1 / 19

China: 1949-1976

China: 1949-1976. Purpose of today’s lecture. Gauge the success of Mao in dealing with China’s problems Understand the Chinese government system Understand changes in Agriculture and Industry Learn details of 3 campaigns & programs under Mao: 100 Flowers Campaign Great Leap Forward

susan
Download Presentation

China: 1949-1976

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. China: 1949-1976

  2. Purpose of today’s lecture • Gauge the success of Mao in dealing with China’s problems • Understand the Chinese government system • Understand changes in Agriculture and Industry • Learn details of 3 campaigns & programs under Mao: • 100 Flowers Campaign • Great Leap Forward • Cultural Revolution

  3. Problems Facing Mao • Following the Civil War: • Railways, roads, canals, & dams destroyed • Chronic food shortages • Industry was backward • Agriculture inefficient & incapable of feeding the masses • Inflation seemed out of control

  4. What Mao needed • Improve conditions to keep support of peasants and the middle class • Control & organization over the masses • Assistance from the USSR • Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance • “Like getting meat out of the mouth of a tiger” • Financial aid & technical advice • Only $300,000,000 over 5 years • 10,000 engineers and planning experts to help build the economy

  5. China’s Government • 1950 constitution • National People’s Congress • Final authority for legislation • Members elected for four years • State Council & Chairman of the Republic • Make sure laws were carried out and administration of the country went ahead • Political Bureau (Politburo) • Handled all main decisions • Provided China with a strong central government for the first time in many years

  6. Industrial Changes • Nationalization of most businesses • Five Year Plan • 1953-1957: development of heavy industry (iron, steel, chemicals, & coal) • Light industry neglected • Necessity to feed workers led to agrarian reform

  7. Agricultural Changes • Goal:transform China from a country of small, inefficient private farms into one of large cooperative farms like those in Russia • Stage 1 • Land taken from large landowners and redistributed among the peasants • Violence? • Reports of as many as 2 million killed • Other historians argue this was handled legally and with a minimum of violence against landlords • Stage 2 • Peasants persuaded to join together in cooperative farms to increase food production • Cooperative farms between 100 & 300 families • Joint ownership of the farm and its equipment • 95% of all peasants were in cooperatives by 1956

  8. Agricultural Changes

  9. Hundred Flowers Campaign (1957) • Seems to have developed out of industrialization • New class of technicians and engineers seen as a threat to authority of the cadres (organizers of the masses) • Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend. • Call for constructive criticism of the government • Mao got more than he expected: • Attack of the cadres for incompetence and over-enthusiasm • Criticism of the government for over-centralization • Communist Party targeted for being undemocratic; suggestions of opposition parties

  10. Hundred Flowers Campaign (1957) • Campaign called off quickly – after only 6 weeks of free speech!!! • Critics targeted – Mao insisted his policies were right • Led to the Great Leap Forward

  11. Great Leap Forward • Industrial and agricultural developments meant to increase output and adapt industry to meet Chinese conditions. • Introduction of Communes: • Larger than collective farms, up to 75,000 people • Ran their own collective farms and factories, carried out most functions of a local government • Special local projects • Families received a share of the profits & a small private land plot • Emphasis changed to Industry: • Smaller factories established in the countryside focused on machinery production for agriculture • Organized and managed by communes • Roads, canals, dams, reservoirs and irrigation channels

  12. Great Leap Forward • Hardships in the years 1959-63 • Some opposition to the cadres • Series of bad harvests (1959-61) • Famine (1959-60) • Withdrawal of Russian aid • Lack of experience among cadres • 20 million people may have died • Economic crisis

  13. Great leap forward • Long term importance • Agricultural and industrial output increased • China managed to feed its population without famine by the mid-1960s • Communes proved successful • Allowed central government to keep in touch with local opinion • Avoided high unemployment of other industrialized countries • Economy was labor intensive, providing jobs for most of the massive population • Spread of education and welfare services • Improvement in the position of women

  14. Cultural Revolution (1966-9) • Mao’s attempt to keep the revolution and Great Leap on a pure Marxist-Leninist course, and to maintain his authority. • Right-wing members (including Liu Shao-qui and Deng Xiaoping) opposed the methods of the Great Leap forward • Suggestions about shifting the way of thinking to be more in line with the Soviets • More incentives in the communes, managerial class in industrial sectors • Mao rejected these ideas as ‘revisionist’ and taking the ‘capitalist road’ • Party must avoid emergence of a privileged class who would exploit the workers • Wanted to maintain ideological purity

  15. Cultural Revolution (1966-9) • Public debate between rightists and Maoists over which course to follow • Mao roused the youth through the ‘Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution’ to appeal to the masses • Mao was trying to renew revolutionary fervor • Red Guards traveled the country arguing Mao’s cause – purges on the nation’s ‘impure’ elements • Schools and factories were closed down • Authority figures were attacked – not just critics of Mao • Teachers, professionals, local party officials – all were targets • Millions of people were disgraced and ruined Little Red Book

  16. Cultural Revolution (1966-9) • Liu Shao-qui was one of the Communist leaders removed from power • He died in prison in 1969 after repeated beatings • Mao had to call in the army under Lin Biao to restore order in 1967 • Privately admitted to mistakes, but publicly blamed his advisors and Red Guard leaders • Many were arrested and executed for their ‘excesses’ • Cultural revolution formally ended in 1969 • Mao declared free of all blame • Mao later blamed Lin Biao for the Red Guard’s over-enthusiasm • Mao did not trust Lin (power grabs, assassination attempts) and was killed in an air crash in 1971 while ‘trying to escape to the USSR’ according to reports • Zhou Enlai took office after Mao rather than Lin

  17. Cultural Revolution (1966-69) • Lasting effects • Caused great disruption • Schools and government systems had to be restored – took several years • Ruined millions of lives • Halted China’s economic development by ten years • Some economic recovery in the mid-1970s • 1.5 million were killed, millions more were imprisoned, had their property seized, were tortured or humiliated • Many people moved away from the party – the exact opposite result Mao had aimed for

More Related