Lesson 1: How successful was the First Five-Year Plan 1952-56? Flashcards
What were Stalin’s FYPs?
In the USSR, between 1929-1953, Stalin had revolutionised the Soviet economy by a series of government-directed plans.
What is heavy industry?
Iron and steel based productions and constructions
What does the term ‘lift off’ mean?
Increasing output and production at such a pace as to turn China into a modern industrial power.
What are backyard furnaces?
Primitive smelting devices that every family was encouraged to build on its premises.
What is Zhongnanhai?
Building compound off Tiananmen Square.
The historic centrepiece of Beijing which housed the government offices and minister residences.
What does the term ‘iron rice bowl’ mean?
System that provided a worker with a guaranteed job and wage.
What are manufactured goods?
Sellable products made from raw materials.
What is quality control?
The monitoring of industrial production to maintain set standards.
What is Applied Communism?
Planning according to Marxist principles involving state direction of the economy and the ending of private ownership.
What is Capitalism?
An economic system in which the trade and industry of the economy is owned and controlled by private individuals, to make profit.
What has an impact on production and the price of goods in a Capitalist system?
The markets
How much government intervention is there is a Capitalist society?
Often minimal
In a Capitalist system, wealth is gained by business owners, who decide and invest.
True or false?
True
What key elements would you expect to find in a Socialist economy?
Ownership of production
Distribution
Capital
Land within the community as a whole.
Who owns means of production in a socialist economy?
Democratic state
What is Socialism the precursor to?
Communism
[QUOTE] What did Lenin say about Socialism?
‘The goal of Socialism is Communism.’
What do workers share equally in a Socialist economy?
Share equally in wealth and services according to their needs.
What is Communism based on the theory of?
Shared ownership
What is there none of in a Communist society?
Private ownership of goods
Class
Money
What do people in a Communist society do individual work for?
A common goal
Who regulated the ownership of industries in a Communist economy?
Government
By 1951, what had happened to industrialisation?
Had been reduced to a manageable level.
By the end of 1952, what had Mao moved to do?
Impose a Soviet industrial model on China.
What is the 1st aim of the First FYP?
- Make China self-sufficient in food and manufactured goods
What is the 2nd aim of the First FYP?
- To produce spectacular public work projects.
What is the 3rd aim of the First FYP?
- To channel resources into heavy industries and away from consumer goods (seen as less important).
What is the 4th aim of the First FYP?
- To force collective farmers to sell food at low prices to keep industrial wages low.
What is the 5th aim of the First FYP?
- To nationalise businesses owned by foreigners such as banking, gas, electricity and transport.
Between what years was the First FYP?
1952-56
When was the Sino-Soviet treaty?
1950
Mao’s mistrust of Stalin was well founded.
True or false?
True
What was the Soviet intent on doing with the Sino-Soviet treaty?
Exploiting the agreement in its own favour
What did Mao believe the Soviet would provide?
Expertise and aid at low cost
Stalin struck an easy bargain for the Sino-Soviet treaty.
True or false?
False-hard bargain
What was Stalin’s 1st term of the Sino-Soviet treaty?
- The $300 million Soviet advance was a loan, not a gift; the PRC had to undertake to repay the full amount plus interest
What was Stalin’s 2nd term for the Sino-Soviet treaty?
- The upkeep of the 10,000 Soviet economic and military advisers who went to China to be paid for fully by the Chinese
What was Stalin’s 3rd term for the Sino-Soviet treaty?
- China had to give the bulk of its bullion reserves to the Soviet Union
What was Stalin’s 4th term for the Sino-Soviet treaty?
- Russia received economic concessions (allowance) and extraterritorial rights in Manchuria and Xinjiang
What is bullion?
Gold (or silver) stocks in bulk
What is Stalin’s 5th term of the Sino-Soviet treaty?
- Mao received a full list of comintern agents who were operating in China
Who did Nikita Khrushchev admit the Sino-Soviet treaty had been an insult to?
The Chinese people and continuing its centuries of exploitation.
What did Khrushchev suggest that Stalin deliberately prevented?
An early armistice (truce) being reached in Korea in order to exhaust the Chinese
Why did an angered Mao tolerate the USSR?
For the time being there was no alternative.
Judged that the new China could not survive without the USSR’s economic assistance until China was able to achieve economic independence.
What was industry essential to?
PRC’s survival as a nation
Mao wanted to build the same FYP’s model as the USSR.
True or false?
True
What year was China’s First FYP?
1952
What did the First FYP aim at?
Growth of heavy industry
Between the 1930s and 1940s, what had Chiang established under the GMD?
National Resources Committee (NRC)
What has Chiang’s NRC taken control of?
Industrial investment policy
How much of the NRC’s workforces had stayed on in China after 1949?
200,000
Between what years had migration from the countryside to towns nearly doubled?
1949-57
How much had the urban population increased from between 1949-57 due to migration from the countryside?
57 million - 100 million
Benefits of migration from countryside to towns doubling.
Large workforce with industrial expertise available.
What was the annual inflation rate at in 1949?
1000%
What was the annual inflation rate in 1951?
15%
3 reasons inflation was bought under control between 1949 and 1951.
- Slashed public expenditure
- Raised tax rates on urban dwellers
- Replaced Old Chinese dollar with new currency, known as the renminbi or yuan.
Between what years was the First Five-Year Plan?
1952-56
What had Mao envisaged for his Five-Year Plans?
There would be 3 Soviet-style Five-Year Plans.
Why did China want to have Soviet-style Five-Year Plans?
Russia was at this stage still an inspiration for China.
How was Mao’s task in introducing a centrally planned economy made easier?
There had been some degree of state involvement in Chinese industry since imperial times.
Who were the high salaries of the Soviet technicians paid for by?
The Chinese
What did some Chinese people complain about due to Soviet interference in China?
The fact that traditional Chinese buildings were being replaced by Soviet-style buildings.
Main target of the 1st FYP?
To make China as self-sufficient in food and manufactured goods as possible in order to protect China in a potentially hostile Capitalist world.
Who were targets set by for the 1st FYP?
Economic planners
What were targets NOT set according to?
Consumer demand
What were resources channelled into and away from?
Channelled into heavy industry and away from consumer goods.
What things were targeted so there could be increased production of them?
Coal
Steel
Petrochemicals
Automobile industry
What did the government hope people would invest in rather than spend extra income on consumer goods?
Patriotic saving schemes
Initially, what were the industries which were more often nationalised?
Those belonging to foreigners e.g., banking, gas, electricity and transport sectors.
By what year was ownership of businesses brought entirely to an end?
1956
What was introduced to encourage higher morale?
A number of civil engineering projects were undertaken
Give examples of civil engineering projects undertaken to increase morale.
Construction of vast roads
Rail bridge across the Yangzi River at Nanjing
Target in 1952 and output achieved in 1957 for Gross industrial output (yuan, millions).
Target = 52,560
Output = 65,020
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for coal (millions of tonnes).
Target = 113
Output = 115
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for oil (millions of tonnes).
Target = 2012
Output = 1468
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for steel (millions of tonnes).
Target = 4.12
Output = 5.35
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for electric power (billions of kilowatts).
Target = 15.9
Output = 19.34
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for hydroelectric turbines (kilowatts).
Target = 79,000
Output = 74,900
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for ,machine tools (units).
Target = 12,720
Output = 28,000
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for locomotives (units).
Target = 200
Output = 167
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for freight cars (units)
Target = 8500
Output = 7300
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for merchant ships (tonnes)
Target = 179,000
Output = 54,000
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for trucks (units)
Target = 4000
Output = 7500
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for bicycles (units)
Target = 550,000
Output = 1,174,000
Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for manufactured chemicals (millions of tonnes)
Target = 1,580
Output = 2,087
Why has care have to be taken when it comes to figures relating to economic performance?
There was a tendency for officials to manipulate them.
Party cadres would check on performance-there was corruption.
What was the economic growth rate of China between 1953 and 1957?
9%
According to official statistics, few sectors of the economy succeeded in reaching their targets.
True or false?
False-most succeeded.
How did urban living standards improve due to the 1st FYP?
Improved in terms of wages
According to Western analysis, was there successes of China’s 1st FYP?
Yes
What shortcomings did Soviet aid expose in the plan?
Shortcomings in skill and literacy of the Chinese workers.
By the time the plan ended, how many children, under 16, were in full-time education?
Less than half
After 1949, what happened to many of the GMD’s nationalist economic planners?
Remained in place
Why did the bureaucratic administration within China suffer massively following on from the 1952-53 anti-campaigns?
Many of the GMD nationalist economic planners had been removed.
Why did peasants in the countryside suffer from the 1st FYP?
Shortages of food due to it being requisitioned to pay back Soviets for the aid.
How did Lysenkoism theories brought over by Russians impact China?
Negatively-had already been proven wrong in Russia.
