China 2 : Agriculture and Industry

Agrarian Land Reform

1950

Led to different situations in north and south as they struggled to implant a coherent national policy

1-2 m landlords were executed after struggle meetings

88% of households were involved

43% of land was distributed to 60% of the population

Between 1950 and 1952- agricultural production was up by 15% pa

MATS

1951

10 households

Peasants pooled tools , labour , ploughs and animals

Often family groups

Only formalised exsisting arrangements

By 1952: 40% of people were in MATS

APCs

30-50 households

1953

Voluntary

Peasants compensated for land labour and tools through money or grain

14% of people joined and only 16.9m out of 110m were in APCs by 1955

Production only 2% pa

Some resistance from richer peasants

Higher APCs

1955

Disagreements between radicals and gradualists over the pace of collectivisation

Liu and Zhou were against Higher APCs

Mao and local cadres were in favour of higher APCs

200-300 households together

How many people were in APCs by Dec 1956

96%

No of people in higher APCs by Dec 1956

88%

How many people were a part of the People Communes?

740,000 APCs made up 26,000 communes - 99% of the population

When were the communes introduced?

1958

No of households in one commune

5000 households

Features of the people's communes

-Combined agricultural and industrial production

-Mess halls , dormitories, creches , schools and "happiness homes"

- Destroyed family life

Four Pests Campaign

- sparrows, rats ,flies and mosquitoes were killed

- led to an increase in caterpillars which destroyed crops

Effects of the four pests campaign were exacerbated by

Lysenkoism

Agricultural production - increase or decreased

Decreased because cadres lied about meeting targets and said that they had surpassed their targets

- Led to famine

When was the first 5 year plan

1952-1956

Focus and aim of first five year plan

heavy industry

self sufficiency

clear production targets were to be set and monitored by the party

Soviet support of China’s five year plans

the construction of 156 major industrial enterprises including 63 machinery plants- some were constructed in the USSR and shipped to China

industrial experts to supply the technical knowledge and experience of organising a centrally planned economy

provided a loan of $300 million US dollars over the next five years

Successes of the first five year plan

- 16% growth per annum

- industrial output grew by 15.5% each year

- Heavy industry output tripled

- Railway freight volume more than doubled-allowed raw materials, equipment and machines to be moved around the country

- industrial working class grew from 6m to 10m

- standard of living for workers improved- greater job security

- end to private industry- private firms converted into joint state-private ownership

- CCP control increased with greater urbanisation

Failures of the First 5 Year plan

- Dependent on loans from the USSR- had very high interest rates. Farmers forced to sell crops at artificially low prices

- Agriculture only grew by 2.1 %

- lack of consumer goods- little to buy in shops

- little investment in health and education- still a very low standard of living

Overall- first five year plan

Huge success for the regime in transforming the economic situation at the end of the Civil War. Party also established greater control over the population- so could be considered an ideological success too

For the ordinary people however: living standards improved at the cost of personal freedoms. Also: Plan could only succeed if food prices were kept low so they received little benefit from their hard work.

When was the Second Five Year Plan?

- 1958 - 1962

- Great Leap Forward

- Walking on two legs- wanted to improve both agricultural production and industrial output simultaneously

- Mass participation- local people would be self sufficient and organise their own economic production

Why did Mao launch the Great Leap forward?

Mao wanted to place China as the leading communist nation in Asia.

Wanted to achieve ‘Walking on Two Legs’ which increased both agricultural and industrial production at the same time

Believed that the sheer will of the people would be enough to overcome all technological obstacles

Successes of the Second FYP?

- Irrigation systems helped make agricultural land more fertile

- Tiananmenn Square remodelled into a more urban space

- Ideologically Socialist System- people in communes was close to a communistic model of society

Failures of the second five-year plan

Extremely high targets- created an atmosphere of competition. Officials set very high targets to please Mao

Closure of factories

Backyard furnaces - steel was useless. So many people working in these backyard furnaces meant that the economy broke down and food was left to rot in the fields

Industrial production fell 40%

loss of soviet experts because of Anti - Rightist campaigns. Meant that there were no intellectuals left to offer or willing to offer advice about Mao’s overconfident in his policies

Economic results of the Great Leap Forward

1957- 185 million tonnes of grain were produced

1961- 147.50 million tonnes of grain were produced

1958- 138.29 million pigs

1961- 75.50 million pigs

When was the Great Famine

1959-1962

How many people died in the Great Famine?

30 million people died

How did the Great Famine begin?

Fearful of being labelled as ‘rightist’ cadres presented greatly over-exaggerated targets to higher Part officials. These officials responded by demanding even greater results

Demands for food to be given to the government increased, even as agricultural production dropped. Such were the demands the orders were given to leave farmland fallow because the storage facilities would not be able to contain it. Grain was even sent to fellow communists such as North Korea and North Vietnam as a free gift

Life during the Great Famine

28.68 death rate per 1000 inhabitants

Henan- 7.8 million people died

Tibet- 1 million died- greatest amount by proportion of the population. Regime deliberately took more grain away from the Tibetans- Buddhists who the communists did not trust

Birth rates dropped. Many succumbed to disease. Children and the elderly were particularly vulnerable. Many women resorted to prostitution in order to survive.

Estimated that between 30 to 50 million people died

What made the Great Famine worse ?

Typhoons and Droughts

More than 60% of cultivated land was affected by either flood or drought

Lushun Conference

- July 1959

- Peng Dehuai raised concerns about the reports of grain harvests

- Exiled and forced to leave his home

- Missed opportunity

When did Mao resign as Head of State?

1958

- Still chairman of the CCP

Liu Shaoqi

1962

Replaced Mao as the head of the state

Admitted that the famine was man made

3rd FYP

- Designed by Chen Yun

- Promotion of experts and reduced the role of the lower level cadres

Features of the 3rd 5YP

- Communes scaled back

- Private plots were allowed

- Aid sent from cities

- 1965 : production was back to 1957 levels

Consequences of 3rd 5YP

- Production used to support agriculture : main profitability in Industry

- Light industry grew 27%

- Heavy industry grew 17%

- Consumer goods - double that of 1957 level