The establishment of the PRC Flashcards
What moves did Mao make immediately upon the establishment of the PRC in 1949?
The property of the fleeing Nationalists was seized, and banks and public utilities were taken under state control, along with all foreign assets other than the USSR's. However, initially Mao was lenient towards the middle classes, allowing many of them to stay in their management and civil servant positions, as they would be useful in building the new regime. However, soon after they had fulfilled their use, they were turned upon as "class enemies".
What was the general structure of the PRC?
The country was divided into six regions, each governed by a bureau of: a chairman, a party secretary, a military commander, and a political commissar. These last two roles were PLA roles, leaving China under what Mao saw as a stable military rule.
The central power resided in the Central People’s Government Council of 56 leading party members, six of whom were vice chairmen, with Mao as the overall chairman of the council.
How was the political system of the PRC set up?
Ideally, peasants would vote in elections held in villages and localities, electing officials and NPC members, who were officially the ones who would decide national policy. However, in these elections only the CCP was able to stand for election with all others being outlawed, and independents having to publicly acknowledge that the CCP had the absolute right to rule. Party officials also oversaw all elections, so no one who was critical of Mao or the government would have a chance.
How was the CCP structured?
The real power of the CCP lay in the Politburo, a core group of around 20 CCP members, which was headed by Mao Zedong. He based his authority off of the Marxist concept of Democratic Centralism, which said that the leaders were the most educated in the science of revolution, so true democracy lay in the obedience of members to the leaders.
What were the Anti-movements, and when did they occur?
The first three targets were waste, corruption, and inefficiency, in 1951, followed by a further five in 1952. The purpose of these was to provide a wide range of justifications for attacking class enemies, creating an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, targeting those who were regarded as socially or politically suspect. People were encouraged to report anyone who had co-operated with the former GMD government, or anyone who had belonged to the privileged classes.
How did the CCP restrict political freedom?
They outlawed the 10 parties that were in China in 1949, so that by 1952 only the CCP remained.
How did the CCP crack down on “criminals” in Shanghai and Guangzhou?
In Guangzhou 130,000 “bandits and criminals” were rounded up, and over half were executed, with another 28,000 killed in Shanghai.
What was China’s registration system?
All individuals had to register themselves in several systems:
The danwei, a permit needed to gain employment.
The hukou, which entitled a family to gain accomodation.
The dangan, a dossier held by local party officials that contained the personal details and record of every individual.
In this way, people’s freedoms were restricted, and their rights to emplyment, housing or pensions depended on the contents of their dangan.
What occurred in the Tibetan resistance?
A PLA army was sent into Tibet in October 1950, who were resisted by 60,000 Tibetans. However, the Tibetans lacked a trained army and within six months resistance had been wiped out, and a regime of terror was imposed to wipe out a separate Tibetan identity.
What impetus did the PRC have for implementing the first five year plan?
Chiang had set up the National Resources Committee which had controlled industrial development, and a large number of NRC managers and 200,000 of its workforce had remained in China.
In addition, between 1949 and 1957 migration had caused the urban population to rise from 57 million to 100 million.
What early economic successes did the new regime have?
Brought inflation down from 1000% to 15% from 1949 to 1951, by decreasing public expenditure, raising tax on urban dwellers, and creating the renminbi.
What were the targets of the first five-year plan?
1953-57
Heavy industry: coal, steel and petrochemicals, along with the Chinese automobile industry.
What were the major successes of the first five-year plan?
Multiple large scale civil-engineering projects were undertaken to boost morale, like the road and rail bridge over the Yangtze river at Nanjing.
In many areas, targets were surpassed, such as 115MT of coal, 5.35MT of steel being produced. Although these statistics are inflated as people at all different levels wanted to fulfill their targets, even Western analysts agree that the plan was generally successful, with an economic growth of 9%.
