Establishing Communist rule Flashcards
When was the PRC established?
1st October 1949 as Mao addressed a large crowd in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
how was the government a problem for the PRC in 1949?
1) Kai- Shek’s government had fled to Taiwan with the countries assets of gold, silver as well as cultural treasures from Beijing’s Forbidden City
3) CCP members were ideologically committed and experienced at guerrilla fighting but knew little about running a civilian government (civil war becomes known as “the battle of the feet” a race by nationalists to flee advancing communists rather than a military battle)
4) communist soldiers were mostly farmers and became the source of jokes in the urban cities they took over (tried to wash rice in a porcelain toilet)
4) nationalists vowed to return to power and sent saboteurs and US supplied planes to bomb coastal cities - raid in Feb 1950 killed over 1000 people and damaged electricity, water
What was the state of China’s industry 1949?
- 1949 factory output was 44% below it’s 1937 level.
- Mao admitted China’s industry only formed ‘about 10% of the total value of output of the national economy’.
- Only 5% of population worked in industry
What was the state of China’s agriculture 1949?
- 80% of population lived in rural areas
- CCP used slogan ‘land to the tiller’ - promised land reform
- food production was at subsistence level, famine in some areas.
What was the state of China’s economy 1949?
- hyperinflation. GMD sought to bankroll it’s armies through printing money.
- 1946 100 Yuan needed to buy an egg
How was the Civil war a problem for the PRC in 1949?
1) skilled personnel who had the knowledge to rebuild industrial production had fled to Taiwan. Mao acknowledges “China’s modern industry still forms a very small proportion of the national economy”
2) 1/2 of China’s rail networks had been destroyed during the civil war (some by communists as it disrupted the nationalist troops route into battle) but now rail was needed to consolidate their power further from Beijing
3) Hankou (the second largest port in China) was reduced to rubble by American B-29 strikes against the Japanese
In 1949 what percent of China was peasantry?
80% peasantry, 5% industrial workers
who created the new provisional Chinese Constitution?
CCP organised Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference with 662 delegates - only 16 were formal members of CCP. “democratic personalities” invited but had little power and were used for propaganda purposes to make the regime seem more democratic
what was the Central People’s Government and what were their powers?
Central People’s Government exerted state power when the National People’s Congress was not in session, as determined by the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference
- massive independent power concentrated in the People’s Government Council which interpreted and enacted laws, declared wars, controlled budget
- Gov Council called State Council after 1954, headed by Enlai co ordinated 24 new ministries
What were the guiding principles of the PRC?
Mao sets the out in a 1949 essay “On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship”
- instead of destroying enemies, wants to co operate in a “united front”
- this becomes known as “democratic centralism”, suggests new regime would allow political freedom
- quickly becomes clear CCP seeks to dominate political decision making
What did the common programme entail?
- all except “political reactionaries” would enjoy freedom of though, speech, religion, etc
- CCP has leading role but accepted multiparty system, 8 political parties receive legal status
- recognised right to own private property
- universal education + equal rights for women
- economy centred on “systemic rehabilitation of heavy industry”
- Mao Head of State, emphasised leading role
- politburo = 14 members
what did “democratic centralism” entail?
1954 constitution states “all power in the People’s Republic belongs to the people”
- elected legislature, the National People’s Congress, was to be part of CCP
- National People’s Congress would elect chairman of PRC, set out national economic policy
- voice of people represented in central gov through democratic elections to the legislature but once policy decided by central gov it’s dictated back down the political structure
- this hierarchy found in ideas of Confucius, Mao takes advantage of Chinese history to enforce power
growth of CCP from 1949 to 1950
fewer than 4.5M to 5.8M
how was power organised within the CCP?
Central Committee of 49 in 1949
dominated by 25 man Politburo
ultimately controlled by 5 in Standing Committee (who were close revolutionary colleagues of Mao such as Shaoqi, Enlai)
Mao was Chairman of Standing Committee = real power
what was the role of the PLA in 1949?
Mao said “all political power lies in the barrel of a gun” - PLA used to establish national control as the CCP controlled the PLA through the Military Affairs Commission
- increased communist control through reunification campaigns
- intimidated opponents through military achievements of Korean War (1950-1953)
- 1950- 1953: PLA used for “suppression of bandits” over 100K enemies of CCP killed
why did people join the PLA?
1955 conscription: 800K new recruits/ year
PLA called “big university” as soldiers taught to read and write whilst being indoctrinated with communist propaganda
opportunities of military career: one soldier recalled the “alternative was feeding pigs in the countryside”
what was the economic role of the PLA?
help rebuild China’s infrastructure
1) officers’ dependants must work in the co operative farms
2) work teams of PLA soldiers contribute up to a week of free labour/ year to help local irrigation projects, teach in primary schools
3) Played key role in building popular support ‘learn from the PLA’ campaign
what was the “Campaign to Supress Counter-Revolutionaries”?
March 1950: aimed at preventing nationalist sympathisers from undermining the regime
- those who worked for previous nationalist gov, academics who worked with foreign unis, Western businessmen, Christian missionaries all suspected
- 1951 decree: “Regulations regarding the Punishments of Counter- Revolutionaries” meant all political dissent was counter revolutionary
what was mass participation?
- Party encourages Chinese citizens to denounce “counter revolutionaries” in public struggle meetings, where they were forced to admit their guilt Infront of crowds and were often killed
- campaign controlled by Party 1951: Ministry of Public Security manual titled “How to Hold a Struggle Meeting”
- The People’s Daily publishes lists of political criminals + gruesome details of punishment to intimidate anyone considering resisting CCP
- first half of 1951: 800K counter revolutionary deaths
what and when was the 3 Antis Campaign?
August 1951- July 1952
Mao calls for “big clean up throughout the Party”
1) corruption
2) waste
3) obstructionist bureaucracy in gov: gov uses public support for campaign to remove opponents in civil service
- communists needed civil servants from the nationalist regime to help establish new regime by collecting taxes, organising schools
what and when was the 5 Antis Campaign?
Feb-May 1952 to seize control over economic assets, targeting middle/ upper class business owners
1) bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on gov contracts, stealing state economic info
- confessors named other businessmen in the belief they would be treated leniently but they were executed after doing so
- “tiger beaters” gather incriminating evidence against former bosses under instruction of Party cadres and torture “capitalist tigers” until they confess in a public struggle meeting
how successful were the antis campaigns?
very: 99 percent of Shanghai businessmen found guilty of at least 1 of 5 antis
- guilty businesses had to pay heavy fines (summed to around $2bn ) and to pay them they had to sell stock to the state which created joint public- private enterprises
- altered social system: many denounce others before they could become a target , only way to protect oneself was utter loyalty to CCP and Mao. Psychological pressure became overbearing for many.
- manifested a climate of raw terror.
what were reunification campaigns and why were they important?
Mao attempts to make invasions of China’s peripheral regions seem more legitimate by convincing observers that the areas had once been a part of a larger Chinese state
- Tibet and Xinjiang border regions far from Beijing = open to foreign influence
- Xinjiang = large Muslim population so more in common with USSR Muslim areas than China, feared USSR may use Civil War chaos to seize province
- Tibet led by Buddhist Dalai Lama, rival leader to Mao
Tibet
Invaded October 1950, 60,000 tried to resist but PLA prevailed.
