Creation of a political system within the PRC (1949-57) Flashcards
How was the communist government organised?
1949, A meeting was held with the CPPCC which took the first steps to prepare a new political system and the following was decided.
The CPPCC appointed the CPG as the supreme body and approved the common programme. (decided cultural values and policies for the next five years).
Mao outlined the people who did not deserve rights inside a communist China known as the 5 black categories.
The old judicial system was abolished and the Politburo decided which laws to pass.
China would be divided into 6 regions which gave the country the impression that theyre opinion mattered due to the creation of regional congresses. This was not the case as 4 communist officials were put in place over each region.
What was the 1954 constitution?
It confirmed China as a communist country
The National People’s Congress (NPC) was made the new legislature and the State council took over the functions of the CPG.
The six regions are turned into 21 provinces .
Why was the growth of bureaucracy a threat to Mao?
Bureaucrats grew from 720 thousand in 1949 to eight million in just ten years. Although this grew the power of the central government Mao was worried this would slow down the pace of revolution due to the bureaucrats getting too comfortable with current circumstances.
What was the role of the communist party in Chinese government?
The PRC was to be run by the communist party but this was not stated in either constitutions
Zhou Enlai - premier of state council 1949-76
Peng Dehaui - minister of defence and commander-in-chief of the PLA.
Participation in mass rallies was encouraged in order to make the public feel like they were part of something so much bigger than themselves.
Mao stood down as head of state in 1958 but remained as chairman of the party because that’s where the power truly lied.
Cadres were trained party members who reported the loyalty of the people they were close to at a local level so Mao had power in all heights of China.
Every employed person belonged to a Danwei which was a work unit which issued travel, marriage and employment permits, ran by a cadre.
What was the role of the PLA in the Chinese government?
The world’s largest army made up of 5 million men and took over 40% of the state’s budget.
By 1957 the PLA was split in half so the people could be applied to situations needing more management and it cost far too much.
As the PLA got smaller it became more organised and had clear pay scales for different ranks.
PLA acted as a means for indoctrination of young children into the communist party and supervised the new 800,000 conscripts who arrived every year.
What were Mao’s main political ideologies?
Mao was made head of party in 1943 and was made
head of state in 1949
Nationalism - Mao wanted to free China from foreign exploitation and always put this idea first.
Continuing revolution - 1949 was the start of revolution not the end and wanted to stop stagnation and waste.
Listening to the people - Mao believed the Russian communists didn’t listen to the people, whether Mao genuinely believed this is debatable.
Mass mobilisation - Mass campaigns at certain targets were the way forward such as the backyard furnaces or water conservation campaign.
What were the three reunification campaigns?
1949-1950
Guangdong - To invade the heart of GMD China and cleanse what was left of the nationalist troops in the last months of the civil war but did not mean the complete end of the war.
Xinjiang - Ethnically mixed but made up of 80% Uyghurs. Uyghurs were offered key posts in regional councils. Xinjiang made a security buffer state for the PRC.
Tibet - Been independent since 1912 and was openly anti communist. Now that India was independent Britain had no reason to protect Tibet from China and the UN was too busy with Korea to do anything. The PLA invaded in 1950 and after 6 months Tibet became under Chinese occupation in 1951. They were soon culturally eroded and a Chinese lifestyle was promoted. The Dalai Lama fled to China.
How did the communists use labelling against their opponents?
Labelling - The expansion of the household registration system introduced in 1945 by the GMD. Each worker was assigned to a Danwei (work unit) where they would be given rations and the denial of rations could be very powerful. The registration process made it very easy to pry into peoples lives.
A label was also given to a family depending on their race, class and family background which decided people’s futures. They were organised into good, bad or middle classes but would soon be simplified into red and black classes.
How did the communists crack down on crime?
Police ordered to clean up petty criminals (such as beggars and prostitutes) and transport them to the countryside or lock them up.
Over 150 thousand triad members were arrested and half of which were executed.
How did the communists silence counter revolutionariesin the year of terror? (The great Terror)
1950-51, launched at the same time as the PLA invaded Korea and American invasion of China seemed possible so everyone at home needed to unite to root out potential enemies.
Tao Zhu - Known as ‘The Tank’ killed 46 thousand ‘bandits’ in the next six months and 2.5 out of each thousand of the population.
Luo Ruiqing - head of security in Beijing put pressure on killings to rise from 220 in January 1951 to 45 thousand in just 9 months.
Mao demanded 1 out of each thousand be killed in local communities and could lower it to appear as a voice of reason
Mao agreed with Rao Shushi that the purges extend to inside the CCP causing an overflow in prisons
After the assassination of a top ranking general Mao ordered 16 cities to be swept arresting 16 thousand people causing a wave of suicides.
A party convention in 1954 said that 700,000 died in the year of terror but some historians put the figure as high as 2 million.
What was the three anti campaign?
1951, a movement targeting corruption, waste and delay.
An arrest of two leading CCP members due to embezzlement was a catalyst for this campaign.
Bo Yibo was employed by Mao to lead the campaign. Yibo made use of the Yanan rectification campaign to investigate denounced members of the population.
Suspects accused of small scale embezzlement were called ‘Flies’, those accused of larger scale corruption were named ‘tigers’. Bo Yibo soon boasted about killing 100 thousand tigers impressing outsiders because ‘China was stamping out corruption’.
What was the five antis movement?
The widening of purges in 1952 to target bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, fraud and economic espionage.
Mao used this campaign to target the ‘bourgeoisie’.
The Yanan campaign helped to speed up the process. 1% were shot, another % were sent to labour camps, 3% were jailed and the rest fined. The embarrassment caused waves of suicides leading to nets being placed on buildings and parks patrolled to stop hangings on trees.
Gao Gang and Rao shushi also purged who were top members of the CCP.
What was the Laogai system?
The official explanation was ‘a place of re-education’ but actually there were a method terror using harsh labour. They were used to conduct hazardous jobs so the public didn’t need to
by 1953 over a million prisoners were in Laogai camps and 9 out of 10 were political prisoners. They contributed 700 million Yuan and 350,000 tons of grain every year until 1955.
The population ballooned again in 1955 when there was another purge of CR’s.
As many as 25 million could have died from 1949-76 under the Laogai system.
There would be the use of ‘thought reform’ which involved self criticism and indoctrination
In order to stop prison congestion convicts could be placed under supervision of the local cadre known as guanzhi
What was the hundred flowers campaign?
1957, the five year plan ended and Mao called up for some criticism as he wanted to avoid Destalininisation (debatable). The Hungarian uprising could have made Mao realise that being too open minded was bad.
Mao could have also been trying to win over the intellectuals to allow them to debate as he knew they contributed a lot to the economy.
Mao asked for debate a second time which still had no support in 1956 and 57.
After a few criticisms began after Mao toured to ‘connect with the peasantry’. This soon evolved into a flood of criticisms, even denunciations of leaders and policies. The speed at which Mao arrested these people could mean he was planning to do this along. He labelled the critics as ‘rightists’ and around a half million joined the ‘re-education camps’
