Agriculture and industry, 1949–65

Question 1

What was the Agrarian Reform Law 1950?

Answer 1

• The law’s main aim was to destroy the ‘gentry landlord’ class who had been the traditional rural elite for many generations. Landlords who exploited the poor peasants who rented their land would have their property seized.

Question 2

Why was the introduction of Agrarian Reform Law problematic?

Answer 2

• Only ten to fifteen per cent of farmers rented their land; exploitation by cruel, greedy and often absent landlords was not really a problem
• In some areas occupied by the communists, many peasants already owned some land. They hoped that the new regime would provide the stability, peace, and rule of law that the nationalists had been unable to create in order to improve their standard of living.
• Often land ownership and agricultural production was organised by clans with a wide range of members from different classes. The communist language of ‘class conflict’ and ‘feudal exploitation’ by greedy landlords had little meaning.

Question 3

What impact did land reform have on China?

Answer 3

• By the summer of 1952, the ‘land to the tiller’ movement had been largely completed. The work teams helped villagers measure out their new plots precisely to ensure fair redistribution. An estimated 88 per cent of households had taken part, with 43 per cent of the land redistributed to 60 per cent of the population.
• Rural production boomed. Between 1950 and 1952 total agricultural production increased at a rate of 15 per cent per annum.
• The gentry-landlord had been destroyed as a class but the human cost had been horrific, with an estimated 1 to 2 million landlords executed.

Question 4

What were Mutual Aid Teams (MATs)?

Answer 4

• In December 1951 the CCP decided to introduce co-operative ownership of land.
• In these teams peasants pooled their resources such as tools, ploughs an their own labour. Animals were shared, as was knowledge and experience. This was rational: households with more land than they could farm efficiently could combine with those with more labour than they needed, and both would benefit.
• By 1952 an estimated 40 per cent of all peasant households belonged to a MAT.

Question 5

What were Voluntary Agricultural Producers Co-operatives (APCs)?

Answer 5

• Now the land the peasants had just acquired during land reform as well as equipment and animals were shared. Land was reorganised into a single unit and the peasants were compensated using a points system according to the value of the land, labour and tools they had contributed.
• APCs were bigger than MATs; they comprised three to five MATs joined together, approximately 30 to 50 households.
• The peasants did not want to share their newly acquired land and only 14 per cent of peasants joined the new units. By June 1955 there were only 16.9 million peasant households in APCs out of a total of 110 million.

Question 6

What disagreements were there over collectivisation in the party?

Answer 6

• Gradualists like Liu Shaoqi and Premier Zhou Enlai claimed that China was not yet ready for large-scale farming.
• Mao disagreed. In July 1955 he demanded an increase in the pace of reform towards full collectivisation, and an end to all private property. He argued that collectivisation was a key step in advancing the revolutionary process towards the creation of a socialist society.

Question 7

How fast did APC’s grow?

Answer 7

• In December 1955, 63.3 per cent of peasant households were part of APCs, with 4 per cent of those being higher- level APCs comprising 200 to 300 households, sometimes encompassing whole villages.

Question 8

How was collectivisation finally enforced?

Answer 8

• By January 1956, 80.3 per cent of peasant households were in APCs, and by now 30.7 per cent of those were higher-level APCs. Now pragmatism was completely abandoned. Private ownership was abolished. Members would only be compensated for their labour; their land and equipment were simply taken over by the state.

Question 9

Why was communal living introduced?

Answer 9

• The communes were to be vast in size and incorporate both agricultural and industrial production. Mao called this focus on both aspects of the economy ‘Walking on Two Legs’.
• He believed that the communes would represent the final realisation of his goal to create a communist China but his overly ambitious radicalism proved disastrous.

Question 10

How were the communes organised?

Answer 10

• With the average size of approximately 5500 households, communes organised both agricultural and industrial production as well as healthcare and education.
• Private ownership of land and livestock was abolished. Markets, denounced by the Party as evidence of rural capitalism, were banned.

Question 11

What was the vision when organising the communes?

Answer 11

• Mess halls enabled communal eating, the theory being sharing meals would help to develop revolutionary fervour. Crèches and boarding schools were also provided.
• Mao believed that with women would be able to escape domestic drudgery and join the men in the fields and factories. Propaganda celebrated these ‘iron women’ for taking their full and equal role in economic production. An estimated 90 per cent of women laboured in agriculture between 1958 and 1959.
• Grandparents would no longer be forced to help care for grandchildren. They would be free to spend time with other elderly people in ‘happiness homes’.

Question 12

What were the realities of communes?

Answer 12

• Forced into one location, the Party could easily target commune residents with propaganda, further forging their revolutionary and militaristic spirit.
• All able-bodied citizens between 15 and 50 years of age belonged to the commune militia who served as a police force to enforce the rules of the commune.
• These policies had devastating results for family life. The traditional family meal was replaced by eating in massive mess halls, surrounded by strangers. Parents lost influence over the raising of their children, grandparents became isolated from their relatives.
• Women were forced to carry out harsh physical labour that had previously been the role of men.

Question 13

What was the Four Pests Campaign?

Answer 13

• In 1958 Mao launched the Four Pests Campaign, dedicated to ridding China of sparrows that ate grain, as well as rats, flies and mosquitoes.
• Crops lay rotting in the fields as villagers wasted their time desperately hunting for vermin or chasing sparrows. Worse still, the ‘sparrowcide’ reduced the number of birds who normally ate caterpillars. The greatly increased caterpillar population attacked and ate the crops, devouring the harvest.

Question 14

What was Lysenkoism?

Answer 14

• Lysenko’s theories were wholly fraudulent. He had manipulated his research in order to gain political influence in the Soviet Union and encouraged the purging of any scientist who disagreed with him.
• The slavish adherence to his theories, combined with the massive waste of time and labour caused by the backyard furnaces led to a drop in agricultural production.
• Fearful that they would be dismissed from their posts, the cadres refused to report this failure, instead claiming that they had exceeded their production quotas.

Question 15

What was the First Five-Year Plan, 1952–56?

Answer 15

• The Plan closely mirrored the Soviet model of industrialisation, most especially the Stalinist focus on the centralisation of heavy industry.
• The decision was not only ideological, but practical too. The Soviet Union was now China’s only major ally. A trade embargo that had been imposed by the Western powers as a result of China’s involvement in the Korean War meant China had few trading partners. It was forced to rely on economic help from the Soviet Union because no one in the West would trade with the PRC.

Question 16

What was the Sino-Soviet Mutual Assistance Treaty of February 1950?

Answer 16

• Industrial experts to supply the technical knowledge and experience of organising a centrally planned economy that the Chinese lacked; 11,000 Soviet and Eastern European industrial experts were sent to China.
• The construction or reconstruction of 156 major
  industrial enterprises, including seven iron and steel
  plants.
• Inviting 28,000 Chinese technicians to study in Russia, in order to learn from ‘elder brother’
• A loan of $300 million US dollars over the next
  five years.

Question 17

What were the economic successes of the First Five-Year Plan, 1952–56?

Answer 17

• The annual growth rate averaged 16%.
• Industrial output grew 15.5% per year, outstripping the target of 14.7%.
• Heavy Industrial output nearly tripled.
• Railway freight volume more than doubled - enabling raw materials, equipment and machines to be moved around.
• Geological exploration discovered vital resources like oil, uranium and minerals in Xinjiang.

Question 18

What were the economic failures of the First Five-Year Plan, 1952–56?

Answer 18

• The plan was too dependent on loans from the Soviet Union which had very high interest rates. In order to meet the very demanding repayment schedules farmers were forced to sell their crops to the state at artificially low prices.
• The value of agricultural output grew only an average of 2.1% per year, a sharp decline from the rate of 14.1 per cent achieved during 1949-52. - Increases in factory production depended on a healthy and productive working class but not enough food was being delivered into the cities to feed them.
• The supply of consumer goods was very low. This helped the Plan because the people saved more money and bought government bonds that further provided funds for the plan.

Question 19

What were the social successes of the First Five-Year Plan, 1952–56?

Answer 19

• The industrial working class grew from 6 million to 10 million. Investment was focused upon enormous industrial projects near cities.
• For example, the new steel centre at Anshan attracted 35,000 new workers.
• The standard of living of industrial workers improved. They had greater job security. Work was guarenteed all year round.
• Given that many workers were simply peasants who had recently fled rural poverty, this represented an escape from the precarious dependence on seasonal farm labouring.

Question 20

What were the social failures of the First Five-Year Plan, 1952–56?

Answer 20

• Although the government balanced the budget, there was little investment in improving the healthcare or education systems. The standard of living, especially among the poorest peasants in rural China, was still very low.
• There was still a huge shortage of trained doctors, particularly in rural areas, and many peasants received only a basic education.

Question 21

What were the political successes of the First Five-Year Plan, 1952–56?

Answer 21

The regime wanted the Plan to accelerate the transformation towards socialism. In 1953 the state began to convert private firms into joint-state ownership.
- By 1956, private sector industry had been abolished.
- Large retail farms also came under the state ownership while small shops such as barbers and tailors were converted into co-operatives. Instead of competing for profit, they pooled their resources and labour.
- With greater urbanisation, the CCP was able to heighten its influence over the population. The large industrial plants could be organised on socialist lines, with committees of workers having an important say in how the factory was run.
- Workers were organised into Danwei, or work units, that controlled access to welfare support and provided permits for marriage and travel.

Question 22

Why did Mao launch the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 22

• Mao was desperate to transform China into a great economic power. He also wanted to place China as the leading communist nation in Asia.
• Although agriculture had faltered, industrial production had risen by 18.3 per cent during the First Five-Year Plan. This success had convinced him that very quick and very large improvements in agricultural production could be made.
• Mao’s optimism was further enhanced because it appeared that the communists were winning the Cold War.
• Mao wanted to achieve what was termed ‘Walking on Two Legs’: increasing both agricultural and industrial production at the same time.
• Mao believed that the people’s sheer force of will would be enough to overcome all technological obstacles.

Question 23

What were the successes of the GLF?

Answer 23

• Economically, the Great Leap Forward had a few successes. Massive irrigation terracing helped make agricultural land more fertile, while construction projects changed the face of Chinese cities.
• Ideologically, the Party believed that the people in communes lived more closely to a communistic model than ever before. Lacking private property, they pooled labour, food and even parenting responsibilities.

Question 24

What were the failures of GLF?

Answer 24

• Government officials knew that the best way to advance their careers was to impress Mao, and they did this by telling him that his economic policies would achieve unheard-of economic improvements.
• The Anti-Rightist Campaign meant that there were no intellectuals or experts left to offer advice or provide rational economic planning.
• He encouraged families to set up backyard furnaces through which they could contribute to steel production. Wood from furniture, doors and roofs was
  burnt to keep the furnace hot. Inevitably, the steel was of extremely poor quality and useless.
• Many factories were closed or reduced their production because of the shortage of raw materials. By 1962, industrial production had declined by 40 per cent from the 1958–59 level.

Question 25

Why did the Great Famine happen 1958–62?

Answer 25

- Falsely assuming that there existed a great surplus of grain in the countryside, in turn the officials in rural areas demanded that **even higher quotas** of grain be extracted and sold to the government at artificially low prices. - Demands for food to be given to the government went up and up, even as agricultural production in reality dropped.

Question 26

What was life like during the Great Famine?-

Answer 26

Before the famine, Anhui was self-sufficient in food, but so much was taken away by the regime that 8 million people starved. In Henan **7.8 million people died and in Sichuan 9 million**. - Peasants resorted to scavenging for **tree bark** to make ‘porridge’ or grinding leaves for ‘flour’. - Malnourished and already physically exhausted from working their backyard furnaces, many people **succumbed to disease**. Children and the elderly were particularly vulnerable and died from malnutrition in vast numbers. - Some men sold their wives into **prostitution or servitude** to raise money for food. Often the women wanted to be sold; it might offer their only chance to survive. - Although finding accurate figures is difficult, it appears that at least **30 to 50 million people died**.

Question 27

How did natural disasters worsen the Great Famine?

Answer 27

- Typhoons caused flooding in South China, while drought reduced the flow of the **Yellow River by two-thirds**. - **Eight of the twelve** main rivers in Shandong dried up. - More than **60 per cent of cultivated land** was affected by either flood or drought and **2 million died through drowning or from starvation** when their crops were destroyed.

Question 28

Why did the Party's ability to deal with the Great Famine worsen it?

Answer 28

- Relations between the USSR and the PRC had been strained for some time. In the summer of 1960 there had been **1400 Soviet scientists and industrial specialists in China. By September, every single one had returned home**. - With intellectuals **unwilling or unable to provide advice** after the purges of the Anti-Rightist Campaign, reliance on ideologically committed but economically illiterate rural local cadres only increased. - Desperate to protect their positions, these cadres **lied** about the true failure of the Great Leap Forward. As a result, supplies that might have relieved suffering were never sent to some of the worst hit areas.

Question 29

How far were Mao’s policies responsible for the Great Famine?

Answer 29

- Memories of Mao’s terror campaigns certainly worsened the impact of the famine. As a result, aid that could have helped the famine-stricken areas was not sent. - However, alongside Mao, individual Party leaders must also bear responsibility. As the people of Henan starved, the local Party boss built seven luxurious villas for high-ranking guests. In Sichuan, the population fell by **6 million between 1957 and 1961**.

Question 30

Why did Mao withdraw from politics after the failure of the GLF?

Answer 30

- Mao did take responsibility for **some of the failings of the communes**. ‘The chaos caused was on a grand scale and take responsibility,’ he declared. He admitted that backyard furnaces had been a ‘great catastrophe’ but he encouraged other leaders to also take the blame. - Despite his defiance, the failure of the Great Leap was too **traumatic to ignore**. Stung by the criticism, Mao chose to retire from **day-to-day politics**. Importantly, he **never relinquished his role as Party Chairman**.

Question 31

How did Li Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping change policy making?

Answer 31

- Pragmatism and rationality replaced **fanaticism and utopianism**. Mao’s focus on local control of production and decentralisation were abandoned as central control and planning of national economic targets were reinstated.

Question 32

What actions were taken by Deng and Liu revive agricultural production between 1962-65?

Answer 32

- The communes were **scaled back** in favour of greater freedoms for peasants to produce what they wanted on **small private plots**. - Industrial production was **changed to support agriculture**. Materials like steel, wood and bamboo were used for producing hand tools, carts and boats. - Experts, intellectuals and Party bureaucrats had been purged or ignored because of Mao’s trust in the power of the masses. Many had been imprisoned during the Anti-Rightist Campaign. Now they were **returned to influence**.

Question 33

What actions taken by Deng and Liu to revive agricultural production between were actually successful 1962-65?

Answer 33

- By 1965 agricultural production had recovered from the disastrous Great Leap Forward, **back to the same level as 1957**. - The opportunity to work private plots provided an **incentive for the harder working**, more experienced and entrepreneurial peasants to improve their lives. - **Light industry** such as clothes and furniture was growing at a rate of 27 per cent per year and heavy industry at a rate of 17 per cent.