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Chinese Civil War
Jiang was defeated, not so much b/c of the battlefield but the wrenching economic problems
- Jiangs political regime was inflexible, incompetent, and corrupt.
- Outrageous inflation lost Jiangs support from the city dwellers, businessmen, salaried classes, intellectuals, workers and those in the country side
- Although having advantage in numbers and war material, bad military strategy brought defeat upon defeat. -
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Jiang Launces Campaigns against the Jianxi Soviet
Over the course of four years Jiang launces campaings that eventually force the CCP out of Jiangxi province. -
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World War II
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The Chinese Communist Revolution
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CCP Evacuate thier base in Jiangxi Province
In the face of defeat from Jiang, the CCP begin their evacuation anc begin their 368-day forced march of 6,000 miles.
- Marchers crossed 18 mountain ranges, 24 rivers, and passed though 12 different provinces, all while faces bombing attacks from Jian’s air force, and harassment from Tibetian troops.
- Only 8,000 of initial 86,000 reached their destination
- At the meeting in Guizhou province, Mao emerged as one of the five most important party leaders.
- Party history looked at the Long March a -
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The Communist at Yan'an
At Yan’an Mao launched two policies that became party hallmarks into the 1970’s
1. RECTIFICATION CAMPAIGN
2. CENSORSHIP OF ART AND LITTIRATURE -
RECTIFICATION CAMPAIGN
Focused on quality control of party membership and party cohesion. Goal was to instill in its new members a uniformity of spirit and focus about the parties’ mission.
- Cadres participated in small-group sessions, studying documents Mao selected, then had to write out detailed self-criticisms. They were often criticized in mass meetings and had to confess their errors.
- Cadres & intellectuals were often sent to the countryside to live with and learn from peasants, as to break down the barri -
CENSORSHIP OF ART AND LITERATURE
- Second policy focused on the meaning of art and literature in a socialist society.
- Literature and art should SERVE THE PEOPLE, and revolutionary cause, and not the bourgeoisie, students, and intellectuals.
- Creativity was straitjacketed, and artists and writers had to tailor their work to make it politically correct, fitting in with every shift of the parties policies.
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Essay by Wanf Shiwei
Wrote essay that showed the realities of daily life and personal relationships in the years at Yan’an.
- Noted the inequalities between leaders and subordinates
- People of higher rank don’t care about people in lower rank (health, food, poverty). Higher cadres are more demeaning to lower cadres, and are generally more well off
- For his audacity, he was tried and convicted, later executed in 1947 -
Mao Becomes Chairman of the parties Central Committee
During this time Mao began setting up his own theoretical vision as the new parties’ orthodoxy, one that emphasized Chinese particularies, and not so much Soviet ideology.- “Marxism/Leninism had to be tailored to Chinese realities”
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China Turns to Civil War
Jiang was defeated, not so much b/c of the battlefield but the wrenching economic problems
- Defeat could be attributed to rampant inflation, shortages of consumer goods, business restrictions, corruption, speculation, and hoarding that eroded people’s livelihoods.
- By 1945 govt. revenue only covered 1/3 of its expenditures, and to make up this shortfall it simply printed more money, thus resulting in outrageous inflation (Prices in July 1948 were 3 million times higher than in July 1937) -
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Land Reform
- Tried previously in 1930’s in North China
- Goal: To eliminate landlords and give land to those who farmed it. Next, farm families were progressively organized into COOPERATIVES (large scale farms that can would allow the use of machines, and make farming more efficient). COLLECTIVES, and finally PEOPLE’S COMMUNES were then organized, and given quotas to fulfill.
- Elimination of landlords was achieved process by creating a class struggle
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The Marriage Law
- New system was based on equal rights for both sexes and protection of the unlawful interests of women and children
- Forbid arranged marriages, child betrothals, polygamy, selling of women into marriage, and infanticide.
- Women could initiate divorce proceeding, and law allowed single women, divorcees, and widows to women land in their own name.
- Although on the books, was not always followed in practice. The right to divorce created disorder resulting in a number of murders and suicides.
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Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance
Treaty of alliance between China and the Soviet Union.
- The Soviet Union recognized the PRC and provided aid to the new country in the form of a 300 million loan, and aid in scientific and technical projects -
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War In Korea
Only 14 months into existence the PRC/Mao entered the Korean War to stave off the threat from UN forces/the United States. Early campaigns were successful, but the war became a stalemate and an armistice was reached in 1953.
Significance: This was a bad time for the new PRC to enter war, with problems remaining at home. One million Chinese soldiers killed, but the strong effort by the PRC and the defeat of the world superpower helped legitimize the PRC regime. -
Three-Anti Campaign
THREE ANTI-CAMPAIGN – Targeted party cadres, government bureaucrats, and factory managers. Goal was to eliminate waste, corruption, and mismanagement -
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Urban Revolution
Were reform movements originally issued by Mao Zedong a few years after the founding of the People's Republic of China in an effort to rid Chinese cities of corruption and enemies of the state.
- The revolution’s urban phase targeted class enemies (non Communist bourgeois values) Significance: The Communist regime sought to sink its roots into Chinese society, using danwei (units) to enforce control of these campaigns. By the 1960’s every person was assigned to one of these units. -
Five-Anti Campaign
Targeted national bourgeoisie such as industrialists and big businessmen. Goal was to eliminate corruption, including bribery and tax evasion. -
Five Year Plan
Focused on heavy industry. Goal was to lay a foundation for subsequent industrial and economic development. The plan was modeled heavily after the Soviets, creating remarkable results. Economic growth climbed an impressive 18.7 percent per year.
Significance: This improved the lives of the Chinese, as shown by an increased life expectancy and increase in wages. -
The Hundred Follower Movement Begins
The party called on intellectuals to critique the party-state, and its policies. Mao and others believed that the party-state was strong enough to take some criticism, and that the criticism they received would be minor and therefore tolerable.
- Although hesitant at the beginning, after persistent prodding by the party and the government, leaders and intellectuals began to voice their criticisms for 5-weeks. -
Anti-Rightist Campaign
- The party moved to tear down the movement it had started by proclaiming a nationwide “anti-communist plot”, and announced a campaign against the so-called-rightists. Within the next few months, 400,000-700,000 intellectuals lost their careers and titles, and were jailed, or were sent to labor camps to so heavy labor in the countryside.
- Significant: Mao had burned his bridges to Chinas intellectuals, and in effect discarded them as useless in the development of a modern socialist China.
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Mao Launches The Great Leap Forward
Program worked to establish communes in which Chinese life and labor would be militarized.
- Each commune was made up of about 5,500 households. Private ownership of livestock or farm animals were strictly prohibited, and earnings were paid on a per capita basis, not on the basis of labor contributions (differences in income was greatly reduced)
- Backyard Steel Furnaces
- Commune mess hall / Commune institutions
- Growing failures lead to clash btw Mao and Minister Peng Dehuai, Korean Gen -
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The Sino-Soviet Split
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Great Famine Begins
Great Famine is result of poor policy choices made in the Great Leap Forward, combnined with poor weather, and bad agricultural policies (Look At Timeline) -
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The Great Famine
The Great Leap, party-state ignorance, and bad agricultural policies (like plowing to deeply), combined with natural disasters lead to a deadly famine that affected 60% of Chinese population and cut national agricultural production by 26%.
- Rural areas were more affected than cities, and an estimated 30 million people died.
- People were not allowed to move to areas in search of food
- Since the government controlled the news and information, many did not know the extent of the famine
- Gov -
The Sino-Soviet Split Pt.1
The Security Treaty gave China the presence of thousands of Soviet advisors and aid
- Mao broke the Soviet model for a mass mobilization in the Great Leap.
- The Soviets saw themselves as the world communist leader, and the patron of developing Communist states, so the actions of China were seen as a slap in the face
- In 1958, Mao launched a massive bombardment of the offshore island of Taiwan, resulting in US response. This infuriated Soviets more as they were to be informed as part of the se -
The Sino-Soviet Split Pt.2
Due to the Taiwan Straits Crisis, Khrushchev canceled a nuclear weapons technology offer, which infuriated Mao and the Chinese govt.
- Other irritants to the Sino-Soviet relationship included conflicting policies regarding India, and Mao’s cavalier attitude toward nuclear war (It would destroy capitalism so it couldn’t be that bad)
- In 1960 Beijing proclaimed that China had replaced the Soviet Union as the leader of the Communist world.
- Enough was enough for Khrushchev, who suddenly recalled