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China's State building 1949-1956 - Coggle Diagram
China's State building 1949-1956
PRC first year in power
did an excellent job
implement key programmes such as land reform & currency stabilization
-recover from the shame of military defeat + foreign influence
-enjoyed popular support
despite being met by a range of issues such as:
hyperinflation, ruined economy, a high population to arable land, mistrustful population, weak roots in the central and south of china+ political, economic, social problems from the previous civil war and foreign invasion
20th century china's agenda:
long standing project to -> " modern+ strong+ revolutionary China
pursued at both domestic and international level
-promote industrial growth, wiping out social and normative practices
-constructing legitimacy for the state
which is why it requires a strong state
Author's argument on China's state reintegration early to mid 1950s
there was a substantial continuity across the divide of 1949 as the young PRC managed to implement many of the state building projects first aspired to by the KMT
2.Implementation -> though simultaneously launching state building initiatives and mobilizational campaign
3.its success resulted from blend of coercion + normative appeal
( Claims: Unique vision + transform past injustice + leading China to the future)
New china in reality
highly coercive
-de facto caste system of status
-systematic discrimination
-tension between rural and urban areas
ideologically driven campaign -> terrorize population
why was China's consolidation successful?
-owed it much to its inheritance from the KMT
-(civil war)military success against KMT
-ability to wipe out resistance
-mix of coercion+ moral appeal to public+successful campaign
-confidence in it's own moral correctness despite contradiction
-willingness to inflict collateral damage on "the enemy"
KMT
Not so different from KMT
-revolution completed the work of KMT -> new government-> a central government with stricter power and absolute
Similarities:
-attempt with a " looser version" to educate a citizenry in a modern Zhengdang culture
-first to launch a society-wide urban movement
-first to pair moral incentives with the " scientific" , technocratic
-heavily militarized
-statist takeover and nationalization of industry
-made attempt to partify the state bureaucracy + ideological education for state agents+used military metaphors
BUT WHY?-> shared agenda in making China modern + result of the legacy of the revolution (Leninist party-state)
However they did not meet the same success as the PRC, even though many of the features associated with the PRC was first done under KMT
differences -> advantage
-dominant military control over their territory
-coercive measures against " enemies"
-ability to gain popular participation
-suppress anything that is standing in the way of the revolution cause
-self-confidence + willingness to call upon mass mobilization
PRC Strategy
1.estaliblishing and strengthething the coercive and infrastructural capacities of the party-state
2.launching political campaigns of mobilization
4 kinds of campaign
focused the attention of the bureaucracy in a particular policy areas with the ultimate " target the mobilization of the commitments and focus of the bureaucracy itself
implemented through the bureaucracy to achieve some combination of behaviour change and positive normative commitments of restricted social or occupational group
3-involves both the bureaucracy and the citizenry more generally in effecting transformation of both the environment and behavior
4- the " classic" and important campaign of the early PRC
target both urban and rural citizens to gain popular support+ mass participation in favour of state-determined policies and outcomes
SIMILAR TO pre-existing Nationalistic regime in china + Stalinism in the Soviet Union
HOWEVER what was so distinctive about PRC's implementation:
-genuine desire for popular participation+support from both rural and urban society for its policies
-coerced in subtle and indirect way-> collective emotions + conformity
shifting tactics = paternalism+populism+coercion+monocratic control
Maoism's inherent contradiction-> Maurice Meisner -> want popular mobilization and for people to take charge of their own revolution but at the same time want absolute power in the central government -> raised tension
land reform + campaign to suppress counter-revolutionaries (1951)
AIM: mobilizing both rural and urban population against "enemies"-> such as landlord, ex-KMT military, party personnel with high ranks + social undesirables e.g bandits etc..
RESULT: effective+ efficient in terms of land redistribution + identifying
prosecution of enemies-> possible to begin the process of expanding the presence of the state (local level)
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Kongsuhui
a heavily stage-managed spectacle of accusation meetings against " enemies"
-estimation of 1-5millions executed
BUT WHY?
-mobilizing support from society
-stiffening the resolve of state cadres
-expand the coercive capacity of both the regular bureaucracy and new state organization
aftermath-> after that the regime never launch a campaign with such hard approach towards a targeted social group -> rarely executed
influence -> Cold war + china's involvement with korea -> formal dates of campaign to suppress counter revolutionaries + china's involvement in Korean war -> almost identical