ESTABLISHING COMMUNIST RULE, 1949-57 Flashcards
What was the structure of the new government?
- The Communist Party
- The Central People’s Government.
- The People’s Liberation Army.
How many members did the Communist Party have in 1950?
5.8 million
How was the Communist Party organised?
Central Committee
Politburo
Standing Committee
Who was Liu Shaoqi?
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC
Who was Zhou Enali?
Premier of the PR & Foreign Minister
In reality what was the NPC?
A rubber stamp to approve their decisions
What was the suppression of bandits campaign a euphemism for?
Any opposition to the CCP
How many new recruits every year for the PLA?
800,000
Why was the PLA called the ‘big university’?
They were told to read and write and indoctrinated.
What was each territory of the PRC governed by?
Regional Party Bureaux
What was the ‘learn from the pla’ campaign?
- Instructed people to learn from the revolutionary and personal attributes the soldiers exemplified.
- Loyalty to Mao was important.
- When the divorce rate rose Mao made it difficult for PLA wives to divorce them.
What was the PLA’s economic role?
- Help rebuild China’a infrastructure.
- Week free labour a year to help local construction or irrigation projects, teach primary or night schools, repair farm tools.
- PLA forced to join local peasants hunt down pests and forced to collect own poo to be supplied as fertiliser.
How much did the army reduce after the Korean War?
5 to 3.5 million
When was The Campaign to Suppress ‘Counter-Revolutionaries’ ?
March 1950
The Campaign to Suppress ‘Counter-Revolutionaries’ - 1950
- Aimed at nationalist sympathisers and their spies from undermining the regime.
- Most at risk was anybody who had worked for the previous nationalist regime and academics who had worked with foreign universities.
- Decree of Feb 1951 extended the definition of counter-revolutionary activity to include all forms of political dissent.
What were the victims of the CSCR’s subject to?
Struggle meetings
How many CR deaths were there in 1951?
800,000
When was the Three Anti’s Campaign?
Aug 1951 to July 1952
What did the Three Anti’s direct against?
- Corruption
- Waste
- Obstructionist Bureaucracy in government.
Three Anti’s Campaign 1951-52
- Many supported the campaign including middle class because they believed regime was going to discipline those who has been taken advantage of their new power.
- Reality was it was an excuse to remove anyone in the civil service who they didn’t like.
- Communists needed help to establish new regime such as collecting taxes, organising schools etc.
- By late 1951, they has trained enough loyal cadres to do these jobs so former employees imprisoned or executed.
When was the Five Anti’s Campaign?
February to May 1952
What were the Five Anti’s?
- Bribery
- Tax evasion
- Theft of state property
- Cheating on government contracts
- Stealing state economic information
The Five Anti’s Campaign 1952
- Those who confessed made to believe they would be treated leniently if they helped identify other guilty businessmen.
- Denunciation boxes used by children and wives to avoid being implicated.
- ‘Tiger-beaters’ selected employees of a firm, organised by cadres to gather incriminating evidence intimidated the ‘capitalist tigers’.
Invasion of Tibet 1950
- ‘liberate it from imperialist oppression’.
- Religious practices, Tibetan language and history were prohibited.
- Mandarin enforced as official language.
- November 1952 promoted migration of Han Chinese ethnic group.
- Dalai Lama fled to exile in India.
- 1959 ; brutally suppressed by PLA.
Xinjiang - The Uighurs
- PLA led by Peng cleared all resistance and secured territory by March 1950.
- Migration of Han Chinese to populate and develop mining and industry.
Guangdong
- 28,000 executed during suppress the CR’s campaign.
- Regime feared anti-communist sentiment remained strong in the area and targeted it with great ferocity.
How much did the Laogai make in economic value?
700 million yuan in industrial products and 350,000 tons of grain
How many died in the Laogai?
27 million
Why was the Laogai benefitting to the regime?
- intimidate and terrorise population.
- converting former opponents by bombarding them with communist propaganda.
When was the Hundred Flowers Campaign?
1956
Why did Mao launch the Hundred Flowers Campaign?
- Rectification of the party
- International concerns.
- Over-confidence
What was a result to the HFC?
Intellectuals began to criticise.
Anti-Rightist Campaign
- Personal criticism was a step too far for Mao.
- Cadres given a quota of 5% of people in a danwei to be damned as rightist (innocent people accused).
- 400,000 to 700,000 intellectuals purged, sent to countryside or laogai.
- Others committed suicide.
