Establishing Communist Rule

Problems facing China in 1949

• Aftermath of the Civil War of 1946-49
• Optimism towards Communists in October 1949, end of conflict as well as extensive areas of control.
• Promises appealed to non-Communists e.g. Mao's declaration to work with all social groups who had China's interests at heart was more appealing than fleeing to Nationalists in Taiwan.
• Enhanced Mao's power, regarded as 'the architect of the new China', had support of PLA, they had showed capability of handling urban as well as rural issues by taking control of Harbin in Northern Manchuria.
• Immediate aftermath of Civil War was promising for Communists
• State of China's industry, agriculture and national infrastructure
• Immediate impact of war
• Economy crippled by 12 years of war. Industrial output dropped 1937 as Japan seized the most productive areas, scorched-earth tactics destroyed resources when the Nationalist forces retreated. When Japanese had been defeated in 1945, industrial output was only 25% of its pre-war level.
• Food supply in 1949 was critical, had been disruption to agriculture when peasants fled inland to get away from attacking Japanese. Food production 1945 was 30% lower than start of war in 1937, Henan province lost 2-3 million lives. After 1949 due to size of PLA and growth of urban population, still dependent on countryside surplus but countryside couldn't feed itself.
• 1949 inflation = 1000% as GMD had paid for the war by printing money and Chiang took China's foreign currency reserves with him when he fled to Taiwan. Russia seized much of Manchuria's assets before they left.

Slide 2

• State of China's industry, agriculture and national infrastructure
• Longer term situation
• Farming methods were very manual, only 15% of the land in China was cultivable but with the increasing demand for food due to increasing urban population, lack of industrial development in China was a pressing problem.
• Although the war cost China 20 million lives, population 541 million 1949 and was 587 million by 1953.
• No industrial revolution
• Economic infrastructure underdeveloped, in 1949 only Manchuria and the population centres of the east coast and lower Yangtze had transport and communication systems,

The New Power Structure

• Different roles of the CCP
• 1949 - transitional period between working class and the existing capitalist elements, not full socialism. Central People's government were appointed ministers and department heads by CPPCC. CPPCC passed laws, chose state symbols, drafted new constitution and approved temporary constitution (Common Program).
• The government
• 1954 - new constitution made China officially Communist, State Council new name for Central People's Government, National People's Congress New legislature, rubber-stamped Politburo decisions, CPPCC remained as advisory body to National People's Congress, met annually at the same time as National People's Congress.
• The bureaucracy
• As comm system was more established, no. of bureaucrats increased: 720,000 state officials in 1949 to nearly 8 million in 1959. Bureaucrats behind desks wanted to preserve status quo to safeguard their careers. The bureaucratisation of the revolution is what Mao felt went wrong
• The PLA
• Worlds largest army in 1950, 5 million men and 40% of state budget went on it. Mao then reduced the army size to 2.5 million by 1957, acted as a means of indoctrination - acted as a workforce in public works projects to rebuild the infrastructure and as a means of enforcing central government control in the regions.

Slide 4

• Mao's dominant position
• October 1949 = head of state as well as Party. His power was not absolute as the collective leadership of the Party was in theory responsible for policy e.g. 1956 Party Congress removed references to Mao Zedong Thought as the guiding ideology of the Party when Mao was unwell; disputes between Mao and Party members about the pace of introducing agricultural change. However, as the years passed Mao was more difficult to challenge, he always expected to win debates, and he was a political manipulator.
• Maos Main Ideas:
• Nationalism - Mao put nationalism first
• Continuing revolution - wanted each generation to experience
• Listening to the people - he wanted people to get involved in discussing policy (debatable e.g Hundred Flowers Campaign)
• Mass mobilisation - mass campaigns, numbers and revolutionary enthusiasm matter more than experts when it came to developing the economy, and the population size was an asset.
• Growth of democratic centralism
• Democratic - elections to village and town councils as delegates from the lower bodies were sent to represent people higher up. Controlled by the CCP, democracy was an illusion and there was no choice of party
• Centralism - political decisions made by senior officials, decisions imposed without further discussion.

Removing Opposition

• Three Antis
• End of 1951, targeted corruption and embezzlement, small scale crimes called 'flies', larger scale 'tigers'. Tiger-Hunting Teams tried to out do each other, Bo Yibo boasted he hunted 100,000 tigers in East China but accusations were often false.
• Five Antis
• January 1952 against bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, fraud, and economic espionage - targeting bourgeoisie. Frank Dikotter claimed 1% victims were shot, another 1% sent to labour camps for life, 3% jailed for more than 10 years and the rest were fined. Reinforced Mao's position at the top.
• Laogai System
• Formed first as re-education camps. By 1953, 2 million prisoners with half working as forced labourers. Economic value - 700 million yuan in industrial products 350,000 tonnes of grain to the state each year by 1955. Thought reform, made to do hazardous jobs. May be as high as 25 million deaths over 1949-76
• Terror
• Labelling, designated danwei (work unit) and a class label.
• Crackdown on crime first beggars and prostitutes especially targeted, then over 150,000 criminals arrested over half were executed
• Suppression of counter-revolutionaries in Great Terror 1950-51, Tao Zhu known as 'the tank' killed a ratio of 2.5 people per 1000, Luo Ruiqing increased killings in Hubei province from 220 in January 1951 to 45,000 by October. Mao created target of killing 1/1000, March 1951 top ranking official shot dead at a concert. Police retaliated arrested 17,000 people leading to confessions, executions and a wave of suicides.
• Hundred Flowers Campaign 1957
• Called for open debate April 1956, criticisms came in, Mao stopped the debate, branded critics as rightists, purged intellectuals

Slide 6

• Reunification campaigns in Tibet, Xinjiang and Guangdong
• Guangdong: GMD (Nationalist Party) Heartland, taken over by PLA
• Xinjiang: Uyghurs - large Muslim population. Nationalist opposition subdued as Uyghurs were offered key posts in the regional council, PLA captured the provincial capital, Han Chinese people brought to work on construction projects
• Tibet: May 1951 came under Chinese sovereignty, PLA campaign to destroy Tibetan identity by bringing in Han settlers and promoting Chinese lifestyle

The Korean War

• Enhancing CCP control by suppressing opposition
• Launched the Great Terror October 1950, followed by three and five anti movements. Mao able to destroy Nationalist opponents and remove potential threats, justifying the terror as the threat to national security posed by war. Local leaders given key roles, ordinary workers pleased to denounce unpopular colleagues and exploit bosses to Party officials
• Promoting unity
• Propaganda campaign against USA 'Resist America, Aid Korea, Preserve Our Homes, Defend The Nation'. Mass meetings, rallies, anti-capitalist propaganda created unity between Communist China they were bravely standing up against the hostile outside world. Pressured people to join PLA, donate their money and goods, February 1952 claimed that USA planes were dropping germ infested insects, brought people together through paranoia and listening to US confessions on touring exhibitions. Russians declared it false April 1953 and campaign ended
• Human and financial costs
• About 1 million died, including Mao's 28 year old eldest son. Mao said it was unimportant, the losses would soon be made up. Businessmen and academics forced to leave the country as they'd previously worked for the Nationalist regime and were targeted during March 1950 campaign against counter-revolutionaries.
• Over half government spending in 1951 went on military, annual budget for that year was 75% higher than 1950. Industrial resources and food were diverted to the war, debts caused by spending meant little was able to be invested in education, health provision or infrastructure such as communications.
• Enhanced international prestige
• PRC could claim it was the most powerful Communist nation.
• USA was the enemy, Sino-Soviet relations suffered as Mao had little respect for Khrushchev.