Unit 2: Agriculture & Industry

Question 1

Why was it important for Mao that agriculture increased its output? Think about both economic and ideological reasons. (Launching the Agrarian Land Reform)

Answer 1

• The economy was dependent on agriculture
• Mao wanted China to be seen as a modern superpower (Agriculture would help with this)
• Mao believed modern industry was necessary to create truly socialist nation (agriculture would help to feed workers in urban areas to achieve this)

Question 2

What was the main aim of the Agrarian Reform Law? Think about both economic and political aims.

Answer 2

• To destroy the ‘gentry-landlord’ class who had been the traditional rural elite
• Increase support from China’s largest group (Poor peasants in rural areas)
• Increase agricultural production

Question 3

What is meant by ‘land to the tiller’?

Answer 3

Land for peasants who worked on it.

Question 4

What were some of the problems implementing Agrarian Reform law?

Answer 4

• In the south, where the GMD had retained control before escaping to Taiwan, land reform had not started due to the CCP organisation being weaker and landlords being more influential.
• Often land ownership and agricultural production was organised by clans which included members of many classes. The communist language of ‘class conflict’ and ‘feudal exploitation’ by greedy landlords meant nothing
• A large number of clans were based on family ties and kinship relationships. Some peasants were not convinced of the need to seize land from their family in the clan and certainly did not seek their death.

Question 5

How was the Agrarian Land reform introduced? What was the role of party cadres? What were struggle meetings? When was it complete?

Answer 5

• Party work teams would drag several landlords before struggle meetings where they were denounced publicly
• Public executions of landlords were held
• Teams of 30-40 cadres working with local peasants’ associations fanned out across the country side to carry out the process of land reform and the revolution
• The mobilised population of peasants would help to run the initiative by themselves
• Confiscation and redistribution and violence were used.
• Process completed by the summer of 1952.

Question 6

What was the impact of the Agrarian Land reform law on the rural population? What was the impact on the landlord class?

Answer 6

• 88% of households had taken part, with 43% of the land redistributed to 60% of the population
• Rural production boomed between 1950-52 (increased 15% per annum as a result)
• The gentry-landlord had been destroyed (1-2 million landlords executed)

Question 7

When did Mao start to introduce MATs (Mutual Aid Teams)?

Answer 7

1951

Question 8

Why were MATs introduced? Think about both economic and ideological reasons.

Answer 8

• To increase agricultural production

- To lead China into a socialist economy

Question 9

How did MATs work? How many families were included?

Answer 9

• 10 or fewer households
• Families pooled together resources
• Rich peasants were not allowed to participate

Question 10

How did peasants feel about MATs?

Answer 10

They were enthusiastically accepted because the mostly mirrored an already common practice in many villages where peasants helped each other for the benefit of the community.

Question 11

How widespread did MATs become? Include some data.

Answer 11

By 1952, 40% of all peasant households belonged to a MAT.

Question 12

When did Mao introduce APCs?

Answer 12

1953

Question 13

Why were APCs introduced? What were the economic reasons? What were the political reasons?

Answer 13

To reduce economic freedoms (buying/selling land, hiring labourers, lending money)

Question 14

What was the difference between an APC and a ‘higher’ APC?

Answer 14

• APCs consisted of 30-50 households

- Higher APCs consisted of 200-300 households

Question 15

How did peasants feel about APCs?

Answer 15

They weren’t as popular as MATS as peasants did not want to share their newly acquired land.

Question 16

How widespread did APCs become? Include some data.

Answer 16

• By June 1955 there were only 16.9million households in APCs out of a total of 110million
• By December 1955 63.3% households were in APCs with 4% being in higher APCs
• By January 1956 80.3% households were in APCs with 30.7% being higher level APCs

Question 17

Why were party cadres enthusiastic about collectivisation? Think about both ideological and practical reasons.

Answer 17

They could extract more grain from collectivised communities and they also gained power through collectivisation.

Question 18

When did collectivisation become compulsory?

Answer 18

When Mao banned private farming and land and equipment were taken over by the state

Question 19

How did communes differ in size from APCs and MATs?

Answer 19

Communes were much large consisting of 5500 households.

Question 20

What was the name of the first commune?

Answer 20

Sputnik

Question 21

What was the debate within the CCP about the pace of change towards collectivisation? What was Mao’s opinion? What was the opinion of Liu Shaoqi and other ‘gradualists’?

Answer 21

• The debate was over collectivisation in China and the pace in which it was taking place
• Mao believed that collectivisation was a key step in furthering the revolutionary process
• Gradualists believed that China was not ready for large-scale collectivisation

Question 22

What was the ideological vision for life on communes?

Answer 22

Mao believed the communes moved life in china closer to the vision of a perfect communist society

Question 23

How was industrial and agricultural work to be organised on communes? What were the advantages of this?

Answer 23

Industry and agriculture could now be developed simultaneously. Industry became more self-reliant

Question 24

How was eating to be organised? What were the advantages of this system?

Answer 24

Mess halls enabled communal eating. The theory was that this would develop revolutionary fervour

Question 25

How was childcare to be organised? What were the advantages of this?

Answer 25

Creches and boarding schools would be provided. Women no longer had to look after their children as they were now working in the fields and factories with men.

Question 26

How was life organised for grandparents? What were the advantages of this?

Answer 26

Grandparents no longer had to look after their grand children and could now spend time with other elderly people in ‘happiness homes’

Question 27

What were the ‘militia’? Who became members? How did they enforce commune rules? What was the impact of these militias for peasants living on communes? (Reality of Communes)

Answer 27

The militia consisted of all able-bodied citizens between 15-50 years of age. They served as a police force to enforce the rules of the commune - they prevented people from taking too much food from canteens and punished those who did not work hard enough.

Question 28

What was the impact of eating in canteens on family life? What was the quality of the food like? (Reality of Communes)

Answer 28

They devastated family life. Parents lost influence in raising their children.

Question 29

What was the impact of ‘happiness homes’ on the elderly?

Answer 29

They were isolated from their relatives.

Question 30

What was the impact of the kindergartens on children and family life?

Answer 30

Children barely saw their parents.

Question 31

What types of work were women expected to do?

Answer 31

They were expected to carry out harsh physical labour that had previously been the work of men.

Question 32

What types of abuse were inflicted on women by party cadres? Give some examples.

Answer 32

• Sexually abused by Party Cadres + discrimination against women. Women who refused to work were forced to undress. Break ice in the middle of winter.
• Human local factory bosses forced females to work naked. Received less “work points” regardless of productivity.
• Many beaten
• In Zhejiang, women accused of crimes were forced to parade through the village naked.
• Overall, life has not improved for women.

Question 33

How were women treated when food ran low on the communes?

Answer 33

Men were given priority when allocating food in the communes because they were seen as more productive.

Led to trading sex for food (prostitution)

Question 34

What were the aims of the First Five Year Plan? Think about industrial and agricultural output, as well as ideological and international aims.

Answer 34

• High rates of industrial growth
• Investment in advanced technology
• Construction of modern industrial plants
• Self sufficiency for China
• High levels of grain procurement
• To move further towards a socialist society

Question 35

What were Mao’s political and economic reasons for launching the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 35

Mao wanted to follow what the USSR were doing with the centralisation of heavy industry. Mao stated that ‘The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is our best teacher and we must learn from it.’ The decision to follow the Soviet Union was also practical as the Soviet Union was China’s only major ally. China also was reliant on the Soviet Union for economic aid.

Question 36

How did the USSR support the First Five Year Plan? Find two examples.

Answer 36

• USSR constructed/reconstructed 156 major industrial enterprises, including seven iron and steel plants, 24 electric power stations and 63 machinery plants
• Supplied industrial experts to aid with their technical knowledge and experience of organising a centrally planned economy that the Chinese lacked; 11,000 Soviet and eastern European industrial experts were sent to China

Question 37

What was the annual growth rate for the First Five Year Plan? What was the industrial growth rate?
(Successes)

Answer 37

The annual growth rate averaged 16%

Industrial output grew 15.5% per year, outstripping the target of 14.7%

Question 38

Which industrial product was the most successful during the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 38

Bicycles

Question 39

How much did the industrial working class grow by because of the First Five Year Plan? How did their standard of living improve?

Answer 39

Industrial working class grew from 6 million to 10 million. They had greater job security. Work was guaranteed all year around.

Question 40

How did the organisation of industry under the First Five Year Plan help support the CCP’s ideological vision?

Answer 40

They could now heighten their influence over the population. The large industrial plants could be organised on socialist lines. Workers were completely controlled by the party.

Question 41

Why was dependency on USSR loans a concern?

Failures of First Five Year Plan

Answer 41

• There were very high interest rates
• They were forced to sell their crops to the state for low prices
• Peasantry could barely survive at subsistence level

Question 42

What was the annual agricultural growth rate? Why was this a concern? (Failures of First Five Year Plan)

Answer 42

It grew only an average of 2.1% per year, a sharp decline from the rate of 14.1% achieved during 1949-52. There was not enough food being produced to feed people in the cities

Question 43

What skills did China still lack? (Failures of First Five Year Plan)

Answer 43

Organisational and management skills

Question 44

What was the standard of living like for peasants? How were the lives of urban workers restricted? (Failures of First Five Year Plan)

Answer 44

Healthcare and education systems were barely invested in. Living conditions were poor, especially for peasants.

Question 45

What were the aims of the Second Five Year Plan? Think political, economic (industry and agriculture), and social.

Answer 45

• Mao was eager to transform China into a great economic power
• Mao wanted to achieve what was termed as ‘walking on two legs’; increasing both agriculture and industrial production at the same time
• Overtake Britain and USA in 15 years
• Reputation of China
• To achieve economic independence

Question 46

What is meant by ‘walking on two legs’?

Answer 46

Increasing both agriculture and industrial production at the same time.

Question 47

Why did Mao launch the Second Five Year Plan? Consider: The de-Stalinization speech, the success of the First Five Year plan, confidence due to the launch of Sputnik, belief in mass mobilisation.

Answer 47

• Mao was optimistic as industrial production increased by 18.3%. This success convinced him that great improvements could be made to agriculture
• Khrushchev announced that the USSR would overtake the US in industrial production by 1980. Mao didn’t want to be outdone by the USSR, explaining the launch of the Second Five Year Plan

Question 48

What were the successes of the Second Five Year Plan?

Answer 48

Land became more fertile due to massive irrigation terracing
Construction projects were successful; Tiananmen Square was remodelled into a modern urban space

Question 49

What is some data that illustrates the disastrous agricultural and industrial output of the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 49

• Grain output of rice fell from 86.80 million metric tons in 1957 to 53.60 million metric tons in 1961
• Grain output of wheat fell from 23.60 million metric tons in 1957 to 14.25 million metric tons in 1961
• Industrial output fell from 121 billion yuan in 1958 to 94 billion yuan in 1962

Question 50

How many died in the famine? Which region was hit the worst?

Answer 50

• Around 30 million

- Anhui, Henan, Sichuan were a few regions that were hit the worst

Question 51

How many died in the famine? Which region was hit the worst?

Answer 51

• Around 30 million

- Anhui, Henan, Sichuan were a few regions that were hit the worst

Question 52

What are things that those who were starving did to try to get food?

Answer 52

• Launch attacks on grain reserves
• Scavenging for tree bark to make ‘porridge’ or grinding leaves for ‘flour’
• Scoured communes for rats
• Ate frogs, toads or worms
• Cannibalism took place
• Some men sold their wives into prostitution for money
• Peasant migrants swelled the overcrowded cities.

Question 53

How did the weather cause the great famine?

Answer 53

Typhoons caused flooding in South China while drought reduced the flow of the Yellow River by ⅔. 8 out of 12 main rivers in Shangdong dried up. More than 60% of cultivated land was affected by either flood or drought and 2 million died through drowning or from starvation when their crops were destroyed.

Question 54

How did cause Lack of Experts/Anti-Rightist Campaign/ Lysenko’s methods the great famine?

Answer 54

Mao dismissive of experts, The Anti-Rightist Campaign of 1957 had purged many crucial experts, particularly statisticians who could have analysed production figures more accurately. Lysenkoism: Effects of four pests campaign (killing sparrows) due to the decision to follow ideas of Trofin Lysenko. He manipulated his research in order to gain political influence in Soviet Union and encouraged the purging of scientists who disagreed with him. Soviet propaganda that declared Lysenko a genius so Mao named his doctrine Lysenkoism, to be an official agricultural policy. Waste of time and labour caused by backyard furnaces led to the melting down of farming implements and left the peasants with too few farming tools and a drop in agricultural production.

Question 55

How did the Sino-Soviet split 1960/ grain requisitioning cause the great famine?

Answer 55

Led to the withdrawal of experts and loans. These loans still had to be paid back, leading to the requisitioning of grain. $10 billion in debt to the USSR.

Question 56

How did the exaggeration / over-ambition of party cadres cause the great famine?

Answer 56

Mao tried to develop the commune system at the same time as launching the Second Five Year Plan and mobilising the masses to work on engineering projects. Not possible to allocate manpower efficiently enough to increase food production levels. Communication systems were too poorly developed to transport food. Blind faith, had no idea how it was supposed to work.

Question 57

How did the demotivation of peasants / life on communes cause the great famine?

Answer 57

Peasants lost their property and there was a lack of incentive as they knew, no matter how hard they worked their reward would be minimal. Most of their grain was taken from them and the policies were disregarding their skill so their effort naturally declined. A frequent phrase, “Like beating a drum with a cucumber” as the harder you beat, the less sound it made. Fearful that they would be dismissed from their posts and put their quotas up. Communes had competing demands placed on them, taking them away from the fields, such as military training and firing the backyard furnaces.

Question 58

How did Mao’s belief that the “ends justifies the means” cause the great famine?

Answer 58

More interested in ideological aims than sound economics. Industrialising China rapidly and convincing the world that Chinese communism was a success was more important than the lives of a million of peasants. He was prepared for China to suffer any amount of sacrifice to become a world economic power (shortfall of population would be made up). Continued to export food during the famine. Zhou Enlai urged people to consume less.

Question 59

How far was Mao responsible for the Great Famine?

Who/what else could be blamed?

Answer 59

Highly responsible

The System, Party Cadres, The Weather, Debts of the USSR.

Question 60

How did Peng Dehuai voice doubts about the Second Five Year Plan during the Lushan Conference?

Answer 60

He wrote a private letter to Mao in which he raised the issue of exaggerated reporting. He believed that his status in the party would protect him. He had long been a close colleague of Mao’s, a brilliant military leader, a hero of the struggle against the nationalists and of the Korean War.

Question 61

How did Mao respond to Peng? What did he accuse him of?

Answer 61

Accused Peng of forming a “right wing opportunist clique” and of passing negative reports about the communes to the Soviets that had led Khrushchev to publicly ridicule anyone who advocated communes as having a poor understanding of what communism is.

Question 62

What were the implications for Peng?

Answer 62

Stripped of ministerial position and barred from Politburo. Forced to leave his home and live in a run-down area of Beijing where he spent his time gardening until he was murdered during the cultural revolution.

Question 63

Who replaced Peng?

Answer 63

Lin Biao.

Question 64

What was the political impact of Peng’s situation for the party, and ultimately for the country?

Answer 64

Made everyone fear criticising Mao and made the party less likely to go against Mao, in fear of being purged.

Question 65

How far did Mao accept responsibility for the Great Famine?

Answer 65

He accepted partial responsibility and admitted that backyard furnaces had been a “catastrophe” but encouraged other leaders also to take blame.

Question 66

Which position did Mao keep after withdrawing from politics?

Answer 66

Party chairman

Question 67

Who replaced Mao as Head of State? Who replaced Mao as General Secretary of the Party?

Answer 67

Liu Shaoqi - Head of state

Deng Xiaoping - General Secretary

Question 68

What did Liu Shaoqi say in his speech to 7000 Party cadres in 1962?

Answer 68

• Dismissed Mao’s claim that successes outweighed failures by 9 to 1
• Rejected his argument that weather conditions were main reason for failure of GLF
• Announced that the problems were 30% natural disasters, 70% man-made disasters

Question 69

What were the policies of the Third Five Year Plan? (Communes)

Answer 69

Communes scaled back in favour of greater freedoms for peasants to produce what they wanted on small private plots, although peasants still had to meet food quotas to give to the state

Question 70

What were the policies of the Third Five Year Plan? (Trade)

Answer 70

Allowed to trade on free market.

Question 71

What were the policies of the Third Five Year Plan? (unclaimed land)

Answer 71

Allowed to claim and cultivate any unclaimed land.

Question 72

What were the policies of the Third Five Year Plan? (Aid to rural areas)

Answer 72

Emergency aid was sent from the factories in the cities to rural areas

Question 73

What were the policies of the Third Five Year Plan? (Industry)

Answer 73

• In industry, profitability was emphasised

- Industrial production changed to support agriculture

Question 74

What were the policies of the Third Five Year Plan? (Who was promoted, who was downgraded?)

Answer 74

Role of low-level rural cadres was downgraded in contrast to urban managers, and provincial and regional party bosses.

Question 75

What were the policies of the Third Five Year Plan? (Experts)

Answer 75

Those who possessed technical knowledge or administrative expertise to organise an efficient economy were promoted.

Experts, intellectuals and party bureaucrats had been purged or ignored because of Mao’s trust in the power of the masses.

Question 76

What were the policies of the Third Five Year Plan? (Managers)

Answer 76

Managers were given more control over the state-owned enterprises. The production targets set now had a focus on making sure factories were profitable.

Question 77

What were the policies of the Third Five Year Plan? (Prisoners)

Answer 77

Prisoners in labour camps were put to work making cooking utensils to place the ones melted in the backyard furnaces

Question 78

What were the policies of the Third Five Year Plan? (Urban and Rural)

Answer 78

Urban party cadres were sent to the countryside to replace Maoist local rural cadres.

Question 79

How successful was the Third Five Year Plan? Find some data to support this.

Answer 79

By 1965, agricultural production had recovered from the GLF back to the same level as 1957

Private plots provided improved incentives to work harder. By the mid-1960s, private production accounted for approximately one third of peasants incomes

By end of 1962, availability of tools, boats and carts resorted to same level they had been pre-communes

Light industry was growing at a rate of 27% and heavy industry by 17%

Production of consumer goods was double the 1957 level