China in 1949

What happened before 1949?

• Qing dynasty (1644-1911)

• Sun Yat-sen and Yuan Shikai

• Warlords

• United Front (1924-27)

• Nanking decade (1927-37)

• Long March (1934) - Jiangxi to Yanan

• War with Japanese (1937-45)

• Second United Front

• Civil War (1946-49)

• GMD flee to Taiwan (Dec 1949)

Aftermath of the Civil War

Support for CCP

• End of conflict = support for communists

• Extended areas of control + proved communists capable at effective organisation = optimism in 1949

• Mao emphasised creating Communist society was long term + willing to work with all groups in China’s interest = non communists believed life would be tolerable + role in rebuilding China → Communists preferable to fleeing to Taiwan

• Communists cultivated peasant support by treating peasants fairly + organising land redistribution in areas under control = attracted large amounts of peasant support (majority population)

• Harbin in northern Manchuria only city under Communist control + first experience administering a large urban area = applied lessons elsewhere showed capability handling urban and rural areas

Mao’s position

• Reputation a military commander + successful transition from guerrilla to open warfare = strengthened Mao’s position at top of Party

• PLA devoted to Mao

Removal of opponents

• Learnt from Chang Kai-Shek who was weakened by presence of different factions in his party = Mao created centralised, hierarchical political system reinforced by military power

IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH PROMISING FOR CCP

State of industry, agriculture and national infrastructure - immediate impact

Industry:

• Economy crippled by 12 years of war - by 1936 recovering from Great Depression (1929) BUT Japanese invasion set back

• Japanese seized most productive areas = industrial output dropped

• Japanese bombing raids damaged Chinese industries + scorched earth tactics = productive capacity fell

• By 1945, China’s industrial output only 25% of pre-war level

• Russia declared war on Japan (1945) = seized many industrial assets in China

Agriculture:

• Conscription of peasants + displacement of people fleeing inland = disruption to agriculture

• By 1945, food production 30% lower than pre-war = famine (2-3m died in Henan)

• Food requisitioning to feed army and cities = 20% of population lived in cities & depended on surpluses from countryside which was starving

Finances:

• GMD paid for war by borrowing and printing money = hyperinflation by 1945 + inflation rate 1000% in 1949

• GMD took China’s foreign currency reserves (gold) to Taiwan

DIRE SITUATION FOR CHINA SHORT TERM

State of industry, agriculture and national infrastructure - long term situation

Agriculture:

• Predominantly agricultural (mainly rice, wheat and oilseed)

• Farming methods labour intensive, basic mechanisation and reliant on horse and manpower

• Majority of population lived in rural areas = food supplies adequate provided no natural disasters

• Great Depression caused food prices to drop as gov usually exported food for foreign currency = agriculture developing slowly under GMD

• Only 15% of land cultivatable = limited scope for increasing agricultural output → needed to modernise and be more productive

• More people moving to cities by 1949 = increasing demand for food

• Total population growing annually (increased by 46m from 1949-53) despite 20m lives lost in war

Industry:

• No industrial revolution (poor communications infrastructure and lack of technical knowledge) = lack of industrial development

• Most advanced industrial areas in Manchuria occupied by Japanese since 1931 then seized by Soviet Union in 1945

• Chang Kai-shek set up National Resources Committee (NRC) in 1932 = investment into industries elsewhere

• By 1945, 70% of industry state owned + NRC 30,000 technical experts supervised 250,000 workforce = remained nationalised after 1945 and workers worked for Communists

• Long term underinvestment and under-skilled workforce = needed state to impose industrialisation and make agriculture more productive to feed workers

Infrastructure:

• New gov needed to restore and modernise rail, road and telephone links urgently

• In 1949, only Manchuria, centres of east coast and lower Yangtze had transportation communications

• Mao experimented with radio in Yanan + installed state radio station in Beijing

MAJOR MODERNISATION AND CHANGES NEEDED

Role of CCP

• October 1949 PRC declared

• Communists collaborated with other groups opposed to GMD = split nationalist opposition and new regime appeared widely popular

• Temporary bodies set up to run the country + provisional constitution adopted (until 1954) = immediately clear Communist Party would lead government and would be based on continuing partnership with PLA

• Gov control of press normal by 1949 (Xinhua = gov controlled press agency) = ensured mass circulation of daily newspapers favoured gov policies and party initiatives

• Leading CCP officials always held key posts in state and the army (e.g. Zhou Enlai premier of state council from 1949 until death 1976 + Peng Dehuai was minister for defence and commander-in-chief of PLA

• Mao retained position as Chairman of the Party after stepping down as head of state in 1958 = real power lay in the Party

• Party headquarters in Beijing located in Zhongnanhai (former municipal government buildings in Tiananmen Square)

• Party membership restricted to those who proved commitment and ideological correctness - from 4.5m Party members out of ~500m in October 1949 to 5.8m by end of 1950

• Trained Party members (cadres) monitored running of civil service, legal system, schools and army at local level

• Mass participation in Party encouraged - Youth League (9m by 1953) + Women’s Federation (76m members) + peasant participation in land reform campaign + students participation in CR = ordinary people identified with Party causes

• Every employed citizen belonged to danwei (work unit) led by Party cadre - issued permits for travel, marry and change jobs

Role of government

• September 1949 CCP organised Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)

  • Invited 14 other parties in continuation of old United Front approach - 600 delegates = broader appearance and greater legitimacy

  • Acted as provisional Parliament until 1954 - appointed Central People’s Government (AKA State Council)

  • Passed essential legislation - Common Program (temporary constitution)

  • Decided state symbols - flag, national anthem, calendar and capital city

• Common Program

  • Declared China transformed into new society based on alliance between workers and peasants - represented by Communist Party

  • Guaranteed wide range of personal freedoms - gender equality

  • Gave army and police rights to suppress of all counter revolutionary activity

• Transitional period of co-operation between working class and capitalist elements

  • Mao’s speech ‘On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship’ identified 4 classes allowed rights and the ‘five black categories’ to be repressed = NEW DEMOCRACY (AKA Democratic Centralism

• Democratic Centralism

  • Central government rubber stamped proposals by Politburo

  • CPPCC drafted future constitution and acted as legislature

  • China divided into 6 regions (bureaux) = decisions at national level imposed at regional level

  • Creation of regional congresses = appearance of Beijing listening

  • Four senior Communist officials in each region (military commander, army political commissar, government chairman + Party Secretary!) = highly concentrated power structure

  • Bureau of Manchuria - Gao Gang held all 4 positions

  • Deng Xiaoping, Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai all held multiple posts

Role of bureaucracy

• 1954 constitution

  • Confirmed China as Communist country

  • Based on 1936 Soviet Russian Constitution

  • National People’s Congress created = new legislature

  • State Council replaced Central People’s Government

  • Real power remained at the highest Party bodies (e.g. Politburo)

  • 6 regions divided into 21 provinces, 5 autonomous border regions & 2 urban centres (Beijing and Shanghai)

  • Constitution modified in 1975 = basically the same as 1954

• Increasing bureaucracy

  • 1949-59, state officials increased from 720,000 to 8m

  • Increased power of central government

  • Mao feared growth of bureaucracy slowing pace of revolution = Mao blamed bureaucratisation of the revolution as problem in Soviet Russia

• Interrelationship between state, party and army

State:

N - National People’s Congress and CPPCC / State Council / Ministries and other agencies

P - People’s congresses and government

L - People’s congresses and councils at county, municipal and village level

Party:
N - Standing Committee / Politburo / Central Committee / Military Affairs Committee

P - Party Secretary / Party committee

L - Local party committees / Branches in workplaces, schools, shops

Army:
N - National Defence Council / General Staff

P - Military Commissar / Political Commissar

L - Military Commissars / Political Commissars / CP branches in PLA units

Role of the PLA

• PLA mythology after defeating Japanese and GMD - epitomise revolutionary vales of discipline, self-sacrifice and perseverance

• World’s largest army (5m men in 1950) and over 40% of state budget

• Cost and use of manpower → reduced to 3.5m men by 1954 and 2.5m by 1957 = ensured Party holding control of PLA

• Supervised by minister of defence Peng Dehuai

• Smaller = more professional, more technically advanced and less egalitarian with diff pay scales between ranks = fear of losing peasant support

• New code of conduct 1956 = stressed need to help peasants on collective farms

• 1949 PLA acted as means of indoctrination (supervised 800,000 young conscripts recruited each year for three year term) + workforce in public works projects (rebuild infrastructure after civil war) + means of enforcing central gov control in regions (2/4 officials from PLA)

• External goal to achieve Great Power status for China → Korean War (1950-52/3?)

Mao’s dominant position

• Mao Party leader in 1943 - result of Rectification campaign (1941-44) = confirmed reputation and demonstrated ability to impose his will

• Rectification Campaign - Party purges of top officials (Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai and Chen Yi) forced into self-criticism then spread to lower ranks

  • By 1942, over 15,000 alleged spies and agents unmasked and jailed

• October 1949 Mao made head of state - appointed by Central People’s Government = significant constitutional power BUT collective leadership theoretically responsible for policy

• Mao responsible for intervention in Korean War (1950) and attacks on bourgeoisie in 1952 in ‘five antis’ campaign

• 1956 Party Congress removed references to Mao Zedong Thought as the guiding ideology of the Party while he was ill

• Took months for the Party to support the Hundred Flowers campaign (1956-57)

• Frequent disputes over pacing of agricultural change

Main ideas:

• Early ideas heavily influenced by Soviet Union - urged focus on building up industrial workforce in cities and developing it as core of future revolutionary party

  • Only 1% of population classes as industrial workers so Mao adapted Marxism to Chinese conditions - focused on peasantry

• Basis of Mao Zedong Thought from essays written during Yanan years

• Nationalism: free China from foreign exploitation of Western imperial powers and Soviet Russia

• Continuing revolution: 1949 start of revolution not end

  • Co-operation with GMD supporters initially for their expertise running administration and the economy = tactical compromises

  • Mao wanted each generation to actively participate in revolution = led to periodic purges and frequent struggle sessions and Hundred Flowers campaign and Cultural Revolution

• Listening to people: Wanted to get people involved in policy so CCP take the people’s views into account = Hundred Flower’s campaign

• Mass mobilisation: Mass campaigns directed at achieving specific targets way forward - numbers mattered more than experts when developing the economy

AS HE BECAME MORE PWOERFUL, HE BECAME MORE INSECURE

Growth of democratic centralism

• Principle the PRC based on - 1954 constitution

• Elections to village and town councils - continued up the system

  • Delegates from lower bodies sent to represent people higher up

• NOT DEMOCRATIC = Controlled by CCP + no choice of Party

• CENTRALISM = Political decisions made at the top levels by senior officials → imposed through various levels of system

  • Party leaders sufficiently educated in science of revolution to take best action

Reunification campaigns 1949-50

• Guangdong - GMD heartland during end of civil war

  • Province taken over by PLA two weeks after PRC declared

  • War dragged on in far south until 1950 and some nationalists in far west

• Xinjiang - mixed ethnicity BUT 80% Uyghurs - Russia developing it into buffer state against Japanese

  • By conquest and negotiation, nationalist opposition subdued by CP

  • Local Uyghur leaders offered posts in regional councils

  • Peng used PLA to capture Urumqi (provincial capital) at end of 1949

• Tibet - independent since 1913

  • PLA invaded October 1950 and under control by May 1951

  • Sought to destroy Tibet identity - brought in Han settlers and promoted Chinese lifestyle

  • Local resistance backed by CIA, escalated into uprising 1959 → Dalai Lama fled to exile in India

Use of terror against opponents of Communist rule

Danwei:

• New government expanded household registration system that GM introduced in 1945 = registration enabled Party control over people’s lives

• Every worker assigned to danwei - housing, food and clothing allocated

• Cadre in charge of each danwei issued supply of food rations, distributed several times a month by the police = denial of food rations enforced conformity

Labelling:

• Every individual given class label specified family background, social status and occupation

• 60 labels divided into three categories of good, middle and bad

• Later simplified into red or black

• Children inherited status of the head of their household

• Police identified nationalist sympathisers

• Most learned to conform - bad classes not victimised in first 12 months if contributing to regime

• Everything noted down in a dossier (dangan) - access to employment, housing or pensions dependent on file

Crackdown on crime:

• Police ordered to clean up cities by removing range of petty criminals and ‘nuisances’ (e.g. prostitutes and beggars) - relocated to countryside = broadly popular among urban residents

• BUT many returned and ‘re-education camps’ were quickly full

• Worsened by demobilisation of soldiers from PLA

• Opportunity to tackle criminal gangs (triads) - notorious in Guangzhou and Shanghai

  • Over 150,000 criminals arrested and half executed

Use of terror - Great Terror (1950-51)

• Terror against counter revolutionaries launched at same time as PLA sent into North Korea (October 1950) = war justified removal of CCP opponents

• The Terror designed to remove opponents and deter others

• Tao Zhu dispatched to orchestrate clampdown in Guangxi province on border of Vietnam - claimed to kill over 46,000 alleged bandits in 12 months (2.5 per thousand of population)

• Luo Ruiqing (head of security for Beijing) responsible for transmitting Mao’s wishes to provincial leaders - pressured leader of Hubei into increasing killings from 220 Jan 1951 to 45,000 by October

• Mao suggested killing roughly one in every thousand of local population as acceptable target but could be adjusted locally = Mao appears voice of moderation

• March 1951 Mao agreed to Rao Shushi’s proposal to kill enemies inside CCP → so many arrested in summer 1951 t here was bottleneck in prisons and arrests had to stop until enough executed

• Initially fewer lives lost in cities - fears of adverse publicity and urban professionals needed

• March 1951 top-ranking military commander shot dead at public concert in Jinan, Shangdong - night of 28th April police raided and arrested 17,000 people across 16 cities → confessions, executions and suicides

• Number of deaths in Great Terror from 710,000 to 2m

• Several million to labour camps or surveillance by local PLA branches

• More black labels became outcasts and targets of future campaigns

Three Antis and Five Antis movements 1951-52

Three Antis:

• Corruption, waste and delay in government and Party

• Arrest of Zhang Zishan and Liu Qingshan (leading CCP in Tianjin) for embezzling Party funds = catalyst

• Bo Yibo in charge of orchestrating clean up

• Same methods as Yanan rectification campaigns, mass meetings held and managers/ officials denounced

• Those guilty forced to issue humiliating confessions

• Ministry of Public Security manual ‘How to hold an Accusation Meeting’

• Suspects of small scale embezzlement = flies

• Suspects of larger scale corruption = tigers

• Tiger Hunting teams competed

• Bo Yibo boasted he hunted down 100,000 tigers in east China

Five Antis:

• Purge widened Jan 1952

• Bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, fraud and economic espionage

• Now targeting bourgeoisie who had been encouraged to help new regime

• Party encouraged workers’ groups to accuse employers of criminal activities - denunciation boxes sped up the process

• No chance of acquittal once accused - best to get confession believed quickly

• Robert Loh (manager at cotton mill) locked in bare room for four days until his seventh attempt to confess accepted

• Frank Dikotter - 1% of victims shot, 1% sent to labour camps for life, 3% failed for 10+ years & rest fined or committed suicide

• Nets from buildings and patrols of parks - prevent suicides

• Fines destroyed old business class by removing wealth and financed the Korean War

• Gao Gang and Rao Shushi purged 1953 - accused of infringing ban on factions = Gao committed suicide and Rao arrested and died in jail

Development of laogai system

• Officially re-education camps rather than punishment

• Reality system supplied terror that regime need to frighten people into conformity

• Soviet experts advised on management of new labour camp system

• By 1953, 2m prisoners - ½ worked as forced labour in laogai

• Camps contributed 700m yuan in industrial products and 350,000 tonnes of grain each year by 1955

• GLF, prisoners used as means of getting hazardous jobs done - mining and clearing malaria infested swamps

• Socially, ranged from poor farmers in debt to technical experts accused of counter revolution

• 9/10 political prisoners - many working in camps for years before formally charged

• Many peasants sent to prison without trial - accepted that many wrongly accused

• Prison conditions varied but brutal, fear of violence and sleep deprivation and other forms of torture and hard labour and poor diet

• Thought reform = endless self criticism and indoctrination meetings to make prisoners lose their identity

• New layer imprisonment = re-education through labour - absorbed 300,000 new inmates

  • Bypassed judicial procedures - sent without trial and could be held indefinitely until sufficiently re-educated

• As high as 25m died in camps from 1949-76

• Public supervision (guanzhi) involved convicts under control of local cadres

  • Luo Ruiqing spoke of 740,000 people under this system in 1953 - likely higher

Hundred Flower’s campaign 1956-57

• Called for open debate about results of First Five-Year Plan and future pace of change

• April 1956 Mao - ‘let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend’

• Influenced by de-Stalinisation - Mao did not want to be criticised like Stalin

• Continued to promote need for debate to CCP Congress in Nov 1956 and in major speech Feb 1957 - not supported

• Media campaign against Hu Feng led to arrest of 100+ intellectuals two years previously - reluctant to act

• Mao demanded news coverage in People’s Daily newspaper of the debate = prompted suggestions then full criticisms

Anti-Rightist campaign

• Rounded up critics

• ‘Squeeze the pus out of the abscess’

• 1/2m new prisoners for ‘re-education camps’

Korean War 1950

• Justified Great Terror and Antis movements

• Party power increased - local leaders organised attacks on opponents & workers denounced unpopular colleagues and exploitative bosses

• Foreigners under pressure

  • Forced to register with local Public Security Bureau before 1950

  • Gov aimed to force foreigners to leave country once seizing their assets

  • Hard for Americans (counter-revolutionaries) and Christian missionaries (200 Catholic missionaries and 1 Protestant missionary by end of war)

• Improved Sino-Soviet relations

  • Sino-Soviet Treaty (1950) - 10,000 economic advisors and $300m credit and list of Comintern agents for large part of bullion stock, interest on loan, payment of advisor’s salaries, concessions and rights in Manchuria

• National unity

  • ‘Resist America, Aid Korea’

  • Zhou Enlai organised student demonstrations and patriotic parades with anti-American slogans

  • Rallies pressured people into volunteering for PLA and donating money and goods

• Manpower losses

• Economic damage

• Enhanced international prestige

???