2) Agriculture and Industry, 1949-65

Why did Agriculture matter so much to Mao and CCP

• To abolish private property.

• To feed urban workers and the PLA.

• To increase the CCP's control in the countryside.

• To increase peasant support for the revolution.

• To repay the heavy debts to the USSR.

• To fund industrialisation through grain sales.

• To transform China into a superpower

• To create a more communistic way of life.

When was the Agarian Reform Law launched?(Land to the Tiller)

June 1950

What was the aim of the Agarian Reform Law?

The aim was to replace exploitative landlords with peasant land ownership.

What were the problems with the Agarian Reform Law?

Problem 1 = Patterns of land ownership and use vary by region.

= The CCP was trying to impose a simplistic, rigid vision onto a complex reality.

Problem 2 = Land was organised by family clans, not by class

How did the Agarian Reform Law lead to the Attack on Landlords?

Traditional clan loyalties made it difficult to convince peasants to oppose local landlords or wealthier peasants.

Work teams of Party Cadres were sent to rural areas to organise reform and spread propaganda.

Organised peasantry into Poor Peasants’ Associations.

After classification, landlords were subjected to struggle meetings. (Red, White or Black types)

Campaigns helped spread class consciousness among peasants.

What was the impact of the Land Reform?

Summer 1952 - An estimated 88% of households had taken part.

43% of the land had been redistributed to 60% of the population.

During 1950-2, agricultural output increased by 15%.

An estimated 1-2 million landlords had been executed.

What were the Steps to gradual collectivisation, 1952-6?

1) Peasants Land Ownership, 1950-1

2) Mutual Aid Teams (MATS), 1952-3

3) Voluntary Agricultural Producers Cooperatives, 1953-5

4) Forced Agricultural Producers Cooperatives (APCs), 1955-6

What was the 1st stage of Collectivisation of Agriculture in China, 1952-6?

Peasant Land Ownership 1950-1.

= Poorer peasants thought they could now own their land.

= Yet the CCP wanted to create a socialist, communal agriculture which would aid industry.

What was the 2nd stage of Collectivisation of Agriculture in China, 1952-6?

Mutual Aid Teams (MATs) 1952-1

Voluntary teams in which peasants pooled resources such as tools and animals.

• Involved 10 households or fewer, excluding the richest peasants.

• By 1952, 40% of peasants’ households belonged to a MAT.

What was the 3rd stage of Collectivisation of Agriculture in China, 1952-6?

Voluntary Agricultural Producers Cooperatives (APC) 1953-5.

= Land would be shared. Land was reorganised as a single unit & peasants were compensated using point systems.

• Involved 30-50 households (3-5 MATs).

• 14% of peasants joined the new units.

What was the 4th stage of Collectivisation of Agriculture in China, 1952-6?

Forced APCs - The ‘socialist high tide’ 1955-6.

= Marked full-scale collectivisation of agriculture 1953-4: agri output had risen by less than 2%. July 1955 Mao demanded an increased pace of collectivization which was carried out by local party cadres.

• Higher-level APCs contained 200-300 households.

• End of 1956: 96% of peasants in APCs; 88% in higher ones.

When was the People’s Commune introduced?

1958

Commune Facts -

They enforced discipline through the commune militia.

They enforced production through production teams/platoons.

• 30,000 across China

• 99% of peasants were in communes

• 5,500 households in a commune

• 90% of women laboured in agriculture

• Communal mess halls, creches, and schools

Communes were ‘Walking on two legs’ (Industry and agriculture)

When was the Four Pest Campaign?

1958

What was the Four Pest Campaign 1958

Aims - To improve agricultural output by destroying sparrows, rats, flies and mosquitoes.

Methods - mass mobilisation

Outcomes - Killing sparrows simply helped a different pest, caterpillars.

When was Lysenkoism?

1958-

What was Lysenkoism 1958?

Aims - To improve agricultural output by following Pseudo- Scientists belief that production modifications could be inherited by the crops. (Close cropping)

Methods - Pseudo-Science and Ideology

Outcomes -Time was wasted and output failed to increase significantly.

When was the First Five-Year Plan in Industry?

1953 - 7

How did the USSR assist China during the First Five-Year Plan (1953-7)

‘The Soviet Union’s today is our tomorrow’

A trade embargo had been imposed on China by the Western powers due to China’s involvement in the Korean War.

China was no longer just leaning to one side; it heavily relied on the Soviet Union.

Sino-Soviet Mutual Assistance Treaty, Feb. 1950 - grain given to each other.

= The Soviet Union’s today is our tomorrow.

= Construction of 156 major industrial enterprises.

= 11,000 Soviet experts sent to China to teach engineering, etc.

= 28,000 Chinese technicians go to the Soviet Union to learn.

= Loan of $300 million over 5 years.

= Sino-Soviet split 1960s

How was Industry affected during the First Five-Year Plan?

35,000 new steelworkers at Anshan

Industrial output grew 15.5% per year

Heavy industry nearly tripled

Proletariat increased from 6m to 10m

How was Agriculture affected during the First Five-Year Plan?

The value of agricultural output decreased from 14.1% to 2.1%.

Farmers sold crops at low prices

Aim to produce 22m tons of grain at fixed (low) prices.

APCs and collectivisation developed at this time - impact.

How were Living Standards affected during the First Five-Year Plan?

Little is spent on healthcare (max = 2.6% of the budget).

Few consumer goods are available (retail firms have taken over)

Farmers reduced to subsistence levels (grain monopoly, 1953)

Urban workers: Job security and guaranteed work all year.

How were tge Power of CCP & PLA affected during the First Five-Year Plan?

Railway expansion = PLA movement

Private sector was abolished by 1956.

Household registration system, 1955.

Danwei (work units) controlled access to welfare.

When was the Second Five-Year Plan?

Great Leap Forward

1958 - 62

Why did Mao launch the Great Leap Forward?

He wanted to place China as the leading Communist Nation in Asia.

The Second Five-Year Plan, 1958-62

(Great Leap Forward)

Aimed to overtake Britain in 15 years.

‘East wind was prevailing over the west’

Irrigation Terracing helped make agri more fertile (S)

When the target for steel production was raised from 6m to 9m he wanted to Inc it further to 11m.

Anti-Rightist Campaign deprived the economy of experts so backyard steel furnaces yet most steel was useless.

200m tons of grain produced in 1958 fell to 147m in 1961.

270m tons of coal production in 1958 fell to 220m by 1962

death rate rose to 28,6m per 1000 when previously stood at 11

30-50 million died during the Great Famine of 1958-62 due to gov grain requisitions.

Due to mass starvation it affected industry which had fallen by 40% by 1962.

When was the Lushan Conference?

July 1959

What happened at the Lushan Conference?

The Minister of Defence, Peng Dehuai, voiced doubts about the reports of a record grain harvest.

This was written in a private letter to Mao, and he believed his status in the party would protect him from being tortured and imprisoned. - Sent to a bad area of Beijing

Mao announced a warning that if criticism continued, he threatened to overthrow the government by leading the peasantry and return to his life as a guerrilla fighter.

He replaced Peng with Lin Biao as Defence Minister and leader of the PLA

Admitted that backyard furnaces had been a ‘great catastrophe’ but encouraged other leaders to take the blame, yet the failure could never be ignored.

Criticism led to Mao chosing to retire from day-to-day politics

The Lushan Conference 1959 (GLF)

July 1959 Lushan confernce

The Military of Defence Peng Dehuai voiced doubts about the reports of record grain harvest.

This was written in a private letter and he believed his status in the party would protect him from being tortured and imprisoned. - Sent to a bad area of Beijing ,

Mao announced a warning that if criticism continued, he threatened to overthrow the government by leading the peasantry and return to his life as a guerrilla fighter.

Chose to retire from day-to-day politics

What were the reactions to the Great Leap Forward, 1962?

Mao Zedong -

‘The Chaos was on a grand scale, and I take responsibility.’

‘However, Successes outweighed failures by a ratio of 9 to 1’

Liu Shaoqi -

‘Natural disasters hits only one religion…man-made disasters…the whole country’

‘Problems were 30% natural disaster and 70% man-made.

Economic reforms of Deng and Liu 1962-5

Communes scaled back; peasants allowed to grow more on private plots.

Factors required to make a profit, not just run a communist line.

Deng = “It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white as long as it catches rats”

Light industry went up by 27% per year

Heavy industry grew by 17% per year

Experts and intellectuals were promoted, replacing low-level cadres.

Peasants were allowed to trade what they wanted on the free market.