Key Topic 1- Establishing Communist Rule Flashcards
What were the 9 issues facing china in 1949
Lawlessness
Administrative chaos
State of chinas industry
State of chinas agriculture
National infrastructure
Transport
Cities
Nationalist threat
How was administrative chaos an issue in china 1949
-when nationalists fled they stripped the country of assets such as gold, silver and dollar reserves
-many educated elite businessmen and bureaucrats left with them so less experienced officials running cities
-communist party was experienced in guerilla ware fare but lacked sufficient knowledge of civilian government
How was lawlessness an issue in china 1949
-law and order broke down- an estimated 1 million bandits began to roam the countryside preying on refugees displaced by Japanese invasion or fleeing atrocities of civil war
-they clogged transport system, wandered aimlessly or crammed into unsanitary cities- china was living up to its old nickname as the sick man of Asia
How was economic problems an issue in china 1949
-economy was devastated- no stable or unified currency
-unable to support itself through taxation gmd regime sought to bankroll its armies through printing money which led to hyperinflation so people reverted to bartering
-shortages of consumer goods led to people hoarding scarce supplies
-1940- 100 yuan was enough to buy a pig, 1946- only an egg
How was the state of chinas industry an issue in china 1949
-Nationalist forces attempted to sabotage industrial sites to prevent them falling into the hands of communists
-industry was badly damaged due to war
-End of ww2- ussr controlled Manchuria where many of chinas huge reserves of iron ore and coal alongside fertile farmland were and ussr dismantled industrial equipment in factories and mines, confiscated tools and shipped them back to the ussr
-1949 factory output was 44 percent below its level in 1937
How was the state of chinas agriculture an issue in china 1949
-many peasants felt unfairly exploited by their landlords who made them pay very high rents- gov introduced land reform
-agricultural tools and livestock were in short supply and the most common fertiliser used by peasants remained human waste
-peasants were forcibly conscripted into nationalist forces to replace soldiers lost in battle to communists meaning they were dragged from their fields, their farms were then left unattended and crops wilted and died
What was the land reform
Nationwide policy introduced
-reforms such as redistribution of land to peasants were taken place
However the vast areas of agricultural land made it physically impossible for the CCP to send trained party activists or cadres to every village to organise land reform
How was national infrastructure an issue in china 1949
-warlords still controlled large areas, and bandits evaded the forces of law and order making communication and travel between cities hazardous.
-central gov control largely broke down and lack of central control was further retarded by a lack of unified language
How was transport an issue in china 1949
-transport networks were badly damaged- an estimated half of the railway network had been destroyed and blowing up the railway tracks and bridges had been a key tactic of the communists during the civil war to disrupt nationalist abilities to move their troops into battle
-telephone lines were damaged while rivers and harbours were clogged up with ships sunk during years of conflict
How were cities an issue in china 1949
-lack of established national infrastructure meant rural and urban china were largely isolated from each other. The communist soldiers were mostly farmers so when they took control of cities such as Shanghai and Beijing they were the source of the jokes
How was the nationalist threat an issue in china 1949
-even after formation of PRC the nationalists posed a threat. They sent spies and saboteurs to attack the new regime and US supplied planes to bomb coastal cities like Shanghai
-one raid in feb 1950 killed over 1000 people and damaged electricity and water supplies
What was the structure of the new government
Communist party
Central people’s government
People’s Liberation Army
What was the communist party as a structure of the new government
-co-ordinated the government-organising education, legal system and military
- had fewer than 4.5 million members but by end of 1950 had 5.8 million members
-was structurally impossible to investigate its rule
-party had a central committee of 49 members in 1949 which in turn was dominated by 25 man politburo which was controlled by standing committee of 5
What was the central people’s government as a structure of the new government?
-It was organised according to the principles of democratic centralism and in theory the government derived its authority from the political consultative conference but in reality it held massive independent power.
-The power in the government was concentrate on the people’s government council which combine legislative and executive powers. It interpreted and enacted laws then announced the decrease and executed them. It made treaties declared war controlled the budget and appointed all key government personnel
What was the People’s liberation army as a structure of the new government?
-The PLA greatly increased Communist control through reunification campaigns and helped MAO enhance his personal political prestige while intimidating his opponents through the military achievements of the Korean War
-between 1950 and 53 the pla was also assigned responsibility for the suppression of the bandit and over 100,000 enemies of the communists were killed
-A conscription law passed in 1955 insured 800,000 new recruits every year and soldiers called the PLA the big university because it was there that they were taught to read and write and it benefited the regime as the new soldiers were indoctrinated with communist propaganda in order to create genuine ideological commitment
What was the regional bureaux
The PRC was divided into six massive regions governed by the regional party bureaus in order to enable the central government to more easily control such a vast area of territory. Each bureau had four officials.
-Government chairman
-1st party secretary
-Military commander
-Army political commissar
What was the learn from the PLA campaign?
It instructed people to learn from the revolutionary and personal attributes the people soldiers exemplified: discipline, bravery, resourcefulness incorruptibility and most importantly, commitment to the communist cause
-so important was the loyalty of the PLA to MAO that they even received exemption from legal authority and when the divorce rate rose as a result of the 1950 marriage law new special clause was added to make it more difficult for the wives of the POA soldiers to divorce their husbands
What was the pla’s economic role?
-it helped rebuild China’s infrastructure as officers dependent were compelled to work in the cooperative farms while work teams of the PLA soldiers contributed up to a weeks free labour to help local construction or irrigation projects teach in primary schools or night schools or repair farm tools.
-Every 50 men were commanded to jointly raise at least one pig and later on holidays during the great leap forward of 1958 to 61 the PLA were forced to join local presents to hunt down 4 pests- rat sparrows flies and mosquitoes.
-p.lA men were even forced to collect their own excrement and be supplied to the local cooperative as fertiliser
How did the PLA become a modern fighting force?
-Losses incurred during the Korean War convinced MAO that the PLA needed to abandon its old style guerilla warfare tactics and become a modern technologically advanced army
-The size of the army was reduced from 5,000,019 50 to 3,500,000 in 1953 and new military academies in Beijing and nanjing trained an ideologically committed generation of officers schooled in the techniques of modern combat and intensely loyal to the communists
-Many were sent for advanced training in the USSR which provided weapons such as the MIG fighter jet
What was the campaign to suppress counterrevolutionaries
- it was launched in March 1950 and was openly aimed at preventing nationalist sympathies and despise from undermining the regime
-Those who had worked for the previous nationalist and academics who had worked with foreign universities were announced as saboteurs and spies
-Western business men were forced to leave the country and had their property confiscated while many Christian missionaries were arrested and charged on suspicion of being imperialist agents
What was self registration?
-The regime tricked many victims into implicating themselves by asking all of those who had previously held positions within the nationalist regime to register in order to help those who had made political mistakes to start a new, they were asked to submit autobiographies listing their friends and associates with the guarantee that everyone who confessed to having worked with the previous rating would be treated leniently.
-People are rounded up by the police in midnight arrests and people found out their friends and family disappeared and were never to be seen again
What was mass participation?
-The party encouraged ordinary Chinese citizens to become involved in political activities with rallies organised to announce counterrevolutionaries.
-The victims were subjected to public struggle meetings where they were forced to admit their guilt in front of large crowd demanding retribution
-They chanted ‘ kill the counterrevolutionaries! Kill! Kill! Kill!’
What was the three antis campaign?
It was directed against corruption, waste and obstructionist bureaucracy in government
-many Chinese people supported this aim as they believe the region was going to discipline those within the CCP who had taken advantage of the new power for their own benefit
-However it quickly became clear that the regime was using public support for the campaign as an excuse to remove anyone in the civil service who they did not like
What was the five antis campaign?
Dedicated to ending bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on government contracts and stealing state economic information
-The targets were middle class and private business owners and a variety of forms of pressure were used to round them up for example, those who confessed were encouraged to believe that they might be treated leniently if they helped identify other guilty businessmen, the regime told a businessman’s wife and children that he was guilty and the only possible way outward to confess and fearing that their husbands and fathers would be executed. They pleaded with him to admit his guilt, workers were encouraged to turn on the buses and then announce them and in cities loudspeakers were set up warning business owners ‘ evidence of all your mistakes is now in our hands. Confess!’
What were characteristics of the campaigns?
-Both campaigns were very successful and according to one report 30,000 people attended one meeting against local party bosses accused of corruption while in Shanghai 99% of businessmen were to be guilty of at least one of the five antis.
-businesses found guilty during the three and five antis campaigns were forced to pay heavy fines and in order to pay them had to sell stock to the state creating joint public and private Enterprises
-The campaign is also greatly altered the social system in China in this atmosphere of fear and repression many chose to save themselves by denouncing others before they themselves could become a target- as friends were forced to betray friends and family denounced each other, other traditional relationships no longer mattered- the only way to protect yourself was utter loyalty to the CCP
