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Book No. – 52 (History)
Book Name – Modern World History (Norman Lowe)
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LANGUAGE
China since 1949: The Communists in Control
Chapter – 20
Table of Contents
- After the communist victory over the Kuomintang in 1949, Mao Zedong set about rebuilding China.
- Initially, Mao received Russian advice and aid, but in the late 1950s, relations with Russia cooled, and Russian economic aid was reduced.
- In 1958, Mao introduced the ‘Great Leap Forward’, aiming to adapt communism to China’s situation, with an emphasis on decentralization, agriculture, communes, and contact with the masses.
- Mao became highly critical of the Russians, accusing them of straying from strict Marxist-Leninist principles and following the ‘capitalist road’ in both foreign and domestic affairs.
- These disagreements caused a serious rift in world communism, which was only healed after Mikhail Gorbachevbecame Russian leader in 1985.
- During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1969), Mao sought to crush opposition within the Party and ensure China developed along Marxist-Leninist lines.
- After Mao’s death in 1976, a power struggle ensued, and Deng Xiaoping emerged as the undisputed leader in 1981.
- Deng was less conservative than Mao and responsible for moderating Mao’s hardline communism, looking to Japanand the capitalist West for ideas and support.
- This sparked resentment among Maoist supporters, who accused Deng of straying along the ‘capitalist road’, leading to demands for him to slow down economic reforms in 1987.
- Encouraged by Gorbachev’s glasnost policy in the USSR, student protests erupted in Tiananmen Square in April 1989, continuing through June, demanding democracy and an end to corruption in the Communist Party.
- On June 3–4, the army moved in to attack the students, killing hundreds and restoring order, regaining communist control.
- Despite the student protests, economic reforms continued with some success, but political reform did not take place.
- Deng Xiaoping continued as supreme leader until his death in 1997 at the age of 92.
- In the early 2000s, China saw more economic changes, including the opening up of the Communist Party to capitalists.
- By 2012, with the Communist Party still in control, China appeared poised to become the world’s most powerful nation, possibly supplanting the USA.
HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS MAO IN DEALING WITH CHINA’S PROBLEMS?
Problems facing Mao
- The People’s Republic faced complex problems in 1949 after the civil war and war with Japan.
- Railways, roads, canals, and dikes were destroyed, leading to chronic food shortages.
- Industry was backward, agriculture inefficient, and the country faced inflation.
- Mao had support from peasants and many in the middle class, who were dissatisfied with the Kuomintang.
- It was essential for Mao to improve conditions to maintain support.
- China had a population of at least 600 million, making it a superhuman task to control and organize.
- Despite challenges, Mao succeeded, and China today remains largely shaped by his leadership.
- Mao studied Stalin’s methods and experimented through trial and error to adapt them to the Chinese context, finding what would work in China and where a special Chinese approach was necessary.
The constitution of 1950 (officially adopted 1954)
- The National People’s Congress was the final authority for legislation, with members elected every four years by people over 18.
- There was also a State Council and the Chairman of the Republic, both elected by the Congress, responsible for ensuring laws were carried out and the administration functioned.
- The State Council chose the Political Bureau (Politburo), which made all the main decisions.
- The system was dominated by the Communist Party, and only party members could stand for election.
- The constitution provided China with a strong central government for the first time in many years.
- The constitution has largely remained unchanged.
Agricultural changes
- China was transformed from small, inefficient private farms into large co-operative farms, similar to those in Russia(1950–6).
- Land was taken from large landowners and redistributed among the peasants, often with violence.
- Some sources estimate as many as two million people were killed, though historian Jack Gray claimed the redistribution had “a remarkable degree of attention to legality” with minimal violence against landlords.
- In 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, China declassified secret archives revealing discrepancies in official accounts.
- The official accounts exaggerated achievements and toned down or omitted unpleasant events.
- Professor Frank Dikotter found that in many areas, land was already fairly equally distributed among peasants, and land was often taken from them to be given to Communist Party activists, with significant violence, torture, and executions.
- A Hebei archive document reported brutal killings, including burying people alive, executions, and bodies being hung from trees or doors.
- By 1956, about 95% of surviving peasants were in collective farms with joint ownership of the land and equipment.
Industrial changes
- The government nationalized most businesses and in 1953 launched a Five Year Plan focused on developing heavy industry (iron, steel, chemicals, coal).
- The Russians provided cash, equipment, and advisers, and the plan had some success.
- Before the plan was completed, Mao began to have doubts about whether China was suited for this type of heavy industrialization.
- Mao could claim that under his leadership, China had recovered from the devastation of the wars: full communicationswere restored, inflation was under control, and the economy looked much healthier.
The Hundred Flowers campaign (1957)
- Industrialization led to the creation of a vast new class of technicians and engineers.
- Party cadres feared this new class of experts would threaten their authority; they organized the masses politically and economically (e.g., collectivization of farms).
- The government, feeling positive about its progress, decided to encourage open discussion, believing it would improve relations between cadres and experts.
- Mao’s call for constructive criticism was phrased as “Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend.”
- The campaign led to criticism against:
- Cadres for incompetence and over-enthusiasm.
- The government for over-centralization.
- The Communist Party for being undemocratic; some even suggested opposition parties should be allowed.
- Mao quickly ended the campaign and cracked down on critics, insisting his policies were correct.
- The campaign revealed significant opposition to communism and uneducated cadres, leading Mao to push for the ‘Great Leap Forward’ in 1958.