China since 1949: the communists in control

China since 1949: the communists in control


Summary of events

After the communist victory Mao set about rebuilding
At the first there was Russian advice and aid, in the late 1950’s relations cooled and Russian economic aid was reduced
In 58 Mao introduced the Great Leap Forward, in which communism was introduced. The emphasis was put on decentralization, agriculture, communes and contact with the masses.
Mao became critical to Russia because, in his view, the Russians went away from the Marxist Principles and he blamed them that they followed the capitalist road
During the 60’s these disagreements caused a serious drift in world communism , which were only healed after Gorbachev became a Russian leader
The cultural revolution (66-69), meant that Mao succeeded to crush all the opposition and to keep the party’s development along Marxist Leninist lines
After Mao’s death (76) there was a power of struggle from which Deng emerged as undisputed leader (81).
Dang’s policies were moderating Mao’s ideas, were less conservative and Deng looked towards Japan and the West for ideas and support.hjijk
In 87 Deng wad forced to slow down his reforms because of the big opposition of Mao’s supporters, which accused Deng of following the capitalist road.
In April 89, the Chinese were encouraged by Gorbachev’s policies, e.g. glasnost and the revolutions that took place in Eastern Europe. The Chinese started a revolution in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. They demanded democracy and end of corruption and CCP.
The Armies moved in, crushing the opposition and restored order. The communism and the economic reforms continued with some successes, but there was no political reform. Deng continued as a supreme leader until his death in 97 (age of 92)

















18.1 How successful was Mao in dealing with China’s problem?

a) What were the problems facing Mao?

· The problems facing China were complex
· The country was devastated after the civil war with Japan: railways, roads, canals, and dykes had been destroyed and there were chronic food shortages, industry was backward, agriculture was inefficient and incapable, inflation was huge
· To satisfy the supporter’s demands was crucial for Mao
· It was difficult for Mao to control and organize such a vast country
· Mao looked closely at Stalin’s methods and experimented to find out what would work in China and what would not.


b) The constitution of 1950 (officially adopted 54’)

· Every 4 years the people elected members of the National People’s Congress (the final authority of legislation)
· The State Council and the Chairman of the Republic were chosen by the Congress, whose function was to look after that the laws were carried out properly and that the countries policies went ahead
· The State Council elected the Politburo, which took all the main decisions.
· The whole system was dominated by the communist party and only party members could be elected.
· The system was important because if provided the country with a central government, the first in many years. The system is today almost unchanged.


c) Agricultural changes

· These transformed China from an inefficient country to one of large co operative like Russia.
· In the first stages land was taken from land owners and given to peasants, also sometimes with violence. It is important to know that some historians claim that the violence never occurred.
· The next step was achieved without violence. Peasants were persuaded to join collective farms (not like in Russia).
· By 1956 about 95% of all peasants were collectivized in order to increase food production

d) Industrial changes

· This begun with the government nationalizing most businesses.
· In 1953 a Five Year Plan of the heavy industry started, where the Russians helped with cash, equipment and advisers.
· Before it was complete Mao started to have doubts about the Five Year Plan, if this Plan was suited for China. Mao could claim that under his leadership China recovered from the ravages of the war, full communication has been restored, inflation was under control an the economy looked better.



e) The Hundred Flowers Campaign (57)

· This developed from the industrialization which produced a new class of technicians and engineers. These were called the party cadres.
· The cadres were groups that organized the masses politically and economically e.g. collectivization of farms.
· Mao decided first open discussion of the problems might improve relations between cadres, experts or intellectuals.
· These created only criticism and opposition
· Mao called off the campaign and clamped down on his critics
· The campaign showed that the actual opposition still existed.
· Mao was convinced that he had to consolidate the advance of socialism. He introduced the Great Leap Forward.


f) The Great Leap Forward


· This was a policy that would face the Chinese situation and was not based on Russian experience.
· You can say that The Great Leap Forward wad an extension of the Five Year Plan.
· It was mostly concentrated on agriculture that was ineffective. This would increase output
· Its most important features were:


The introduction of communes

Units larges than collective farms, containing up to 75 000 people, divided into brigades and teams with an elected council.
They ran their own collective farms and factories, carried out most of the functions of local government within the commune and undertook special projects.

A complete change of emphasis in industry

· Instead of aiming for large scale works of the type seen in Russian and the West, smaller factories were set up on the country side to provide machinery for agriculture
· Mao talked about 600 000 backyard steel furnaces organized and managed by the communes, which also undertook to build roads, canals, dams, reservoirs and irrigation channels.
· At first the Leap was a great failure, which was caused also because of the Russian aid withdrawal, lack of experience among the cadres. Mao’s prestige suffered because of the failure and he was forced to resign as Chairman
· In the long term the importance of the Great Leap forward became clear, both industrial and agricultural production increased substantially and China could manage to feed its massive population without famine
· The communes proved to be a successful innovation, even more affective then collective farms. This gave the government chance to keep in touch with the local opinion
· The crucial decision that had been taken by China is that they would remain an agricultural country with small scale industry spread around the country side
· The economy would be labor intensive, which means that it relied on massive numbers of workers instead of laborsaving machines. This give also anyone a job, it enabled China to avoid the growing unemployment problems, as I happened in the West.
· Other benefits were the spread of education and welfare services and of the women’s role in the society.

g) The Cultural Revolution (66-69)


· jkl