MAO AND CHINA: SECTION II THE INITIAL YEARS OF THE PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA (PRC) I.

Despite what many people think, Mao did not immediately implement a radical program of repression and reform as he came to power, instead, he acted cautiously for the first few years of the PRC. a. He allowed a number of non-communist political parties to exist It is also believed that all the peasant classes welcome Maos accession to power, but this too is not true. a. Mao had recognized several different levels of peasant stats: rich peasant, middle peasant and poor peasant. b. It was clear, that for Mao, the poor peasant were the group that was going to benefit from his plans c. The rich and middle peasants were uncertain of their futures ________________________________________________________________________ III. The Organic Law remained in force for about 5 years while a new constitution was being written. a. PRC was to be controlled through the Central Peoples Government Council (CPGC), which had the jurisdiction over the executive, judicial and administrate branches. b. Mao was the chairman, and six vice-chairmen and 56 other members were to be elected c. If CPGC wasnt in session then decisions would be made by a State Administrate Council (Subordinate to the CPGC) d. If neither body was in session, then decision-making would revert to Mao as Chairman of the state. China was also divided into six Great Administrate areas, each of which was comprised of several provinces, to help the government consolidate power over the state. a. Three Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) armies were sent to Tibet, Xinjiang and Guangzhou in 1950 to maintain control and ensure that government policies were followed through. b. At the same time the CPC, which had been reorganized in 1945, retained essentially the same structure. i. By 1949, 1% of the population were members (4.5 million people) c. There are 3 sections to CPC: i. The Politburo, the Secretariat and the Centariat and the Central Committee. ii. Mao was the chairman of all three Following the example of Lenin, Mao had introduced the policy of dictatorship of the proletariat in Lenins Bolshevik Russia, whereby an elite group led by a strong central figure would be entrusted with the control of the new state.

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MARRIAGE REFORM I. Maos Marriage Reform Law of 1950 a. This had a huge effect on the people of China, in particular the women b. For the first time, both genders were equal in a union, and both had agree to be married c. The elimination of arranged marriages had two benefits: i. First, Mao gained the support of many women, a group his opposition had entirely ignored during the civil war ii. Second, life was improved for large numbers of people within China. iii. People were now able to choose their own spouse, or even file for divorce. d. Other basic human rights were established: i. Women couldnt be sold into prostitution and unwanted female babies couldnt be disposed of ii. Foot binding was abolished iii. Later laws allowed women to own property and land, although this was a short-lived gain, as it would be soon be replaced by the collectivization polices of the First Five year Plan in 1953.

AGRARIAN REFORM II. Peasant associations, usually led by the poorest peasants, turned against their former landlords and in a series of struggle meetings or speak bitterness campaigns, thousands of landlords were forced to admit their crimes against the peasantry. a. Most always, these meetings ran out of control as old scores were settled and in mass hysteria landlords were beaten death or committed suicide b. It is estimated that more than five million landlords perished. For Mao these campaigns had two aims. a. On one hand, they fulfilled his promise of giving land to the poor peasants. b. On the other hand, the Agrarian Reform Law was a form of Rectification Campaign against the traditional powerbase of Chin and succeeded in elimination one section of the Chinese population that was likely to oppose Maos accession to power. By the end of 1952, the reforms were completed and 700 million mou had been distributed among 300 million peasants.

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WAR AND THE ANTIS MOVEMENTS I. China found itself involved with a war in Korea that had broken out in June 1950 when Kim Il Sung, North Korean leader, attacked South Korea. a. Mao was keen to avoid this war because funds that were essential to Chinas modernization programs had to be diverted into military expenditure. On the other hand, the Korean War gave Mao several advantages. a. First, it brought the new state together as people united against foreign encroachments.

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b. Second, after the PRC had successfully fought UN forces, which included the might of the US Army, to a standstill, the reputation of Chin globally and Mao personally increased. c. Third, it gave Mao an excuse to take action against elements of Chinese society that might have been opposed to Maos accession to power. Hence, the Korean War allowed Mao to carry out a series of Rectification Campaigns in the rest of China. a. The targets of these campaigns were lumped together under the title of reactionaries or counter-revolutionaries, terms that were vague enough to include a wide range of groups and potential opponents. Three Antis movement was directed against party members, government officials and business owners. a. This was followed in 1952 by the Five Antis movement, which targeted cheating on government contracts, stealing state economic information, tax evasion, theft of state property and bribery. b. Employees in private businesses were encouraged to denounce their bosses, who were then required to undertake a thought reform program to eliminate wrong thinking. The intellectuals were next in society to be targeted. a. Defined as the educated elements of Chinese society and included journalists, teachers, lawyers, writers, artists etc. b. Hence, they were part of the peasantry and hence, had been exposed to ideas that went against Maos socialist revolution. c. Since their knowledge wasnt related to manual labor; it came from books and therefore, to Mao, they lacked the credentials of true revolutionaries.

THE FIRST FIVE YEAR PLAN I. II. It was now time to launch a new phase of the land revolution. Mao had studied Stalins Five Year Plans in the Soviet Union and his move towards collectivization and industrialization and decided to implement the same sort of programs in china; though the nature of China in 1953 was very different than that of Soviet Russia in 1928. a. One problem was that the vast majority of the population in China was based in the countryside. b. Perhaps, Chinas use of the Soviet model was perhaps one way of emphasizing the non-Western nature of the new Chinese state. c. Maos main intention was to industrialize as rapidly as possible, and for this to work Soviet technical and financial aid was necessary. d. The aims were to double the amount the amount of industrial output and complete a socialist transformation of China as quickly as possible. e. The results were impressive, as most of the targets had been achieved by December 1956, but the successes were achieved at some cost to the people. i. All private businesses and commercial enterprises were nationalized under state control. ii. A total of 58.2% of government investment was to go to industrial development, but only 7.6% would go to agriculture.

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iii. This imbalance was to have a crucial effect on the relative productivity of both sectors. The land reform would take place in 3 phases: a. First phase: the introduction of mutual aid teams of between three and 30 persons, whereby small groups of peasants would work together on a small area of land. i. This idea was to introduce an economies of scale model whereby all of the told, labor and materials would be jointly owned and worked. b. The Second stage was the merging of these mutual-aid teams into larger cooperatives, working on the same principles whereby theoretically individual ownership was still retained but land would be pooled as well. i. The central committee was fully aware of the effects that Stalins dekulazization-Stalinist campaign against the better-off peasants and their families in the Soviet Union between 1929 and 1932-polcies had had upon the Soviet Union in his forced collectivization of agriculture in the 1930s. c. The final phase started in 1956, with the intention of creating Soviet-style collective farms in which the land was owned by the state and private ownership was almost completely eliminated. i. Although there was some minimal opposition to the change as some peasants immigrated to the cities, it went ahead with little resistance. ii. The amount of money that a peasant received was to be determined by the amount of labor that she\he contributed to the collective. While the First Five Year Plan was under way, Mao finally decided to introduce the new Chinese constitution in 1954, which formally centralized state control and replaced the 1949 Organic Law. a. A central committee controlled thee executive power chaired by Mao and five other chairmen. b. Democratic Centralism was still the basis of government, and Mao was clearly the undisputed leader of China as chairman of the NPC, the Central Committee and the Politburo. In early and mid-1950s, outside events had an effect on Maos thinking within China. a. Following the East German uprising in 1953, China attended a conference in Indonesia in 1955. b. Despite Mao having proclaimed that there would be no third way- a term describing the creation of a political ideology somewhere between the two superpowers in the Cold War-in 1950, at the end of the conference it was evident that China was seen by many Third World countries as the nation that could represent a non-aligned- an international organization of states considering themsleevs not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc-movement. 1956- Two crucial events were to determine the future direction of China. a. February 1956, at the 20th Party Plenum, Khrushchev launched his destalinization speech, attacking Stalin for his cult of personality and his crimes against the party.

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i. Seemed as though the USSR was changing direction ideologically, confirmed by its announcement off the policy of peaceful coexistence with the West, but implied a direct criticism of Maos style of leadership within the CPC. b. The second event was the sudden anti-Soviet uprisings in Poland and Hungary, which Mao took as indicating the loss of control that Moscow now had on its satellite states. i. Clear that open criticism against Moscow was a sign of reactionary movements within the communist bloc. April 1956- The Peoples Daily published an editorial on Khrushchevs speech. a. Admit that Stalin had made mistakes but the article also reinforced the importance of following the ;mass line and said that: Marxist-Leninists hold that leaders play a big role in history b. People and their parties need forerunners who are able to represent the interests and will of the people, stand in the forefront of their historic struggles and serve as their leaders. c. Message: Mao would never make the same sort of mistakes that Stalin made and Maos style of leadership was the means by which the transformation of China into a truly socialist state would occur.

THE HUNDRED FLOWERS CAMPAIGN AND THE ANTI-RIGHTIST MOVEMENT 1956-7 I. To let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend- speech to Politburo in 1956. a. To encourage debate in fields of art, literature and science b. To promote progress in these fields by allowing criticism and some freedom of expression, through which the clashing of new ideas would bring new improvements that would move China forward. c. Classic example of the Marxist dialectic- where one idea is met by an opposing idea and synthesis is produced which lies somewhere between the two opposing ideas-in action. Soon, thousands of articles appeared criticizing all manner of CPC actions. a. All over china criticism was levelled at individual members of the CPC, at CPC authoritarian attitudes, the economic situation and the poor standard of living on China, at corruption, at the closing off of China rom foreign contacts and at the extensive privileges party members were given. i. CPC horrified tat Mao would allow people outside the party to criticize members within it. ii. Mao and party shocked at the volume and nature of criticisms that followed and it was decided, after one month, to end the Hundred Flowers Campaign. Anti-Rightist Campaign led by Deng Xiaoping- that swung into action in July 1957. a. Hundreds of thousands of intellectuals were identified as rightists b. Party members committed suicide or were executed and millions of people sent into the countryside to learn from the peasants or were sent to labor camps i. The Anti-Rightist Movement taught China that criticism of the party, and particularly of Mao himself, was not permitted.

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THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD 1958-62 I. Success of the First Five Year Plan (FFYP) encouraged Mao to think about a second plan. a. Feeling that some peasants werent putting enough effort into the land revolution and were content to reap the benefits of collectivization b. After returning from Moscow in November 1957, Mao was convinced that the way forward was best achieved by a massive increase in steel production. c. By creating new and larger types of communes, through which industrial productivity could be increased, the nation would also move ideologically closer to his own goals of a socialist state. d. Chinas massive population would be directed into labor-intensive industries that did not need much capital investment. February 1958 Sixty Points on Working Methods, Mao initiated the next stage. a. A modification was to be achieved by a Great Leap Forward, which would merge together all of the collectives into even larger-scale Peoples Communes. b. End of 1958 almost all of the peasants had been merged into about 27,000 communes, each with approximately 5000 households. i. Abolished private ownership ii. Communes were like small towns: included small nurseries, banks, schools, care for the elderly, health care and communal kitchens. iii. The commune managed all the agricultural and industrial material and told that had formally belonged to the collectives. c. The communes were run in a military manner. i. Targets set by the state and not based on any economic principled and the projected figures were unrealistic. ii. Backyard furnaces were setup in every village to produce home-made steel and all metal tools and utensils were smelted down in order to make the new steel. iii. Problems was that the temperature of these backyard furnaces wasnt high enough to produce good-quality steel for industrial use, which could only come from traditional steel in production methods in large foundries. 1. More than a quarter of the steel produced in china in 1959 was unfit for industrial use. 2. Government announced that steel output had doubled in 1957 and wit this tremendous evidence of success there was no reason not to introduce even larger-scale communes. d. Progress was made but it was never going to be sustainable. i. Quality was sacrificed for quantity ii. Standards werent maintained and there wasnt any overview of the needs of the country iii. This situation resulted in shortages of some items and oversupply of others iv. Many of chinas forests were cut down to provide fuel for the backyard furnaces. e. Without an efficient infrastructure, china could not develop its industry at the rate needed for sustained economic growth. i. State demanded higher and higher steel quotas, which were unachievable.

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f. Creation of the peoples communes didnt have the effect on productivity that Mao expected. i. The impersonal nature of the communes contributed to a spiral of decline as the destruction of private ownership and the family meant that there was less enthusiasm among the people. ii. This led to large numbers of disaffected workers and the need for workers in the factories meant the mobilization of peasants into productionbrigades, resulting in many people being taken away from their fields to work in the communes or in factories, with terrible consequences for agriculture. In agriculture, the same failures were occurring. a. China tried to produce super-crops with high production yields. b. They attempted to produce higher yields of grain by deep-ploughingtechnique whereby a field is ploughed into deep triangular trenches with the aim of creating more grain per square meter- and close planting. i. Sometimes worker but usually they exhausted the soil and produced lower crop yields c. 1958- The harvest was high, producing about 200 million tons of grain, but the reported grain figures were said to be 375 million tons. i. The exaggerated reports by the cadres, who were afraid of reporting shortfalls in their grain quotas, led to a never-ending cycle that was bound to lead to disaster. ii. Local officials tried to reach for the moon and reported production figures that were inflated 1. They were afraid of being labelled as defeatists or counterrevolutionaries if they reported the real levels. d. The real disaster was that the state would then take their quota from the exaggerated figures, leaving the peasants with little or nothing to eat. i. Ironically, much of this grain was shipped to the USSR or N. Korea. By October 1958, it was apparent that that the Great Leap Forwards targets were unrealistic. a. Government reduced the steel and grain targets for 1959 i. But it was too little, too late b. Outcome was catastrophic, particularly when the three bad years of 1959-61 brought drought, floods and famine which worsened the plights of the peasants, who began to starve. i. Some villagers were forced into cannibalism and one family strangled and ate their 8-year-old daughter. ii. In Gansu, 1/3 of the people died iii. More than 50 million people died as a result of the Great leap Forward(GLP) Split was beginning to take place within the CPC that would result in Mao stepping down as head of state in 1959. a. At the Lushan Conference was convened in July 1959 to discuss developments in china since 1958- Peng Dehuai, explained what he saw at the province of Hunan and complained about the shortcomings of the GLF.

b. Mao took Pengs comments as a personal attack on himself and removed him from his post as Minister of Defense. c. He turned on the CPC and threatened to go to the countryside to lead the peasants to overthrow the government. TOWARDS THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION I. By 1961 relations between china and the Soviet Union had gone to the point of no return and the Sino-soviet split occurred. a. Partly due to ideological differences and partly due to the soviet removal of all its technicians and support personnel in 1960. b. China had supported Albania in its split from the Warsaw Pact and in October 1961, in Moscow, Khrushchev attacked both Stalin and Albania, leading Chinese representative, Zhou Enlai, to walk out of the conference. i. The 2 countries had finally broke contact and hence, china was isolated from the outside world. After the failures of the GLP, a new program was needed to unify the party and consolidate Maos position within it. a. Mao had stepped down as leader after the Wuhan Conference in 159 and was replaces by Liu Shaoqi. b. The Socialist Education Movement aimed at fostering the three isms of collectivism, patriotism and socialism. i. These were to be achieved by the Four Clean-ups focusing on politics, the economy, the organization of the CPC and ideology. At the same time, Mao consolidates his control over the army. a. Lin Biao was rising in importance within the party and had been appointed Minister of Defense, replacing Peng. b. He supported Mao and with Chen Boda in 1963, helped to compile the Little red Book. c. By 1965, the army had been turned into a propaganda organ, extolling Maos virtue and helping to create the cult of Mao. i. Lin abolished all ranks and insignia in the PLA and shifted its political stance further to the left. ii. He also took over control of public security iii. The split between Mao and the party was initiated by an attack from a relatively unknown writer, Yao Wenyuan. 1. He wrote an article on a play written by the Deputy Major of Beijing. 2. He play was an obvious attack on Mao and the article accused the deputy of ignoring the masses and attempting to subvert the socialist revolution. 3. This trivial affairs brought to light the divisions within the CPC. In May 1966, students at Beijing University rebelled against the university administration. a. Wall posters were put up attacking the Chinese educational system. b. Mao supported the students and promised wide-ranging changes

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c. Liu and Deng sent work teams into schools and universities to try to keep the students under control. d. During all of this time, Mao had remained in the background, but suddenly in July 1966 he reappeared in a carefully stage-managed event, swimming in the Yangtze River for over an hour. i. Message: Mao was alive and was going to return to the political scene and take control of events. e. Red Guards students wearing red armbands and carrying the Little red Book were to be formed as the vanguard who would carry out the Cultural Revolution. i. These Red Guards were assisted by the PLA, and followed the motto To rebel is justified. ii. They wrote wall posters, attacked private property and aimed at ridding China of al bourgeois practices. In the first stage of the GPCR, as Maos cult grew, millions of students rampaged across China. a. They caused allot of damage to churches, libraries, museums and temples, and effectively closed down schools and universities for months. The CPC was targeted by Jiang Qing and liu was dismissed from his post and put under house arrest. a. Liu finally died in prison in 199, having being labelled a counter-revolutionary revisionist and a reactionary bourgeois element By the end of 1966, Mao had begun to lose control of the situation as the Red guards split into factions and began to fight amongst each other. a. In January 196, workers in Shanghai overthrew the city government and even foreign embassies were attacked in scenes reminiscent of the boxer Rebellion in 1900. b. Eventually, in February 1967, Mao called upon the PLA to restore control. c. Major unrest continued throughout the year and finally, in September, Mao told the PLA to restore order using lethal force if necessary, as China was on the verge of civil war. Finally the Red Guards were brought under control but were replaced by the PLA who started their own campaign of terror, persecuting counter-revolutionaries all over China. a. This campaign lasted from 198 until 1971 and some historians think that almost as many people were killed by the PLA as were killed in the first phase of the Cultural Revolution. i. At the same time, millions of people (12 million) were sent into the countryside to learn from the peasants how to be revolutionary. Cost to china of the Cultural Revolution economically and socially was incalculable and up to 100 million people suffered as a result of it. a. Agriculturally and industrially, China suffered reversals that multiplied the failings of the GLP. b. Education was disrupted and many intellectuals, teachers and scientists were sent into the countryside, taking away from them any possibility of undertaking research.

THE AFTERMATH OF THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION I. Shortly before his death Mao said that he had achieved two great victories. a. The first was defeating the Japanese and Jiang Jieshi b. The second was the introduction of the Cultural Revolution which Mao thought was still unfinished. Opinions among historians differ a. One opinion is that Mao wanted to re-establish his position as leader of China after the failures of the GLP b. Others see him observing the direction that the Soviet Union was heading ideologically under Khrushchev, and fearing that China was going in the same direction, Mao felt the need to stabilize the socialist revolution. By 1971 the Cultural Revolution was beginning to wind down, although it would take a few years to finally come to an end. a. The re-establishment of a Young Communist League was intended to keep the youth of china under control. i. Lin and some members of the army hatched a plot to assassinate Mao ad take over the government. ii. Mao was informed and Lin fled for his life iii. However, heading for the Soviet Union, his plane crashed in September 1971, killing everyone onboard. iv. Mao was surprised by the betrayal of one of his closet supporters. b. Lins death had several consequences for China. i. Lin was identified as a traitor to China with the result that people in China started to lose faith in the CPC. ii. They asked themselves how someone who had been seen as Maos successor and one of the key supporters of the Cultural Revolution could now be seen as a capitalist-roader reactionary himself. iii. Another consequence of Lins downfall was the rehabilitation of Deng Xiaoping, who had been dismissed during the Cultural Revolution. c. Jian and the Gang of Four most radical revolutionary that wanted to continue the GPCR after Maos death, but were arrested by Maos successor- started a campaign to radicalize the Cultural Revolution that was eventually to lead to their arrest after Maos death in 1976.

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THE DEATH OF MAO ZEDONG I. Mao named an unknown member of the CPC, Hua Guofeng, the human Party Secretary, to be his successor. a. A power struggle between Hua and the gang of four erupted The Chinese believe that natural disasters signify the end of a dynasty. a. On 28 July, one of the worst earthquakes in the history of China happened in Hebei. b. The end of the dynasty came on 9 September 1976, when Mao died after a lengthy illness. c. He was mourned by the nation but there was no large display of spontaneous grief like for the death of Zhou.

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