AS Mao Flashcards
cultural policies
- writers and artists expected to educate the masses instead of creating art for their own sake
- cultural revolution initiated by Mao with goal of reinforcing communist ideology, purging capitalist and traditional elements from chinese society
- art placed emphasis on farmers and peasants but was also inspired by modern soviet art
- all literary works heavily censored and centralized
- Chinese PRC’s news agency Xinhua controlled which newspapers could be published and what could appear in print
- sales or possession of foreign literature was punishable, led to libraries, museums closed, for 2 years almost nothing new was printed except the little red book, seen as beacon of wisdom
- propoganda was controlled by CCP’s central propoganda department
- red guard was mobilized during cultural revolution and ordered to attack the 4 olds, shaved off hair of girls with western haircuts and ripped off western style clothes
- youth militia called the Red Guards was mobilized to attack those deemed counter-revolutionary. They engaged in public denunciations, persecution, and violence against perceived enemies of the state.
- became compulsory for every home to have a sculpture of portrait of Mao to enhance his cult of personality
- poster were largely visual with limited text due to low literacy rate amongst Chinese population, easier and cheaper to mass produce
- combat literacy campaign launched in 1950 aimed to combat illiteracy among the population and reading material was distributed to poor homes across china while acting as propaganda material
cultural revolution success and failures
success:
- educational reforms and efforts to promote literacy and education especially among rural populations led to increased access to education, however improvements were temporary
- the policies managed to mobilize large segments of the population and effectively convinced them to participate in political activism, fostering a sense of collective identity
failure:
- cultural revolution led to widespread persecution, loss of life and millions suffering from political campaigns between 500,000 and 2 million died
- many historical artifacts, temples, cultural sites destoryed, led to significant loss of chinese heritage
- focus on ideological purity over practical governance caused significant disruptions in agriculture and industry, led to economic decline and hardship
- led to closure of schools and universities resulting in generation of youth that missed out on formal education
women policies
- mao was firm believer in women rights with insistence that women were equals of men
- however in practice often failed to respect principle of female equality, tended to patronise them and became notorious womanizer
- CCP male dominated system, few women give important posts, often given domestic jobs
- women only took on 13% of membership in the communist party
marriage law:
- abolished concubinage
- discontinued arranged marriages
- paying of dowries and bride price was forbidden
- women who had previously been forced to marry were entitled to divorce
- all marriages had to be offically recorded
- 1.3 million divorce petitions filed in 1953
- led to peasants complaining that it was interefering with the established ways of life, led to conservative people becoming disorientated, deepening sense of disorientation, deepening sense of helplessness
- some people happy with role as mothers and believed that this went against nature
- Until 1955, yearly propaganda campaigns were organized to publicize the Marriage law all over the land leading to 90% of all marriages had been officially registered
- the law formed the logical conclusion of the struggle that had started during the May Fourth Movement to bring to an end the influences of the patriarchy and ageism that existed in the feudal family system.
collectivization:
- Laws passed in the 1950s granted the right to own and sell land and property, and land redistribution further granted women land in their name
- Between 1949 and 1976 the proportion of women in the workforce quadrupled from 8 to 32 percent, however, they were disadvantaged as it required heavy physical labor
- Major advance as it broke the tradition where men controlled property deals within the family
- Entailed a direct and deliberate assault on the traditional Chinese family serving as a blow against a family with its historical roots and emotional attachments
women policies success and failures
successes
- Women were motivated to support socialism playing important roles in the revolution, long march and political mobilization
- Active promotion of female education leading to expanded educational opportunities, hence narrowing the gender gap in literacy rates
- Mao’s government established healthcare programs which improved overall health outcomes for women
- Emphasized the importance of women participation in society, particularly in the phrase ‘women hold up half the sky’
- Abolishment of unjust gender norms and practices through women policies
failures:
- The implementation of the Marriage Law overlapped the Land Reform movement in many places and caused considerable confusion
- Many of the elements of the law had legislative were less revolutionary than they seemed
- Many elderly were prosecuted as ‘landlords’ due to resistance to the new approach to marriages, which offended traditional attitudes toward the choice of spouse
- feminism was used often used as a tool to mobilize women in the early 1900s, but was sometimes abandoned to focus on other socialist priorities
social policies
- majority of peasants were illiterate or barely literate, no standard form of writtern mandarin that everyone could understand, pronounciation varied widely from area to area
- only 20% of children went to primary school an donly 30% of population was literate
- need to raise basic literacy ofpeasants and rapidly develop higher education to produce educated and indsutrial specialists
education reform:
- the Youth League people aged 14-28 run by Lou Hao and a subsection , Youth Pioneers for children 6-14. Schools and villages ran units and children wore red scarves (symbolize blood that shed by revolutionary martyrs)
- pinyin was approved by the national peoples congress, In 1964, the Commitee for Reforming the Chinese Written Language released an official list of 2238 simplified Chinese characters
- CCP focused investment into primary schooling hoping to raise the basic literacy rate
- To promote the growth of technical specialists, technical education and the natural sciences were promoted. Liberal arts programs were abolished and 20 new polytechnic colleges and 26 new engineering institutes were setup.
- During the Great Leap Forward, over 20,000 students were sent to the USSR for technical training.
health reforms:
- lack of funds for healthcare, the CCP relied on preventative rather than curative solutions to health problems
- with the use of mass campaigns like ‘patriotic health movements’, Teams of party workers went into the countryside to explain in simple terms the connection between dirt and disease
- The local populations were enlisted in great communal efforts to drain swamps and eradicate the bugs, rats, mosquitoes and flies that carried the dysentery, malaria and other various endemic diseases that afflicted the peasants
- barefoot doctors meant that trainees would engage in 6 month periods of intensive study with emphasis on practical study
- basic study, the newdoctors then sent o work among peasants
- by 1975 over a million new doctors trained
- barefoot doctors travelled around rural china providing treatment often free of charge
social polices success and failures
success education reforms:
- basic literacy amongst the population increased from 20% to over 70% by 1976
- new technocal and engineering colleges were established and soviet education methods became embedded
- party achieved almost total primary age schooling by 1976
success health reforms:
- in the rural areas, a 3-tier system developed
at the village level, health centres staffed by paramedics existed
- townships had bigger wards for inpatients and country hospitals had fully-trained doctors
- Patriotic health movements reduced incidents of endemic diseases like cholera, typhoid and scarlet fever
- drinking water quality was improved thorugh deep-well construction
- peasant educated boosted awareness of preventative measures
- healthcare was free for people or at least very subsidized in communes
- focus on rural areas boosted life expectancy from 32 in 1950 to 69 in 1985
failures education reforms:
- Between 1966 and 1970 Over 130 million students stopped attending school
- Education itself was attacked as an ideal with teachers physically assaulted and schools damaged.
- Technical education was prevented – all learning had to serve the ‘revolution’. This generation of students became known as the ‘lost generation’ and education was set back in China
- Intellectuals were scared into silence due to 100 Flowers Campaign and education became less valued due to the Cultural Revolution
- MacFarquhar argues that simplifying characters was a means of controlling and shaping people’s thoughts, limiting intellectual freedom and promoting political conformity
failures health reform:
- During the Cultural Revolution doctors were attacked targeted for their bourgeois lifestyles, they were accused of ‘living off the backs of peasants’.
- the number of qualified doctors never reached the original targets as so many areas of social life, politics intervened
the Great Leap Forward and collectivization ruined nutrition for many and lead to mass starvation
- Chronic under-investment in modern healthcare and hospitals, only 1.3% of GPD in 1952
- barefoot doctors well ill-equipped and worked in insanitary conditions
- rural healthcare programs were short-term solution, economic modernization and privatization in 1980s ended rural free healthcare
minority policies
- Mao saw China’s minorities and religions a capitalist invention and a threat to the - Maoist/Communist ideology. He wanted to replace them with loyalty to the CCP through assimilation
- Mao wanted to speed up transition to socialism by educating minorities
- Mao feared regional independence and was determined to establish authority over the provinces
- The establishment of autonomous regions, such as Tibet and Xinjiang, was intended to give minorities a degree of self-governance, reflect the interests of the local populations
- government aimed to promote economic development in minority regions through investment and infrastructure projects. However, these often prioritized Han Chinese migration and settlement.
- Initial efforts included the establishment of schools teaching in minority languages, promoting cultural education.
- The government encouraged the celebration of minority festivals and traditions as part of a broader cultural policy.
- In later years, especially during the Cultural Revolution, minority cultures faced repression, with an emphasis on Han cultural superiority.
- 1950, the People’s Liberation Army entered Tibet, leading to the Seventeen Point Agreement in 1951, which promised autonomy but was resented by many Tibetans
- Many Tibetans felt that the Chinese government was undermining their culture, religion, and political autonomy.
- Increasing control over Tibetan governance, suppression of religious practices, and land reforms that affected traditional lifestyles fueled resentment.
- In March 1959, rumors spread that the Chinese planned to arrest the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and political leader of Tibet, which mobilized public sentiment.
- Protests turned violent as clashes erupted between Tibetan demonstrators and Chinese troops. Armed resistance formed as the situation escalated
- The Chinese government responded with a heavy military presence, leading to widespread violence and repression in Lhasa and surrounding areas
- Reports indicate that thousands of Tibetans were killed, and significant destruction occurred in temples and cultural sites
- Following the uprising, the Chinese government intensified its control over Tibet, implementing stricter policies and surveillance.
minority policies success and failures
successes:
- Mao’s government officially recognized 55 ethnic minority groups and established autonomous regions (e.g., Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Ningxia), granting them limited self-governance.
- This was a departure from previous regimes that often suppressed minority identities
- Some minority regions saw infrastructure improvements (roads, schools, hospitals) under state-led development programs.
- Literacy campaigns and affirmative action policies (e.g., preferential university admissions) helped some minorities gain education.
- the Communist Party initially promoted minority languages, arts, and traditions (e.g., Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uyghur cultural expressions were tolerated).
- Minority elites were co-opted into local governance to maintain stability.
failures:
- Despite autonomy rhetoric, Mao’s policies often prioritized Han Chinese settlement (e.g., Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, migration to Inner Mongolia), diluting minority demographics.
- Land reforms and collectivization disrupted traditional economies (e.g., Tibetan nomads, Mongol herders)
- Minority resistance was brutally suppressed (e.g., 1959 Tibetan Uprising, leading to the Dalai Lama’s exile).
- Political purges targeted minority leaders (e.g., purges of “local nationalists” in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia)
- Many minority regions remained underdeveloped, worsening inequality
great famine
famine:
- Despite harmful agricultural innovations, the weather in 1958 was very favorable, resulting in a good harvest.
- Labor diverted to steel production and construction projects led to much of the harvest rotting due to lack of collection in some areas.
- A devastating locust swarm further worsened the situation, as natural predators were killed during the Four Pests Campaign.
- Local officials, under pressure to report record harvests, exaggerated results to central authorities, competing with each other for inflated numbers.
- These exaggerated harvest results determined the grain taken by the State, leaving insufficient supplies for peasants and leading to starvation in some areas.
- A 1959 drought and flooding from the Yellow River also contributed to the famine.
- Deaths from the famine are estimated between 15 million and 55 million people, making it one of the deadliest famines in human history, as many as 80 million people died of starvation
- Mao eventually came to accept what was happening but didn’t accept blame he blamed:
- the peasants for hoarding food
- local officials for being incompetent
- bad weather, which had affected harvests
his reputation was tarnished and he withdrew from the political frontline
economic policies success and failures
failure:
- Mao relied heavily on China’s unlimited manpower, believing it would allow China to compete equally with foreign powers in industrial development.
- His economic strategy proved to be flawed and misconceived.
- Mao lacked the necessary knowledge of agricultural science to fully understand reports from the countryside.
- He had a limited understanding of the industrial process.
- While he accepted that industrialization was essential, he had an imperfect grasp of what it entailed in practice.
- Mao believed that massive deployment of manpower alone could achieve the advanced industrialization China needed
- Mao was not qualified as an economic planner, admitting, “I only understand social sciences but not natural sciences.”
- Throughout his adult life, he was primarily focused on revolutionary activities, which dominated his energies.
- His experience as a military strategist did not prepare him for shaping China’s economy.
- The collectivization program resulted in famine instead of additional food production.
- The Five-Year Plans wasted rather than effectively utilized China’s vast natural and human resources.
- Mao misjudged the impact of the Four Pests Campaign, viewing rats, mosquitoes, flies, and sparrows solely as pests affecting grain production.
first five year plan
- A partial basis for the five year plan already existed. During the period of the GMD, they had established a National Resources Committee (NRC)
- which had taken control of industrial investment policy. The CCP took advantage of the large workforce that the NRC had, along with their considerable industrial expertise
- Under the plan, the areas targeted for increased production were coal, steel, and petrochemicals.
- Emphasis was also placed on the development of Chinese automobile and transport industry, which were used to aid in the construction of a vast road and rail bridge across the Yangtze River at Nanjing
- in terms of economic growth and industrial production, China’s first five year plan was considered as a success. The results of the economic policy also factored in the assistance provided in the Korean war, which required China to finance major war effort
- Results and statistics may be inflated, to look as impressive as possible.
- China’s economic growth value was compared to Soviet Union’s five year plan performance, because Mao considered the USSR to be the PRC political and economic mentor.
- In the 1950 Sino-Soviet agreement, Stalin agreed to provide China with economic assistance.
- However, China was required to pay off a substantial amount of loans
China was also required to pay for the 10,000 Soviet economic advisors, which came at a high price. Although the PRC received a heavy amount of assistance, only five per cent of the capital sent to China was genuine industrial investment; the rest was in the form of loans
collectivization
- After the land reforms were employed, Mao aimed to increase agricultural yield and productivity through the means of rural collectivization.
- Peasants were obliged to work and live in communes, while also organized into small collectives, called lower-level agricultural producers’ cooperatives, averaging 20 to 30 households.
- However, the human cost was extremely high with millions starving due to mistaken farming techniques and lack of efficiency compounded by natural disaster.
- As such, the economic legacy of collectivization in China could arguably be said to have advanced the economy of urban regions whilst neglecting the rural areas the policy was intended to benefit.
-1958-1960: grain production fell from 200-143m tones, meat production from 4-1m tones whilst terrified officials reported huge increases. - Led to great famine and Mao resigning from state chairman in 1959.
- this was due to stupid policies such as killing sparrows (Four Pests campaign), planting winter wheat in boggy, frozen ground and planting seeds very close to each other.
agrarian reform law
- aims of redistrubiting holdings to middle or low income class
- led to the sino soviet agreement where 10,000 economic advisers were given to china but china had to pay with interest, led to soured relations between the nations
- The agrarian reform law was passed in 1950, where the property of rural landlords was confiscated and redistributed, which also fulfilled a promise to the peasants.
- Boosted urbanization (Urban population increase from 57 mill in 1949 to 100 million 1957).
- Important infrastructure improvements e.g. Yangzi River Rail and Road Bridge linking Northern and Southern China.
Heavy industry output nearly trebled and light industrial output rose 20% - However, Some landlords were allowed to keep a portion of their land provided they became peasants, but the majority were put on public trial and denounced as enemies of the people. But, the joy from the people was short lived, within a few years the peasants would have been forced to give up their land, due to the collectivization campaign.
great leap forward
- Aimed to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a socialist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization.
- Peasants would produce a surplus of food to be sold abroad to raise money for expansion of Chinese industry
- The workers, largely through the mass production of steel, would create a modern industrial economy, powerful enough to compete with the soviet union and capitalist west
- Mao admired the USSR for what it had achieved economically, and he had also been impressed by the Soviet launching of Sputnik in the autumn of 1957.
- Therefore, he was determined to match the Soviet Union’s economic achievement, but he wanted China to do it without following the Soviet Union’s methods.
- As Mao described it, the leap would allow China ‘to overtake all capitalist countries in a fairly short time, and become one of the richest, most advanced and powerful countries in the world’.
- Mao assumed that simply by an effort of will the increases in output made under the Five-Year Plans could be vastly increased while the emphasis was on heavy industry and large projects.
- He was convinced that by sheer manpower, China could solve all the problems of industrial development
- backyard furnaces implemented where mao promoted use of small family kilns to supplement china’s iron and steel supplies
- resulted in the only steel suitable for industrial use came from the large foundries. Which made the home-made variety of steel worthless. Most of it was not steel in any recognizable sense
- There were some impressive increases in output, as the table shows. The picture is one of an initial expansion down to 1960 and then a serious falling away in production in the early 1960s.
- Although the results look impressive, they relate only to the production of materials. They do not reveal how the materials were then used.
- The fact is that there was no integrated plan for turning what had been produced into manufactured goods, disallowing the utility of raw materials. Therefore, the output of industrially produced goods actually fell.
- eventually led to great famine
100 flowers campaign
- In 1956, Mao invited debate and criticism with the apparent aim of helping China to move forward. This is the speech given in May 1956 by Lu Dingyi, a propaganda director of the Chinese Communist Party:
…To artists and writers we say, ‘Let flowers of many kinds blossom.” To scientists we say, “Let diverse schools of thought contend’. - ‘Letting flowers of many kinds blossom, diverse schools of thought contend’ means that we stand for freedom of independent thinking, of debate, of creative work; freedom to criticise and freedom to express, maintain and reserve one’s opinions on questions of art, literature or scientific research. ‘
- Although the people were wary of following this instruction to start off, it soon appeared that a torrent of criticism had been unleashed and it took Mao by surprise.
- Emboldened, the intellectuals began to attack the Party and there was a demand for genuine democracy.
- Many also complained about the economic inequalities, criticizing their low wages and comparing them to the privileged lifestyle of the Party elites.
- Some dared to criticize Mao personally.
- This led to a change in tack by the CCP and a crackdown on the movement followed.
- It was declared that ‘poisonous weeds’ had grown up among the ‘fragrant flowers’.
- These ‘right-wingers’ had abused their freedoms, and he demanded a campaign of class struggle against them.
- In the resulting ‘Anti-Rightist Campaign’, these ‘poisonous weeds’ were defined very broadly so that they could include anyone whom the regime wanted to get rid of.
- Crimes liable for punishment included ‘opposing socialist culture’ and ‘opposing the fundamental politics of the state’.
- Cadres were given a quota of five per cent of people in a Danwei or work unit to be damned as rightist, leading many officials to accuse innocent people just to ensure that they met their target.
- It is estimated that between 400,000 and 700,000 intellectuals were purged and sent to the countryside or the laogai for ‘labour reform’.
- Others took their own lives to avoid such a fate.
- The impact was to silence criticism against the CCP for a generation.
- Party unity was strengthened, Mao’s position was unchallengeable, but intellectual life in China was stultified.
- A popular saying of the time was ‘After the Three-Antis no one wants to be in charge of money; after the Anti-Rightist Campaign no one opens their mouth.’
- Historians have very differing views as to why Mao launched the Hundred Flowers campaign.
- For some, such as Chang and Halliday, Mao was being devious, arguing that ‘[Mao] was setting a trap and …inviting people to speak out so that he could then use what they said as an excuse to victimise them’.
- However, other historians, such as Spence, have argued that this was ‘not a plot to reveal hidden rightists’ but that it was ‘a muddled and inconclusive movement that grew out of conflicts within the Communist party leadership.
- At its center was an argument about the pace and type of development that was best for China.’
- 500,000 intellectuals were branded rightists, 1,000 were executed.
- By 1958, 1 million party members had been expelled/sent to re-education camps, 300,000 members were labelled as ‘rightists’ and were forced to undergo re-education, many of the Chinese population were sent to the countryside to reform their thoughts. Others were sacked from their jobs.
- Free speech was banned and the press was heavily censored
- Unsuccessful at consolidating the power of the government, Allowed people to express their potentially anti-communist ideas, Resulted in the anti-rightist campaign
cultural revolution
- abolish “traditional China” to get rid of Confucianism. Eliminate intellectuals, further Mao’s Cult of Personality.
- led to genocide, class war, cultural destruction and economic chaos
- allowed further purges of those considered disloyal to the principles of the revolution and enabled Mao to return to the forefront of the CCP as undisputed leader
- 200 artists killed, all music was to be revolution-related, religious sites were destroyed, 1.5 million were killed
- Mao had lost power after the GLP leading to the withdrawl from many political posts
- new leaders such as deng xiaoping and liu shaoqi began taking over
- Mao worried about destalinization therefore he wanted more revolution
- four olds campaign old customs, old habit, old culture, old ideas
- red guards formed of mostly young people, denounced parents, tore up historical and cultural sites and denounced people as rightists
- led to violent struggle against old ways, schools and universities descending into chaos
- mao photographed swimming the Yanzi River
- party members such as deng xiao ping and liu shaoqi were similarly denounced as revisionists
- deng denounced by red guard, sent to corrective labour in jiangxi
- leaders of CCP purged, red guard murdered more than half a million CCP officals
- PLA eventually took over red guard, ease of following orders of up the mountains and down the villages showed the control of the government
- necessary to restore order in urban areas from anarchy and chaos
- lin biao who had previously been named successor also began power struggle questioning of Mao’s power, tried to remove mao from power
- plot leaked to zhou enlai but Lin died on plane escaping to USSR
- led to disillusionment for general population, questioning shift in reputation for former loyal offical
- deng xiaoping prestige increased
- 1965: ‘The more books you read, the more stupid you become’ ~1966-1970: 130 million stopped attending school/university
- Progress undermined by new policy that all education had to be centred around Mao and revolution
- 1966: Beijing University (and others), teachers dragged out of classes, beaten, made to wear dunce hats, abused by students. All universities closed for 2 years.
- 1966-1976: 12 million young people sent to countryside to experience peasant work, instead of attending school,
- Manual labour rather than formal education - harmed long term success of young people, unable to graduate ~Scholars, writers, intellectuals, teachers - all imprisoned/killed.
propaganda
- propaganda was all pervasive and took many forms: posters, slogans, the use of the press and the media. Mao’s writings such as the Selected Works of Chairman Mao Zedong or Quotations from Chairman Mao were published in huge quantities, and posters and portraits of Mao were also produced in vast numbers.
- His emphasis on rural development resonated with the majority of the population, who were primarily peasants.
- Mao’s early background as a former peasant gave him knowledge of rural concerns
- Mao’s image as a charismatic leader and military strategist helped cultivate a strong following among the Chinese people because of the fact that he has demonstrated guerilla warfare skills against opponents such as the Japanese or the GMD.
- needed a literate population therefore education was opened up to as many people as possible for them to understand the aims of the policies
- schooling was changed to reflect Mao’s policies
- the party relied on heavily on self censorship through news reporters
- communist rallies, songs and slogans widely advertised success of revolution
- 1.5 million propagandists working under Mao to promote his Cult of Personality
Roadside loud-speakers, posters, all newspapers were controlled, all films were controlled - Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity all condemned and denounced in mass propaganda
- little red book as compilations of thoughts and sayings of Mao since 1920s
- made up significant part of the PLA soldiers training and a secular bible of sorts
- helped to enshrine Mao as a cult leader
- the book became a social necessity in schools and at home
- during cultural revolution possession of little red book and reciting the quotes demonstrated loyalty to the chairman
- many people voluntarily studied and recited the quotes and were proud to do so
- designed to be kept in shirt pockets
3/5 anti campaigns
Three Antis Campaign (1951)
- Launched in Manchuria at the end of 1951.
- Aimed at members within the Communist Party of China (CPC), former Kuomintang members, and bureaucratic officials who were not party members.
- Focused on rooting out corruption, waste, and bureaucracy within the party and government.
- Intended to strengthen the Communist Party’s control and credibility by addressing internal issues.
- Resulted in widespread denunciations and self-criticism among officials.
- Many individuals faced severe punishment, including imprisonment or execution.
- Mao successfully establishes definitions of reactionaries and attacks enemies of the state - successful use of fear/force (KF)
- Allows him to target political enemies and further maintain his authority
Five Antis Campaign (1952)
- Launched in January 1952, targeting the capitalist class and private businesses.
- Set vague guidelines for accusations, leading to a broad and aggressive campaign against perceived capitalist elements.
- Deng Xiaoping warned the populace “not to be corrupted by capitalist thinking,” emphasizing the need for ideological purity.
- Focused on five main antis:
- Bribery
- Theft of state property
- Tax evasion
- Cheating on government contracts
- Stealing state economic information
- Intended to further consolidate Communist control over the economy and eliminate capitalist influences.
- Resulted in significant fear and compliance among business owners, many of whom were coerced into confessing to crimes.
- The campaigns collectively aimed to reinforce the Communist regime’s authority and eliminate dissent within both the party and society.
- Mao successfully targets capitalists within the new bureaucracy - Successful use of fear/force (KF)
- Successful as capitalists no longer needed - consolidating power in the PRC and with Mao. Strengthening of police state + use of fear to control the people
great terror
- thought reform led to governmnet officers, workers and students being re-educated, also known as thought reform
- everyone had to learn party doctrine to be transformed into new people
- forced to write confessions on past mistakes, leading to loyalty to state
- CCP registration system meant that enemy could easily be identified
- every individual given a class label and ranked good, middle, bad on basis of loyalty
- would determine fate for decades as children would inherit same status
- people became informed, friends and family denounced each other and reported any suspicious activity
- at height of great tower many forced into labor camps, around 2 million, 9 out of 10 political prisoners
- most dangeous enemies imprionsed and executed
- other interrogated and kept under surveillance
- thousands of counter revolutionaries interrogated leading to around 90000 executed
PLA
- Mao utilized the PLA to enforce Communist policies and maintain order throughout the country, ensuring loyalty to the Party.
- The PLA was instrumental in the early years of the People’s Republic of China by suppressing uprisings and dissent, thereby establishing a climate of fear.
- The PLA supported the Cultural Revolution by backing the Red Guards, participating in purges of perceived enemies, and promoting Maoist ideology.
- The PLA’s loyalty to Mao was cultivated through political education, ensuring that military leaders were aligned with his vision and policies.
- By maintaining a powerful military force, Mao deterred foreign intervention and internal insurrections, bolstering the regime’s stability.
- The PLA’s involvement in various campaigns and movements showcased its role as a tool for enforcing ideological conformity and suppressing dissent.
- PLA soldiers were often assigned to rural communes during the Great Leap Forward to oversee production quotas and enforce collectivization, sometimes using coercive measures.
- Military officers held key administrative positions in local governments, blurring the lines between civilian and military authority under Mao’s rule.
- The PLA played a role in propaganda efforts, distributing Mao’s writings and organizing political study sessions to reinforce ideological loyalty among troops and civilians.
- During the Korean War, the PLA’s intervention demonstrated China’s military strength and commitment to resisting Western influence, enhancing Mao’s domestic prestige.
- The military’s internal security role extended to intelligence operations, rooting out alleged spies and counter-revolutionaries within its own ranks.
- The PLA’s loyalty to Mao was reinforced through the purging of disloyal officers, ensuring that only those who adhered to his leadership remained in command.
- By the late Mao era, the PLA had become not just a fighting force but a key instrument of state-building, ideological enforcement, and social transformation.
