China 1949-57

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Consolidation Of Power

once Mao was in power, he didn't reform china right away, he was careful. He took control of banks and public utilities also all foreign assets except the USSR's. Mao also offered compensation to land owners and share holders who were willing to work with the new China. Mao also knew how important the middle class was although they were far less in numbers than the peasants

Structure of the PRC

China was divided into six regions each governed by a bureau of four major officials:

Chairman

Party secretary

Military commander

political commissar

since the last two posts were filled by officers of the army, China was basically under military control. Something that Mao thought would give him the most stability.

Imposition of Military Control

A sign of the ruthless of the army cam be seen in how they dealt with the outlying areas of China. In a series of reunification campaigns three separate PLA armies were sent west and south.

One army went into Tibet (October 1950)

A second went to Xinjiang

A third went south to Guangdong

The "anti-movements"

Now that Mao had a successful military grip on China, he turned to extending his political control. in 1951, he announced the three anti-movements with the targets being:

Waste

Corruption

Inefficiency

It was later expanded to include

industrial sabotage

tax evasion

bribery

fraud

theft of government property

The aim of the anti-movements was to tear down what remained of the "bureaucratic capitalist class" which Mao had to tolerate during his first 3 years.

The First Five Year Plan (1925-6)

Mao's first five year was inspired by Stalin's success in the USSR with a similar plan. The main goals of the plan was to increase production of coal, steel and petrochemicals. There was also development of the Chinese automobile and transport industry. there was a tendency for officials to slightly exaggerate output figure to impress the government.

The Hundred Flowers Campaign

In early 1957, Mao told party officials to prepare themselves for criticism from the people. He called upon people in the government to openly state where they thought they had gone wrong. Once they had overcome their fear, members rushed to point out mistakes made, people complained about people and policies on the ground of corruption and inefficiency. some even went as far to include mild criticism of Mao.

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