revision Cue Cards Flashcards
What were the initial challenges facing the CCP?
- Most countries refused to recognise PRC as country
- Communications and infrastructure destroyed by WW2
- Industrial production 50% down pre-war figures
- food production down by 25%
How did challeges cause problems for CCP leadership?
- low food production = food shortages in town + can’t feed growing population by 15 million a year
- inflation = severely hinder economic growth and living standards
- no infrastructure - need for reconstruction = costly
- break down of law and order - outlying regions e.g. Tibet and Xinjiang may rebel
Key features of Chinas new political structure
image of democracy: 8 democratic parties, had 11/24 ministers in gov
NPC: mulitlayered process of election, people never elect anyone into NPC, the CCP does
Standing Committee: with Mao leading the standing committee, presided over all matters of NPC and state council
Millitary affairs Committee= close ties between party and state, quasi-military rule until 1954
How did new political structure help CCP consolidate power?
Standing committee = have supreme power within PRC
Democratic parties - veneer of democracy - increase support from former GMD and intellectuals
PLA = closely supervised by Millitary affairs committee- used to supress oppostion to party + control outlaying regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang
29 provincial committees/ 2000 county committees
How did CCP tackle the issue of establishing effective administration/maintaining law and order and reviving the economy?
administration - GMD civil servants were encouraged to stay in their psot = decent salary + push to work for a new China
law and order - military brought to remote areas to bring region under control/ PLA hold position in civilian govnernment
economy:
- introduciton of new currency
- simple pay system set up on basis of 5 basic items e.g. flour and cotton
- prices control reduced inflation
How did Mao create a culture of Fear during GLF?
- Maoist fanatics would shout down voices of reasion e.g. Chen Yun’s doubt of reports of grain harvest -> stuggled agaisnt as ‘deniers’ who were ‘casting suspiscion on excellent situation’
- peng Dehuai = condemned as ‘anti-party element’ after Lushan plenum for voicing his concerns -> new anti-rightist movement began to silence any other ‘little Peng Dehuais’ in the party or government
Why did the CCP become involved in the Korean war
Stalin told Kim il-sung to ask Mao for support if invasion goes badly/ Kim did not relay the fact that Stalin said he would ‘‘not lift a finger’’ if things went badly, this Mao agreed to support North Korea
CPP did not want to see communist ally fall to US ‘‘imperialism’’ and the presence of a hostile government near Manchuria
Positive and negative impacts of the Korean War for CCP
positive:
- china stood up to the ‘‘biggest imperialist’’ of America and was not beaten, therefore boosted morale
- Land reform and political movements intensified, suppressed counter-revolutionaries
negative:
- US trade embargo
- Mao’s plan to invade Taiwan halted
- divested money that would have been spent on reconstruction
Key features of Agrarian land reform
Agrarian Reform Law - establishment of people’s tribunals to trial warlords
1000s of cadres sent to countryside to to redistribute land and denounce land lords. They did this by building trust teaching peasantry of the exploitive landlords who are to be blamed for their misery
Peasant associations to identify ‘'’reactionaries’’
Why and how did land reform escalate?
why:
1) hard for CCP to contain class struggle in rural areas
2) Korean War increased fear of counter-revolutionaries and attitudes towards landlords hardened
How?
- wave of executions swept countryside -> death of between 2 to 5 million according to Becker
Key features of thought reform
Intellectuals were asked to correct ‘‘bourgeoisie attitudes’’ to correct unity in thought
Struggle sessions = reported progress to cadres and peers, if not reformed then forced to undergo ‘‘re-education’’ and hard labour
Public denunciations of prominent intellectuals such as Hu Shi
key features of three antis
aimed to uncover politically unreliable government officials and corrupt party cadres
encouragement to identify CCP officials who took bribes
internal purge against GMD
execution and expulsion of 1 million CCP members
Key features of 5 antis
targeted businessmen and industrialists because Mao thought they were responsible for corruption within party
allegations of tax evasion, fraud, theft of government property
Many businesses relinquished ownership of their business to the state- either joint or entirely
How did women’s rights improve under the CCP?
May 1950 - first piece of legislation = Marriage law: gave women same legal rights as men and permitted women to choose own partners
Laws guaranteed women equal pay, maternity benefits and for some work based childcare
All China’s women Federation - support women’s rights and improve daily life and published own magazine
limitations of women’s rights
All China Women’s Federation = more about rubber stamping government policies than to provide support for women
Tradition view towards women’s work stayed unchanged e.g. housework
rural areas = limited improvement for women
