Agricultural Reforms

1950 Agrarian Reform Law

• Claimed to eradicate exploitation of peasants by “landlord class”

• Local Party officials organised work teams to calculate how much each peasant owed

• Labelled poor, middle or rich peasant or landlord

Landlords

• Publicly humiliated & accused of exploitation

• Speak BItterness Meetings

  • Peasants sentanced landlords as “class enemies”

  • Possessions confiscated & divided

  • Often executed

• Mass participation pleased Mao

  • Claimed peasant-led revolution

  • Complicit in killings → loyalty

• Officially 700,000 killed (may be more)

  • 10 million lost land

  • Class destroyed

Land Redistribution

• 43% of land redistributed → 60% of population

• 1950-52 agricultural production +15% per yr

• Land reform pleased peasants & consolidated Mao’s power

• 10 million landlords lost land

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