Land Reform Flashcards
When was the period of agricultural co-operative and collectivisation?
1953-55
What was land distribution like prior to land reform?
- Mao describe pre-CCP land distribution as feudal and post-CCP land distribution as socialist, communist, marxist
- Southern China: 56% of people rented land
- North China: 10-15% rented
Define feudal.
Where people of a certain rank give/ rent land to people of a lower rank to live or work on in return for rent or food.
How was Mao approaching the early years of the PRC towards land reform?
Late 1940s: Pragmatic approach
- Only liberating land where landlords were brutal, very large or not politically useful
- Kept land with landlords where they were supportive or could be defined as peasants
- wanted to keep peasants in favour of the CCP
When and where did land distribution become harsher?
During the Civil War in areas of Communist support redistribution was enforced harsher to gain support from poorer peasants.
What was the first Land Law?
CCP Land Law 1932
- Confiscate land from gentry and landlords
- known as liberation
- Poor peasants receive the land
- Middle peasants may have land distributed but they make their own desicion
- Relatives of Red Army soldiers receive land
Land liberation established pockets of CCP who were anti-Nationalist and anti-Japanese
What was the Land Law from 1950?
Agrarian Reform Law 1950
- Villages behaved independently
- Party members encouraged peasants to struggle against landlords (Speak Bitterness Campaign)
- Land reform complete by 1952 and complete main goal of bringing regime massive support from peasants
Why did the CCP want collectivisation?
Larger units of collective land could be more efficient in feeding China.
What were the Mutual Aid Teams?
- First step of collectivisation
- MAT started in 1951
- Compromise of 10 or fewer households arranged on family lines
- Families pooled equipment and labour
- Land remained privately held
What were the Agricultural Producers Cooperatives?
- Next step after MATs
- Land was centrally managed but privately held
- Made up of 3-5 MATs
- Animals, labour and equipment were pooled
- Money and food received was distributed according to contribution
- Policy by 1953
What was Mao sensitive to during Land Reform?
- Sensitive to alienating the peasants
- Mao urged caution in areas that had differing opinions to collectivisation so didn’t have MATs but had APCs introduced
- 1955: called a halt to APCs in Southern provinces as anti-Communist feelings grew
When did ideas towards Land Reform change?
- When certain rural areas saw a resurgence in rich peasants hiring labour and buying land (capitalist peasants)
- Focus turning to heavy industrialisation
How did Mao’s views towards the peasants changed during Land Reform?
- Due to focus on heavy industrialisation, agriculture became secondary
- Mao and CCP leaders began to feel that peasants were producing more food and not providing it to cities
- 1955: Mao went on visit to problematic South
- now felt peasants were being indulgent in terms of family sizes and overeating
- not very communist in their outlook
- Mao, 1959: ‘Peasants are hiding food, there is no Communist spirit in them!’
What followed the Agricultural Producers Cooperatives?
1956-58 existing APCs to be joined to make larger communes
- 750,000 collectives became 26,000 communes
- Everything was controlled centrally (farming methods sale of produce, etc.)
- Private farming ended
- Passports needed to go from commune to commune
