Agriculture and Industry pre-1966

Who, What, When, Why
Agrarian Land Reform Act

Who: Peasants, Landlords
What: reform meaning that landlords cannot benefit from their land, lead to the 'land to tiller' movement, emancipating peasants, beginning collectivisation
When: June 1950
Why: to destroy the 'gentry-landlord class',
gain support of the peasants,
ideology

What were the issues with the Agrarian Land Reform Act?

- North China only 10-15% rented land, greedy landlords not a big problem
- CCP less powerful to enact law in the South where GMD had more power
- CCP can't alienate peasants who may own land
- often power distributed by 'feudal clans' not landlord systems
- clans often based off of family - don't want their land, that's my sister

What happened to landlords in the early 1950's?
Why did the CCP target landlords?

- subjected to 'struggle meetings' by 'poor peasant Associations' where they would admit to being a class enemy in public humiliation
- often sentenced to death

- made an easy target for CCP to explain communism practically to the masses

What was the impact of land reform?

- 88% households taken part
- 43% land redistributed to 60% population
- agricultural production increased by 15% per annum between 1950-52
- 1-2 million landlord executed

What were MATs? When were they introduced?

- Mutual aid teams consisting of 10 or fewer peasant housholds (often related)
- tools and animals were shared
- already similar to old practices where people helped each other out
- introduced from December 1951
- 40% all peasant households part of a mutual aid team by 1952 (popular)

What were voluntary APCs? When were they introduced?

- voluntary Agricultural Produces Co-operatives
- introduced 1953
- consists of 30-50 households (MATs joined together)
- land gained from land reform now pooled together and reorganised
- peasants compensated with point system
- party decided on organisation, but land still privately owned
- less popular June 1955 16.9 million part of an APC
- rich peasants slaughtered animals rather than give them over
- reached 96% hinvolvement by December 1956

What were the disagreements over collectivisation?

- Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai wanted slower, moderate approach
- Mao asked June 1955 increase in collectivisation

What occured due to inforced collectivisation?

- Jan 1956 80.3% of peasants were in high-level (200-300 household) APCs
- private land was abolished
- newly emancipated people were not happy

What is 'walking on two legs'?

-Maos phrase for the simultaneous increase of both industry and agriculture

When was private farming abolished?

August 1958

When and what was the first commune?

- Established July 1958
- in Henan province
- called Sputnik commune

What were communes? (the ideal version)

- typically around 5500 households
- organised by party cadres
- meant to be self reliant with food and industrial production
- communal creches, canteens, schools organised within
- women free to work (iron women)
- grandparents no longer have to care for grandkids

What was the Four Pests Campaign?

Flies, mosquitos, rats, and sparrows were outlawed due to claims they were eating grain
- people encouraged to hunt them down to bring in
- sparrows dying meant that caterpillar numbers increased, they ate more plants

What is Lysenkoism?

- agricultural theories created by Trofim Lysenko
- crops were grown extremely close together
- theories were false, often results were faked, communes moved all crops together to make it appear as if they were grown this way

What support did the USSr give China in industrialisation?

- Sino-Soviet mutual assistance treaty of February 1950
- 11,000 Soviet industrial experts sent to China
- 156 major industrial enterprises constructed or reconstructed
- 28,000 Chinese technicians sent to study in Russia
- $300 million loan over 5 years

When was the First Five Year Plan?

1952-1956

What were some successes of the first 5 year plan 1952-56?

- annual growth rate 16%
- heavy industry tripled
- industrial working class grew from 6 million to 10 million
- urbanisation meant increased government control

What were the aims of the first five year plan?

-develop heavy industry
- self sufficiency become autarkic state
-boost electricity production
-double to output of light industry

What were some failures of the first five year plan 1952-56?

- dependent on Soviet loans, with high interest ( often paid with grain meaning peasants on substinence levels)
- consumer goods supply still very low
- agriculture only gew by 2.1 per cent per year (avg) meaning not enough food to feed working class
- little investment in health or education

When was the second five year plan?

1958-62

What was the campaign slogan for the second five year plan?

more, faster, better, cheaper

Why did Mao launch the Great Leap Forward?

- competition with Krushchev
- the previous five year plan lead to 18.3 per cent rise in industrial production
- communists were winning the cold war

What were the successes of the second five year plan?

- irrigation made agricultural land more fertile
- tiananmen Square remodelled
- more communist societal structure eg no private property

What were the failures of the Second five year plan?

- atmosphere of competition
- Mao was overconfident, no one felt they could tell him the truth, atmosphere of lying
- due to lying, government bought grain at artificially low prices and grain was exported to USSR to pay loan
- The antirightist campaign meant there were no intellectuals to challenge the plan
- backyard furnaces meant metal was stripped from every source and made useless
- focus on industry meant food was left to rot, people starved
- grain production 1957: 185 million metric tons 1961: 147.5 million metric tons
- caused great famine

What was life like during the Great Famine?

30- 50 million deaths
- 1 million in Tibet died (greatest propotion of population)
- peasants attacked food stores, scavenged tree bark, frogs, toads etc
- anyone caught stealing was sentenced to death
- birth rates plummeted due to women's fertility dropping
- women sold into sex work
- many died from diseases due to weak bodies
- cannibalism

Why was the Great famine so terrible?

- Typhoons in South China, drought in other areas - 60% land affected + 2 million died directly as a result
- Krushchev called scientists back in 1960 meaning less intellectuals
- Anti-rightist campaign, atmosphere of lying

When was the Lushan conference?

July 1959

What was the Lushan Conference?

- conference where Minister of defence Peng Duhuai voiced doubts to Mao over second five year plan in letter given through door after hours
- Mao took this very personally
- resulted in Peng being strupped of his post and banned from politburo (later killed by Red Guard)

When was the economic reform of Liu and Deng?

1962-65

What were the economic reforms of Liu and Deng?

- Jan 1962 Liu gave speech to 7000 cadres dimissing Maos claim that the GLF had a ratio ot 9 successes to 1 failure.
- stated GLF was due to 30% natural disaster and 70% man mad
- adopted agriculture as the foundation of the economy
- communes scaled back, free market allowed
- factories encouraged to make a profit
- intellectuals and bureacrats given bigger inflience

What were the successes of the economic reforms of Liu and Deng? 1962-65

- 1965 agriculture had recovered, same level as 1957
- private production accounted for 1/3 peasant income
- light industry grew by 27% per year
- production of consumer goods doubled