The use of terror against opponents of Communist rule

how was the task of rooting out protentional nationalist sympathisers made easier?

when the new government expanded the household registration system that the GMD had introduced in 1945

where was every employed worker assigned to?

a danwei (work unit)

what did the danwei allocate?

housing, food and clothing

who was in charge of each danwei?

the cadre

what did the cadre issue in their danwei?

a supply of food ration cards, distributed several times a month by the police

how did food ration cards become a powerful device to enforce conformity?

because they could easily be denied to individuals

what label was each individual given?

a class label which specified their family background, social status and occupation

how many class labels were there?

60

what were the 60 class labels divided into?

3 broad categories of 'good', 'middle' and 'bad' according to their presumed loyalty towards the revolution

what were labels soon simplified into?

'red' or 'black' (friend or foe)

why did labels determine an individual's fate for years to come?

because children inherited the status of the head of their household in a family

why was reprieve earned by good behaviour likely to only be temporary?

because everything was noted down in the dangan that followed them thereafter

what was a dangan?

a dossier containing detailed personal information on anyone that came to the attention of the Party

what did the dangan provide access to?

employment, housing or pensions, and the file was constantly updated once it was opened

what were the police ordered to do when cracking down on crime?

to clean up the cities by removing a whole range of petty criminals and 'nuisances', preferably by relocating them to the countryside, or, by locking them up

who were particularly targeted by the police?

beggars and prostitutes

why was the crackdown on beggary and prostitution broadly popular among many urban residents?

they longed to see order restored after so many years of war and chaos

what was the problem with the police cleaning up the cities from petty criminals and 'nuisances'?

many of those rounded up and sent away simply drifted back as soon as they could, and the 're-education camps' were quickly full

what was the cleanup of crime also the opportunity to do?

to tackle the more serious problem of the criminal gangs and triads that had been notorious for their influence on underworld crime, especially in Guangzhou and Shanghai

what were triads?

gangs of criminal organisations that had long controlled urban crime, particularly currency trafficking, drugs and prostitution

how many criminals were arrested?

over 150,000

how many criminals were executed?

over half of the 150,000 figure

why did Mao have a perfect excuse to crush whoever still stood in the Communists' way?

because the terror against counter-revolutionaries was launched at the same time as the PLA was sent into North Korea in October 1950

describe the Terror in China

it was brutal and widespread, designed not only to remove opponents, but also to deter others

which two individuals worked out the details of the Terror?

Tao Zhu and Luo Ruiqing

who was Tao Zhu known as?

'the tank' due to his ruthless reputation

where was Tao Zhu sent to do?

to orchestrate the clampdown in Guangxi province on the Vietnam border

what did Tao Zhu proudly claim responsibility for regarding the clampdown on Guangxi province?

the killing of over 46,000 alleged bandits in the next 12 months, a ratio of 2.5 per thousand of the population

who was Luo Ruiqing?

the head of security in Beijing who was responsible for transmitting Mao's wishes to the provincial leaders

who did Luo place pressure on?

the leader of Hubei province to step up the killings in his area

what was the impact of Luo's pressure on the leader of the Hubei province?

it resulted in killings rising from 220 in January 1951 to 45,000 by October

what did Mao suggest as the killings threatened to get out of hand?

he suggested that killing roughly one in every thousand of the local population in each area was an acceptable target

why did Mao make sure that official below him took the actual decision to execute killings?

it meant that it was them, not him, who were inextricably implicated in the terror

in March 1951, what did Mao agree to?

Rao Shushi's proposal that the killings to be extended to enemies inside the CCP itself

what was the consequence of so many people being arrested by the summer of 1951?

that arrests had to stop until sufficient numbers had been executed to create more space inside them

what was Rao Shushi sometimes referred to?

Rao Rashi, Party leader in Shanghai

what was the Terror like initially?

initially, the Terror claimed fewer lives because the urban professionals were still needed and from fear of adverse publicity

how did the Terror change in March 1951?

a top ranking military official was shot dead at a public concert in Jinan, the capital of Shandong

how did Mao respond to the murder at Jinan in March 1951?

he demanded a quick response, and on the night of 28th April, police swept through 16 cities in a co-ordinated raid, arresting nearly 17,000 people

what followed the arrest of 17,000 people on the night of 28th April 1951?

confessions and executions, as well as a wave of suicides

what were young Party activists who were hoping to advance their careers in the Party forced to do?

they were forced to watch mass executions to immerse them in the revolutionary experience

how many deaths of the year of the Terror 1950-51 did a Party convention in 1954 claim were lost?

710,000

how many deaths during the year of the Terror 1950-51 do some historians put the figure as high as?

2 million

what happened to several million victims of the Terror 1950-51?

they were sent to labour camps or subjected to surveillance by local branches of the PLA

why did survival of the Terror encourage people to become more isolated?

because the fewer friends you had, the less likelihood there was of being betrayed