Consequences of the Chinese Revolution Flashcards
What were the origins of the First Five Year Plan?
1st Oct 1953 PRC 4th anniversary = announced ‘general line for the transition to socialism’ ie 5Yr Plan w priority @ heavy industry
Faster approach to transition into socialism
What were the key policies of the First Five Year Plan?
1st 5YrP successful – increases of btw 10-16% in overall annual production + first time Ch able to produce its own trucks, aircraft, cars and ships - raw iron, electricity, coal all more than x2 btw 1952-57
Collectivisation - encouraged to form Mutual Aid Teams/cooperatives: ‘lower’ Agriculture Producers Cooperatives – 20-40 households received payment for the remainder of their work once they had met their grain quote = ¼ of their harvest ie able to still own some land(became their priority), ‘higher’ APC – 100-300 paid only for work on collective farm - Mao worried that peasants had capitalist tendencies -> increased govt cntrl = peasants felt exploited by govts decision to fund industrialization through high grain taxes and low fixed prices => grain yields only increased 2-3% and other crops ie soybean and cotton declined + grain production x able to keep up with growing population increase 2.2% = launched drive to collectivise ½ rural workforce by end of 1957 result = 97% had joined coop. buy end of 1956
- Late 1955 = decision for private sector to be nationalized -> goal for all private enterprises to be under joint state-private ownership by end 1957 -> result goal being achieved by mid-jan 1956
What were the negative impacts of the First Five Year Plan?
Mao naïve and thought that infusion of Yan’an-style energy = all that was needed h/w grain production = 2-3% increase versus industrial 10-16%
Mao saw 3 challenges to address: needed to develop an original Maoist-style approach to socio economic development, avoid popular dissatisfaction from the ppl, preserve ‘revolutionary’ virtures
What is meant by the High Tide of Socialism?
Mao wanted collect. 2 increase in speed -> appealing to provincial cadres -> Mao’s appeal had an Ryan: “electrifying effect” High Tide of Collectivisation – launched drive to collectivise ½ rural workforce by end of 1957 result = 97% had joined coop. buy end of 1956
What was achieved during the High Tide of Socialism?
Drive to collectivise ½ rural workforce by end of 1957 result = 97% had joined coop. buy end of 1956
How was Mao’s position challenged during the First Five Year Plan?
Destalinisation -> Mao threatened – looked for way to reducxe his power -> 8thParty Congress Sept 1956 = MZT taken out of constitution, Zhou Enlai offered critical analysis of collectivisation, Mao became ‘second line’ of command and Liu and Deng became 1st
What were the aims of the Hundred Flowers Campaign?
“Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of though contend” = communists valued freedom of speech and varying opinions
Encourage freedom of expression among intellectuals -> help make the party more responsive to popular sentiment and allow people to express social grievances through discussion rather than protest
Need to get ppl involved 2 fill expertise gap/hoped that it would shake up the bureaucracy/ prevent revolt
What were the results of the Hundred Flowers Campaign?
“fine rain” of criticism gre into a heavy downpour of resentment” (Ryan) eg, CCP were no better than the GMD, frustrated at CCP monopoly of pwr, PRC constitution only good for toilet paper + direct criticism of Mao’s “arbitrary and reckless character”
Mainly targeted intellectuals h/w many workers went on strike (what Mao was trying to avoid) Mitter: “Mao had hoped for moderate criticism of the details not the fundamentals” -> Mao made it clear that critical talk had gone too far and re-published “On Contradictions” w revisions that announced June 1957 that denunciations would no longer be tolerated h/w distinction btw non-antagonistic and antagonistic contradictions
Outline the factors that inspired the Great Leap Forward.
- Inspiration = Revolutionary zeal, Sputnik and USSR goal to take over USA production in 15yrs -> 15yrs Ch would overtake G.B in production of coal, ‘seek truth from facts’ tour – false impression of confidence “poor people want change”, ‘simultaneous development’ of agriculture and industry, “technical revolution” – common ppl learning basic scientific knowledge and skills through everyday work – eliminate experts
When was the Great Leap Forward introduced.
- Launched 5-23 May 1958 = declaration of revolutionary intent rather than a detailed economic blueprint – Lynch: the “targets were not based on sound economic analysis but from the air on a whim” ie Mao spoke about “going all out” “aiming high” “achieving greater, faster, better, and more economical results” = General Line
Outline what was meant by the General Line of the Great Leap Forward.
Mao spoke about “going all out” “aiming high” “achieving greater, faster, better, and more economical results” = General Line
What was the initial response to the Great Leap Forward.
- Mao touring Shandong Province and through mass line, secured approval for communes across Ch => by end of 1958 – 740 000 Agricultural Co-op had been reorganised into 26 000 Ppl’s Communes
- Aim of out producing G.B @ steel h/w steel production would struggle to meet proposed targets -> backyard steel furnaces ie made of mud brick t/f cheaper
- Peasants encouraged to eat as much as they liked at communal kitchens
- Four Pests = flies, mosquitoes, rats, sparrows
What was the purpose of the People’s Communes?
- Complete collective ownership, slm fields combined into lgr ones/tilled by 100-1000s of ppl, tools and livestock = collective property, wages = work points
- Communes militarised to “battle” nature, emerging com society – military in function, communal nurseries, kitchens, eating halls = collective family + administrators of public welfare, schooling, defence, farming = reduced need for experts/bureaucracy
- Mao thought they would bring an end to 3 differences – city and country, peasant and worker, manual and mental labour
What impact did the People’s Communes have on the peasantry?
- Ryan: “many ordinary people were genuinely enthusiastic for the People’s Communes”
- Told to produce as much as poss -> inflation of yields figures = 1958: 300 mill tonnes – reported as 450mill -> 1959: 170mill tonnes – reported as 500mill tonnes (reduction due to poor management and lost enthusiasm) ie Becker: “a ghastly parody of Chinese whispers” + govt negotiated export sales to fund heavy industry based on inflated statistics
- Imposition of high grain levies – thought they were collecting 30% of grain h/w reality = 90% -> food supplies being taken with nothing left to eat
Why was the ‘backyard’ steel campaign launched and how successful was it?
Aim of out producing G.B @ steel h/w steel production would struggle to meet proposed targets -> backyard steel furnaces ie made of mud brick t/f cheaper/ ppl competed to produce the most steel + smelted night and day, Salisbury: “the country looked as though it had been picked clean by iron-eating rats”
-ves= Mixed public reaction w ppl thinking it’s silly, campaign = failure as ppl x know how to make good metal, taking ppl away from work, furnaces washed away
