Chapter 10 Economi Development Of The PRC Flashcards
(25 cards)
What were mutual aid teams?
They were first step towards collectivisation set up in 195.
They involved 10 peasant household who would share labour, tools and animals. This scheme was exclusively for poorer peasants.
What were APC?’s?
1952-53 the second stage of collectivisation that grouped together 30-50 households who pooled land and labour. By co-operating they were able to increase yield and share the cost of new machinery. Peasant families retained ownership of the land with APC’s and profit at the end of the year was shared between household on basis of land share which allowed wealthier peasants to take largest cuts.
What are higher stage APC’s?
1955: higher stage APC’s where introduced. These contained 200-300 household. Peasant families still owned the land and were allowed to keep 5% as their own personal plots. Profit were distributed by labour share rather than land share meaning wealthiest peasants no longer got the largest cut.
Was collectivisation successful?
CCP control in rural areas was strengthened
Little impact on agricultural production, over the period of 1953-1957 agricultural production only grew by 3.8 percentage and grain production grew by 1% in the last year of the plan.
How did Mao intend to develop the industry of china?
A series of 3 five year plans following the example of the Soviet Union. Mao intended to develop the heavy industry’s unas iron and steel productions, energy transport and communications.
What were some of the result of the first 5 year plan?
1953-1957
By the end of the plan most targetvha been exceeded, while figure where provided by the government and may not be reliable the achievement where impressive.
Targets where met and exceed in;
Coal 130.00 millions metric tonnes
Cement 6.86
Steel 5.35
Electrical power
Trucks
machine tools
Bicycles
They were not met in:
Locomotives
Insecticides
Issue with the first 5 year plans?
Many worker where illiterate and not trained for industrial work.
Expensive equipment was rune due to poor installaation and maintenance due to workers to having skill to read introductions.
Emphasis on quantity over quality of products
There was competition for scarce resource between state owned and private enterprises.
Cost of industrialisation was met by borrowing money from the ussr which was to be repaid on food exports to the ussr. Reducing the national self reliance of china.
Wat was the Great leap forward and when?
July 1958:
Second five year plan called the Great Leap Forward under the slogan of ‘ more, faster ,better, cheaper’ . Mao wanted to overtake he industrial abilities of the west by mobilising the Chinese people. Mao was the driving force of the Great Leap Forward and had overcome doubt in thin the politburo to push this movement..
How did Mao re asses his position in china in the year 1956-57?
USSR had faced revolts in Eastern Europe against their powers whic led Mao to question his reliance on them.
Mao had concluded after the first five year plan that the soviet centralised model of planning that was reliant on experts was not suitable for china
Agricultural collectivisation was achieved but it did not yield increased result compared to industrial efforts and industrial output would he hindered if there was not enough food to supply the cities.
How did mao Zedong thought feed into the Great Leap Forward?
Mao believe a mass mobilisation could bypass economic laws and that bourgeois expert where holding china back. He asserted that human will when given correct leadership could achieve what was predicted to take years . The Great Leap Forward was considered by Mao to be part of his continuing revolution as he needed to revitalise the root of revolution.
People communes:
APC’s where combined into larger units known as people communes which contained 20,000 peoples. They became the basic units of rural society, forming local governments and military units.
Every member of a commune aged 15-50 was a member of local militia and work units .
Commune where expected to enable labour a food production. By 1958 25,000 immune had been established.
Commune eboloised the private sphere of family life and all plot of land where taken over by the government.
Backyard furnaces:
Commune’s became industrial as well as agricultural with furnace being set up to produce iron and steel, however most people had no previous experience of smelting metal. People were encouraged to smelt cutlery, pots fences etc. and tree where cut down for fuel. Pple where very enthusiastic about this project and ten neglected farm work to smelt
How did decentralisation of planning affect the GLF?
The organisation of the GLF was given to the cadres rather than the Bureau of statistics which was dismantled. This led to ambitious target being set and cadres being left to worki it out themselves. Mao was responsible for setting her unachievable targets.
How did the Eight Point Agricultural Consitution affect the GLF?
Mao placed great faith in soviet Trofim Lysenko who he based his eight point agricultural plan on. It was presented as a scientific way of increasing crop yields that instructed for crops to be planted closer ogether and to plough the soil deeply, both if these strategies had disasterous effects on the fields.
Lysenkoism was proved to be pseudo science and he had been discredited in the ussr for this.
How many people worked in backyard furnaces by 1958?
100,000
What did the government declare of the harvest in 1959 vs reality?
270million tonnes of grain was declared.
170million tonnes were actually produced.
How much grain was produced in 1960?
143million tonnes
How much steel was produced by backyard furnaces.
September 1958 14% of all steel produced in backyard furnaces , one month later this increased to 49%
1958 only 8milion tonnes of usable steel is produced.
What were the target for steel production?
1959 - 20million tonnes
1960- 60 million tonnes
Reason for failiure of the GLF:
- Lysenko farming technique
-no one to farm field due to military training, lack of tools or outdoor furnaces - overinflated statistic of grain production led to higher proportion of grain being given to gov
- poor weather (flood and drought) at the start of 1959
- anti rightist campaign removed experts
- sino-soviet split of 1960 removed Russian aid and expert but China still owed them grain
- backyard furnaces produced useless steel and people had melted tools
- Mao over estimated zeal of the people
What did Peng Duhai do to be purged from the party?
After visiting Henan province he saw the real effect of the GLF and wrote a Lete of opinion to Mao, as a senior leader of the politburo he was a low to prompt debate. Mao published this letter to all th member of the politburo and destroyed Peng Duhauis reputation accusing him of deviating from the general line and being a rightist. This meant that the belief that a high ranking politburo memeber could raise a problem at meeting was shattered and criticism was no longer welcomed.
What was the second Great Leap Forward and when?
1960- Mao had to prove that he had beeen right all along however this was more disatreous than the first Great Leap Forward.
What was Mao response to the Peng Duhaui affair?
He launched a purge against party member and low level official subjecting 6million people to struggle meetings. In Sichuan alone 80% of cadres were dismissed.
How did the GLF damage Maos image?
Maos prestige suffered serious injuries and he had to admit some accountability for the failure of the Great Leap Forward. He resigned as chairman of the state council and found himself excluded from day to day running of china.
