Legacy of 1949 Revolution and GLF/Sino Soviet Relationship

Social Legacy of revolution

Social Legacy of revolution

• 30% of land redistributed more fairly

• Primary school and university attendance grew by 100% and 200% respectively

• Mao introduces reforms against buying wives and betrothal

• Strict agricultural conditions met with bad weather resulted in Famine of 1958

Political legacy of revolution

• 2-3% of the population made members of the party

• Hundred Flowers Campaign encouraged public opinion on the party and allowed Mao to coax out enemies whom he then repressed and following the policy public opinion was heavily repressed

• 500-800k of the former ruling party, Kuomintang nationalists, killed

• Workers given power to challenge their bosses

• Finance and economics sectors purged on suspicion of corruption

Great Leap Forward

• Mao aimed to become a major industrial power and so peasants were pushed into agricultural communes and workers pushed into factories to up the production

• Poor weather led to bad harvests which brought a famine that killed around 20 million people

• Black market and theft was commonplace

Stalin and Mao’s relationship

• Mao had relied on Stalin during the civil war for financial and political support

• Stalin began to weaken China and advise against expanding in Northern China as he was fearful of Chinese power.

• Relations began to deteriorate after this

Khruschev’s criticisms of Stalin

• Khruschev had a more peaceful approach to the West which angered Mao

• Khruschev also criticised Stalin’s cult of personality which angered Mao as he had his own cult of personality

Revisionism

• Mao visited Moscow in 1957 and encouraged the USSR to aid revolutions in other nations which they ignored

• Khrushchev’s visits to the USA and his cordial relations with the west made Mao accuse him of abandoning Marxist principles

1958 incident

• Mao attacked Taiwanese forces to prevent an uprising

• Khruschev is angered that Mao didn’t discuss with him first

1960 incident

• China and the USSR disputed ownership of Xinjiang region with both nations wanting the resource-rich area

• Russia offered aid to India in their war against China resulting in Russian diplomats being pulled from China and over 300 trade contracts being cancelled

1968 incident

China and russia clash over control of Zhenbao island resulting in 200 deaths