Lesson 3- What Was The Nature Of The Government Established By The CCP In 1949? Flashcards
1
Q
Define constitution.
A
A set of laws or freedoms on which a country is founded.
2
Q
Define class enemies
A
Reactionaries who refuse to accept Mao’s way of thinking.
3
Q
Who were the Politburo?
A
Key decision making body of China.
4
Q
How many members were there of the Politburo?
A
14
5
Q
There were 14 members of the Politburo, with who holding overall authority?
A
Mao
6
Q
Define democratic centralism.
A
Where, in a truly revolutionary party, members owed absolute obedience to leaders
7
Q
Who was the principle of democratic centralism introduced by?
A
Lenin in Soviet Russia
8
Q
What is a Revisionist?
A
Reactionary and anti-party thinking.
Used by Maoists.
Similar to ‘counter-revolutionary’ to describe party members regarded as not fully committed.
9
Q
What did the Reunification Campaigns involve?
A
Forcibly bringing invaded and outlying provinces into line with the rest of the PRC.
10
Q
Define public utilities.
A
Gas, electricity and the transport system
11
Q
Who were Nationalist Capitalists?
A
Those who had run the China before 1949 during the GMD years
12
Q
Who were the Middle Classes?
A
Small part of China’s population but important in their role running the country
13
Q
Who were the expatriate Chinese?
A
Chinese nationals living abroad
14
Q
What is revolutionary correctness?
A
The Ideas that Chinese Communist was a body of political, social and economic truth which all CCP members had to accept and live by
15
Q
Who were the Intellectual Classes?
A
Those who according to Mao merely talked rather than acted
16
Q
What is a Show Trial?
A
A public trial.
The accused is assumed as guilty and paraded as an enemy of the people
17
Q
Define Authoritarian.
A
a form of government characterized by strong central power and limited political freedoms
18
Q
Define Democratic.
A
a system of government where the citizens exercise power by voting.
19
Q
When did the Communist Party set up a meeting of the CPPCC?
A
September 1949
20
Q
How many delegates made up the meeting of the CPPCC in September 1949?
A
600
21
Q
What did the delegates meet up to do in the meeting of the CPPCC in September 1949?
A
Met to discuss the new political system.
22
Q
[NOT 100% SURE] Who was also known as the Preliminary Government set up in 1949?
A
CPPCC
23
Q
What were the 5 roles of the CPPCC?
A
- Approved temporary constitution (common program)
- Drafted new constitution
- Appointed Central People’s Government
- Passed laws
- Chose state symbols
24
Q
[NOT 100% SURE] What was the Central People’s Government the big version of?
A
Cabinet ministers and departmental heads
25
What did the CPPCC stand for?
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
26
When the CPPCC met in September 1949, what new things did they appoint?
Central People's government
Common Program (temporary constitution)
27
Why was a temporary constitution introduced in the CPPCC meeting in 1949?
To steer China through the next years
28
Why was a temporary constitution introduced in the CPPCC meeting in September 1949?
Declared a new society based on co-operation between workers and peasants.
29
When was a new constitution published?
1954
30
Around which event and time was the new constitution of 1954 published?
By the which time China was officially declared as a Communist country.
31
Who did the CCP claim power rested with?
The people
32
Who exercised authority according to the CCP?
Workers and peasants
33
What was there little chance for under CCP rule?
Opposition
34
Who was at the top of the Chinese Communist Party rule from 1954 onwards, apart from Mao?
Politburo
35
What 3 groups were under the Politburo in the Chinese Communist Party rule from 1954 onwards?
Military Affairs Commission
CPPCC
National People's Congress
36
Who was under the CPPCC in the CCP rule from 1954 onwards?
No-one
37
Which groups were under the Military Affairs Commission in the CCP rule from 1954 onwards in order?
Armed forces
National and local councils (under armed forces)
38
Which groups, in order, were under the National People's Congress from 1954 onwards?
Local government
Local and regional branches of the CCP (under local government)
Workers and peasants (under local and regional branches of the CCP)
39
Which group branched off from the National People's Congress in the CCP rule from 1954 onwards?
State Council
40
Name 5/14 members of the Politburo.
Mao Zedong
Liu Shaoqi
Zhou Enlai
Chen Yun
Zhu De
41
After what did decisions made become law in the Politburo?
After they were agreed by the National People's Congress from 1954
42
What was the State Council also known as?
Central People's Government
43
Essentially, what was the State Council?
Government of China
44
Who did the State Council compose of?
Ministers and departmental heads
45
Who was the State Council led by from 1949?
Zhou Enlai
46
What was the State Council supposedly and why wasn't it this characteristic?
Democratic but it was dominated by the CCP
47
What did the National People's Congress do?
Dealt with legislature (the law)
Rubber stamped and made into law decisions made by the Politburo
48
Who were the PLA?
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
49
Who was the PLA led by?
Peng Dehuai
50
What was the size of the army in 1952?
3.5 million
51
What was the size of the army reduced to by 1957?
2.5 million
52
What did the PLA act like after its reduction and from 1954 onwards?
More professional
53
What did the PLA act as a form of?
Indoctrination and control
54
What did the CPPCC remain as from 1954 onwards?
An advisory body to the government
55
Who did the CPPCC meet at the same time as?
National People's Congress
56
What did China's new constitution use towards its people despite not being that characteristic?
Used democratic language but in reality was not democratic
57
What was the democratic language in China's new constitution based on despite not being democratic?
The theory of democratic centralism.
58
What was introduced to encourage the participation of people in elections and democratic centralism?
Youth League
Women's Federations
59
Where were elections made for the people?
At village and town council levels.
60
Who was sent to represent the people for the elections?
Lower officials
61
Who were political decision made by despite the lower officials representing the people?
Top officials
62
What did top officials claim to be taking?
The best interest of the people into account
63
in 1942, what type of campaign did Mao begin on the Communist Party based at Yanan?
'Thought reform'
64
What was the 1942 'thought reform' campaign known as?
Rectification of conduct campaign
65
Between what years did the rectification of conduct campaign take place?
1942-44
66
What did Mao ask members of his party to engage in?
Self-criticism
Forced to read his writings
67
Which type of people did Mao attack?
Those he saw as with intellectual or revisionist elements within his party.
68
Due to what, did Mao become the leader of the party?
Rectification of conduct campaign
69
In the early years, what was the form of Communism like in Yanan?
Oppressive
70
What did Mao believe was key to his control over the party?
A revolutionary correctness.
71
What is one thing Mao wanted to prevent those within the party from becoming?
Bureaucratic
Self-justifying elite
72
When was the rectification of conduct campaign launched?
1942
73
Name 2 people who were victims of the rectification of conduct campaign.
Wang Shiwei
Ding Ling
74
Who was Wang Shiwei?
Brilliant, young Communist writer.
75
What did Wang Shiwei do in 1942?
Published an article heavily critical of members of the CCP.
76
What did Wang Shiwei write about in his article, in 1942?
Members of the CCP who lived comfortable lives in Yanan while the Red Army comrades were dying in the struggle against the Japanese and GMD.
77
What happened as a result of Wang Shiwei writing his heavily critical article of members of the CCP?
He was rounded on by those party officials who felt they had been implicitly accused.
Executed for his criticism of Mao following a public show trial.
78
When did 4 party members engage in a public process of self criticism?
1943
79
Following on from the rectification of conduct campaign, what had Mao now finally defeated?
The dominance of the pro-Moscow wing of the party.
80
What was Chinese Communism focused on the ideas of?
Mao Zedong
81
Who was put in charge the purge of some 1000 CCP members?
Kang Sheng
82
Who was Liu Shaoqi?
President of the PRC.
Second in command to Mao until removed during the Cultural Revolution.
83
What was Deng Xiaoping like?
An outstanding CCP figure.
Someone who Mao both admired as an ally and feared as a rival.
Destined to be leader after Mao's death
84
Who was Lenin?
Chief interpreter of Marx.
Man who had led the Communists to power in the 1917 Russian Revolution.
85
When did Mao take power?
1949
86
After taking power in 1949, what did Mao not do and what were his initial moves like?
Did not rush into any reforms.
Initial moves were cautious.
87
What happened to public utilities after Mao came to power?
Taken under state control
88
What happened to the land of GMD members that had fled to Taiwan?
Seized
89
What happened to all foreign assets after Mao came to power?
All taken over.
90
All foreign assets were taken over except whose?
That of the USSR
91
After Mao came to power, what was given to those who were prepared to work with the new China?
Compensation was given to them.
92
After Mao came to power, what did Mao announce the PRC was ready to do?
Use the resources of the national Capitalists to begin the reconstruction of Communist China.
93
Despite the middle class representing a small percent of the population, why did Mao think their importance was greater than their numbers?
They provided:
Officials
Civil servants
Industrial managers
94
After Mao came to power, what happened to those who had not fled with the GMD?
Invited to stay in their positions and become loyal servants of the new government.
95
What did those who had not fled with the GMD respond like to being invited, by Mao, to stay in their positions and become loyal servants of the new government?
Most accepted the offer
96
What happened, in regards to expatriate Chinese, after Mao had invited those who had not fled with the GMD to stay in their positions and become loyal servants of the new government?
Returned in a spirit of idealism (importance???)
Eager to serve the new regime and in return they would not suffer for their past behaviour.
97
What happened after the PRC promise towards those who did not flee with GMD was honoured for a little while?
Once administration appeared to continue, they were turned on as class enemies.
98
How many regions was China divided into?
6
99
What were the 6 regions China was divided into known as?
Bureaus
100
Name the 6 bureaus China was divided into.
1. North West China Bureau
2. North China Bureau
3. North East China Bureau
4. East China Bureau
5. Central South China Bureau
6. South West China Bureau
101
What was each region/bureau governed by?
A bureau of 4 major officials
102
Who did the bureaus of 4 major officials consist of?
1. Chairman
2. Party Secretary
3. Military Commander
4. Political Commissar
103
Which 2 posts of the 4 major officials were filled by officers of the PLA?
Military Commander
Political Commissar
104
What did 2 posts of the 4 major officials being filled by officers of the PLA mean China was left under?
Military control
105
What did Mao think about China being left under military control?
Considered it the best means of stabilising China and maintaining the rule of the CCP
106
Where did overarching governmental power reside?
In the Central People's Government Council
107
How many leading party members were there in the Central People's Government Council?
56
108
What were majority of the members of the Central People's Government Council?
Veterans of the Yanan years
109
How many of the members of the Central People's Government Council served as Vice Chairman under Mao?
6
110
What was Mao like as chairman of the Central People's Government Council?
An unchallengeable figure in government.
111
Despite its restrictions, what was Mao's China known as in the world?
One of the freest.
112
Who did CCP claim power was with?
The people
113
What did the government and officials act like?
Servants of the nation
114
What did the National People's Congress create which was new?
Legislature (body that passes laws in China)
115
Who took over the function of the Central People's Government, after the 1954 new constitution?
State Council
116
After the 1954 new constitution, what were the 6 regions divided into?
21 provinces- 5 were autonomous, 2 were urban centres.
117
Define autonomous.
free, independent, and sovereign
118
What is an urban centre?
a cluster of contiguous grid cells of 1 km² (excluding diagonals) with a population density of at least 1 500 inhabitants per km² and collectively a minimum population of 50 000 inhabitants after gap-filling.
119
What is a bureaucrat?
Person with an official position in the government
Someone in a position of power who is more concerned with procedure or policy than people's needs.
120
After the new constitution of 1954, as the system became established, from what number, to what figure did the number of bureaucrats rise to?
1949= 720,000 employed
Ten years later (1959)= nearly 8 million
121
Later on, what did Mao believe had led the Communist revolution in China astray?
The bureaucratisation of the revolution.
122
Through what did workers and peasants exercise their authority?
Various connected and overlapping bodies
123
What did the Party claim about members of the National People's Congress?
Elections took place in villages.
Members of the National People's Congress were elected by the people's choice.
124
What had happened to all other parties?
Had been outlawed (banned).
125
What did any party who stood independently have to do?
Publicly announce that the CCP had absolute right to rule.
126
Who oversaw all the elections?
Party officials.
127
Why did Party officials oversee all the elections?
Meant that there was very little chance of anyone being critical of Mao
128
Who always held the key posts?
Leading CCP officials
129
Give an example of a leading CCP official who held a key post.
Zhou Enlai was premier (head) of State Council.
130
Who was Peng Dehuai in the CCP at this time?
Minister of defence
Commander in chief of the PLA
131
When Mao stood down from the head of state in 1958, what did he retain his position as?
Chairman of the Party
132
When did Mao step down from the head of the state position?
1958
133
Out of the 500 million people in China, how many party members were there in October 1949?
4.5 million
134
By the end of 1958, what had the amount of party members risen to?
5.8 million
135
By 1953, how many members were there of the Youth League which was established?
9 million
136
How many members did the Women's Federation have?
76 million
137
What was the reality of who ruled the PRC?
It was the CCP not the people-and not all party members.
138
Who was government carried out by?
The Politburo
139
Whose decisions did the National People's Congress rubber stamp?
Those made by the Politburo
140
Was there ever a case of the National People's Congress reversing party policy on any issue that mattered?
No
141
Why did the PLA play a special role in the Communist Party?
Due to their role in the Communist victory.
142
True or false: The PLA is the world's largest army.
True
143
How many men did the PLA have in 1950?
5 million
144
What percentage of the state budget did the PLA consume?
40%
145
From what figure, to what figure, was the PLA reduced in the years 1953 and 1957?
1953=3.5 million
1957=2.5 million
146
Between the years 1953-1957, how many men was the PLA army reduced by?
1 million
147
When the PLA became smaller what happened to it?
It became more professional.
More technically advanced.
148
After 1949, the PLA was crucial in indoctrinating how many new recruits to its force?
800,000
149
What was the PLA used for as well as its normal uses?
Public work projects
150
When was Mao made Head of the State as well as the Party?
October 1949
151
What type of power did Mao becoming Head of State/Party give and not give him?
Gave him constitutional power (authority to make laws???)
But not absolute power.
152
Since Mao only had constitutional power, and not absolute power, who was responsible for policy?
The collective leadership of the party.
153
Even though Mao was not responsible for policy alone, what did he do in regards to policy?
Set the direction of policy in the early years.
154
What were the key difficulties in Mao's early years?
1956-removal of Mao Zedong Thought from the guiding ideology of the party.
155
What is Mao Zedong Thought?
Another word for Maoism.
Application and development of Marxism-Leninism in the great struggles of the Chinese people's revolution.
156
What was required in Yanan and why?
Discipline and obedience.
Understandable considering the CCP's constant fight with the GMD and Japanese.
157
What belief did Mao begin to manifest and what is this linked to?
To become a dominant feature of his outlook (view)
Linked to notion of revolutionary correctness.
158
The revolution would be betrayed from within, unless the party did what?
Maintained a constant struggle against error.
159
What did Mao believe those running the party had a possibility of becoming?
Bureaucratic, self-justifying elite.
160
To assist in the search for revolutionary truth, what were the party [I THINK IT WAS THE PARTY-MOST LIKELY] obliged to study?
Prescribed texts, among which Mao's own writings appeared prominently.
161
Who was Kang Sheng?
Chief organiser of the purge [OF THE RECTIFICATION OF CONDUCT CAMPAIGN-I THINK].
162
What percentage of the Party did Kang Sheng claim was infected by revisionist ideas?
70%
163
What did Kang Sheng do after claiming 70% of the Party was infected by revisionist ideas?
Made it his task to expose and punish them.
164
What did Kang Sheng claim 70% of the Party was infected by?
Revisionist ideas
165
How many CCP members did Kang Sheng order the arrest of?
Some 1000
166
What did Kang Sheng do to the some 1000 CCP members he had ordered the arrest of?
Many were imprisoned and tortured.
167
How much of the Communist officials committed suicide rather than undergo public humiliation? [CAUSE OF KANG SHENG-I THINK]
60%
168
What did Mao say about democratic centralism and party interests?
“Some comrades do not understand that the party’s system of democratic centralism; they do not understand that the party’s interests are above personal interests”
169
What was Mao angered by in regards to Wang Shiwei?
Shiwei said he as a leader was behaving improperly with pretty, young women.
170
What did Mao decide to do about Wang Shiwei?
Back officials.
Chose to attack Wang as representing the intellectual class he despised.
171
Who came to Wang Shiwei's defence after the CCP and Mao attacked him about his criticism?
Ding Ling (woman)
172
What did Ding Ling say about the CCP?
They claimed to have equal rights for women.
173
What was Ding Ling's personal experience as a women in the party show her about the CCP treatment towards women?
Women were in practice treated as inferiors
174
When Ding Ling went public with her findings about the CCP treatment of women, what happened?
She was brought before a party gathering.
Accused of insulting the CCP.
Under pressure withdrew her previous criticism and abandoned Wang Shiwei.
175
What was Wang Shiwei subjected to?
A show trial.
176
What was Wang Shiwei accused of at his show trial?
'Anti-party' thinking.
177
How did Wang Shiwei respond to being accused of 'anti-party' thinking at his show trial?
He resisted courageously, refusing to retract what he had written earned him a life sentence and eventual execution.
178
When was Wang Shiwei executed?
1947
179
On whose personal order was Wang Shiwei executed?
Mao's
180
How was Wang Shiwei executed?
His body was chopped into small pieces and thrown down a well.
181
Who did Wang's case terrify?
CCP's officials
182
Between 1943-44, what did leading party members do?
Came forward to engage in public self-criticism.
183
What did Zhou Enlai admit to after Wang's case?
Having dilatory (being slow to act) in carrying out Mao's orders.
184
After Wang's case, what had to be pledged to Mao?
Loyalty
185
As a result of the rectification of conduct campaign what was Mao able to get rid himself of and consolidate?
Mao had rid himself of opposition
Was able to consolidate his position as a leader.
186
After the rectification of conduct campaign, who had Mao finally triumphed over?
The pro-Moscow wing of the party
187
What did Mao begin to move towards in Yanan?
Cult status
188
Who was Chinese Communism so closely identified with and what did this mean?
Now closely identified with Mao personally that it had become Maoism
189
What was Mao elected as in 1943?
Chairman of the Central Committee
190
By 1945, when the Japanese war came to an end, what was Mao being regularly referred to as?
The Great Helmsman
191
What were Mao's motives with his rectification of conduction campaign, 1942-4?
Imposition (to impose) Mao's notion of revolutionary correctness.
Removal of internal opposition within the CCP
Mao's vendetta (feud) against the intellectuals
192
What were the methods used during the rectification of conduct campaign, 1942-4?
Kang Sheng's violent 'self-criticism' programme
Show trials
193
What were the consequences of the rectification of conduct campaign, 1942-4?
Purging of the CCP
Victimisation of intellectuals
Elevation of Mao to cult status
194
Who had absolute power and authority of the Politburo?
Mao
195
Despite Mao having absolute power and authority, what did he not do in the Politburo?
Did not initiated every detail of policy.
In fact, he chose not to attend their meetings.
196
What was Mao able to do with his power and authority?
Pick up the reigns whenever he saw fit.
E.g., during the famines of the early 1960s when he left Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping and later returned.
197
What were Western observers puzzled by in China?
That a party dedicated to the masses allowed its control by one man.
198
Where did Mao argue that true democracy lay in the Communist Party?
In the obedience of the members.
To the authority and instructions of the leaders.
199
What was the justification of democratic centralism?
While representatives of the workers, all Communist were genuine revolutionaries but only the leaders were educated in the science of revolution to understand what needed to be done.
200
What did democratic centralism mean in practice?
Doing what Mao told them.
201
Despite growing amount of people in the party, Mao grew more what?
Paranoid
202
Since Mao was growing more paranoid, despite growing party members, what was Mao ready to launch?
Campaigns and purges against anyone who thought of plotting against him.
203
In a series of 3 reunification campaigns, 3 separate PLA armies were despatched to impose control what areas of the PRC?
1. Tibet
2. Xinjiang
3. Guangdong
204
When was a PLA army sent to impose control in Tibet?
October 1950
205
To which province in Guangdong was a PLA army sent?
Southern province of Guangdong
206
What is the PLA?
People's Liberation Army
207
What religion was predominantly followed in Tibet?
Buddhism
208
What religion is predominantly followed in Xinjiang?
Islam
