Agriculture and industry 1949-65 Flashcards
1
Q
How was the land redistributed?
A
- 1950, Agrarian reform law, villagers labelled landlord, rich peasant or poor peasant
- Landlords had land divided to villagers, beaten up and executed
- 1951, 10 million landlords lost land, 40% of land changed hands and 700,000 died
2
Q
How did the move towards agricultural co-operation begin?
A
- 1951, MATs of ten families, those who stayed outside would be denied resources and persecuted
- 1952, successful MATs combined to APCs of 40-50 families. Rich families allowed to rent land to APCs
- Only 14% were APCs 1955
- 75 million APCs by 1956
- HPCs, 200-300 families nothing privately owned and profits would be shared due to work points
- Food production only increased 4% annually
3
Q
What were the reasons for launching the communes?
A
- Grouping farms meant higher food production to support industrial growth
- Grouping resources meant freeing workforce for water conservation projects
- To continue revolution
4
Q
How were the communes organised?
A
- Great leap forward announced to make China walk on two legs and overcome Britain in 7 and a half years
- First commune in Henan, Sputnik, 1958. merged 27 collectives and 9000 households
- 26000 communes by 1960
5
Q
What was communal living like?
A
- Communal canteens and dormitories with conjugal visits
- Promises of childcare and elderly homes
- Provided basics but private possessions banned
6
Q
How were private farms abolished?
A
- Forced into communes and state ownership of everything for ideological reasons
- Removal of workpoints means lack of motivation to work and had 6 hours of sleep every two days
- Everyone between ages of 15 and 50 had to be military trained
7
Q
What was Lysenkoism?
A
- Ukrainian scientist used by Stalin but his methods were bad
- 1958, made official policy and an 8 point programme of Lysenkoism
- Killing birds caused ecological inbalance making insects eat all the crops
- Many peasant homes ploughed into the ground to fertilise land and thousands of peasants forced to seek shelter
8
Q
What was the great famine of 1958-62?
A
- 1958, Mao declared 430 million recorded grain reduced to 375 million when it was only 200 million
- Liu Shaoqi made head of PRC
- :ushan
9
Q
How bad was the 1958-62 famine?
A
- Worst famine of the 20th century
- highest estimates being 50 million deaths
- Reports of prostitution, banditry, wife selling and cannibalism
10
Q
What caused the 1958-61 famine and why was it so bad?
A
- Mao expected too much from the workforce by expecting backyard furnaces, agriculture, industry and water conservancy projects
- Lysenkoism
- Experts purged in 100 flowers campaign
- Cadres falsified successful grain harvests to avoid persecution in a terror filled climate
- Demotivating effects on peasants by lack of incentive
- Mao believed making China stronger was worth 50 million lives
11
Q
What was the Lushan conference?
A
- 1959, Peng dehaui opposed Mao through expressing concerns of great leap forward
- Pen sacked and replaced by Lin Biao the leader of the PLA
- No one supported Peng exceot Zhe de and this caused Mao to intensify the famine with a second great leap forward
12
Q
How was private farming restored?
A
- Mao shifted blame of famine to local officials by overthrowing the management of communes - Emergency directive in 1960 allowed villages to keep private plots of land which could lead to the dismantling of the communes
- 1962, Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi put in charge of restoring food production levels and encouraged the peasants to use the 1960 directive
- Communes broke up into 30 households each and food production returned to normal levels in 1957.
- Ideological fanaticism had been replaced with economic realism
13
Q
Why was the 5 year plan not immediately used?
A
- Communism had to be reinforced
- Infaltion had to be reduced from 100%
- High levels of military spending caused by the Korean war
14
Q
How did the soviets help the Chinese durin gthe first five year plan? 1952-56
A
- Sino-Soviet treaty of 1950
- 10,000 soviet experts helped China in all regions of a country but housed and paid by China
- Russia lent China 300 million $ in exchange for interest and held China’s bullion stocks
15
Q
What were the five year plan’s targets?
A
- To make PRC self sufficient in food and goods production
- Channel resources into heavy industry way from consumer goods
- To nationalise the state through the antis campaigns
