CHANGES UNDER MAOThe Early Years 1949-1957

China Under Mao• With the defeat of the GMD in

1949 and the establishment of the PEOPLE’S Republic of China (PRC), a new era in China’s history begins.

• From 1949 through 1976 life in China would be dominated by the ideas and actions of Mao Zedong

Mao worshipped like a living god

Problems faced by PRC

Political, Social and Economic Changes

The new struggle starts from here

Changes by CCP

•Economic

•Political

•Cultural/ Social

Each reinforces the other

1. POLITICAL: Big Question

•China had been unstable/ fractured since fall of Qing Dynasty in 1911

•How can Chinese Communist Party (CCP) establish stability and permanence?

Political Answer

•1 Party rule by the CCP- rule by the few over the masses.

•Most not involved in government

•Question: Is this different in practice from the emperors?

Political Answer• The State dominated by Mao/ those at the top of the CCP

• Thought reform: replace traditional beliefs/ thinking with revolutionary thought

• Purge (get rid of) reactionaries- also called rightists, capitalists, capitalist roadsters

Atmosphere of fear and uncertainty

Purge counter-revolutionaries

Campaigns against those who are politically or socially suspect

‘Common Program’ of 1949CCP stated China would:

• Be a “People’s Democratic Dictatorship”

• Democracy for most, BUT

• Dictatorship to anyone opposed to the Party (reactionaries)

Suppression of Counter-Revolutionaries

The Common Program said the Party would suppress all counter-revolutionary activities

The government would punish• GMD counter-revolutionaries• War criminals• Feudal landlords• Capitalists• Reactionaries

These groups would have no political rights

Urge any criminals to turn over a new life and turn themselves in

Be Vigilant (Watchful)

2. ECONOMIC: Big Question• 80% peasant population

• No basis for modernizing or industrializing

• 100 years of ‘humiliation’: Dominated by stronger countries

•How to make China economically strong?

Economic Answer: State Control

• State would set policies and dominate/ control economic activity

A. Agricultural: Land redistributionB. Industrial: Industry and 5 year plansC. Nationalize banks, railways and

industry

A. Distributing Land

Distributing Land

Cooperativization is the course that makes everybody prosperous

Development of Communes• 1. Give peasants individual plots of land. Can profit and

grow for yourself. • PEASANTS OWNED

• 2. Bring people together to form cooperatives; share land, tools. Can still profit & responsible for land.

• SHARED OWNERSHIP

• 3. Chinese People working together: COMMUNES 5,000-20,0000 people working together

• STATE OWNERSHIP

B. Industrialization

5 year plan

The First 5 year plan: SUCCESS!!

3. SOCIAL/ CULTURAL: Big Question

• How to make people accept Mao’s revolutionary vision of a communist society?

• How to deal with ‘old’ ways of thinking?

ANSWER

• Propaganda, new laws, mass campaigns, thought control, social improvement

• Women’s Equality

• Marriage Act

• Get rid of the Old; ‘Anti’ Campaigns

Marriage Law

Combat Illiteracy

Question: Whose words do you think she is reading?

Health Campaigns

Take precautions against diseases. Be healthy to fight American imperialism

Remember the prompt:

• Was Mao good for China?

Mao’s Changes: Necessary?• Kept China free from foreign domination

• Maintained Unity; kept China together

• Made China stronger (did they?)

Are these bad things? Can you see why, even today, Mao is thought of by many as a hero?

Some historians say…• China was 80% peasant society in 1949 when Mao took

over

• Didn’t have base for building a modern industrial nation

• China would have been overwhelmed and unable to deal with the economic problems without a government totally dedicated to survival.

• NEEDED a government with absolute authority

Some historians say…• The only way for China to become a modern, industrial

society was for it to be imposed and directed from above

• The collectivization, forced industrialization and purges against those in opposition may not have been in line with ‘human rights’ as it is understood in other nations, BUT

• It was unavoidable and necessary

• Saved China from disintegration and laid the groundwork for the later ‘revolution’ that made China the strong and independent nation it is today

Other historians strongly disagree• Mao’s economic policies and the political domination by the CCP condemned China to backwardness and repression.

• China today still an authoritarian state that represses its people

Other historians strongly disagree• Policies led to terror (purges), mass starvation (Great Leap Forward) and social upheaval (Cultural Revolution) on a grand scale

• Only after Mao’s death in 1976 was China able to improve its position in the world

What do you think?

• Was Mao good for China?