Land reform

Question 1

Agrarian reform law (1950)

Answer 1

• Redisrtibute land to peasents
• beginning of Mao’s goal of transferring ‘owned’ land into shared land

Question 2

Phillip Short’s biography

What does he say about the importance of land to a peasant?

Answer 2

90% of the 400 million people in china were peasants. Without fields you would starve so land redistrbution was the primacy vehicle to driave foward revolution.

Question 3

How it land was distributed

Answer 3

Localparty officials + young city people were organised into work teams which would evaluate how much land people owned

each villiager would be labelled:
* landlord
* rich, middle or poor peasants
* labourer

Question 4

Consquences of agrarian law reform

Answer 4

• 43% of cultivated land redisrtibuted
• 60% of population benefited
• between 1-2 mil landlords executed
• destroyed old ruling elite
• agriculture production rose 15% per year
• brought support for new regime from peasants

Question 5

“ultra-left deviations”

Answer 5

Mao warned of becoming ultra revolutionary in the lan lord attacks to make sure peasants didnt target government officials.