack international recognition
  • Population growth of 15m/year
  • Rapid inflation
  • Lack of law and order
  • Communications and infrastructure destroyed
  • Industrial production down 50% on pre-war levels
  • Large scale unemployment
  • Food shortages, with food production down 25%
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2
Q

New Political System

A
  • 20 Sept 1949 – conference held in Beijing to draft new Constitution
  • Aimed to appeal to national unity by allowing 8 ‘democratic parties’ to govern alongside the CCP, with these groups holding 11/24 ministerial position
  • CCP remained dominant authority
  • National People’s Congress:
    o Indirect representation – local authorities elected country representatives who elected provincial representatives who elected NPC
    o NPC elected Mao as President
    o Politburo Standing Committee oversaw NPC
  • County, municipal and provincial governments made local policies
  • State Council:
    o Cabinet made up of ministries
    o Zhou Enlai made Premier
  • Chinese Communist Party:
    o Mao provided core personnel of government
    o Each of 6 regions had their own Chairman, Party Secretary, Political Commissar and Military Commander
    o Politburo Standing Committee: 5 elite party members to guide party decisions
    o Secretariat led by Deng Xiaoping and responsible for supervising and facilitating communication
  • Military Affairs Committee:
    o Supervised PLA
    o Run by Politburo
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3
Q

People’s Democratic Dictatorship

A
  • Mao believed that China did not require a capitalist liberal democracy
  • Mao believed that China was not a dictatorship of the proletariat, and should instead focus on the peasantry
  • 4 revolutionary classes prioritised by CCP: peasantry, proletariat, petite bourgeoisie (lower middle class, small business owners), national capitalists (loyal industrialists)
  • Democracy for the people, dictatorship over the reactionaries and ‘bad elements’ – only way to control society
  • CCP only held 4.5m members (less than 1% of the population)
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4
Q

Consolidating CCP Power

A
  • Guided by practical considerations:
    o Setting up effective administration
    o Maintaining law and order
    o Reviving the economy
  • Reliable and effective administrators hard to find, and many only had expertise in rural areas → encouraged GMD officials to stay and encouraged Chinese emigrants to return
  • Willing to use resources and expertise of national capitalists to keep the economy stable
  • ‘Bureaucratic capitalists’ (anti-CCP, ties to GMD or Japanese collaborators) denounced by CCP
  • CCP tried to keep existing managers due to their expertise
  • Banking, transport, electricity, gas and foreign assets nationalised
  • May 1949 – new ‘people’s currency’ introduced, with government control over currency exchange and reduced amount of paper money
  • New wage system based on price of essential goods
  • Taxes reformed to be fairer also led to government revenue increasing from 6.5b Yuan (1950) to 13.3b (1951)
  • Inflation dropped from 85,000% (1949) to 15% (1951)
  • PLA used to bring remote rural areas into control, including Tibet and Xinjiang
  • PLA held positions in civilian government due to trust
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5
Q

Sino-Soviet Relations

A
  • 1949 – Mao travelled to Moscow to meet Stalin for the first time → signed Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance
    o Created mutual defence
  • Soviet Union able to address CCP limitations in economy and industry:
    o Provision of $300m loan
    o Provision of Soviet economic advisors and strategists
    o Provision of scientific, industrial and technical expects to grow heavy industry
    o Employed Stalinist model of development – industrial growth funded by surpluses from collectivised agriculture
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6
Q

North Korean Ambitions in Korean War

A
  • Hoped to unite Korea under communist rule
  • Received support from USSR in military equipment
  • Confident that USA would not intervene – failed to acknowledge impact of deteriorating USSR – USA relations
  • 1949 – Stalin offered verbal support for Kim but was unwilling to support if campaign was a failure
  • May 1950 – Kim flew to Beijing to asl for support from Mao, but failed to provide an overview of plans and did not mention Stalin would refuse to support in case of failure
    o → Mao did not foresee Chinese troops would need to fight on Korean Peninsula – instead focussed on plans to attack Taiwan
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7
Q

Beginning of Korean War

A
  • 25 June 1950 – North Korean troops crossed 38th Parallel into South Korea
  • Within weeks, NK were in control of almost all of Korea
  • Truman decided that a communist victory in Korea could not be tolerated → secured UN backing for an intervention
  • 15 Sept 1950 – Gen Macarthur launched counteroffensive that drove NK troops back beyond 38th Parallel → capture of Pyongyang → Kim begging Mao for help
  • CCP did not want to see a communist ally fall to US ‘imperialism’ and did not want a hostile neighbour on border at resource rich Manchuria
  • Stalin agreed to Soviet air force joining conflict
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8
Q

China Joins Korean War

A
  • Jiangxi Veteran and leader of Military Affairs Committee, Peng Dehuai, led People’s Volunteers
  • Chinese warn US to halt advance since 2m Chinese troops amassed on border
  • Stalin withdrew promise of air support; however, Chinese decided to honour commitment to NK
  • 8 Oct 1950 – campaign approved by Mao
  • 15 Oct 1950 – People’s Volunteers crossed Yalu River into Korea
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9
Q

Korean War - Stalemate and Ceasefire

A
  • US intelligence indicated only 10k Chinese crossed border; however, it did not recognise 350k were ready to go → Macarthur continuing advance North
  • 25 Nov 1950 – Chinese slammed 200k troops into US forces → US overwhelmed and retreated South
  • North Korea retaken in 7 weeks
  • Jan 1951 – Seoul captured by Communists
  • Suffering from exposure, inferior firepower and lack of air support → 900k Chinese troops lost
  • UN counterattack → stalemate at 38th Parallel
  • July 1951 - ceasefire
  • Formal armistice 27 July 1953
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10
Q

Consequences of Korean War

A
  • UN resolution that declared China to be aggressor in Korea → economic embargo on China → significant economic slowdown
  • US vowed to support Taiwan in case of communist aggression → Mao no longer able to launch attack
  • Land reform and political movements greatly intensified
  • Boost for Chinese morale – had taken on ‘biggest imperialists’ and not been beaten
  • Costly distraction from focus on reconstruction
  • Influenced behaviour and approaches of CCP
  • Showed that the CCP were a new force in international politics
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11
Q

Fanshen

A
  • Mao wanted to engage peasants in land reform because they knew ‘who is bad and who is not’
  • Land reform – focus of CCP and key promise to peasantry
  • 28 June 1950 – Agrarian Reform Law:
    o Established People’s Tribunals to judge landlords
    o Limited landlords to renting 50% of their total holdings, but still allowed landlords to hold land cultivated by immediate family
  • Thousands of party cadres sent to countryside to organise campaign of redistributing land and denouncing peasants – lived with poorest peasants with same standard of living as them to build trust
  • Key principle of Fanshen was to ‘turn over’ land from landlords to peasants
  • Established Peasant Associations to identify reactionaries and counter revolutionaries
  • Cadres aimed to get peasants to understand exploitative nature of landlords and that they were to blame for poverty → highlight why change was needed
  • Speak Bitterness meetings:
    o Held for villages to denounce and ‘stand up’ to landlords
    o Mao heavily supported these meetings because they encouraged revolutionary thinking, educated peasants on socialism, increased class consciousness and empowered and engaged peasants
    o Involved peasants publicly expressing anger at being mistreated and exploited
  • People’s Tribunal of peasants and cadres decided on the fate of the accused:
    o If landlord found to be a ‘local despot’ or Japanese collaborator → beatings or execution
    o If landlord found to be fair → more lenient treatment, including higher taxes, cheaper rent or waiving debts
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12
Q

Escalation of Land Reform

A
  • Fanshen aimed to protect productive farms to ensure food security
  • However, People’s Tribunals did not always take a moderate approach → excessiveness of reform
  • Korean War → fear of counter revolutionary forces → hardened attitudes toward landlords
  • Mao fully supported escalation as it destroyed traditional rural order and paved way for socialist order to emerge
  • Land reform brought support to new regime → CCP and peasantry now intertwined
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13
Q

Outcomes of Land Reform

A
  • Between 1949 and 52:
    o 44.8% increase in grain production
    o 49% increase in overall agricultural production
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14
Q

Mass Campaign:
Thought Reform

A
  • Began Sept 1951
  • Focus on intellectuals
  • Asked intellectuals to criticise themselves and admit they were incorrect though autobiographies
  • Intellectuals required to attend mass meetings, then called before struggle sessions where they were judged by cadres, peers, workers or students
  • Insufficiently reformed intellectuals sent to re-education – hard labour in the countryside
  • Denunciations of well known figures Hu Shi and Liang Shuming
  • CCP viewed thought reform as educational rather than vindictive
  • Traumatic and psychologically taxing process
  • Able to scare intellectual classes into submission
  • Process preserved skills and knowledge of intellectuals for new society
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15
Q

Mass Campaign:
Suntan - The Three Antis

A
  • Campaign against corruption, waste and bureaucratism
  • Aimed to uncover unreliable and corrupt party officials, especially former GMD members, whether big or small
  • Tiger Hunting teams of cadres used to identify and criticise officials who:
    o Have taken bribes
    o Shown favouritism toward business interests
    o Derived excessive benefit from their position
  • Total of 1m members expelled
  • Senior CCP members Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan executed for living an extravagant bourgeois lifestyle → served as a warning to others
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16
Q

Mass Campaign:
Wuhan - The Five Anties

A
  • Targeted tax evasion, fraud, ‘cheating’, theft of government property and bribery
  • Targeted businessmen and industrialists as Mao believed they were responsible for corruption in the Party
  • 450k businesses investigated → 340k found guilty of at least one anti
  • Punishment generally lenient – eg fines, imprisonment
  • Pressure on business owners encouraged owners to relinquish ownership to the state
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17
Q

Key Features of Mass Campaigns

A
  • Mobilisation of ordinary people
  • Fear of public humiliation → political and social conformity → no need to employ a secret police
  • Mandatory workplace and household registration
  • Street committees coordinated local initiatives and spotted counter revolutionaries → culture of spying and informing
  • Class labels of ‘good’, ‘middle’ and ‘bad’ depending on commitment to revolution:
    o Good – cadres, soldiers, industrial workers, poor peasants
    o Middle – middle class peasants, petite-bourgeoisie (shopkeepers), intellectuals and professionals
    o Bad – rich peasants, landlords and capitalists
  • Speak Frankness meetings involved urban dwellers expressing their sorrow at wrongs they had committed in the past
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18
Q

Marriage Law

A
  • Gave women the same legal rights as men
  • Banned arranged marriages, child marriages, polygamy and footbinding
  • Permitted women to choose their own partners
  • Permitted women to divorce abusive husbands – but this was challenging to get legally authorised
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19
Q

Women’s Work Rights

A
  • Women’s rights enshrined in Art 48 of the Constitution
  • Guaranteed equal pay, maternity benefits and work-based childcare
  • CCP trained and selected cadres from among women
  • Women judged on capability rather than appearance
  • Greater opportunities for women’s employment
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20
Q

All China Women’s Federation

A
  • Established 1949
  • Aimed to support women’s rights and improve daily lives
  • Membership of 76m
  • Had offices at every level of government
  • However, became more about rubber stamping government policies
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21
Q

Limitations to Change to Women’s Rights

A
  • Traditional view of women’s work stayed the same
  • Limited success in rural areas
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22
Q

Social Campaign: Cleanliness Drive

A
  • Street committees:
    o Explained government decrees
    o Organised mass meetings
    o Mediated in family and neighbourhood disputes
    o Organised rubbish collections and fire prevention
    o Distributed welfare
    o Organised local recreation activities
  • People mobilised to clean laneways and urban living spaces
  • Street committees inspected housework → significant burden on women
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23
Q

Public Health

A
  • Mass inoculations → cholera, smallpox and typhus dropped dramatically
  • Education campaigns around spitting → drop in tuberculosis
  • Urinating in public discouraged
  • Education for midwives on sterile childbirthing
  • Life expectancy increased from 36 (1950) → 57 (1957)
  • Brothels closed and sex workers retrained in other occupations → STDs dropped dramatically
  • Opium addicts placed into rehabilitation while dealers were heavily punished
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24
Q

First Five Year Plan

A
  • Announced 1 Oct 1953
  • Modelled on USSR
  • 89% of budget allocated to heavy industry; 11% allocated to manufacturing
  • Very limited funding for agriculture
  • Construction of 700 new industrial enterprises, including oil refineries, coal mines and power stations
  • Transport and infrastructure developed to support new industries
  • 10k Soviet engineers and advisors used to build new industry
  • 28k Chinese went to USSR for training
  • Set production quotas and regulated these through State Planning Commission
  • By 1955, China was repaying more to USSR than they were receiving
  • Soviet support only accounted for 3% of investment
  • Most finance was from agricultural surpluses – however, agriculture was only growing at 4% p.a. during this period → substantial strain on agriculture and unsustainable in the long term
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25
Q

Success of First Five Year Plan

A
  • Met or exceeded most of its industrial targets
  • Increases of 10-16% in overall production
  • Laid the basis for future economic advances
  • First time China was able to produce its own trucks, aircraft, cars and ships
  • Steel: 1.3m tonnes (1952) → 4.5m tonnes (1957)
  • Iron: 1.9m tonnes (1952) → 5.9m tonnes (1957)
  • Electricity: 7.3bn kWh (1952) → 19.3bn kWh (1957)
  • Cement: 2.9m tonnes (1952) → 6.9m tonnes (1957)
  • Coal: 66m tonnes (1952) → 130m tonnes (1957)
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26
Q

Staged Collectivisation

A
  • Wanted to have collective farming but approached it at a gradual manner
  • Peasants encouraged to form Mutual Aid Teams of 6-10 families, who shared tools, draught animals and labour
  • Teams were later encouraged to form cooperatives
  • Lower Producers’ Cooperatives:
    o Hosted 20-40 households
    o Peasants received a payment equivalent to ¼ of their harvest for their work after they had met their quota, based on hours worked and land owned
    o Peasants able to own some land and sell excesses
  • Higher Producers’ Cooperatives:
    o Hosted 100-300 households
    o Peasants paid only for their labour
    o Peasants unable to own their own land
    o Had state representative oversight
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27
Q

Agricultural Stagnation after Staged Collectivisation

A
  • Excess labour used to clear land and construct small irrigation works
  • Communists believed that collective farming would led to farmers taking on superior methods and that the size of harvests would increase
  • However, farmers were reluctant to give up land – felt that they were being exploited through high taxes and low, fixed grain prices
  • Grain yields only increased 2-3% while other crop yields declined
  • Population growth (2.2%) outpaced grain production → limited surpluses to sell
  • Peasants who owned their land prioritised this over collective farms
  • Lack of growth in agricultural sector slowed industrial progress of Five Year Plan
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28
Q

Collectivisation Debates

A
  • Gradualists: Liu Shaoqi and Chen Yun – argued that collectivisation should wait for modernisation to occur first
  • Idealists: Mao – argued that:
    o If peasants were left to farm as they pleased, it would undermine efforts to introduce socialist policies → therefore, collectivisation needed to occur quickly
    o Revolutionary zeal was enough to overcome mechanical deficiencies
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29
Q

Gao Gang Affair

A
  • Gao Gang – key ally of Mao’s during collectivisation debates
  • Gao made head of State Planning Committee in 1952
  • Mao complained to Gao that Liu Shaoqi was not enthusiastic enough about collectivisation → Gao believed Mao had asked him to conspire against Liu
  • Gao engaged other officials and military commanders into this conspiracy
  • Mao extremely unhappy upon discovering Gao’s plotting
  • 24 Dec 1953 – Gao scolded for creating divisions in the Party → arrested, imprisoned and purged from the Party
  • Those who reported Gao’s plotting were either promoted or cleared of wrongdoing
  • Affair demonstrated:
    o Mao’s imperial style leadership
    o Mao’s preparation to play comrades off against each other to strengthen his own position
    o Officials were only in positions of authority for as long as Mao wanted them there
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30
Q

High Tide of Collectivisation

A
  • Majority of CCP aligned with gradualist approach
  • Mao was dissatisfied with this position → appealed to provincial cadres
  • Claimed that China was ready to embrace collectivisation and that a mass movement was imminent in the countryside
  • Speech energised officials to launch a drive to bring as many peasants as possible into higher collectives
  • Mao envisaged 50% of peasants to be collectivised by end of 1957, but cadres achieved 97% by end of 1956
  • Labelled as ‘little leap’
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31
Q

Nationalisation of Industry

A
  • Collectivisation in countryside → increased drive for socialist measures in cities
  • Business leaders suggested to Mao that private sector should be nationalised as a priority
  • Nationalisation occurred through persuasion and intimidation
  • Mao envisaged all private enterprises to at least be jointly owned by end of 1957, but this goal was achieved in January 1956 (one month after announcing aim)
  • Businessmen celebrated achievement – demonstrated success of 5 Antis in pacifying
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32
Q

Problems Facing Party During First Five Year Plan

A
  • Large bureaucracy, including non-CCP members → loss of revolutionary sentiment
  • Comrades lacking enthusiasm and seen as not ready to struggle
  • Mao wanted to reenergise so called for rapid increases to grain and cotton production through collectivisation approach
  • Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi were concerned about the impact of increased collectivisation on the peasantry
  • Feb 1955 – Khrushchev denounced Stalin and his cult of personality → Mao feared that he would be likened to Stalin and this would reduce his power
  • Eighth Party Congress (Sept 1956) →
    o Mao Zedong Thought removed from Constitution
    o New leadership team of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping
    o Zhou Enlai criticised rapid pace of collectivisation
  • Mao accepted changes and would move to ‘second line’ of leadership, responsible for broader policy decisions
  • Mao also realised he had 3 challenges he needed to address:
    o Needed original social and economic approach
    o Needed to avoid popular dissatisfaction at socialist policies emerging
    o Needed to preserve revolutionary virtues while still governing through a centralised administration
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33
Q

Aim of Hundred Flowers Campaign

A
  • Hoped to avoid uprisings like Poland and Hungary by allowing people to express grievances through discussion rather than protest – ‘vaccinate’ the masses against suppressed discontent
  • Make the party more responsive to popular sentiment and shake up the party bureaucracy
  • Encourage greater freedom of expression among intellectuals to address shortage – need intellectuals to support industrial development
  • Hoped it would end debate on collectivisation strategies
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34
Q

Beginning of Hundred Flowers Campaign

A
  • Jan 1956 – speech by Zhou Enlai outlining a more understanding relationship between CCP and intellectuals
  • Mao aimed to popularise Zhou’s speech by reviving the expression ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.’ → claimed that party wanted a variety of opinions and valued freedom of speech
  • Initial resistance to campaign as intellectuals feared it was a trap, due to it being a steep change from previous policies
  • Mao continued to encourage open discussion, including of Jiang Jieshi and those criticised during Thought Reform
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35
Q

On Contradictions

A
  • Feb 1957 – Mao reinvigorated Hundred Flowers Campaign through ‘On Contradictions’ speech
  • Addressed to conference of non CCP members
  • Showed frustration with CCP comrades for not supporting Campaign
  • Mao argued that criticisms should be resolved peacefully and that contradictions are only harmful if ignored – this aimed to alleviate fears about Campaign
  • Assured that coming rectification would be a ‘gentle breeze and fine rain’ and would involve ‘heart to heart talks’
  • Always received an enthusiastic welcome at speeches → genuinely viewed this as popular support
  • Apr 1957 – People’s Daily promoted Hundred Flowers Campaign → first critics began to speak up
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36
Q

Outcomes of Hundred Flowers Campaign

A
  • Widespread criticism, including:
    o Communist officials meddling in intellectual matters
    o Wasting valuable research time on political meetings
    o Party cadres being no better than GMD bureaucrats
    o CCP monopoly on political power
    o Varying treatment of academics
    o Criticised Constitution for being useless
    o Criticised Mao for being arbitrary and reckless
  • Workers in some cities went on strikes and popular unrest and riots emerged
  • Mao shocked at criticism – initially believed it would be constructive and only single out individuals and practices, rather than the system itself
  • Mao outlined that criticism had gone too far → June 1957 – announcement in People’s Daily that denunciations would no longer be tolerated
  • Distinction made between antagonistic and non-antagonistic contradictions:
    o Antagonistic contradictions – bourgeoisie, dangerous and not tolerated
    o Non antagonistic contradictions – beneficial and could be resolved peacefully
  • Declared that any idea contrary to CCP position was a ‘poisonous weed’
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37
Q

Anti Rightist Campaign following Hundred Flowers Campaign

A
  • Cultivation of ‘flowers’ turned into pulling of ‘weeds’
  • Deng Xiaoping appointed to direct Campaign
  • Thousands of students and academics put through struggle sessions and self criticism meetings
  • Institutions given a quota to expose 5% of staff as rightists, otherwise leadership would be suspended
  • 300-400k sent to countryside for re-education through hard labour
  • Thousands sacked or demoted and social pressures forced partners of rightists to divorce
  • 40% of GMD revolutionary committee and Democratic League parties found guilty
  • Ultimately made shortage of technical expertise worse → long term economic impacts
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38
Q

End of First Five Year Plan

A
  • Questions emerged about suitability of Stalinist development model:
    o Agriculture not achieving necessary surpluses to fuel industrialisation and match population growth
    o Mao believed planning had become overcentralised
    o Collectivisation strategy remained contested
  • Central Committee agreed to slowly reduce number of collective farms, while also supporting industrial and agricultural programs of 2nd Five Year Plan
  • Central Committee acknowledged Mao’s radical collectivisation plan could be achieved – 12 Year Agricultural Plan called for increased collectivisation, double grain and cotton yields and use revolutionary zeal
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39
Q

Inspirations for Great Leap Forward

A
  • USSR launched satellite Sputnik (Oct 1957) ahead of the USA → wave of euphoria in socialist countries
  • Khrushchev announced that USSR would exceed USA’s production of steel, coal, iron, oil and electricity within 15 years → Mao announced that China’s steel production would exceed Britain’s within 15 years from 1957 → revolutionary optimism
  • Mao believed there was a need for an alternative and original path to socialist development
  • Mao met with adoring crowds on his ‘seek truth from facts’ tour → genuinely believed he was in touch with popular feelings → false confidence
  • Construction of water conservation project by millions of peasants by hand → sparked Mao’s imagination and reemphasised Yanan spirit and importance of collective will
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40
Q

Ideological Underpinnings of Great Leap Forward

A
  • Mao lobbied for a renewed virtue in economics as a way to move forward
  • Mao held contempt for bureaucrats and expert planners – believed they were holding back productive forces of the mases
  • Mao encouraged virtues of creative thinking and mass enthusiasm
  • Mao warned against dangers of false reporting of production and rash implementation of new ideas
    o However, this was not adhered to as everyone wanted to impress Mao
  • Mao believed that backwardness was a virtue – meant that peasantry wanted significant change and were not influenced
  • Mao believed that human consciousness was more decisive than material conditions
  • Believed that values of a communist society could emerge before economic structures emerged
  • Mao hoped for an economy that could ‘walk on two legs’ and had ‘simultaneous development’ – development of heavy industry and rural areas (through small scale handicrafts) → focus of 2nd Five Year Plan
  • Sought to utilise untapped peasant labour between planting and harvesting of crops → development of large scale projects → improvement of rural infrastructure and production
  • Cooperatives to engage in small scale production of goods
  • Technical revolution – learn from one another and though everyday work → removed need for experts
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41
Q

Beginning of Great Leap Forward

A
  • May 1958 – official launch
  • Declaration of revolutionary intent
  • Was not a detailed economic blueprint – Mao did not want further bureaucracy
  • Production targets from 2nd Five Year Plan unrealistically increased to impress Mao
  • Mao encouraged a greater degree of collectivisation and utopian thinking
  • Mao developed the General Line – ‘going all out’, ‘aiming high’ and ‘greater, faster, better and more economical results’
  • Positive reception from party idealists due to China taking on capitalist rivals
42
Q

People’s Communes

A
  • Apr 1958 – labour shortages led to several cooperatives in Henan Province merging into a larger force, the Sputnik Commune
  • Mao first discovered People’s Communes in Shandong Province (Aug 1958) and supported the idea
  • Called for Politburo to support the development of People’s Communes – example of Mass Line principle
  • End of 1958 – 740k cooperatives reorganised into 26k Communes
  • Communes significantly larger than cooperatives, with approx. 5000 households and populations up to 100k
  • Peasants organised along military lines, by forming 10 to 20 brigades, and ‘battling’ nature
  • Involved more socialist policies:
    o Private plots completely abolished
    o Smaller fields combined into larger ones being farmed by hundreds at a time
    o Tools and livestock made collective property
    o Wages paid in work points, which could be exchanged for everyday items, and all were paid equally regardless of work completed
    o Large nurseries allowed parents to spend more time in fields
    o Communal kitchens and eating halls → community spirit and reduced number of people needed to cook
    o Elderly cared for in ‘happiness homes’
  • Welfare, education, defence, farming and production controlled by Commune → reduced centralisation and need for bureaucracy
  • Mao believed Communes would end the Three Great Differences:
    o City and country
    o Worker and peasant
    o Manual labour and mental labour
  • Communes ultimately viewed either as genuine change and involving peasants in revolution, or an effort to increase state control
43
Q

Backyard Furnace

A
  • Clear that target to exceed British steel production would not be achieved → development of backyard furnace
  • Mao initially cautious, but on a visit to Anhui Province, he was impressed by their operation – however, this was likely a fabrication to impress Mao
  • Backyard furnaces cheaper, easier and quicker to produce
  • Produced steel by melting down scrap metal, including woks, tools, nails, bikes, wheels and spoons
  • However, they were made of mud brick which washed away in the rain
  • People competed to produce the most steel and search for scrap metal became an obsession
  • Woodlands destroyed for fuel
  • Quality of steel extremely poor
  • Campaign took people away from farm work → contributed to reduced food production
44
Q

Communal Kitchens

A
  • Peasants encouraged to eat as much as they liked at communal kitchens – aim of keeping productivity high
  • Troupes, puppeteers and musicians provided entertainment
  • However, peasants were consuming food reserves that had not been replenished
45
Q

Lysenkoism

A
  • Trofin Lysenko – Soviet scientist with alternative views
    o Aimed to produce a rabbit the size of a cow, a cow that could produce cream and interbreed cows and pigs
    o Denied genetics – instead believed plants and animals acquired characteristics based on immediate environment
  • Farmers encouraged by CCP to use Lysenko’s methods to increase yields, including:
    o Planting crops closer, suggesting that plants of the same species would not compete with each other for resources
    o Deep ploughing to bring soil from below to the top
    o Crops could be grown anywhere, as long as they were looked after
  • These methods severely failed → poor quality crops and lower yields, and huge areas planted with crops that didn’t suit the region
  • Thus, wisdom of Chinese peasants was ignored, while the views of an ‘expert’ were given precedence
46
Q

Four Pests Campaign

A
  • Campaign to rid China of flies, mosquitos, rats and sparrows
  • Believed that these pests were having a significant impact on grain supplies
  • People spent hours trying to kill pests, including through traps and chasing with pots and pans
  • Supposedly resulted in 1bn sparrows and 1.5bn rats being killed
  • However, removal of sparrows → population of locusts and insects exploded → significant destruction of grain
  • China allegedly asked Moscow to send 200k sparrows
  • Bedbugs eventually replaced sparrows as the fourth pest
47
Q

Statistics and False Surplus

A
  • Mao often imprecise when providing targets for production
  • Purge of China’s best statisticians combined with reduction in centralised planning and monitoring → misinformation
  • Production of grain not set to quotas – cadres instead told to produce as much as possible → ridiculous estimations for output
  • Authorities only told about plentiful harvests and ‘show fields’ set aside for authorities → false sense of success
  • Communes inflated grain figures to impress
  • Those who challenged statistics were shouted down by idealists and were struggled against
  • Mao only heard and saw what he wanted to hear and see → believed Great Leap Forward was a massive success
  • Grain harvests:
    o 1957: 196m tonnes
    o 1958: 300m tonnes, but reported at 450m tonnes
    o 1959: 170m tonnes, but reported as 500m tonnes
  • Grain production fell due to poor management, including Lysenkoism and 4 Pests Campaign; a lack of revolutionary enthusiasm, and no incentive for peasants to work harder
  • Impacts of False Surplus:
    o China began giving away grain for free to North Korea and North Vietnam
    o Government funded heavy industry developments based on these figures, but in reality did not have the grain to sell to finance it
    o Levies of grain were set at 30% based on statistics; however, 90% of real grain stocks were collected → limited food supplies for peasantry
48
Q

Wuhan Plenum

A
  • 28th Nov – 10th Dec 1958
  • Party realised grain figures not meeting reality → desire to rein in more radical aspects of Great Leap Forward
  • Plenum agreed General Line was correct
  • However, Plenum believed that implementation of grain levies had been too hasty and careless
  • Readjusted 450m tonne harvest figure to a more ‘realistic’ 370m tonnes, but this was still too high (reality was 300m tonnes)
  • Outcomes:
    o Quotas reduced
    o Communes made more accountable
    o Some private markets able to reopen
    o Families allowed more time to tend to own vegetable plots
    o Communal kitchens closed
  • Announced Mao would stay on as Chairman, but Liu Shaoqi would replace him as President – Mao was fine with this as he wanted to focus on larger challenges to revolution
49
Q

President Liu Shaoqi

A
  • Apr 1959 – became President
  • Recommended the moderation of the Great Leap Forward
  • Deteriorating economic conditions and famine had already set in by the time Liu became President
50
Q

Fact Finding Missions (Great Leap Forward)

A
  • Mao wanted to discover why Great Leap Forward was failing
  • Jan 1959 – travelled to Manchuria and learned that good quality steel could only be made in refineries, but does not end Backyard Furnaces
  • June 1959 – visited home town in Hunan, and heard some complaints but also told People’s Communes were effective → belief that GLF only needed some adjustments
  • Defence Minister, Peng Dehuai, also visited Hunan, but was appalled with conditions – hunger, poor living conditions, Happiness Homes did not have beds and children left crying with cold and hunger
51
Q

Lushan Plenum (1959)

A
  • July 1959
  • Peng Dehuai tried to meet long term friend, Mao, and share his concerns; however, he was unable to → wrote a letter outlining concerns
  • Peng was concerned that Maoist ideas were being championed over all other considerations → unrealistic and dangerous situation
  • Mao viewed letter as a personal affront, but does not say anything
  • Instead submitted letter to Politburo for comment
  • Mao was afraid of losing face and feared that Peng had been colluding with Khrushchev, after Peng had openly criticised Communes when visiting Russia
  • Lack of opinion from Mao → some Central Committee members viewed silence as approval → Peng able to convince others to agree with him and criticism became more prevalent
  • Mao viewed assessments as an attack on his leadership → began counter offensive
  • Blamed himself for failures but also blamed others for not pointing out his ideas were ill founded and not working → accused others of giving up at the slightest challenge
52
Q

Impact of Lushan Plenum (1959)

A
  • Mao made it clear that he would not take criticism lightly
  • Relationship between Peng Dehuai and Mao deteriorated further – Peng’s criticism did not engage many other members
  • Mao presented ultimatum to Politburo – either follow his leadership or he would return to the countryside, raise another Red Army and overthrow the government
  • 16 Aug 1959 – Central Committee condemned Peng as ‘anti Party’ and reaffirmed General Line → Great Leap Forward will continue
  • Peng replaced as Minister for Defence by Len Biao
  • New Anti-Rightist campaign to silence and punish any other ‘little Peng Duhais’ – that is, anyone offering an alternative government
  • Thus, Mao made it clear he had the utmost authority → Politburo will no longer challenge his views
  • Lushan Plenum → doubling down and revival of abandoned policies of Lysenkoism and People’s Communes
    o Push to create Communes in urban areas
  • Grain targets revised to 270m tonnes, but this was still above the actual production of 170m tonnes
53
Q

Three Bad Years Famine

A
  • 1959-61
  • Mao continued to urge truth and honesty in relation to statistics; however, people remained too terrified of Mao to do so
  • Despite the situation worsening, officials continued to report that everything was fine
  • Officials tried to prevent news of the famine leaking out:
    o Mail intercepted
    o Villages placed under lockdown
    o Anyone who tried to escape rural areas were arrested
  • Until Mao said so, there was no famine – demonstrates fear people had of giving Mao bad news
  • Fanatic Maoist officials extracted as much grain as possible, including by torturing farmers in hopes of looking for hidden grain, to reduce impact of famine on statistics → further suffering of peasants
54
Q

‘Mao Made’ Causes of Three Bad Years Famine

A
  • Failure of policies – Lysenkoism, 4 Pests Campaign, People’s Communes, Communal Kitchens, grain levies
  • Aware of failures but refused to change policy settings, and recommitment to policies after Lushan Plenum
  • Mao created fear through purges and anti-rightist campaigns → heavy handed approach by officials to impress and lack of honesty
  • Revolutionary zeal → lack of honesty
55
Q

Consequences of Three Bad Years Famine

A
  • 30-50 million deaths
  • Widespread cannibalism – neighbours swapped and ate each other’s children so they didn’t have to eat their own
  • Peasants forced to eat whatever they could find, including grass, dirt and bark
  • Husbands sold their wives and daughters into prostitution
  • Thousands of children left abandoned or orphaned
  • Mao showed sympathy by adopting a vegetarian diet
  • However, he also showed breathtaking callousness – claimed the worst thing that would happen is that the world will get a huge laugh; suggested that half of China may have to die
56
Q

Reasons for Sino Soviet Split

A
  • Mao never showed Khrushchev the respect he showed Stalin
  • Mao considered himself to be the world’s top Communist statesman
  • Despite Mao accepting Khrushchev’s support in developing nuclear weapons (Oct 1957), he lacked concern over nuclear war → Soviets dismayed
  • July 1958 – Khrushchev visited to negotiate a joint Sino Soviet long wave radio station; however, Mao said he did not want Soviets in China → Khrushchev confused
  • Aug 1958 – CCP launched heavy artillery bombardment of Nationalist occupied islands in Taiwan Strait → strong US naval response but very limited support from USSR
  • Khrushchev annoyed that Mao believed that People’s Communes would allow China to leap into Communism
  • Khrushchev believed that Soviet aid was being wasted on foolish schemes
57
Q

Impact of Sino Soviet Split

A
  • June 1959 – USSR withdrew promise of supplies for nuclear weapons
  • Sept 1959 – Khrushchev visited China to improve relations but was ignored and treated rudely
  • Both sides trading insults and accusations:
    o Mao accused Soviets as ‘emasculating, betraying and revising’ Marxism
    o Khrushchev labelled Mao as ‘ultra leftist, ultra dogmatist and a left deviationist’
  • July 1960 – Russian technical personnel abruptly withdrawn → factories left half built and programs incomplete
  • China now lack a strong military ally
  • CCP accused Soviet of following a revisionist line
  • 1964 – Mao accused USSR of becoming a ‘dictatorship of the bourgeoise’ and on the ‘capitalist road’ → paranoia that something similar would occur in China
  • 14 July 1964 – China officially ended formal diplomatic ties with the USSR
58
Q

Post Great Leap Forward Recovery

A
  • President Liu Shaoqi attempted to revive the economy and aid recovery from the Famine
  • Liu continued to hold gradualist viewpoint to development
  • Concern about conditions peasants were living in and their suffering
  • Chief Economist Chen Yun’s recommendations to improve production and morale called for a retreat from practices of the Great Leap Forward
  • Communes shrank in size by about a half
  • Work units reduced from over 100 to about 30
  • Private plots and market for produce and handicrafts → incentivised production
  • All remaining communal kitchens closed
  • PLA units mobilised to distribute food to areas hardest hit by the famine
  • ‘Household responsibility system’ established to give land to individual families → extra 4 tonnes of grain produced (1962)
  • 26m people from urban areas sent to rural areas to address labour shortages
  • Higher wages introduces for efficient and hardworking employees in heavy industry and manufacturing → heavy industry production grew 17% (1963-64) and light industry grew 27% (1963-64)
  • Zhou Enlai authorised import of grain from Australia and Canada
  • Party cadres given extra powers and instruction to oversee accuracy of production figure reporting → increase in bureaucracy angered Mao
59
Q

7000 Cadres Conference

A
  • Jan 1962
  • Called to review policies of the previous few years
  • Liu Shaoqi stated that the Great Leap Forward led to a great deal of ‘falling backwards’
  • Committee endorsed ‘Three Privates and One Guarantee’:
    o 3 Privates: farm small plots, produce handicrafts, sell produce at free markets
    o 1 Guarantee: essential to meet government grain quotas
  • Discussed who or what was responsible for the Famine
  • Liu stated that Famine was a man made disaster – 30% natural calamities and 70% human failings → blamed Party Centre → shocked attendees
  • Did not specifically criticise Mao but laid veiled criticism of him
  • Mao offered a self criticism but also suggested failings were collective → message did not resonate like it did at Lushan and did not generate significant fear
60
Q

Mao After 7000 Cadres Conference

A
  • Famine → increased corruption in the Party
  • Mao angered at increasingly bureaucratic management of the economy
  • Mao believed the Party was in danger of becoming ‘modern equivalents of the mandarins’ – valued procedures and political connections over the welfare of the people
  • Mao found 7000 Cadres conference to be a ‘distasteful experience’ – because people did not agree with his views
  • Lin Biao remained dedicated to Mao → Mao pleased with him
  • Mao complained he was being treated like a ‘dead ancestor’ – respected but not consulted
  • Mao left Beijing to spend spring and summer in Huangzhou → Liu, Deng and Zhou left in control of matters of the state → continuation of moderate economic approach and period of retreat and recovery
  • Mao’s frustration → stopped reading People’s Daily
  • Mao believed all actions needed to be shaped by ideology, and that pragmatism was no longer important
  • Mao warned Party leadership that ‘those who pay not attention to politics… will become economists who have gone astray and are dangerous’ – this view was influenced by Mao’s attitudes toward USSR
61
Q

Introduction of Socialist Education Movement

A
  • 24 Sept 1962 – 10th Plenum of the Central Committee
  • Main points of discussion were areas that Mao wanted to discuss → demonstrated continued influence of Mao
    o Concerns with corruption in bureaucracy
    o Need to infuse Maoist revolutionary values into economic recovery
  • Mao questioned revolutionary vitality of the Party rank and file and called for a rigorous campaign against ‘revisionist’ and ‘capitalist’ tendencies of the PRC – clearly worried about the influence of ideology and impacted by his view of the USSR
  • Plenum endorsed Socialist Education Movement
62
Q

Socialist Education Movement

A
  • Series of campaigns aimed at:
    o Stamping out corruption among Communist officials
    o Encouraging socialist values in society
  • Focus on ‘Four Clean Ups’:
    o Collection of communal grain
    o Distribution of work points
    o Accounting procedures
    o Care of public property
  • Mao hoped peasants could supervise officials – important part of ‘class struggle’
  • Cadres were encouraged to work along peasants and support mass line – however, Socialist Education Movement was not popular with cadres
63
Q

10 Points Directive

A
  • Feb 1963 – CCP leadership gathered to develop plan to carry out Socialist Education Movement
  • Mao continued to insist on approach of utilising peasantry – continues to believe that peasants will remember who is corrupt and who is not
  • Conference adopts Mao’s ‘Early 10 Points’ – associations of poor peasants would be mobilised to identify, expose and judge corrupt officials → develop culture of spying
    o However, early 10 points did not generate momentum
    o Peasants did not prioritise anti-corruption, but instead wanted to farm and look after family following Famine
  • Failure of Early 10 Points → Deng introduced ‘Later 10 Points’ – work teams of reliable officials travel to regions suspected of corrupt practice to observe and guide peasants
    o Deng hope to cause as little disruption to agriculture and possible and made no mention of ‘class struggle’
    o Cadres continued to dodge anti-corruption initiatives
  • Liu remained deeply concerned → sent his wife, Wang Guangmei, on an undercover investigation of the campaign
  • Wang appalled by the corruption she found – peasant complaints stifled and cadres used peasant labour and materials to build their own homes
  • Sept 1964 – Liu furious → development of ‘Revised Later 10 Points’ – authorised large work teams of officials to back peasant complaints, uncover corruption and take control if local cadres were deemed incapable
  • Impact of ‘Revised Later 10 Points’:
    o Sweeping purge of Party organisation and great upheaval
    o 5m cadres punished
    o ‘Human wave’ of work teams acted in a dictatorial manner → took over many responsibilities Mao had assigned to peasant associations
    o Failed to address capitalist tendencies of the peasantry
  • Opposition between Mao and Liu on how to address corruption – Mao wanted to used masses to protect ideology, while Liu wanted a more efficient bureaucracy
64
Q

Mao’s Frustration with the Party (Following 10 Points Directive)

A
  • Believed passive resistance was undermining Maoist ideals
  • Criticised leaders for ‘taking the capitalist road’
  • Liu and Deng underestimated Mao’s ambitions beyond the Party
65
Q

Little Red Book

A
  • May 1964 – Lin Biao published compilation of Mao’s famous writings
  • Aimed to strengthen Mao Zedong Thought in the PLA and build further admiration for Mao
  • Little Red Book given to every soldier
  • Lin urged all soldiers to study and act according to Mao’s writings
  • End of 1966 – 1 billion copies in circulation
66
Q

Emulation Campaign - Learn from the PLA

A
  • PLA politicised under Lin’s direction:
    o Commissars appointed to all levels of the Army
    o Uniforms no longer showed rank
    o Soviet style uniforms abandoned
    o PLA played a more prominent role in society through political bureaus in schools, factories and workplaces, and by sponsoring arts festivals, performances and literature
  • Feb 1964 – ‘Learn from PLA’ directive published
  • Led to shift of base of correct revolutionary virtue from the Party to military – way of Mao addressing lack of ideology in the Party
  • PLA members depicted as virtuous socialist heroes → acted as a role model for Chinese people to emulate
67
Q

Emulation Campaign - Learn from Lei Feng

A
  • Lei Feng – most celebrated hero of the PLA
  • Real person who was a truck driver in the PLA and grew up in a poor rural area
  • However, CCP fictitiously created his ‘diary’ which outlined his deeds and love for the Party → became a widely studied text in schools
    o Would do whatever he could to support his comrades
    o Donated generously to emergency relief funds and construction projects
    o Dedicated to studying Mao Zedong Thought
68
Q

Rise of Jiang Qing

A
  • Mao’s 4th wife (married 1939) - Mao likes Jiang’s fanaticism
  • Involved in propaganda in Yanan
  • Well known actor
  • Sept 1962 – first appeared, deliberately only 2 days after launch of Socialist Education Movement
  • Fanaticism, ambition and resentment of the CCP establishment – aligned with and loyal to Mao
  • Appointed Minister of Culture
  • Mao’s personal observer who looked into the extent to which socialist values were celebrated by writers and artists → concluded that ‘feudal’ and ‘reactionary’ values were prominent → Mao concerned that past was having too much influence
69
Q

Art and Politics

A
  • Ghost Drama genre of Chinese opera labelled ‘superstitious’ and banned
  • Arts had long been a way of criticising the regime
  • Beijing Mayor, Peng Zhen, endorsed the creation of critical art → ordered signers and musicians to ignore Jiang Qing → Jiang had limited impact in Beijing
  • June 1959 – Wu Han wrote a story, ‘Hai Rui Dismissed from Office’ – symbolic story criticising Mao’s dismissal of Peng Dehuai → Mao challenged criticism
  • Mao believed art was an ideological battleground, and an opportunity to increase the influence of his ideas
70
Q

Development of Cultural Revolution

A
  • 1964: Mao had Yao Wenyuan publish a review of ‘Hai Rui Dismissed from Office’ – labelled as a ‘poisonous weed’ and that it will ‘harm the people’s cause’
  • Jan 1965 – Liu Shaoqi reconfirmed as President
  • Jan 1965 – Five Man Group established:
    o Led by Peng Zhen – test for Peng’s loyalty
    o Investigated ways to carry out a ‘cultural revolution’
    o Wu Han was the main target
  • Peng in a difficult position as he supported Wu → deliberately acted slowly and refused to publish Yao’s criticism
  • Mao published critique in Liberation Army Daily – Peng unaware Mao published this
  • Zhou Enlai warned Peng of Mao’s involvement and urged the publication of Yao’s criticism
  • Dec 1965 – Wu Han offered a self criticism
  • Feb 1966 – Five Man Group published February Outline Report → concluded Wu Han was a matter of literary debate, not political debate
  • Mao’s refusal to read report → demonstrated his disapproval
  • Lin Biao and Jiang Qing headed a Forum on Work in Literature and Art for the Armed Forces – flatly denied Peng’s findings and called for a ‘Great Socialist Cultural Revolution’
  • Jiang Qing appointed chief cultural attaché for the PLA
  • March 1966 – Liu Shaoqi left China on a diplomatic tour of Burma, Afghanistan and Pakistan → Mao seized opportunity to begin Cultural Revolution
  • May 1966 – General Luo Ruiqing purged:
    o Did not support spread of Little Red Books
    o Close associate of Deng Xiaoping
    o Led to Lin Biao strengthening his influence
71
Q

Launching of Cultural Revolution

A
  • While Liu Shaoqi was away, Mao convened several Politburo meetings → made it clear that leadership needed to withdraw February Outline Report and dissolve the Five Man Group
  • Mao warned of ‘scholar tyrants’ (Wu Han) who were being protected by a ‘Party tyrant’ (Peng Zhen)
  • Radical factions of CCP quickly gained influence – Mao wanted this to build dedication and increase ideological influence
  • 16 May 1966: May 16 Circular released – announcement of end of Five Man Group and formation of new Cultural Revolution Small Group led by Jiang Qing, Chen Boda, Zhang Chunqiao and Kang Sheng (all Mao’s allies) as part of a mass rectification
  • Circular deliberately did not name who was the target of the Cultural Revolution
  • Party leadership all agreed with denunciation of Peng Zhen → removed from public
72
Q

Reasons for Introduction of Cultural Revolution

A
  • Mao wanted to be successful in political struggle
  • Mao wanted to leave a legacy
  • Mao believed he was similar to the ‘Monkey King’ in one of his favourite novels, ‘Journey to the West’
73
Q

Impact of May 16 Circular

A
  • Days before May 16 Circular, Kang Sheng contacted Nie Yuanzi, a radical young academic at Beijing University, and informed her that any activism she carried out in favour of the Cultural Revolution would be given ‘high level backing’
  • May 16 Circular → great deal of excitement and discussion among students and academics
  • Nie created first big character poster (dazibao) – denounced head of Beijing University and rallied support for Cultural Revolution
  • 1st June 1966 – People’s Daily reprinted Nie’s poster with a personal endorsement from Mao
  • Mao was delighted with the response from students and academics
  • Lin Biao encouraged further Maoist fanaticism by making claims about the importance of Mao Zedong Thought – ‘Mao is a genius’
  • 65k dazibao around Beijing University alone by end of 1966
  • Students embraced Maoist line by calling for a challenge to anti-party elements
  • Chen Boda encouraged further student radicalism by publishing provocative editorials in the People’s Daily
  • Genuine feeling amongst students that their actions were truly revolutionary
74
Q

Beginning of Red Guards

A
  • May 1966 – group of middle school students used term to describe their group → spread amongst student activists
  • June 1966 – Red Guards became violent, such as placing dunce caps on university administrators’ heads, splattering them in ink, ripping their cloths and kicking and punching them → Beijing descending into chaos
  • Deng and Liu did not know what to do → asked Mao for support → Mao deliberately did not provide guidance, as part of his intention to politically destroy Liu
  • Liu and Deng established work teams of Party activists to restrain Red Guards and restore order → successfully quelled violence but underlying tension remained → angered Mao as it restricted revolutionary movement and class struggle
75
Q

Mao’s Good Swim

A
  • 16 July 1966 – Mao swam down the Yangzi River at Wuhan
  • Enthusiastic response from ordinary people with over 10k spectators and led to genuine popular delight
  • Demonstrated Mao’s established cult of personality
  • Suggested a willingness to follow Mao’s ‘revolutionary road’
  • Thus increased Mao’s influence
76
Q

Sixteen Points

A
  • 18 July 1966 (2 days after Good Swim) – Mao returned to Beijing and refused to see Liu
  • 25 July 1966 – Mao ordered work teams to withdraw from universities
  • 1 Aug 1966 – plenum of Central Committee met to review Mao’s Great Proletarian Revolution → creation of Sixteen Points:
    o Struggle against those taking the ‘capitalist road’
    o ‘Boldly arouse the masses’
    o ‘Make the fullest use of big-character posters and great debates’
    o Shorten the period of schooling
    o Ensure leadership of Mao Zedong
  • Sixteen Points did not specifically condemn individuals, but Liu offered a self criticism anyway
  • Liu demoted to eighth position in Politburo and Lin Biao appointed Vice Chairman – demonstrated success for Mao in political struggle
77
Q

Mao’s First Big Character Poster

A
  • 5 August 1966
  • ‘Bombard the Headquarters’
  • Challenged leadership for ‘Adopting the reactionary stand of the bourgeoisie’ and for having ‘struck down the surging movement of the great cultural revolution of the proletariat’
78
Q

Red Guard Rallies

A
  • First held 18 Aug 1966 at Tiananmen Square with over 1m attending
  • Attendees waved their Little Red Book, performed the ‘loyalty dance’, chanted slogans and sang revolutionary songs
  • Viewed as climax of their revolutionary experience
  • Mao’s appearance and wearing of a Red Guard outfit → crowd went wild with enthusiasm
  • Over 10m youth reviewed by Mao as part of demonstrating their support for him
79
Q

Linking Up

A
  • Youth travelling to revolutionary sites, including Jiangxi, Yanan and Mao’s birthplace
  • Allowed for an exchange of experiences between people from different areas
  • Raised awareness of poverty in rural areas → became new focus and viewed Mao’s ideas as the solution
80
Q

Four Olds

A
  • Lin Biao urged young people to destroy Four Olds: old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits
  • Red Guards began attacking those associated with the Four Olds, including teachers, party officials, academics and lecturers
  • Led to cultural destruction as Guards raided museums and residences to destroy anything considered ‘reactionary’, ‘old’ or ‘foreign’
81
Q

Red Guard Violence

A
  • Organic and self-created process due to Red Guards’ autonomy
  • Students believed that Mao was endorsing their actions by not challenging them – however, Mao was surprised at the degree of turmoil that unfolded
  • Red Guards gave victims an insulting name
  • Dazibao intended to shock and asserted proletarian, brash and vulgar identity – aimed to embrace Mao
  • ‘Struggle’ evolved to include physical harm as well as humiliation
  • Red Guards used clubs and belts to beat people, shot and buried teachers alive and used explosives → death and permanent injuries
  • Stigma of being denounced → many suicides
82
Q

Reasons for Red Guard Violence

A
  • Lack of youth opportunity – caused by high levels of youth unemployment
  • Anger with the system – violence became an opportunity to vent social grievances
  • Students who appeared unenthusiastic would appear reactionary or counter-revolutionary
  • Felt heroic and awe-inspiring
83
Q

Social Change Caused by Cultural Revolution

A
  • New ‘right to rebel’ against elders
  • Insistence on gender equality
  • Linking Up → greater freedom from parents
84
Q

Cult of Mao

A

• Reached new heights during Cultural Revolution
• Certain one items of clothing including jeans and jewellery were identified as bourgeois → Red Guards could have your hair cut or clothing ripped off you
• Chess too Russian
• Spring mattresses were too soft
• Keeping pets of cultivating pot plants was frowned upon
• 2.2bn portraits of Mao produced
• So many badges of Mao were produced that the Chinese aviation industry run out of aluminium
• Businesses change their names to Maoist slogans
• Loud speakers on the street broadcast thoughts of Mao throughout the day
• Conversations would start with ‘Long live Chairman Mao’
• Workers would address each other with ‘vigorously grasp revolution’
• Students would address teachers with ‘study well’
• Mao’s official title made ‘Great Helmsman, Great Leader, Great Supreme Commander, Great Teacher Chairman Mao’
• Belief that Mao’s thoughts were blessed
• People bowed to Mao’s image in the morning and before bed
• People looked to the Little Red Book to solve problems
• Doctors performed operations with the Little Red Book in one hand
• Millions visited ‘Mao’s Mango’

85
Q

Shift of Cultural Revolution

A
  • Shifted fury of Red Guards from academics to upper levels of the Party
  • 15 Sept 1966 – Lin Biao urged Red Guards to focus on denouncing power holders inside the Party pursuing the Capitalist road
  • Red Guards responded by seizing cadres and placing them through struggles
  • Mao supported the ‘unfolding all-round civil war’
  • After Fed 1967, Politburo effectively ceased to exist → only Mao, Zhou Enlai and members of the Cultural Revolution Small Group were still active politically
86
Q

Denunciations of Party Members During Cultural Revolution

A
  • 23 Oct 1966 – Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping delivered self-criticisms
  • Posters erected to denounce Liu and Deng → created new target for Red Guards
  • Liu subjected to a verbal struggle
  • Liu’s wife (Wang Guangmei) targeted with a hoax call saying that her daughter had been taken to hospital, but upon arrival, Wang was seized and taken to a denunciation rally
  • Wang also made to wear a ping-pong ball necklace to condemn her bourgeoise style clothing
  • Mid 1967 – Red Guards established camp outside the CCP headquarters
  • Peng Dehuai assaulted 135 times with half his bones broken
  • Peng Zhen subjected to 200 denunciation meetings
  • Deng Xiaoping’s son thrown out of a building and paralysed
87
Q

Factional Infighting in Red Guards

A
  • Over 600 factions existed
  • Factions involving children of party elite wanted less attacks and brutality
  • Factions involving working class children wanted more attacks
  • End of 1966 – factionalism → vicious fighting
  • Battles fought with fists, knives, slingshots, spears, clubs and tanks made from armour plated cars
  • Chongqing battle included 10k combatants and anti aircraft guns
  • Campus buildings turned into fortresses
  • Red Guards raided PLA depots for arms
  • Torture, imprisonment and cannibalisation common
  • Estimated up to 650k died in fighting between 1966 and 1968
88
Q

Workers in Cultural Revolution

A
  • Nov 1966 – workers encouraged to join Cultural Revolution
  • Increased social radicalisation and assaults on authority
  • Workers formed rebel groups and challenged the Party
  • Opportunity for workers to vent dissatisfaction
  • Factionalism:
    o Revolutionary Rebels wanted to completely overturn structure
    o Proletarian Rebels wanted limited change
89
Q

January Storm

A
  • Jan 1967 – factional infighting with Rebel workers in Shanghai encouraged to ‘seize power’
  • Workers able to overthrow local authorities and establish new Shanghai People’s Commune
  • Radicals in other cities copied what had happened in Shanghai, as part of a ‘seize power’ movement
  • In this time, the CCP nearly stopped functioning entirely
90
Q

Restoration of Order during Cultural Revolution

A
  • Seize Power movement → Mao desperate to restore order
  • Jan 1967 – engaged PLA to restore order
  • Feb 1967 – free travel for Red Guards and Rebels withdrawn, in order to contain situation
  • Introduction of Three-in-One Revolutionary Committees:
    o Contained soldiers, party cadres and Rebels, but dominated by soldiers since Mao could trust them
    o Filled void left by party ranks
    o Able to bring stability
  • However, confused ideas remained – Jiang Qing encouraged an end to production → severe economic consequences
  • Red Guard attacks on foreign embassies → strained foreign relations
  • Introduction of Worker-Peasant Mao Zedong Thought Teams to address violence – sent into Beijing University on 29 Jan 1968 but were shot by student radicals
  • Mao angered by Red Guards’ actions
91
Q

Expulsion of Liu Shaoqi

A
  • Apr 1967 – People’s Daily labelled Liu as the ‘biggest capitalist roader’
  • From July, Liu held in solitary confinement
  • Subject to physical and mental abuse, including being refused access to insulin
  • Oct 1967 – expelled from Party
  • Apr 1969 – Ninth Party Congress denounced Liu as a ‘renegade, traitor and scab’
  • 12 Nov 1969 – Liu died of pneumonia in prison
92
Q

Expulsion of Deng Xiaoping

A
  • Removed from all positions
  • Sent to do labour reform
93
Q

Victory of the Cultural Revolution

A
  • Apr 1969 – Ninth Party Congress labelled as ‘congress of unity and congress of victory’
  • Changes to Party initiated:
    o Cultural Revolution Small Group dissolved
    o Mao re-elected Chair
    o Lin Biao elected Vice-Chair
    o Veteran Party members outnumbered by new comrades
    o Military made up 2/3rds of Congress
    o Between 70 and 80% of regional cadres had been purged since 1966
    o 14/23 Politburo members lost their posts
  • However, factions in party remained
  • No clear strategy toward future created
  • However, between 2 and 6 million were killed during the Cultural Revolution
94
Q

Improvements to Rural Life During Cultural Revolution

A
  • 15x more junior and middle schools in 1976 than 1965
  • New system reduced length of courses → more workers available
  • Peasants gained political influence and autonomy from the party → able to participate in social and economic decisions
  • Increased government investment into agriculture → increased production from mechanisation → economic benefits
  • Barefoot doctors provided affordable and accessible access to diagnose and trat minor injuries and illnesses → increase in life expectancy from 35 years (1949) to 63 years (1975)
95
Q

Cleansing the Class Ranks

A
  • One of the first campaigns introduced by Three-in-One Revolutionary Committees
  • Targeted anyone seen as a ‘bad person’ – an opponent on new authorities
  • Initial targets of local government officials and cadres
  • However, some used the campaign to settle old scores → deaths of innocents
  • Total of 1.5m died due to the campaign
  • PLA forced to restore order in some areas
96
Q

Up to the Mountains, Down to the Countryside

A
  • Need for useful work for youth
  • 1968 – movement created to provide ‘revolutionary education’
  • Sent millions of youths to live and work in rural areas
  • Aimed to provide deeper understanding of revolution and of how common people lived
  • 17m sent to rural areas between 1968-72
  • Many youths were shocked when they arrived at their destinations and believed that they were lied to
  • Many did not gain anything from the experience
  • Peasants were unimpressed with the youths as they were additional mouths to feed and did not have any farming experience
  • Some youth realised the bleakness of peasant life and began to question the new Communist society
  • Many former Red Guards began to view themselves as a ‘lost generation’ and viewed life as bitter and meaningless
  • Red Guards felt they were being exiled and taken away from important revolutionary work → disillusion with the Party
97
Q

May Seventh Schools

A
  • Farms and industrial enterprises as rural education for Party cadres
  • Up to 1/3 of the Party attended at any one time
  • Cadres would carry out 6 – 36 months of hard labour
  • Mao hoped the schools would teach Cadres:
    o To appreciate the toil of ordinary people
    o To enrich their life experience
    o To keep them humble
    o To remind them of the values of the Yanan days
98
Q

Fall of Lin Biao

A
  • Lin Biao wanted to strengthen his position, believing that he was being overlooked to Zhou Enlai
  • Mao was beginning to question the faith he had placed in Lin Biao and the army due to a rise in radicalisation → replaced Lin Biao with Jiang Qing
  • Mao became determined to abolish the position of President, believing that it was now redundant
  • Apr 1970 – Lin Biao told Mao that he should take up the position of President, but Mao refused
  • Mao was becoming frustrated with Lin Biao being sycophantic, given that Mao had told Lin six times that there was no need for Presidency
99
Q

Lushan Plenum (1970)

A
  • 23 Aug 1970
  • Convened to review constitutional matters
  • Lin Biao again proposed that Mao should be made President
  • Lin Biao was actually trying to secure his own position – hoping that if Mao rejected the position, he would be next in line
  • Party did not support maintaining the position and Lin Biao could not nominate himself → issue dead
  • Lin became fearful of his fall from grace → chronically depressed
100
Q

Fall of Chen Boda

A
  • Lin Biao proposed adding that Mao had developed Marxism-Leninism with ‘genius, creativity and comprehensively’ to the Constitution – Mao rejected this proposal
  • Zhang Chungqiao was aware of Mao’s disapproval → objected amendment
  • Chen Boda claimed that Zhang was heading a campaign to discredit Mao Zedong Thought
  • 25 Aug 1970 – Mao denounced Chen Boda for ‘rumour mongering’ → Chen charged with being anti-Party, a sham Marxist and a careerist → placed in high security prison
101
Q

Project 571

A
  • Lin Biao’s son, ‘Tiger’, was a high ranking officer in the air force
  • Tiger’s hatred for Mao → recruited a number of fellow officers and conspired to kill Mao as part of Project 571
  • Plan drawn up to blow up Mao’s train
  • However, Tiger’s sister warned CCP security of the plan → Project 571 failed to launch