Economic Policies - Agricultural

Question 1

how were landowners impacted by mao’s agricultural policy?

Answer 1

• Landowners denounced for exploiting tenants
• Gave up land, some sentenced to death

Question 2

what was the agrarian reform law?

Answer 2

• system of peasant land ownership
• removal of legal protection for landlords to keep their land
• peasants seize land, settle own old scores and improve sol

Question 3

What does mao do to enforce rapid collectivisation?

Answer 3

1955
*end private property
*land and equipment taken by state
*tools, equipment and land shared in compulsory APCs (Agricultural Producers Co-operatives)

Question 4

What were the purpose of Communes?

Answer 4

• the next stage of collectivisation
• ‘Walking on Two Legs’ - organise communes to increase agricultural and industrial production
• elderly retire in ‘happiness homes’

Question 5

how was standard of living in communes poor?

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Answer 5

• schools disorganised
• parents work long hours, women harsh physical labour
• tradition of family eating together broken

Question 6

what occurred with the abolition of Private Farming?

Answer 6

• end of 1958
• Denounced selling of private produce
• Markets where farmers could make extra money selling produce banned
• Military organised every commune to prevent selling food or goods

Question 7

What was the result of the abolition of private farming?

Answer 7

• Chinese rural life culture of private farming destroyed
• Peasants who rebelled imprisoned as ‘rightists’
• Labour camps expanded for starving peasants, possibly millions starved to death there

Question 8

What was the consequence of Mao adopting Lysenkoism?

Answer 8

• Crop yields fell dramatically
• 1958-1962: Disastrous famine due to lack of crops
• Vermin multiplied and destroyed grain stocks due to Chinese chasing away birds as a form of pest control

Question 9

What did Statistics show about Index of Gross Output Value of Agriculture over time?

Answer 9

1956: 120.5
1961: 94.1

Question 10

What were Lysenko’s ideas that would later be known as Lysenkoism?

Answer 10

Increase crop yields through seed exposure to moisture and low temperatures before being planted close together deep in the ground

Claims theories would increase rice and barley yields 16x larger than traditional methods