case studies of Hitler, Mao, and Stalin

Hitler (1933-45)

Rise to Power

Conditions in Germany pre-Nazi’s:

• Germany lost World War 1

  • Felt humiliation, anger towards political leaders (Diktat)

• Treaty of Versailles 1919 + Diktat (November Criminals)

  • War guilt

  • No conscription, 100000 soldiers only (felt unsafe)

  • Loss of overseas colonies (4m people)

  • Reparations - £6600 million

• Economic Problems

  • Crippling debts

  • 1929 Great Depression - failure to deal with the situation

  • Reparations

  • Unemployment

  • Ruhr Crisis 1923 - hyperinflation

• Weimar was weak

  • Kaiser abdicated

  • New constitution - Article 48 (emergency law abused by Hindenburg. This law gave power to the leader to create laws without discussing it first at the Reichstag), Proportional Representation (made all govt. coalition govt. hindering the efficiency of the Reichstag, each area in the country, depending on its size was represented by a specific number of politicians in the Reichstag)

Aims in Nazi Party:

1. Unite all Germans under a greater Germany (lebensraum)

2. Revoke the Treaty of Versailles

3. Gain territories to accommodate surplus population

4. Restriction of Citizenship (Aryan ideal)

5. Jews to be denied membership of the Volk
   

Path to Chancellorship:

• Party politics ceased to function - no party had a majority in the Reichstag

  • Coalition govt. had to happen

  • Germany had to rely on Hindenburg (Article 48)

• 1930-1932 - Brüning 

• 1932 -von Papen

• 1933 - Schleicher

  • 3 Chancellors fought themselves out

  • Hitler was offered a minor role but preferred to bid time

• Presidential Elections 1932 - Hitler used them as a measure of popularity

• Hindenburg felt that Hitler would be less harmful in office than out

  • Appointed him as Chancellor (1933)

  • Hitler then outmaneuvered everyone and worked his way up

• Hitler was able to exploit people’s fears to gain more votes

• Nobody could match Hitler’s determination

• Protest vote (against Weimar)

Role of Ideology:

• Jews were used as scapegoats for Germany’s problems

• Mein Kampf

• Nationalism

• Hatred towards TOV - exploited general sentiment

• Hitler used ideology to justify actions

• Belief in survival of the fittest (Social Darwinism)
  

---> Hitler wanted to be seen as a superman; Germany’s savior, leader.

Key Points to remember:

1. Hitler’s individual personality

2. Propaganda

3. Fear and Terror

4. Ideology

5. Holes in Opposition

6. Germany’s conditions

Role of Propaganda

• Propaganda was key in spreading ideology to the German and greater public

• Example of German public education (new subjects like eugenics, change in curriculum and content for History (aimed at glorifying Germany’s past), aimed at youth

• Hitler youth also aimed at youth

• People’s Receiver (cheap radios, illegal to listen to the international signals, used to spread propaganda)

Establishment of an authoritarian state

From Chancellor to Fuhrer 1933-34

• 1933 - Reichstag Fire → propaganda tool

  • Dutch communist set fire to Reichstag

  • Law for the protection of people and state

  • SA took over → especially KDP

• Reichstag Elections

  • ⅔ of votes required to pass Enabling Law

  • coalition governments

• Enabling Act

  • Allowed Hitler to govern as Chancellor without reference to the Reichstag

  • Free to turn principle into practice

• Gleichschaltung - consolidation of authority

  • Turned Germany into a 1 party state

    • outlawed all political parties

    • destroyed trade unions

    • coerced churches

    • removed Jews

• Night of the Long Knives

  • got rid of SA (opposition)

  • Took power away from Rohm

  • SA was replaced by SS (Hitler’s bodyguards)

• Presidency

  • Hindenburg died

  • Hitler became Fuhrer

  • Plebiscite → 92% voted yes 

    • legal election

Methods of Control

• Army

  • without its power Hitler would have been fragile

  • known as Wehrmacht

  • army oath → did not want army to be independent

  • unconditional loyalty to Hitler

  • Blomberg Fritsch Crisis 1938

    • purge of army leaders

    • Hitler became active commander

• SS

  • originally Hitler’s bodyguards

  • Heinrich Himmler

  • 3rd Reich was an SS state civilian police run on military lines

  • Ran concentration camps

  • Death Head Division

  • maintained ideology

    • protection of Germans against racial corruption

    • loyalty

    • absolute obedience

  • Gestapo

    • secret police

    • no legal restriction

    • fear and violence

Structure of Government

• Theory - balance between state and party

• Reality - all key posts were held by Nazis

• Organization and institution overlapped → created confusion

  • meant that Hitler was the only fixed point in the system

• “Working towards the Fuhrer”

  • did not want to create a whole new system

  • ministers would make a judgement from Hitler’s statement as to what policies he wanted them to follow

  • created rivalry which encouraged workers to work harder and prevented opposition

• Hitler created bodies of government to suit his own purpose

  • eg: Ministry of Propaganda → Goebbels

Domestic policies and their impact

Economic Aims→ To create a strong industrial economy to provide sinews for war

Propaganda

• Promoted the idea of a German nation united under the Nazi Party

  • repetition was key to inculcating ideas

  • Hitler was the new Messiah

• Aims

  • Fuhrer Principle

  • Promote German nation

  • Promote Hitler in the most positive light

  • Encourage price in Aryan race

• Berlin Olympics 1936

  • Hitler attended everyday

  • great sporting success for Germany

• Press

  • Goebbels brought newspapers under control

  • Eher Verlag

  • DNB

  • Editor’s Law 

  • The newspaper was a highly influential weapon

• Arts

  • guard against Jewish corruption

  • defined culture by what it was against

  • censorship

• Radio

  • Reich Radio company

  • Number of Germans with a radio went from 20% to 70%

  • ban on all foreign broadcasts (especially during war)

Education

• Main medium to promote Nazi ideas

• School system was brought under control

• Curriculum

  • race and ideology

  • subjects reflected Nazi superiority

    • Eugenics

• Dispute with Churches

  • exclusion of religious instruction

  • church was scared that Nazis were undermining their beliefs

  • Concordat 1933

• Hitler Youth

  • Aim was to train young men into Nazi values

  • great emphasis on physical activities

• BDM - sister movement to Hitler Youth

  • Aim was to make youth truly part of the volk

  • though membership was voluntary, peer pressure inspired people to join

    • 90% of youth joined

  • 1939 - membership was made compulsory in preparation for war

Working Class

• German Labour Front was the single largest organization that affected German people

  • Aim was to regulate german workforce along military lines

  • destroyed trade unions

  • came under state control and lost independence

  • 12 years - 25 million workers

  • mechanism of oppression

• Kraft durch Freude

  • leisure for masses

  • provided holidays for workers and family

  • tourism

  • 10 million germans were involved

• Welfare program

  • provided insurance and education

• War time - KDF was destroyed and GLF was made dictatorial

Women

• Hitler's plans for economy did not include the advancement of women → anti-feminism

  • separated women from society to keep them under control

• Hitler was concerned that the birth rate was dropping

  • 3Ks

  • fewer women allowed in universities

  • no women allowed in civil service

  • abortion was made illegal

• Impact of War

  • abrupt change in policy

    • conscription into army

    • reintroduced women in the workplace

  • war destroyed social conventions

Treatment of minorities

• Aims

  • Hitler believed that undesirables were expendable

  • wanted to exterminate defectives to create a pure and strong volk

• Methods

  • 1933 - Law for the Prevention of diseased offspring

  • By 1939 350000 were sterilized

  • Defectives were subject to euthanasia

    • set up killing centers (70000 deaths)

• Opposition

  • Some doctors protested by refusing to cooperate in the program

    • Dr. Friedrich Holzel

    • other doctors found ways of saving patients

  • Religious protests about euthanasia

    • Bernhard Lichtenberg

    • Van Galen

• Effects

  • 1941 - T4 was suspended and euthanasia program ended

Anti-Semitism into Genocide

• Jews made up 1% of German population

  • no evidence that Jewish persecution was planned from the beginning

• Cumulative Radicalization

• Major Stages

  • 1933 - organized violence and Jews barred from jobs

  • 1935 - Nuremberg Race Laws

  • 1938 - Jews businesses shut down, mass migration organized

  • 1939 - Kristallnacht

  • 1942 - Final Solution - Holocaust

Mao (1921-49)

Rise to Power

• CCP  Party began in 1921

  • during Warlord era CCP became a party

    • Mao joins the CCP

• Northern Expedition 1926-1928

  • Mao organized United Front

    • strong believer in cooperation

    • defeated warlords

• JiangXi Soviet 1928-34

  • Mao developed his ideology → peasant revolution

  • 2 month purge of party @ Futian Incident (1930)

    • showed Mao’s determination and ruthlessness and willingness to take decisions

• Long March 1934-35

  • Rise in CCP popularity → propaganda movement

  • Achieved remarkable supremacy

    • changed ideology (from pitch battles to guerilla tactics)

    • Zunyi meeting 1935

• Xi'an Incident 1936

  • Communist at Yan'an gained further power

  • further purge of party

  • Mutiny - Chiang Kaishek was captured

    • Communist claimed they were Nationalist → put need of China over their own

• Rectification of Conduct Campaign 1942-44

  • Established obedience and control

    • further power for Mao

  • Established ideology

• Civil War 1946-49

  • CCP defeated GMD

  • Maoism was established → People’s Republic of China

Establishment of an authoritarian state

Structure of Government:

• Political Approach - people were to act in total conformity to the dictates of the new govt

• Structure of PRC

  • 6 regions led by 4 officials

    • chairman

    • party secretary

    • military commander (PLA)

    • political commissar (PLA)

• Structure of government

  • CCP claimed people had authority

  • Reality → Politburo controlled PRC

  • Order of Authority (Mao, Politburo, PLA, Regional Leaders, Workers)

Ideology:

• Marxist Revolution 

  • progress would come through class struggle

• Importance of Peasants

  • Peasant masses could overthrow capitalism and create a socialist society

• Two-stage Revolution

  • First revolution could incorporate bourgeoisie (private ownership may continue)

  • Second revolution would bring about collectivisation and nationalisation of property

• Mass Mobilisation

  • “Learn from the people”

  • Campaigns should be people campaigns and not imposed from above

    • People would support campaigns voluntarily and work in the best interest of China

• Continuous Revolution

  • Revolution should not cease once CCP achieved power

  • Constant process of renewal to avoid complacency and corruption

• Self-criticism

  • Officials should undergo regular criticism to prevent becoming self-satisfied

  • Through self-criticism individuals would see the wisdom of mass campaigns and rectify false thoughts

• Ruthless Determination

  • Willpower and determination would provide change if everyone showed total commitment 

  • Violence was a necessary element of revolution

• Primacy of “Mao Zedong Thought”

  • Mao was always right and people could find a solution to their problems if they studied his thought sufficiently

Military and Anti-Movements:

• Government enforced control over all areas of China (incl. Tibet, Xinjiang and Guangdong)

  • “reunification campaign” → carried out by PLA

    • sent in order to improve local conditions

    • Main purpose was to impose Martial Law and repress opposition

  • joined Korean War in 1950

    • “Resist USA, Aid Korea”

• Anti-Movements → created atmosphere of fear and uncertainty

  • targeted bourgeois class that was accused of crimes such as waste, corruption and tax evasion

  • anti-landlord campaign

    • property of landlords was confiscated and redistributed

      • nearly 1 million were killed in early 1950s

    • created a nation of informers

  • 3 Anti’s:

    • Waste

    • Corruption 

    • “Too much red tape” (too difficult to access government)

  • 5 Anti’s 

    • Bribery

    • Spying

    • Tax Evasion

    • Fraud

    • Theft

100 Flowers Campaign 1957

• Aims

  • Ensure that CCP does not deviate from revolutionary path 

    • Follow principles of ideology - self-criticism

• Methods

  • Ask members of PRC to debate great issues facing China

    • invitation to criticize government and party policies

    • “Let 100 flowers bloom, let 100 schools of thought contend”

• Effects

  • Some attacks on Mao

    • he was called “arbitrary and reckless”

  • Mao declared himself appalled by criticism

  • “Rightist” were arrested

  • Campaign ended abruptly - lots of historical debate as to the true motivation behind the campaign

Economic Policies

• Aims

  • Develop China as an industrial power

  • Break the USSR grip and catch up with the West

  • Produce surplus grain

• Methods

  • Great Leap Forward 1958-62

    • peasants would produce surplus

    • workers would create modern industrial economy

  • “Leap” meant China would bypass certain stages in industrialization

  • Mao rejected modern technology in favour of mass effort (see ideology - mass mobilization)

  • Backyard furnaces were built in order to produce steel

  • Agricultural Collectivization

• Effects

  • Mass famine (3 years - largest famine in history) - crop yield fell

    • 99.9% of produce was useless

    • 70000 communes were built with half a billion peasants

    • individual peasants were no longer allowed to make individual profit

  • Collectivization was a disaster → disrupted the way of life

    • peasants were unable to adapt to the new system

    • had no understanding of how to farm on a large scale → uneducated

      • mainly focused on steel so agriculture was greatly ignored

  • Rigged production figures → propaganda campaign to make collectivization appear successful.

  • Everyone was scared to offend Mao → lack of opposition

    • Lushan Conference 1959 

      • met to modernize targets yet failed to address famine issue as leaders did not want to admit there was an issue

  • Peasants who protested were put into labour camps

    • 40 million starved to death 

Cultural Revolution 1966-76

• Reasons for initiating the Revolution

  • Mao was worried he was losing control over China

  • Paranoid of internal opposition

    • Believed that even those with great loyalty could turn against him

  • He was getting old (73 yo) and he wanted to die knowing he left a permanent mark on China

  • International Rivalry

    • did not want China to end up like the USSR → more revisionism

  • Ideology

    • wanted a continuous revolution

    • wanted more nationalism → rid of all Soviet influence

  • Bureaucracy

    • Believed the CCP lost their revolutionary fervour

    • started to purge to eliminate all reactionaries

• Resentment

  • Mao’s reputation was damaged after the failure of the Great Leap Forward

  • used Cultural Revolution as a pretext for attacking Liu and Deng

• Use of Propaganda

  • Lin Biao → projected image of Mao as saviour of the nation

    • Mao’s picture and quotes were everywhere → cult of personality

      • Even though most people did not understand his ideology, they still believed his was right

      • People would wake up early and bow down to Mao’s photo.

•  Mao did not often speak in public → population saw it as a great honor to be able to witness his speeches live. 

• Little Red Book (1964) → contained selections of his speeches

• Attack on Revisionism → official announcement that CCP was infected by revisionism

  • PLA had to root out anti-socialists weeds → created PANIC

• August Rally 1966

  • destroy revisionism (4 Olds → thoughts, habits, customs, culture)

  • young became the instrument of the Cultural Revolution

  • Red Guards → young people terror squads

    • free to attack and destroy property → replace intellectuals with true revolutionaries

    • public attacks → 40000 killed

• Mass Events

  • Swimming in the Yangtze river

    • wanted to show everyone that he was still in command

• Impact on China

  • Political

    • Liu and Deng were removed from government

      • Liu was subject to “struggle sessions”, Deng was sent to a corrective labour camp showed that even highest ranking officials could be purged

    • Central Cultural Revolution Group was made → included Gang of Four

      • directed the revolution

    • Lin Biao Affair 1971

      • People lost faith in the movement

      • people began doubting Mao and the propaganda

  • Social

    • Revolution went too far → widespread destruction

      • Social upheaval 

      • local civil wars raged in China

      • Red Guards groups clashed with one another/families beat one another

    • “Go up to the Mountains and down to the Villages” 1967-72

      • youth was sent to the countryside to deepen understanding of revolution (12 million people)

    • Laogai → 1000 labour camps were opened

      • re-education through labour

      • 25 million deaths

  • Economical

    • Industrial production was at a halt due to wars between workers

    • Slave labour increased → prisoners from labour camps 

    • Schools and universities were closed

      • Did not open in 1958 → Students saw it as a chance to break away from harsh life at home

        • Moved to countryside to explore the country + go see Mao to get revolutionary experience

Domestic policies and their impact

Laogai:

• Laogai stands for "reform through labor”

  • recognized as the slogan of the Chinese criminal justice

  • used as a place during Mao’s regime to store his political enemies

  • served as a means of re-education for those Mao believed were against his ideas

    • used to enforce conformity and obedience in China

• The chances of survival in the camps were incredibly slim

  • to obtain even the bare minimum ration of food, prisoners had to make full confessions to crime

  • those who persisted in claiming their innocence over a crime are subjected to interrogation, starvation, beatings and solitary confinements

  • diseases were incredibly common within the camps 

• The camps were able to give the Chinese industry a continuous supply of slave labour throughout its concentration camps 

  • prisoners in the camp had to do heavy manual labour such as mining and working on hazardous projects

    • thus the Chinese Industry was able to maximise its resources through these massive labour projects without having to pay wages or salary for labour.  

Health, Youth and Education: 

• When the CCP came to power in 1949, most peasants were barely literate or completely illiterate

  • literacy rate was 20% 

• By the middle of 1950, a national system of primary education has been set up and led to a great increase in literacy rate

• There was a language reform 

  • PRC adopted a new reform of the Chinese language in 1955, which was the new form of written Mandarin (Pinyin style) to overcome the problem of different pronunciation across China

    • This also helped the people in the PRC as there was no alphabets in the previous language 

• By the end of 1976, the literacy increased to 70%, which was a huge propaganda victory for Mao 

• However there were also downsides to education especially during the Cultural Revolution

  • 130 million of China’s young people stopped attending schools and universities between 1966 to 1970, losing their chance of learning forever

  • Education was undermined, and students went around beating up their teachers and rejecting all forms of traditional learning 

  • Mao thought that education is worthless, and believed that it was better to train loyal party members, who can lead China and continue the revolution after his death 

• PRC’s plans to providing health care were also only partially successful

  • PRC had tried since 1949 to recruit and encourage doctors to move from the cities to the countries, but this was largely a failure. 

  • They would only stay in the rurals for few weeks, as they was hardly no chance of receiving decent incomes. 

  • Rural areas suffered from the increasing spread of schistosomiasis

    • Schistosomiasis came to be something of an iconic symbol for the lack of healthcare in China. 

• China has leading technology

  • 1949 - the Chinese Academy of Sciences was one of the world's leading research institutions in life sciences and medicine. 

  • China had estimated that there were about 40,000 physicians trained in Western and Soviet medicine in the country, serving a population of 540 million people. 

    • Those doctors were reluctant to go to the rural areas, where 80% of the Chinese people lived.

    • Therefore, medicines and advanced medication were only available for the rich people living in the cities. 

• The "bourgeois" policies of "self-interested" physicians who only treated rare and difficult diseases were denounced as "disregarding the masses." 

• Barefoot doctors

  • 1965, with his launch of the Cultural Revolution, Mao expanded the idea of health for the masses beyond infectious disease. 

  • He ordered, "In health and medical work, put the stress on rural areas."

  • Barefoot doctors were peasants - men and women who already had general education - who had been trained to examine ill or injured people. They were instructed in anatomy, bacteriology, diagnosing disease, acupuncture, prescribing traditional and Western medicines, birth control and maternal and infant care. 

  • The barefoot doctors continued their farming work in the commune fields, working alongside the other peasants. 

    • They did not take much money when treating, which made peasants being able to access basic health care easy. 

    • They provided basic health care: first aid, immunizations against diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough and measles, and health education. 

    • They taught hygiene as basic as washing hands before eating and after using latrines. Illnesses beyond their training, the barefoot doctors referred on to physicians at commune health centers. 

• There were an estimated 1 million barefoot doctors in China.

Culture:

• Culture is not a separate part of society. It defines a nation’s character, and was the life of the people (the masses), rather than refined tastes.

• Culture always reflected the ideology and way of life determined by the ruling class - it was a method of consolidation of power, through which rulers would impose their control. 

• Therefore, it was to be an extension of politics (propaganda).

• As feudal China maintained feudal culture (structured hierarchical system and traditional customs), so too should proletarian China uphold proletarian culture (modern, progressive, revolutionary, socialist, etc). People were meant to come together with the arts and relate to each other and the government.

• Ruthless determination was required to eliminate bourgeois influence in culture - violence. This fit in to his ideology (permanent revolution, ruthless determination).

• He wanted them to work with the government to only produce propaganda about the proletariat triumphing against class enemies. He didn’t want them to create art that was just art - it had to have a Maoist message to it.

• The arts were a supplement to Mao’s ideological campaigns, like the ‘Resist America, Aid Korea’ one, where Mao required the support of the people to help the war effort (mass mobilisation). Propaganda posters were made by artists to make people conform to Mao’s demands for the state.

• Intense censorship was used to carry out Mao’s orders. 

• Jian Qing took over the arts in the Cultural Revolution, and she made it a priority to allow only art pieces that she had personally approved to be published. The criteria she had was very strict, and as a result, many artists gave up their professions or left China. Art had to be in line with modern Chinese beliefs. Art effectively came to a standstill.

• Agit-prop (agitation propaganda) which was an amalgamation of political ideas streamlined through ‘entertainment’

• She wrote her Eight Model Operas, which were musical dramatic works that told stories of proletarian heroes overthrowing their class enemies. They replaced the traditional Peking (Beijing) opera). Party members and public were forced to watch these regularly, even though they all had the same message, and had been seen before several times by the same people. This spread the messages about the proletarian ‘paradise’.

• Western music was banned, and replaced by songs about Mao, which people danced to, as a sort of prayer. They spread messages about Mao’s greatness and primacy. Most musicians no longer played music, and many were subject to self-criticism and re-education in the laogai labour camps.

• Art was no longer a form of entertainment - only of indoctrination. 

• Art was not about creation of new culture anymore, rather the destruction of the old one

• Artists were too scared to oppose, so either conformed to Jiang’s excruciatingly bland propaganda, or quit.

Religion:

• Mao expressed strong antipathy towards religion and declared it was poison. He even went as far as comparing the Christian missionaries in China to the Nazis in Europe. 

  • Mao regarded religion as a threat as he believed that the Chinese population could only worship him and no one else. 

  • He feared that religion would combine with politics to create a separatist movement backed by countries bordering the region. 

  • As in theory the workers were in power, Mao believed there was no need for religion. 

• As soon as Mao came in power in 1949, he started state attacks on religion. 

  • All Christian churches were forcibly closed and their property was either seized or destroyed. 

  • 6000 monasteries were destroyed in Tibet. 

• Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity were denounced as worthless. Mao forbade religion to be openly practiced. 

• Priests were prohibited from wearing distinctive dressed. 

  • If they were found wearing distinctive clothes, bystanders were forced by the Red Army to strip them off the clergy. 

• Ancestor worship was also forbidden from being practiced. 

• Mao also started attacks on Chinese customs and traditions. 

  • Formal expression of belief were outlawed and customs and rituals were proscribed. 

  • Traditions were replaced by political meetings and discussions organized by the party. 

• When Collectivization started in 1950, Mao used it as an experiment to destroy the time-honored pattern of rural life; peasants were to accept Maoism as their new faith.

• Mao also used purges to destroy religion. Many of those who ‘dared’ practice religion publically, were placed in the laogais where they were then attacked by dogs, had their body burnt with cigarettes, whipped and had electric batons slammed on their genitals. 

  • Over 1 million people were placed in these camps. Those who practiced religion were also labelled “national separatists”. 

• Propaganda became extremely important in Mao’s rule over China. Propaganda was Mao’s main weapon used to spread a country-wide condemnation of religion. Under Mao’s rule, China became a slogan-ridden society. 

  • Propaganda was the main mean of enforcing conformity and solidarity. The government spread propaganda by putting wall posters depicting Mao as a God everywhere around the cities. Loudspeakers also kept a running condemnation of religion. 

  • The government also created slogans, which were often repeated during the daily routine, proclaiming the virtues of Maoism. 

  • Mao also followed the idea of “agit-prop”; the imposition of political ideas through propaganda. He would have Red Guards act out shows all over the country depicting the ‘horrors’ of religion and the greatness of Maoism. 

• Though Mao did not agree at all with the idea of religion, he came to understand that there were some advantages for the PRC to permit some forms of public worship to continue. This would give the peasants an appearance of toleration. 

  • The decision to allow some religion was also a result of the fact that religion was so deep rooted into Chinese tradition that it would have been really unrealistic to eradicate it all. 

  • In fact some churches were kept open so long that they did not “endanger the security of the state”. These churches were called patriotic churches. 

  • The clergy has to swear total loyalty to Mao and have open support to the Communist regime. 

  • The allowance of patriotic churches created conflict between the PRC and the Vatican which refused to accept the validity of these churches. 

• The Cultural Revolution came in 1966, after a period of dormancy on Mao’s part when it came to economic and domestic policies. 

  • During this period of time, Mao grew increasingly paranoid and feared that opposition to his rule could come from anywhere. 

  • He wanted to leave a permanent mark on China and he believed he could only do that if any form of opposition was destroyed and he achieved a complete totalitarian rule. 

• Hence he increased the attacks on the Four Olds (which included religion) through the means of the Red Guards. All the clergy that previously survived the attacks was imprisoned and executed. 

  • Confucianism was denounced as representing all that was worst in China’s past. 

  • “Confucius and Co” because a standard term of abuse

• One of Mao’s fears was that religion might encourage breakaway tendendencies in the PRC’s provinces. 

  • In fact from the very beginning in 1949, the PRC let it be known that it would not grant independence to any of these provinces. 

• In 1950, Mao sent the PLA in Xinjiang, Guangdong and Tibet to enforce his authority as he believed that the strength, and hence survival, of the PRC demanded total unity and acceptance of central control. 

  • This was because Tibetan Buddhism inspired Tibetan nationalism in its resistance to Chinese occupation. 

  • Mao feared that religion and nationalism would prove an equally dangerous mix in Tibet’s northern neighbour Xinjian. 

    • The majority of its population was in fact Muslim. 

    • The fact that Xinjiang border with Pakistan, Turkistan and Kazakhstan (all Muslim countries) further increased Mao’s fears. Mao feared religion would combine with politics to create a separatist movement in Xinjiang backed by these border countries. 

  • To prevent this, the PRC condemned all independent organizations in China’s border regions as “handful of national separatists” with “reactionary feudal ideas” who were in league with “hostile foreign forces” and whose aim was to weaken the Chinese nation. 

    • Mao tried to dilute the Muslin element by sending large numbers of Han Chinese to settle in the region. This however was only partially successful. In fact when Mao died in 1976, muslims were still a large minority of the Xinjiang population

Women:

• Mao grew up in a patriarchal society (male-dominated) in Imperial China where the teachings of Confucius said that to harmonious a society must follow rules of the san gan which is defined as:

  • Loyalty of ministers and officials to the emperor 

  • Respect of children for their parents 

  • Obedience of wives to husbands 

    • This meant that women couldn't hold any position of power

    • Sons were valued more than daughters 

• Women did not have equal rights and say on who they want to marry. 

  • When Mao was fourteen years old, he was betrothed Luo Yigu who was then eighteen years old.

  • Although Mao went through with the wedding ceremony, he was unhappy about the arranged marriage and refused to live with Luo. 

  • Mao's early experience of marriage could have affected his views on women, leading him to criticize arranged marriages. 

• The first act of PRC – introduce new marriage laws in 1950 where concubinage was forbidden, arranged marriages discontinued, women forced to marry are entitled to divorce their partners, all marriages had to be officially recorded and registered. 

  • Laws allowed women to own and sell land and property. 

  • Women were now officially considered the equals of men under Mao's China as they were called on to do the work of men. 

  • Between, 1949 and 1976, proportion of women in workforce increased from 8% to 32%. 

• However, Mao's party still operated as a male-dominated system. 

  • There was an infrequency with women being granted government and party posts (e.g. Only 13% of CCP were women) 

  • Also, during the Cultural Revolution the ownership of private property was now a crime against the communist society, contradicting the law of allowing women to own property previously. 

  • However, Mao had prepared for the 'liberation' of women as early as 1944 and the Communists was determined to carry this policy out by undermining the family with the introduction of communes. 

• Collectivization also had an impact on women

  • Advantages

    • Women could join the workforce with men 

    • ‘Women hold up half the sky’ – women’s work was usually appreciated and seen as equal to men. 

    • Housework and childcare became a communal/social effort. 

    • Communal dining halls fed families (women no longer had to cook every night and find food). 

    • Women more independent and free (no longer restricted of working at home, but could also do real work in the fields. 

    • Great Leap Forward: opportunity for more independence of women and liberation of former duties. 

    • Amount of women in workforce increased from 8% to 32% between 1949-76. 

  • Disadvantages

    • Used as a tool to achieve national objectives 

    • Women’s emancipation was not always Mao’s priority (women’s rights often sacrificed for other government goals). 

    • Great Leap Forward: abolished former laws passed in the 1950s, which granted women the right to own and sell land and property in their own name.

    • People required of living in communes (less privacy, less individuality). 

    • Often labor was too heavy and physical for women. 

    • Although did work in communes and fields, still had to take care of domestic work afterwards (exhaustion and extra-work not valued). 

    • Women had to deal with entrenched values and attitudes of women being inferior to men. 

    • Many women were unhappy of working in factories and of losing their role as mothers and caretakers (destruction of traditional Chinese family). 

    • Role of mother and raising the family/caring for the household was no longer valued. 

    • Many men did not appreciate women gaining same training as them and higher pay (wanted to remain dominant). 

    • Even if women did more jobs, men usually received more work points. 

    • Women’s health deteriorated (especially in peasant women) due to the hard work and famine. 

    • Women were beaten when they miscarried because they were forced to work in in the late stage of pregnancy. 

• Collectivization basically destroyed the idea of a traditional Chinese family 

  • Mao stated that “It is necessary to destroy the peasant family; women going to the factories and  joining the army are part of the big destruction of the family”. 

  • Ancestor worship was prohibited and this affected the historical and emotional attachments of the families. 

  • Even though they wanted freedom, not many women were happy that their role as mothers and raisers of families was now seen as unnecessary. 

  • In many communes, women and men lived separately and were only allowed to see each other for conjugal visits 

  • The enforced social change was too sudden and women felt detached from their traditional ways 

• The Korean War (1950-1953) also had a great impact on women in China

  • The war effort provided a justification for the increasing repression imposed by the government (both social and political)

  • Dame after about a year of the creation of the PRC as a nation — they had to readjust their plans to the needs of the struggling country. 

  • Before the PRC could be fully established, they had to prove itself in the war. 

  • It helped the CCP consolidate its hold on China and also showed that the PRC had taken on the  role of the defender of international Communism!

  • However, there were many war casualties, and it deepened both enmities with the USA and economic strain. 

  • It also subordinated the PRC’s domestic needs to the demands of the war and led to increased suppression

Stalin (1928-53)

Rise to Power

Conditions in USSR - 1924

• Bolshevik Party - Consolidation gained through violent means

• World’s first Marxist State

• Ban on factionalism.

• Democratic Centralism - lies in party members’ obedience to enlighten leadership

• Concentration camps

• Absolutism

• No public worship

• International isolation - USSR was the only Communist country at the time

• Nationalization

Stalin vs. Trotsky

• Stalin

  • Delivered oration at Lenin’s funeral - sight as leading mourner

  • Dedicated himself to following in the tradition of departed leader

  • Triumvirate

  • Held positions in the party that allowed him to know everything about everyone - connections

  • Power of Patronage

• Trotsky

  • Not present at Lenin’s funeral - did not appear to be a dedicated Leninist

  • Politburo regarded him as a great danger

  • He was Jewish - USSR was anti-semitic 

  • Appeared as an outsider - not fully committed to CPSU

  • Only became a Bolshevik in 1917

  • Intellectualism - could not associate with the ‘common man’

Stalin’s position

• People’s Commissar for Nationalities (1917)

  • in charge of the officials in the many regions that made up the USSR

  • Lenin felt that as a Georgian, Stalin had a special understanding of national minorities

• Liaison officer between the Politburo and Orgburo (1919)

  • Monitored both the Party’s Policies and Personnel 

• Head of Workers and Peasants Inspectorate (1919)

  • Oversaw work of ALL government department

• General Secretary of the Communist Party (1922)

  • Enabled him to build a dossier on all party members - he knew everything that happened

---> All positions gave him Power of Patronage - used authority to place supporters in key positions (eg: Lenin Enrollment - people felt they owed one to Stalin)

Establishment of an Authoritarian State

Early Purges 1929-1934:

• Made it difficult to maintain an effective opposition

• Chief mechanism for removing anyone Stalin regarded as a threat to authority

• Made Party members surrender party card - followed by expulsion from party

• Purges were accompanied by:

  • labour camps

  • civilian police

  • border and security guards (NKVD)

• Ryutin Affair 1932

  • Rightist opposition to Stalin

  • Made Stalin realize that some opposition was possible - paranoid 

  • Kirov Purges 1934

    • ‘Decree Against Terrorist Acts’ - allowed Stalin to justify purging

Great Terror (1936-39):

• Intensified period of purges

• Stalin thought there was constant assertion so he called for greater vigilance

• 3 main sections: Purge of Party, Army and People

• Purges were integral part of the Stalinist govt.

• Stalin made purges legal

  • Forced people into making false confessions

  • Suggested a large scale conspiracy against him

• 1949 - Leningrad Affair

• Doctor’s Plot - Jews were persecuted

• Lack of opposition to purges

  • Many welcomed purges to increase local power

  • Purges were popular to those who wanted a stronger USSR

  • Revolutionary Idealism
    

Significance of the great terror

• Stalin now had complete control of the party, and in a sense, Stalin became the party

• He had so much control that he destroyed opposition to the point where he ended u0p making all the decisions

• He eventually destroyed the politburo, the last remains of any form of democratic or discursive rule

• His ability to make people work towards him, meant that all members of the party recognized that the only practical way of furthering their political career was to follow (and not oppose) Stalin’s word

• Leaders of industries were also employed under Stalin, so they were under the same control

• Purges (coupled with propagande eg Stakhanovite Movement) meant that people were a) always in fear of the Party and b) indoctrinated at every step, to support not only the party, but Stalin personally (Stalin’s Cult, filled the whole of religion and Tsarist Regime)

Domestic policies and their impact

Treatment of Minorities:

• Cossacks

  • Aim was to get Cossack’s on Stalin;s side to help fight against Germany

  • Stalin used their strong patriotism and created a Cossack division in the Red Army

  • After the war Stalin returned to his anti-Cossack activities - destroyed what was left of Cossack communities

  • Stalin denied their right to exist as a special entity

• Kulaks - rich peasants

  • Aim was to liquidate the Kulaks as a class

  • Accused Kulaks of holding back the revolution by keeping produce for themselves

  • Justified collectivization by taking Kulak farms away

  • Kulaks were left homeless without possession

  • Deported to “special settlements” in Siberia

• Baltic States

  • Stalin wanted to expand the Soviet sphere of influence

  • Wanted to spread communism

  • Wanted to create a true soviet state

  • Soviet Occupation and Annexation (1940-41)

  • Re-occupation 1944

  • Mass deportation of Baltic people

  • Drastic social effects

  • 1941 - new “true soviet” govt. was set up --> Stalin thought of Baltic population to be beneath him

• Religious Minorities

  • Aim was to encourage worship of Stalin

  • Wanted an atheist society

  • “Religion is the opium of the people”

  • Instigated campaigns to suppress the Jews

  • Doctor’s Plot in 1953 - aimed at liquidating the Jews

  • Buddhists and Muslims were deported

  • Any religious traditions were suppressed

    • Synagogues, churches and mosques were shut down

    • Religious leaders were persecuted

    • Anti-religious laws were imposed

• Overall most religious minorities were killed and suppressed

• Deportation Minorities

  • Stalin wanted to prevent people of Western USSR from supporting the invading German army (1941)

  • Did not want opposition - wanted total control

  • Ordered national great scale deportation to Siberia (Crimean Tatars and Volga Germans)

  • A third of the 4 million people that were deported died

  • 20 million people were uprooted from homes

  • Tatars were deported for alleged acts of treason

Soviet Culture: (Socialist Realism - Any piece of creativity was to reflect the problems and victories and progression of the Bolshevik working class)

• Paintings and Sculptures

  • Aim was to promote Stalin as a symbol of Soviet glory

• Film

  • Aim was to make all the arts a propaganda tool

  • Demonize the enemy

• Literature

  • Aim was to stop people from publishing works critical of the govt. 

  • Promote Socialist Realism

• Music

  • Aim to promote socialist realism

• Komsomol

  • Youth movement to create loyal following for the future

• Stakhanovite Movement

  • Propaganda movement to increase worker efficiency and inspire nationalism

• Stalin in Print

  • Stalin was glorified in all forms of propaganda

  • Promoted him as the leader, savior and giver of good of the USSR