theme 2: Agriculture and Industry 1949-65 Flashcards

1
Q

when was agrarian reform law and what did it do

A

1950, redistributed land and portrayed landlords the ‘ruling class’ in the countryside
formed work teams

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2
Q

what did work teams do

A

taxed people according to how much land they owned.

assigned every villager a label; landlord, rich, middle, poor, labourer

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3
Q

what happened to those labelled as landlords

A

their land and possessions were confiscated and redistributed
they were accused of exploitation and humiliated, beaten and executed often by villagers themselves

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4
Q

by 1951 how many landlords lose land and what percentage of land changed hands

A

10 million landlords

40% land changed hands

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5
Q

how could communists claim peasant- led revolution

A

making villagers carry out ‘speak-bitterness’ meetings and killings

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6
Q

what were MATs

A
  1. Mutual Aid Teams. groups 10+ families. pooled land and resources while retaining rights of private ownership. managed by peasant associations
    voluntary but those who did not join had difficulties and ran risk of persecution
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7
Q

what were APCs

A
  1. MATs encouraged to form APCs of 40-50 families

land was pooled but those with large holdings could keep some for themselves

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8
Q

why and when did mao first call for slow down

A

1953 as rushed formation of APCs caused many to go into debt

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9
Q

what happened in 1954 that caused mao to change his agricultural policies

A

peasants began selling and buying land and resources like capitalism so mao put pressure back on collectivisation. poor harvest of 1954 meant government had to requisition food, so much protest mao changed policy

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10
Q

what was maos agricultural policy in 1955

A

“stop, contract and develop” halted collectivisation for 18 months but only lasted 6 months

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11
Q

end of 1955 numbers (collectivisation)

A

3% peasants farmed as individuals

17 million households in APCs in july 1955, 75 million by January 1956

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12
Q

what were HPCs

A

1955 onwards

groups of APCs 200-300 households. work points allocated according to labour in HPCs

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13
Q

how was collectivisation a success ideologically

A

state owned the means of food production

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14
Q

how was collectivisation a success and failure politically

A

success because speed of implementation and outmanoeuvring opponents showed maos authority
failure as peasants became servants of CCP and made mao dangerously overconfident leading to catastrophe of GLF

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15
Q

how was collectivisation a failure economically

A

food production insufficient for industrial workforce

3.8%increase per annum in food production during first five year plan (1953-57)

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16
Q

why was the system of communes introduced

A

enthusiastic cadres in hanan claimed APC wanted to merge

mao went on tour of countryside in spring 1958 where china staged abundancy of crops and success

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17
Q

when was the great leap forward announced

A

may 1958

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18
Q

what was used to describe advancing agriculture and industry at the same rate

A

walking on two legs

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19
Q

over 2 years how many collectives merged

A

1958-60

750,000 collectives merged into 26,000 communes containing a total of 120 million households

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20
Q

what was abolished under communes

A

private farming. villagers had no choice they had to surrender all land and possessions

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21
Q

what were communes supposed to provide

A

canteens and dormitories (couples could only sleep together on arranged visits)
education, health care and childcare

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22
Q

what did management teams do

A

divided peasants up into production brigades and allocated them jobs

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23
Q

how much sleep did mao think was acceptable on communes

A

6 hours every 2 days

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24
Q

what was the military dimension of communes

A

everyone aged 15-50 had to be militia members and trained with weapons periodically

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25
Q

when was lysenkoism made a policy

A

1958

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26
Q

examples of bad Lysenko schemes

A

1- killing sparrows by making noise so they could not rest in trees and died of exhaustion to prevent them eating crops, caterpillars just replaced them
2- plough peasants mud huts into the fields as they were made from animal dung. thousands lost their homes

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27
Q

when was there a great famine?

A

1958-62

great leap forward, second 5 year plan

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28
Q

when was the lushan conference

A

july 1959

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29
Q

what did peng dehuai do at the lushan conference

A

wrote letter outlining concerns which mao published and sacked him as a result, replacing him with lin biao

30
Q

how many died in the great famine (1958 - 62)

A

anywhere between 30-50 million

31
Q

effect of great famine (1958 - 62) on Tibet

A

1/4 population wiped out.

government worsened situation by making them plant unsuited crops, intended to destroy Tibetan identity

32
Q

effects of great famine (1958 - 62)

A

husbands sold wives, parents sold kids for food
prostitution and banditry reappeared
reports of cannibalism

33
Q

what did mao admit to his doctor

A

he had no idea how communes should work in practiced and blindly accepted lysenkoism

34
Q

reason for great famine (mao wanting too much reason)

A

mao wanted peasants to work on food production, backyard furnaces, water conservancy projects and engineering projectsat the same time. he also assumed communes would somehow increase the amount of grain being farmed

35
Q

reason for great famine (fear and peasants reason)

A

party cadres were too afraid of reporting failures due to climate of fear created from anti-rightist campaign
peasants were unmotivated because no matter how hard they worked there was the same amount of food in commune canteens

36
Q

reason for great famine (mao not giving a damn reason and evidence of this)

A

mao viewed peasants as expendable and valued convincing the world that Chinese-communism was a success was more valuable than their lives
evident as despite famine, china continued to export food

37
Q

what happened in 1960 that did not help the famine

A

there was a severe drought followed by severe flooding

38
Q

what did mao do in 1962 to help famine

A

asked president liu and general secretary deng to restore food production

39
Q

what did liu and deng do to restore food production

A

1962-65
encouraged restoring local markets
allowed peasants to have private plots
broke up communes
forced 25 million city dwellers to move to the countryside
imported grain from Canada, Australia and even USA

40
Q

when was grain harvest back to levels of 1957

A

1965.

imports from other countries remained into 1970s

41
Q

why wasn’t mao completely happy with deng and liu in agriculture

A

thought they were going to used their popularity to overthrow him

42
Q

when was the first 5 year plan

A

1953-57

43
Q

by 1951 what was the inflation rate

A

15%

vs 1000% in 1949

44
Q

when was the sino-soviet treaty and what did it do

A

1945
had soviet advisers help china run a communist country
over 10,000 technicians were sent from Russia but china had to pay their high wages

45
Q

how much did Russia lend china

A

$300 million but this loan had to be paid back with interest

46
Q

how were targets set in first 5 year plan (1953 - 57)

A

according to economic planners, not supply and demand. prioritised heavy industry and saw consumer goods as less important

47
Q

when did private ownership end

A

1956

48
Q

what was the annual growth rate during the first 5 year plan (1953 - 57)

A

9%

49
Q

how did city population increase during the first 5 year plan (1953 - 57)

A

57 million in cities in 1949

100 million by 1957

50
Q

successes of first 5 year plan (1953 - 57)

A

urban living standards improved in terms of job security and wages

51
Q

failures of first 5 year plan (1953 - 57)

A

city people unable to change job or travel
quantity over quality caused problems
exposed low literacy and skill levels of Chinese people (less than half kids under 16 where in full time education)
peasants suffered as food was given to cities and used to pay back russia

52
Q

when was the second 5 year plan

A

1958-62

53
Q

why did mao launch second plan without soviet model (1958 - 62)

A

wanted china to be on the Chinese road opposed to the soviet road
modernising agriculture would free up peasants fto work on industrial growth
mao was overconfident after collectivisation

54
Q

what was the organisational structure of the second plan (1958 - 62)

A

organisational details were left to initiative of local cadres
decentralised power and more freedom was given to local officials to harness the energy of the masses

55
Q

why were backyard furnaces introduced

A

started in 1958 (GLF) to meet increasing targets for steel

national movement of peasants melting down any metal they could find

56
Q

effects of the backyard furnaces

A

September 1958 14% of steel came from furnaces, by October 49% came from these furnaces
at peak estimated 1/4 of the population abandoned activities to get involved
schools shut so kids could keep furnaces going
large parts of woodland destroyed for fuel

57
Q

what was realised about furnaces and when that made them useless

A

spring 1959 realised temperature was not hot enough so none of the steel produced could be used as it was to brittle

58
Q

why was backyard furnace scheme not abandoned

A

to prevent them from losing face

59
Q

what were state owned enterprises?

A

all enterprises were nationalised. they had their wages, targets and prices set by the state. no incentive for people to work

60
Q

example of failed project of second 5 year plan

A

the three gate gorge dam. it had to be rebuilt within a year. such a failure that mao prevented foreign visitors from seeing it

61
Q

what was maos criteria for success of these projects

A

tonnage of soil moved

62
Q

example of successful project of second 5 year plan (1958-62)

A

Tiananmen square in Beijing

63
Q

failures of second 5 year plan (1958-62)

A

by 1962 producing 1/2 heavy industry goods and 3/4 light industry good of 1958
sacrificed quality for quantity damaged reputation of china as trader
inadequate planning as mao thought mass deployment of man power would make up for this

64
Q

was the second five year plan continued after the lushan conference

A

yes even though mao showed signs of moderating aspects. peng sacked for complaining so no one addressed failures

65
Q

when was the third five year plan

A

1962-65

66
Q

who were in charge of the third five year plan (1962 - 65)

A

deng Xiaoping and liu shaoqi

67
Q

what was done under third five year plan (1962 - 65)

A

communes broken up
power centralised with targets set and revised every year
inefficient projects from GLF shut down
set realistic targets for steel and coal
relaxed attacks on rightists

68
Q

what ‘success’ happened in 1964

A

china exploded their own atomic bomb

69
Q

what happened in the conference of January 1962

A

liu implied mao should take some blame for failures. dangerous but he knew he had the approval of the meeting.
mao took some blame as party secretary but refused to take nay personal blame. mao then withdrew from public life and left deng and liu in charge

70
Q

what did mao think of deng and lius reforms

A

welcomed successes but thought of it as dangerous revisionism

71
Q

how did reforms cause political power struggle?

A

mao wanted to continue revolution but deng and liu knew ideological concessions had to be made to restore economy. whilst they outwardly agreed with mao and criticised rural capitalism, they made no attempt to prevent farmers owning private plots of selling their produce for profit.

72
Q

when was the Sino-soviet split

A

1960