Topic 2 - Agricultural and Industrial Change - Early Changes in Agriculture Flashcards
Attacks on Landlordism - What does communist theory argue?
Communist theory argues that socialism must transform the nation – capitalists exploit the working classes so the workers must seize power
Attacks on Landlordism - What was there not enough of in China and what did this lead to?
- In China there was not sufficient growth in industry for there to be masses amounts of workers
- This led to Mao developing an industrial sector
Attacks on Landlordism - What did Mao want from the peasants and what did he launch due to this?
- Mao wanted the peasants to become less traditional and conservative and to demand revolution – Mao was impressed by peasant support for revolutionary change
- Mao therefore launched Agrarian Land Reform in June 1950 which aimed to destroy the ‘gentry-landlord’ class
Attacks on Landlordism - What happened under Agrarian Land Reform? (4)
- Landlords who harmed the poor would have their property removed and many were killed
- Work teams made up of party cadres, gov officials and young people from the cities were trained and sent to the countryside to organise land reform
- Work teams organised peasants into Poor Peasant Associations to round up their landlords
- They would be subject a struggle meeting in front of the whole village where they would admit their ‘crimes’ as ‘class enemies’
The Redistribution of Land - What was the issue with land distribution pre 1951?
- Changing the distribution of land owners did not create the increase in production needed
- While landlords had been killed there were still richer peasants that had more land and capital than cheaper peasants
The Redistribution of Land - What did the CCP introduce to counter this and what did they hope not to emulate?
- In Dec 1951, the CCP introduced cooperative ownership of land
- Hoping to not emulate the USSR, the CCP tried a more moderate approach
The Redistribution of Land - What did cooperative ownership of land lead to a rise in, and what did this involve?
- Voluntary Mutual Aid Teams that already existed in some parts of the country grew across the whole nation
- Peasants pooled their resources together such as tools, ploughs and labour – animals were shared, as was knowledge and experience
The Redistribution of Land - What were MATs originally? (3)
- MATs were small in scale with mostly extended family and excluded richer peasants
- They were accepted due to them already being common practice in many villages
- MATs were particularly beneficial to the poorest peasants
The Redistribution of Land - How many peasants households belonged to an MAT by 1952?
By 1952 40% of all peasant households belonged to an MAT
Moves towards agricultural cooperation - Were MATs popular and what did leaders think of MATs?
MATs were pragmatic and popular but leaders felt that it was not communist enough and continued with existence of capitalist ideas such as buying and selling land
Moves towards agricultural cooperation - What did CCP leaders introduce to combat this and what did this involve? (4)
- To reduce this, the next step of collectivisation began in 1953 – Agricultural Producers Cooperatives
- Land was reorganised into a single unit and peasants were compensated using a points system
- Once the harvest was collected and the state had taken its share the peasants received money or grain as payment
- Decisions about the management of land was taken centrally by the local party but and was still privately owned
Moves towards agricultural cooperation - What was the situation in Dec 1955 and how did Mao feel about this?
- In Dec 1955 63.3% of peasant households were part of the APCs – 4% of these being higher level APCs made up of 200 to 300 households – sometimes these would make up the whole village
- Mao was greatly impressed by the enthusiasm of the peasants for agricultural cooperation – “we must guide the movement boldly”
The change from voluntary to enforced collectivisation - How many peasant households were in APCs and higher APCs by Jan 1956?
By Jan 1956, 80.3% of peasant households were in APCs with 30% being in higher level APCs
The change from voluntary to enforced collectivisation - How did the attitude towards APCs and APC members change in 1956?
- With this uptake in 1956, pragmatism was abandoned and private ownership was abolished
- Members of APCs would only be compensated for their labour – their land and equipment was simply taken by the state
The change from voluntary to enforced collectivisation - How did membership of APCs change by the end of 1956?
- Membership to collective farms was now compulsory except for very small plots
- At the end of 1956 88% of peasants were in higher level APCs
