The Five Year Plan & The Hundred Flowers Campaign

Question 1

When was the 1st Five Year Plan?

Answer 1

1953 - 1957

Question 2

When was the Hundred Flowers Campaign launched?

Answer 2

February 1957

Question 3

When was the anti-rightist campaign launched?

Answer 3

June 1957

Question 4

When was the Three Bitter Years’ Famine?

Answer 4

1958 - 1961

Question 5

When was the 7000 Cadres Conference?

Answer 5

1962

Question 6

What were leftists?

Answer 6

People who had radical new ideas, ambitious programs and (too much) revolutionary enthusiasm. They ‘created anarchy’.

Question 7

What were rightists?

Answer 7

Those who emphasised cautious reforms, economic planning, and law and order. They were ‘too close to capitalism’ and not revolutionary enough.

Question 8

What are collectives?

Answer 8

Structure: Individual farming > mutual aid team (5-20 households) > 100-200 households

Household pooled their land and tools, ending private property and introducing shared labour and food.

Question 9

What are communes?

Answer 9

People’s Communes were collectives of 5000 households.

This way there would be enough workers to specialise at individual jobs. E.g. Communal kitchens, nurseries, workshops & schools.

Question 10

What were the aims of the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 10

> Ensure that China would not be menaced by foreign powers by expanding PLA with construction of tanks, planes and warships

> Improve the lives of Chinese people by building tools and machinery to manufacture clothes, bicycles, farming equipment, etc.

Question 11

What are some statistics on the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 11

> Construction on 700 major industrial plants such as steel works and coal mines

> 28,000 Chinese sent to the USSR for training

> 11,000 Soviet experts oversaw large projects

> Growth rate of 10% each year

Question 12

Was the First Five Year Plan successful?

Answer 12

It did help strengthen the industry. By 1957, 50% of government income was invesed in new economic projects.

In terms of production, China surpassed most of their targets, e.g. making 1,100,000 bicycles, 7000 trucks, etc.

Question 13

What was the Gao Gang Affair?

Answer 13

An incident which reveals Mao’s dictatorial leadership style. Gao Gang (CCP Chief of Manchuria) was ‘hailed for his excellent performance’ and thought he could rise in the party to usurp Liu Shaoqi & become Mao’s No.1

Mao found out about the plot and encouraged his lieutenants to punish Gao, and he died in prison by suicide in 1954.

Question 14

Mao claimed that with compulsory collectivisation, the …

Answer 14

“high tide of socialism” was within reach.

Question 15

The number of peasant households in collectives increased from 14% in 1955 to…

Answer 15

92% in 1956.

Question 16

Though 84$ of China lived in rural areas, only _____ percent of government funds went to agriculture.

Answer 16

4%

Question 17

When did Stalin die, and when did Kruschev deliver his secret speech ‘On the Cult of Personality and its Consequences’?

Answer 17

Stalin died in 1953.

Kruschev made the speech in 1956.

Question 18

What was the impact of Kruschev’s secret speech?

Answer 18

By denouncing Stalin, Kruschev triggered anti-communist protests in Hungary.

In China, this meant that Mao recognised that the communist government was unpopular, and he could face resistance.

Whilst he could repress resistance, this would undermine his claim to democracy. This triggered the Hundred Flowers Campaign.

Question 19

What did Mao say about the Hundred Flowers Campaign?

Answer 19

“…let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend”.

Question 20

What were the aims of the Hundred Flowers Campaign?

Answer 20

> Similar to the mass line and rectification

> (Maoist) Gain confidence in strength of the new regime
Mao believed that the ‘success’ of the 1FYP meant that they did not need as much political control

> (Western) Mao had anxieties over developments in Europe
Mao feared being criticised as a Stalin-like figure and was trying to avoid an anti-communist uprising

> (Scar) Desire to destroy enemires
Mao used the campaign to trick his enemies to reveal themselves so he could punish them.

Question 21

Common criticism in the Hundred Flowers Campaign…

Answer 21

> CCP cadres were sycophants
Mao Zedong Though was in danger of becoming dogma
mass campaigns were inefficient
True democracy will not occur until there are genuine multi party elections.

Question 22

What was an attack on the party in the Hundred Flowers Campaign?

Answer 22

“A party leading a nation is not the same thing as a party owning a nation.”

Question 23

What did Liu Shaoqi say about the anti-rightist campaign?

Answer 23

“…the Party must safeguard its unity… A party split is more damaging than defeat in the revolution.”

Question 24

Stats on the anti-rightist campaign…

Answer 24

> In 1958, 43% of all criminal cases were charges of “counter-revolutionary activities”
400,000 ‘Rightists’ were uncovered, some who were ‘ordinary intellectuals’ like school teachers

Question 25

What were the effects of the anti-rightist campaign?

Answer 25

> Generated the fear of speaking out

People both inside and outside of the party were now less trustful of Mao’s changes in opinion