agriculture and industry Flashcards
(66 cards)
1
Q
Agrarian Reform Law
what?goal?army role? humiliation?violence?ownership?death?Pwr?implement?
A
Legal Framework (1950): Establishment of a legal framework to carry out land redistribution.
Goal: Eradicate exploitation of peasants by the ‘landlord class’.
Restraint of Activists: Attempted to prevent overzealous activists from acting unilaterally.
Army’s Role: The army played a crucial role in suppressing opposition and assisting local organizations with work teams.
Public Humiliation: Meetings were held to label villagers; ‘Landlords’ were publicly humiliated and accused of exploitation.
Confiscation and Redistribution: If found guilty, landlords’ land and possessions were confiscated and redistributed among other villagers.
Violence and Executions: Landlords were often beaten and executed, frequently by the villagers themselves.
Land Ownership Shift (by end of 1951): Approximately 10 million landlords lost land, and 40% of land changed hands.
Death Toll: Official death figures cited 700,000, with some estimates reaching as high as 3 million.
Shift in Power: Power was placed in the hands of poor and middle-ranking peasants who conducted ‘speak bitterness’ meetings and passed sentences.
Irreversible Implementation: Universal implementation ensured the policy was irreversible.
2
Q
Mutual Aid Teams (MATs)
A
1951 + groups of 10 + families encouraged to form MATS to pool their labour, animals, and equipment, while retaining right of priate ownership
- happened busiest time of year anyway -. formalised as a permanant arrangement
- voluntary but those outside MATs found it hard to access rss & villagers stayed out on their own ran risk of persecution
3
Q
Peasant Associations
A
- revived 1950s by work teams in order to get the villagers used to idea of collective activity
- organizations formed to represent and mobilize the peasantry for revolution
- managed MATs
- key role in Land Reform
4
Q
Agricultural Producers Co-operatives (APCs)
A
- In 1952, successful MATs were encouraged to combine & form APCs of 40-50 families
- land ccould also be pooled + could consolidate into larger units & cultivated more efficiently than in trad. strips
- families w/ large holdings still allowed some land for personal use, & rent the rest to APCs -> stronger incentive for riccher families to join
- profits shared out at end of yr according to rss contributed and food produced
- still voluntary
5
Q
Reasons for moves towards full scale collectivisation/ steps to (U-turns etc)
Mao, Chaos, debt, capitalism, participation, protest, U-turn
A
Mao’s Frustration (Early 1955): Mao was frustrated by the slow growth of Agricultural Producers’ Cooperatives (APCs); only 14% of rural households were in them by March 1955.
Desire for Speed & Poor Planning: Mao’s push for faster collectivization led many local officials to create poorly planned APCs rapidly.
Debt Issues (Early 1953): These rushed APCs often incurred debt to buy equipment, leading Mao to slow down the process in Spring 1953.
Capitalist Tendencies (1954): Following stabilization in 1954, peasants began buying and selling land and food, which Mao saw as a rejection of revolutionary values and condemned as a “rash retreat,” renewing pressure to join APCs.
Reluctant Participation: Better-off peasants often reluctantly joined APCs due to local pressure, sometimes slaughtering animals rather than handing them over.
Rural Protest (1954): A poor harvest in 1954 led to forced grain requisitioning for cities, sparking significant rural protests.
Another Policy Shift (January 1955): Another U-turn occurred with the announcement of “stop, contract, develop,” halting APC development for the next 18 months.
6
Q
Steps to moves towards full scale collectivisation
A
- July 1955 announce all-out collectivisation announce to Conference of local Party secretarries a full-scale drive could start immediately
- From 17mn household APCs July 1955 -> 75 mn ^ by Jan 1956
- ## end 56 only 3% of peasants farm independently
7
Q
Higher Producer’s Cooperatives (HPCs)
A
- new APCS July 1955 + (most considered HPC)
- include 200-300 households
- peasant families no longer own land or equipment, and profits shared according to work points earned by labour contributed
8
Q
Ideological impact of collectivisation on Chinese Peasantry
A
- extremely successful
- sstate owned means of production food, the land & 90% of the population worked
9
Q
Political impact of collectivisation on Chinese Peasantry
speed/control/change/confidence
A
- mixed success
- speed of which carried out = tribute to his authority within the party and his ability to outmaneourve powerful conservatives such as the premier Zhou Enlai #
- increased control of Party exerted over Local people at grassroot level
- marked a distinct change between CCP and the peasantry -> peasantry servants of party>allies whose support had been earned
- speed at which Higher level APCs achieved made Mao overconfident which would lead to catastrophic mistakes of GLF 58
10
Q
Economical impact of collectivisation on Chinese Peasantry
increase?cultivated land? yield? productivity? incentive?
A
- disappointing
- 1st 5 yr plan food production increased 3.8% per annum -> insufficient to sustain growing industrial workforce, which was growing even faster
- amount of cultivated land per head of the population was so low
- Yields per a hectare relatively high
- labour productivity was low
- hard peasants produce surplus
- lack of incentive -> not Private ownership
11
Q
Reasons for launching communes
collectivisation? idea? initial steps? ideolog?
A
- delighted with speed of collectivisation had been carried out & continued to seek ways to maximise food production in order to acceleratte industrial growth
- idea -> allowed pooling of even larger rss of equipment and labour -> higher food yields free up work on onstruction schemes
- initial steps from enthusiastic cadres in Henan, who claimed that local APC wanted to merge -> release ppl for water control projects launch winter 57-58
- ideological ewason for wanting to press ahead with the communes was Maos determenation to prevent revolution losing impetus
12
Q
Organisation of communes
and GLF
A
- GLf announced 8th CCP congress of May 58
- GLF would involve dev. indusrtry + agriculture @ the same time -> ‘walking on two legs’
- People communes expanded
- labour forces to be mobilised on water conservancy + other civil engineering schemes
- Production of steal and grain = importance
- refered to ‘General Steel’ and ‘General Grain’
- ## Mao believed in the need to achieve this by decenteralising economic planning so that enthusiastic LO could push changes forward w/out being restricted by Gov. technical experts
13
Q
first commune + growth of communes
A
- Sputnik -> Henan province April 58
- involved merge 27 collectives and brought over 9,000 households under control -> used this to inspire Local cadres in neighbouring provinces
- 58-60 750,000 collectives merged forming 26,000 communes -> total 120mn households
- oncce set up not possible to move elsewhere without internal passport
14
Q
communal living: roles of communes
A
- unit of local government
- provide local services i.e education, public health, policing, and the milita
- provide childcare and canteen facilities, elderly ‘happiness homes’
- communes organise industrial enterprises feasible locally i.e flour mills.
- aim to put into practice some aspects of ‘utopian socialism’
15
Q
comunal living: impact on Peasantry
A
- extra sense of communal identity -> esp. where communal canteens, dormortries
- directed by new management teams -> divide into production brigades
- Parents were encouraged to abandon ‘bourgeois emotional attatchments’
- in favour of regimented lifestyles -> long hours for communal good
16
Q
abolition of Private Farming/communes into
choice? loss? motivation? Labour?effort? freedo?miliita?mindset?
A
- Forced Absorption: Villagers had no choice but to be absorbed into communes.
- Loss of Private Property: They were compelled to surrender all private property (land, equipment, livestock, household items) without compensation.
- Reduced Motivation: The lack of individual workpoints reduced incentive for hard work, relying instead on ideological inspiration towards a common goal with equal reward regardless of effort.
- Compelled Labor: Despite lost motivation, peasants were compelled to work by team leaders competing to outproduce neighboring communes.
- Minimal Effort: Many peasants performed as little work as possible.
- Loss of Freedom and Possessions: This led to military-style organization within communes, extending beyond vocabulary to brigades, divisions, and units.
- Militia Membership: All individuals between 15 and 50 were required to be militia members with periodic weapons training; marching to work was common.
- Drive for New Mindset: The aim was to subordinate individual desires to communal good and enforce discipline more easily.
17
Q
Gains peasantry (Agri)
A
18
Q
Losses Peasants (Agri)
A
19
Q
Lysenkoism - what
A
- 1958 official agricultural policy - 8-point programme based on Lysenko Ideas -> farmers had to follow
- common sense (new tools, new breeds and seeds, imprv management, increased irrigation)
- others potentially dangerous (close planting, deep ploughing, increased fertillisation and pest control) -> especially when usedd together which was Mao’s directive
20
Q
Lysenkoism - Impact -> Pest control
A
- 1958 four pest campaign
- focus killing Birds to stop them eating seeds
- time wasting (Banging pots to make birds so tired they fall out the sky)
- upset ecological balance
- insects (esp locusts) and small animals birds normally ate multiplied uncontrollably and destroyed crops
- rats and vermin ^ destroyed grain stocks
21
Q
Lysenkoism - Impact -> increased fertilisation
A
- led to destruction of thousands of peasants homes being ploughed into ground, since walls often constructed with animal dung was thought to be useful
- although communes were expected to provide accomodation to those whose homes had been used this way, many were forcced to seek accomodation wherever they could
22
Q
Great Famine + impact
2 social, 1 pol, + 1 economic
A
- 1958-62
- social: approx 30 mn deaths
- social: breakdown in order as peasants tried to take grain from commune stores -> those caught executed w/pit trial
- political: Mao lost his authority in CCP and policies were abandoned (59) -> rise of Liu & Deng and their pragmatic policies
- economic: agricultural production took decades to recover
23
Q
Reasons for famine
A
- communes
- Mao’s radical ideology
- consequences of gov. policy -> Lysenkoism + Four Pests Campaign
- Impact of bad weather 1959-61
24
Q
Problems with communes
harvest -> incentive + implement. + Bf
A
wheat and rice harvest declined every year from 58 -> 62 -> long hours little incentive -> rushed implementation mean commune org. haotic and driven by party slogans
- backyard furncances = fewer ppl famring tools lost
25
bad weather 59-61
- droughtz 59& 60 in important farming areas such as Sichuan
- heavy rain and flooding Guangxi 59
26
Gov. policy
- lysenkoism -> seeds up to 10 X closer and way too deep -> 90% of seeds failed to grow
- failure of 4 pests
27
Grain requisitioning during Great Famine
- 17% 57
- 21% 58
- 28% 59
- 21% 60
28
Areas most affected by famine
- rural areas
- Tibet -> 25% killed
- situation worsened by swapping barley to other goods not suited to local conditions = forcing Normadic Yak herdsmen stay in villages rather than roam grasslands
- intend to destroy ibetan cultural identity
29
restoration of Private farming
- Nov 1960 Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping brought in emergency measures to tackle the famine -. 'economic pragmatism'
- small private farms allowed: peasants could trade surplus
- stuents, soldiers,unemployed sent to villaged to work on farmes (25mn city-dwellers forced to move)
- communes reduced in sze (3o households) , priority given to growing food + hard work rewarded with pay
- Emergency reforms successful -. Grain production increaased byy over 60 mn tonnes 61-> 66
30
roles of LIu Shaoqi And Deng Xiaoping
31
Changes made to the the countryside and lives of the peasantry
32
why was 5 yr plan not immediately introduced
- need to consolidate political control -> removing any reminentt nationalist forces + conquering the outlying provinces
- reduce inflation rate from 1000%
- reward peasants for support -> land distribution
- need for military spending for korean war
33
Reasons for 1st 5yr pla
- 'success of soviet industrialisation
- Korean war -> concern foreign invasion -> military need to be stronger, need modern heacy industry
- maoism and marvism meant that communism and socialism could only happen in fully indusrtrialised economy
34
5 yr plan - soviet model and help
| what? civillians? cost? Lent? factories? edu?gift? buildings?lang.? TASS
- sino-soviet treaty 1950 (Treaty of friendship, Alliance and Mutual assistance)
- soviet advisors come and teach
- over 10,000 civillian tach,s, bbrought specialist knowledge on civil engineering, industry, gov org. HE
- cost: high salaries, housing, closely guarded compounds
- lent $300 mn in return bullion stocks -> 3% of investment 5-yr plan
- 156 factories -> by 1957 less than 1/2 had been built
- edu for 28,000 chinese techs
- credit not gift had interest
- classical chnese buildings cleared for 'brutalist' styke
- russian only foreign language taught
- TASS (sviet news agency) main way chinese papers got info
-
35
aims of 5 yr plan
| main?focus? invest? Yangtze?
- mainL Make PRC self-sufficient in regards to food and manufactured goods -> in a hostille worled
- focus on rapid dev. large-scale heavy industry iron and steel production
- 90% of state investment went to eavy industry
- inrastructue - 1953 nobridge Yangtze so need ferry - divide north and south -> obstaclet ro dev -> build bridge at Wuhan complete 57
36
Nationalisation of industries
initially not all industries only those belonging to foreigners and key industries
- banking, gas, electricity and transport sectors in 1949
- fear from '5 antis' in early 56 bring end to private ownership
37
Success of 1st 5 yr plan
| target? heavy industry? exceed? sofl? urban? PI?
- gov target growth 14.7 %industry a yr -> actually 16% 1953 -57
- heavy industrial prod 3x in size 53-57
- coal (115%) ,steel (130%) andd ellec (122%)exceed target
- standard of living cities imprv -> wages ^ approx 40%
- urbanisation cities inc. to 4 mn
- infrastructure imprv 6000 km of railways built and
- private industry banned -> last factories nattionalised 56
38
Failure of first 5 yr plan
| target>? investment? industrialisation? plan? soviet?
- oil production target not met (73% of target)
- 90% investment heavy = uneven dev
- investment industrialisation -> put off pay rises -> unpopular -> strikes 56
- plann whole econ complex and inefficient -> production had to halt because raw materials failed to arrice
- problematic soviet aid -> high interest -> senf gold security of loan -> lysenkoism failure
39
2nd 5 yr plan (Great Leap Forward) - How it worked
- 58-62
- decentralisation and backyard furnances
40
2nd 5 yr plan - decentralisation
- give more freedom to local party officials, the cadres to harness the energies of the masses -> mao regard largest asset
- believed CCP wat too bureucratic -> determined to find a way to involve revolutionaty spirit of the chinese people
41
2nd 5 yr plan backyard furrnaces
- autumn 57 mao announce steel production need to quadruple in 4 yrs = 20 mn per yr which he would go on to double
- steel target 58 6mn -> 8mn Party congress May -> 10. mn tonnes sep -> not possible with conventional steel plants
- Sep 58 14% of steel come from local furnaces, Oct 49%
- @ peak reconed that a quarter of population abandoned usual activities
42
failure of backyard furnance -> timeconsuming
- @ peak a quarter of ppl had abandoned their normal activities
- unsustainable and put strain on food production
- need to close schools and deploy peasant shock brigades (anyone possible) to get in the harvests
43
failure backyard furnaces -> waste
- spring 1959 only became apparent that the home-made steel variety was useless
- continued to melt down their tools, pots,pans and metal household itemns -> which was taken away by authorities and buried out of sight
44
ecological consequences backyard furnaces
ecological consequences
- destruction of vast swaythes of woodland to supply fuel for furnace-> soil erosion and worsen flooding
45
State owned enterprises
- Prices, output targets, wages set by state
- demotivations
46
GLF: water conservancy projects
- irrigation schemes
- Three Gate Gorge Dam designed to control flow o yellow river and rebuild damage caused by silt deposits -> within a yr was rebuilt
- vy 1961 twice as much mud was being deposited downstream and foreign visitors banned from going near Dam.
0 disruption of existing draining patterns caused by new irrigation systems led to salinisation, reduced productivity
-
47
success of 2nd 5yr plan
| communes? steel? Irrigation? soviet?
- communes took up new policy enthusaiastically -> peasants melted down metal tools and equipment, eager to make new and imprvs. steel versions
- by end of 1958 almost 50% of china's steel was produced in small-scale rura factories based in communes
- Second 5 yr plan -> Iriigation investment 0> provide water to drier farmland so that more crops could be grown -> irrigated farmland doubled 58
- Mao move away from soviet model
48
failure s of 2nd 5 yr plan
| industrial output? Quality? Rush?chaos? reports?
- China's industrial output fell 50% ->55% heavy industry + 30% light industry
- steel production poor quality not used yet melted down toolss pots + burnt everything wooden -> communes left without essential tools and equipment
- Pressure to achieve meant production was rushed and products failed to work -> major problems export orders as frequently had to be replaced when cmplained about since substandard goods threatened to ruin China's rep as trading partner
- eeconomic chaos -. gov closed 25 000 state enterprises -> new projects cancelled & 45% odf industrial workers lost their jobs
- failure of GLF not fully reported -> pretended everything was going well - i.e Maos reponse to doubts about three Gate Gorge Dam by write an editorial in the People's daily newspaper titled 'What is this trash
49
sino-soviet split
- brewing for yrs
- came to a head in 61
- Zhou ENlai led his delegation out of a conference out of a conference in Moscow, expressing support for Albanians
50
Lushan conference
- 1959
officially called by Mao to assess the progress of the GLF
- Peng Dehuai criticisms
- led to 'Anti-right Opportunist Campaign': persecute anyone criticising th GLF
- Prompt a 'second leap': pushing up production targets still higher
- signalled that Party Comrades could no longer express their view openly at a Party conference -> only Mao can criticise Mao
51
Peng's criticisms
- Peng Dehuai a military hero had reported problems with GLF to Mao prior to conference
- Mao respond by publicly humiliating Peng at conference & forced him to resign
- showed thay Mao wouldn't tolerate any criticism
52
Liu shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms 62-65 (3rd 5 yr plan)
## Footnote
apf, e, ss, bf, c, t
- abandon GLF + private farming restored -> less socialist then communes
- brought back experts -> design food rationing system and dev. new cariety of rice ^ supply-> experts in charge of factories
- small-scale factories closed for more efficient use of rss
- backyard furnances phased out
- 'return to the village' campaign encouraged workers drom closed factories to go back to farms to imprive food supply
- targets lowered -> more achieveable and reduce need to forge false stats
53
economic recovery to 65
- by end of 62 economy begin to recover
- 63-65 industry grew at 18.2% a yr
- Farming began to recover -> Grain production increased by over 60mn tonnes between 61 and 66
- urban workers higher standards of living than peasants
54
Role of Liu and Deng
Liu @ conference of 7,000 adres Jan 62
- praise Mao correct leadership but also imply Mao should share some blame for China's past mistakes
- Mao admitted he had some responsibility as chairman of party -> 1st time Maos aura of infalliability had been damaged -> retired public life -> Liu, Deng and Zhou in charge
55
Maos attitude and actions to reforms 62-65
- 1964 china first atomic bomb
- Mao contemptuously thanked Khrushchev for 'helping' by withdrawing
- Mao welcomed economic improvements of early 60s but was reluctan =t to attribute it to retreat from GLF- > viewing it as dangerous revisionism
56
ideological differences regarding direction of economy
- Right of party Liu and Deng, pragmatic view that ideological concessions necessary to restore economy and mass obilisation was now substitute for expertise and planning, private trade was justiffied if it motivated ppl to work harder
- Mao = continuing revolution was key: w/out mass moilisation there would b danger of a new bourgoise within the party + destroy gains of revolution
57
Mao's return ro politics 1962
- summer 62 at Party conference where he demanded whether China was going to take the 'Socialist road or capitalist road' + condemned revisionism of Liu and Deng
- Liu and Deng agreed to Mao's analysis of the sit & criticised rural capitalism but continued to allow farmers owning own plots and selling produce fot profit
58
reasons for 2 5yr plan
| 4 main reasons
- Economic
- Personal
- Political
- Ideological
59
econ 2nd yr
The speed in which farming had been collectivised and the encouraging early signs from the people’s communes seemed to indicate that agriculture was progressing rapidly by 1958 which encouraged Mao to accelerate the demands in industry.
But industry was not yet producing large amounts of consumer goods and the state could not afford to pay generous prices for food.
There was a debate between conservatives and radicals:
~ Conservatives advocated a system of rewarding high food producers with material incentives.
~ Radicals called for the punishment against low producer
60
personal 5 yr plan
ao’s was highly confident because collectivisation had been achieved more rapidly than expected
There had been an impressive burst of activity on water Conservancy schemes during the winter of 1957 to 1958.
Anxious to prove their credentials, local cadres were eager to demonstrate their revolutionary vigour which helped convince Mao that more ambitious schemes would be possible.
61
political 2nd 5 yt
Mao was determined to show the Soviet Union that he could act independently of them.
By moving from socialism to communism without following the Russian model, Mao hoped to demonstrate his credentials as the next leader of the communist world: the great leap forward would do just that.
62
ideological
mas mobilisation
63
Speak bitterness campaigns
peak Bitterness would give Chinese peasant farmers the opportunity to express their anger and sorrow about old injustices.
64
At the Central Committee meeting in December 1958, Mao announced that grain production had sky rocketed. How were these figures fabricated?
Mao declared that the harvest in 1958 had been 430 million tonnes. Even the party felt that this figure was impossibly high, and changed it to 375 million before making it public. The real figure was close to 200 million tonnes.
65
ignore
66
when was 4 pest campaign
1958 four pest campaign
