How successful was Mao's First Five Year Plan? 1952-56

Pages 205-206

List 4 reasons why an industrial plan was not immediately introduced

• The communists had to consolidate their political control by mopping up the remnants of the Nationalist opposition and conquering the outlying provinces

• They had to reduce the annual inflation rate that was 1,000%

• They needed to organise land redistribution to reward the peasants for their support

• High level of military spending and the disruption caused by participation in the Korean War from October 1950

When was the First Five Year plan launched?

1952

Why copy the Soviet model?

Soviet Russia was still an inspiration to the Chinese communists. Moreover, in 1949 Mao said he would ‘lean to one side’, by aligning China with Russia rather than looking to the west for help. Also the centrally planned soviet system had enabled Stalin to defeat Nazi Germany so it was seen as the best and only option for China to copy.

Why was it relatively easy for Mao to introduce a centrally planned (state) economy?

There had been some degree of state involvement in Chinese industry since imperial times which had been accelerated by Chiang Kai-shek’s NRC

List the ways the Soviet Union influenced China economically (2)

• Civilian technicians from Russia were paid high salaries and housed by the Chinese

• Russia lent China $300 million as security for which China had to hand over a large part of their bullion stocks → the loans were repaid in interest

List the ways the Soviet Union influenced Russia Socially (5)

• Over 10,000 civilian technicians with specialist knowledge were sent over

• China’s delegations visited Moscow to be trained in propaganda techniques and government organisation

• In the cities classical Chinese buildings were being cleared to make way for new office blocks built in ‘Soviet brutalist’ style

• Russian was the only language taught in schools

• TASS, the official soviet news agency was the main source from which the Chinese gathered their information

What was the First Five Year Plan’s overall aim?

To make the PRC as self-sufficient in food and manufactured goods as possible, in order to protect China from the capitalist world.

What industries came first in the plan?

Heavy industries

What things were being built in the plan?

New public work projects were started like new bridges across the Yangtze at Nanjing

What was the point of the ‘patriotic savings schemes’?

They were used in the hope that people would be more willing to invest in them and the government could direct the money into industrial development.

Industrial workers’ wages?

It was hoped to keep the industrial workers wages low by forcing collective farms to sell food at low prices to the government because cheap food would be readily available in urban areas.

When did all private ownership end entirely?

1951

How else was the First Five Year Plan going to be paid for?

Higher levels of taxation and loans from the USSR.

What are 3 positives of the First Five Year plan?

• annual growth rate was about 9% per year during the plan

• Urban living standards improved in terms of wages and job security

• Migration to cities increased from 57 million in 1949 to 100 million in 1957

What are 5 negatives from the First Five Year Plan?

• Loss of freedom to change jobs or travel

• Exposed short comings in the skill and literacy levels of Chinese workers

• Less than ½ the children under 16 were in full time education

• Standard of bureaucratic administration suffered as economic planners driven out by ‘anti’ campaigns

• Competition for resources between private and state owned enterprises

• In the countryside peasants in the communes were short of food as it was exported to Russia and sold cheaply to cities