History A-level Edexcel - Mao's China (1949-76) - Theme 1: Establishing communist rule (1949-57)

Background: China

- 1911 - revolution against Qing dynasty (had been in power since 1644)

- 1927-37 - Nanking decade

- 1931 - Japanese invade Manchuria

- 1934 - Long March

- 1937 - GMD and CCP made united front against Japanese

- Chinese resources had been exploited by Western Empires

The Civil War (1945-49)

- October 1949 - Mao declared creation of PRC

- One side: nationalist GMD, led by Chiang Kai-Shek

- Other side: communist CCP(formed 1921), led by Mao Zedong

- communist victory

Aftermath of Civil War (1945-49)

- communists had extended areas under control

- people thought they would join communist effort

- strengthened Mao's position as head of party

- Mao wanted to remove opposition and factions within party

- Mao realised he needed to broaden support

China in 1949

- lacking organised central government

- economy reliant on small-scale agricultural production

- little healthcare, poor education

- social attitudes rooted in Confucian tradition

- aftermath of civil war

- lack of industrial development

China's problems in 1949

- Administrative Chaos

- Lawlessness

- Economic Problems

- China's industry

- China's agriculture

- National Infrastructure

- Transport

- Cities

- Nationalist Threat

China's Problems in 1949 - Administrative Chaos explained

- nationalists had stripped country of assets and cultural treasures

- educated elite had left

- CCP members lack knowledge on civilian government

- lack of planning due to speed at which they came to power

China's Problems in 1949 - Lawlessness Explained

- 1 million bandits

- 'Sick Man of Asia'

China's Problems in 1949 - Economic issues explained

- No stable/unified currency

- Hyperinflation (GMD had bankrolled money as few sources of revenue)

- Chiang took foreign currency reserves to Taiwan

- economic infrastructure poor due to bombing raids and lack of maintenance

China's Problems in 1949 - Industry issues explained

- Badly damaged due to war

- Industrial equipment destroyed

- Soviet Union controlled Manchuria

- low factory production

- raw materials scarce - skilled personnel had fled

- Japanese had seized most productive areas

- Japanese bombing raids cause damage to industries

- longer term: China still agricultural country using basic mechanisation, under skilled workforce

China's Problems in 1949 - Agriculture issues explained

- Peasants supported regime but weren't ideologically communist

- short supply of agricultural tools and livestock

- fertiliser spread disease

- peasants had been conscripted so farms left unattended

- peasants displaced to flee from Japanese in east so farms left unattended

- wartime food requisitioning

- food production at subsistence level/famine

China's Problems in 1949 - National Infrastructure explained

- Nationalist forces still present who had US support

- previous Nationalist government had been corrupt

- lack of central government control

- 50 ethnic and religious groups

China's Problems in 1949 - Transport Explained

- Networks badly damaged due to civil war

- problematic for isolated areas

- telephone lines badly damaged

- rivers and harbours clogged e.g. Hankou

- only Manchuria and some east coat had transport and communication systems

China's Problems in 1949 - Cities explained

- Lack of infrastructure meant that rural and urban cities isolated

- inexperienced peasant soldiers

China's Problems in 1949 - Nationalist Threat explained

- No effective administrative structure

- Nationalist sent spies and saboteurs and sunk PRC ships

- US supplied planes to bomb coastal cities

Land Reform

- difficult due to size and diversity of China

- communist occupied areas had already had land reform but had not occurred in some areas

- cadres couldn't organise land reform due to size of China and their lack of understanding of local villagers

Political Situation - before 1954

- communists united with other anti-nationalists groups to appear widely popular

- Central People's government - highest governing body, Mao chairman, controlled by CCP

- provisional constitution

- communist party led government by partnering with PLA

- communists controlled press (Xinhua - government controlled press agency)

- CPPCC

CPPCC - power before 1954

- CCP organised CPPCC(Chinese People's Political Consultative conference) to meet in Beijing in September 1949

- 662 delegates created Common Program for China to act as constitution

- Delegates represented wide cross section of social and political perspectives but heavily controlled by CCP

- appointed Central People's Government as supreme state body and approved the Common Program

- CPPCC decided state symbols - flag, national anthem, capital city, calendar

The Common Programme

Temporary constitution guaranteeing personal freedoms and equality (not in reality), gave army and police righ to suppress counter-revolutionaries

New Constitution (1954)

- based on 1936 Soviet Russian Constitution

- replaced common program

- National People's Congress created - official legislature but under CCP so just approved their policies

- State council (Zhou Enlai head) took over functions of Central People's government

- Mao chairman (head of state), Zhou Enlai premier (head of government)

- communist party in charge of electoral process

- 6 regions split into 21 provinces, 5 autonomous border regions, 2 urban centres

Democratic Centralism

- How Mao posed new power structure

- Mao identified the 4 classes who were allowed rights

- New Constitution(1954) - 'All power in the People's Republic belongs to the People'

- NPC would represent people's wishes and meet once a year to make laws/amend constitution, elected chairman of PRC

- elections to village and town councils but process controlled by CCP

- political decisions made at top

- Chinese government inferred democracy as government making decisions on behalf of the people (French view)

Role of CPPCC before and after 1954

Before 1954:

Approved common program, drafted new constitution, appoint Central People's government, passed laws, chose state symbols

After 1954:

Advisory body to NPC, met annually, NPC new legislature

The structure of the new government (1949-54)

1. CCP (communist party)

2. Central People's Government

3. PLA (People's Liberation Army)

Key differences between pre and post 1954 government

Pre 1954:

- CPPCC main legislature

- common program

- CPG highest state authority - Mao Chairman

After 1954:

- State Council took over CPG

- new constitution

- NPC took over from CPPCC as legislature

- CCP made all decisions

Power Structure of Communist Party

1. The communist Party

2. The Politburo (Controlled Standing Committee of Politburo and Military Affairs commission which controlled PLA)

3. Central Committee of CCP

4. National People's congress (Controlled The State Council which controlled the ministries)

5. Provincial Government

6. Local CCP branch

7. The People

The Communist Party (CCP)

- CCP officials held key posts in state and army

- coordinated branches of government

- Mao was chairman

- Had central Committee of 49 members in 1949

- Politburo had 25 members

- Party headquarters in Beijing

Standing Committee of the Politburo

- 5 members: Liu Shaoqui, Zhou Enlai

- Mao chairman

People's Liberation Army (PLA)

- Mao - 'All political power lies in the barrel of a gun'

- enabled Mao to consolidate power and enhance personal prestige

- controlled through Military Affairs Commission

- soldiers taught to read and write (indoctrination)

- downsized after Korean War as war had drained economy and resources need for FYP

- internally acted as means of indoctrination, became modernised, large enemy political threat

- workforce in public works projects

- used for larger scale campaigns, 'the party's army', blurred lines between military and political authority

(External Threats, internal when necessary)

Role of PLA

- role models - 'Learn from the PLA' campaign

- rebuild China's infrastructure (PLA soldiers gave a week's free labour a year, helped in 4 pests campaign)

- remove Mao's opponents and consolidate his power

Police in China

- maintained internal law and order, handled civil crimes, enforced government policies within population

- operated under Ministry of Public Security

- used in Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957)

- day to day repression, local level

(Internal threats)

Regional Bureaux

- PRC divided into 6 regions, governed by regional bureaux

- Each bureaux had a government chairman, first party secretary, military commander and army political commissar

Mao's dominant position within government

- became party leader in 1943 as result of rectification campaign

- October 1949 - became head of state as became chair of Central People's government

- theoretically collective leadership within party but Mao expected to win debates

- However: 1956 Party Congress removed references to Maos' Thought as guiding ideology, party resisted 100 Flowers Campaign, disputes over agricultural change

Mao's main ideas

- early communist ideas influenced by Moscow advice: build industrial workforce in cities

- Mao adapted this Marxist thought as peasants offered greater revolutionary potential

- nationalism - free from foreign exploitation, China put first

- continuing revolution - needed to prevent opposition

- listening to the people - claimed he wanted people involved in policy discussion to take others' views into account

- mass mobilisation

The Campaign to Suppress Counter-Revolutionaries (launched March 1950)

- aimed to prevent nationalists from undermining regime

- anyone who worked for previous regime, academics who worked for foreign universities, western businessmen, christian missionaries most at risk

- expanded in Korean War as gave Mao excuse as China needed to be united to resist foreign invasion

- killing 1 in every 100 was acceptable target to Mao

- March 1951 - Mao accepted Rao Shushi's proposal to extend killing to enemies within CCP

The Campaign to Suppress Counter - Revolutionaries tactics

- Self Registration - tricked people who worked for old regime to register themselves and friends in order to receive lenient punishment

- Mass Participation - encouraged citizens to rally, hold public struggle meeting, people's daily published lists of criminals and their punishments

The Three Antis Campaign (August 1951 - July 1952)

- aimed to clean party of corruption, waste and obstructionist bureaucracy

- catalysed by arrests of Zhang Zishan and Liu Qingshan

- Bo Yibo in charge

- mass meeting with denunciation

- supported by people at first but became clear that party was using as an excuse to remove anyone who they disliked

The Five Antis Campaign (February - May 1952)

- aimed to end bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on government contracts (fraud) and stealing state economic information (economic espionage)

- targeted middle class and private business owners

- encouraged self confession and snitching for lenient punishment (Denunciation Boxes)

- fines to remove business wealth and fund Korean War

Consequences of the Antis campaigns

- successful - meeting were well attended and many businessmen caught

- helped establish party's control over private companies

- short term economic disruption, long term change in structure of economy to planned

- created atmosphere of fear and repression allowing for future campaigns - betrayal, relationships broken

- removed urban elite (intellectuals)

The Reunification Campaigns (1949-50)

- PLA used to consolidate Mao's power in peripheral regions

- Tibet, Xinjiang, Guangdong, Taiwan focussed on

The Reunification Campaigns (Xinjiang)

- large muslim population - close ethnic ties with muslims in USSR

- bordered soviet- controlled outer Mongolia so China feared growth of separatist sentiment/Russian influence

- Uighur largest minority

- Nationalist leaders were invited to the CPPCC in 1949 but on their way to Beijing the plane crashed, killing all onboard

- their replacements agreed to submit to chinese rule and were given roles in the new government

- migrated Han Chinese in

- became security buffer zone for PRC

The Reunification Campaigns (Tibet)

- Tibet led by Buddhist Dalai Lama

- Mao invaded to 'liberate it from imperialist oppression' in October 1950

- invasion was resisted but Chinese troops entered Lhasa in November 1950 and people had to sign 17-point agreement

- was stripped of its culture, mandarin Chinese enforced

- Mao migrated Han Chinese in November 1952 in order to marginalise indigenous population

- propaganda units to spread communist ideas

- people rebelled in 1959 but were suppressed

The Reunification Campaigns (Guangdong)

- coastal province in southern China, GMD heartland and end of civil war

- had been pro-nationalist and regime feared enemy spies and saboteurs remained

- capital city was valuable trading port close to Hong Kong

The Reunification Campaigns (Taiwan)

- nationalist nation (Republic of China)

- communists couldn't invade due to Korean War

The use of terror against opponents of communists

- every employed worker assigned to danwei - housing, food, clothing allocated there by cadre (could deny them)

- every individual given one of 60 class labels

- petty criminals and criminal gangs removed and relocated to countryside/locked up

- beggars and prostitutes targeted

The Laogai

- inspired by Stalin's gulags

- officially re-education rather than punishment but not in reality

- 'laogai' means 'reform through labour'

- common criminals and political prisoners

- harsh and dangerous work

- torture and mistreatment

- thought reform - psychological torture

- unsanitary conditions

- 'better for prisoners to die than to flee'

Benefits of laogai to regime

- indispensable labour source (specifically for dangerous jobs)

- economic benefits

- intimidate and terrorise population

- converting former opponents through propaganda

The Laojiao

- developed in 1957

- 'education through labour camps'

- inmates could be held indefinitely until decided that they were 're-educated'

The Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956-1957) - causes

- in 1956, Mao asked intellectuals for economic and innovative help - "Let a hundred flowers bloom, and a hundred school of thought contend"

- Mao wanted to encourage intellectuals to point of mistakes of party cadre members

- Mao nervous from Khrushchev's speech in Feb 1956 about de-stalinisation

- Mao's overconfidence

The Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956-1957)

- 2 May 1956 - Mao declared 'Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend' but people reluctant to share new ideas as unwilling to risk freedom

- Mao retried in Feb 1957 in a speech and through use People's Daily newspaper and was successful - people complained about violence, economic inequality, power , Mao

- Mao launched Anti-Rightist campaign against these critics

Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957)

- campaign to rid party of those who had taken criticism too far in Hundred Flowers Campaign

- cadres given quota of 5% in work unit to be damned as rightist

Korean War(1950-1953): Background

- Japan occupied Korean 1910-45

- end of WW2, Korea divided along 38th parallel

- 25 June 1950 - North Korea (Kim il Sung) attacked South and UN force ordered to defend South

- Sep and Oct 1950 - UN forces pushed North back over 38th

- Oct 1950 - Mao ordered PLA to 'resist attacks of US imperialism'

- war ended as stalemate

Consequences of China's involvement in Korean War

- human cost

- excuse for Mao to purge enemies

- military prestige

- international prestige

- USSR charged high interest on money lent to PRC

- high cost of war

- damaged relations with west

- left China on Russian side of Cold War

- personal cost to Mao

Consequences of China's involvement in Korean War - Explained

- 400,000 soldiers died

- Mao took more extreme measures in China - Great Terror, Anti's movements

- increased terror increased Party's power

- collective spirit against US - 'Resist America, Aid Korea'

- false rumours of US torture

- People pressured to donate money and goods, crops forcibly requisitioned, taxes raised

- despite inadequate supplies and UN's advanced artillery, Chinese weren't defeated - increased patriotism

- Mao proved west to be 'paper tigers'

- Mao's personal prestige enhanced

- war cost PRC $10 billion

- trade embargo on Chinese goods imposed by US

- industrial resources diverted to Korea --> longer term

- huge debts so less to invest in education, healthcare, infrastructure

- China forced to accept nationalist Taiwan

- US policy of containment strengthened

- Sino-Soviet relations weakened

- became totally dependent on Soviets

- Mao's son, Anying, died