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Industrial and Agricultural changes - Coggle Diagram
Industrial and Agricultural changes
Early reforms in agriculture
Land reform
Land was to be redistributed. It would be take from the oppressive landlords who had exploited the peasants and given to the peasants
There were issues however that presented a problem with a coherent national policy
In the north where land reform had begun only 10-15% of farmers rented their land which meant that evil landlords weren't really a problem
In some communists areas many peasants already owned land and so had influence over the poorer peasants and they did not want to alienate them
In regions previously controlled by the GMD the communist and less infleunce and organsiation
land ownership and agricultural production was often organised by clans where members were from a wide variety of classes meaning the idea of exploitation by the upper classes and class struglle were not influential
Clans were often based on familial ties and so few felt the need to size land from family members and did not seek their deaths
Persecution of the landlords
Work teams that were often compromised of young people from the cities were sent to encourage anger and attack the landlords in the country
These landlords were often subjected to struggle meetings were they were forced to admit their crimes as class enemies
Often they were then executed
The landlords were a good target which the communists could use to create a class-consciousness and allowed them to create enthusiasm for the communist cause
Impact
Rural production increase massively at rate of 15% per annum
1 or 2 million landlords were executed
43% of the land had been redistributed to 60% of the population
The road to collectivisation
While the peasants had supported land reform there were very different expectations to the CCP as the peasants saw it as an opportunity to own their land but the CCP saw it as a chance to build China's agricultural production to support the demands of industrialisation
Mutual Aid Teams (MATs)
Peasants would pool resources like animals, ploughs, tools and labour
They were normally small 10-15 households
This meant that peasants with more land than they could farm efficiently could combine with peasants that had too much labour for the benefit of both
by 1952 it is estimated that the 40% of peasants belonged to a MAT
These were popular
Voluntary Agricultural Producers Co-operatives (APCs)
Now land was also shared along with everything else
Peasants would be compensated with points and money or grain would be given in payment
The land was also managed centrally by the local government
They comprised about 3 to 5 MATs with about 30 to 50 households
they were much less popular as many peasants did not want to give up their land particularly the richer peasants who would slaughter their animals rather than being forced into giving to the APC
They also did not really increase agricultural production and it only increased in 1953 and 54 by 2%
The pace of collectivisation
Many gradualists in the party were concerned about the speed of collectivisation due to the lack of mechanisation in the country
Mao disagreed and proclaimed that the mass movement of the peasants would make up for any shortfalls in production
He did accept that socialism would take a long time however
However the party cadres increased the pace of collectivisation as come where ideologically committed while others knew it was easier to extract grain and would look better to the higher ups in the party
The final steps
APCs kept forming and by Dec 1955 63% of peasants households were in APCs and 4% in higher level APCs (200-300 households)
Mao was convinced that the power of co-operation would compensate for any lack of mechanisation
By 1956 80.3% of households were in APCs.
Private ownership was then abolished and compensation was only for labour. Land and equipment was seized as well and membership was compulsory
By the end of 1956 88% of peasants were is higher level APCs
The communes
Communism needed to be created in the country rather than cities due to the lack of an urban working class. Agricultural production had also grown a disappointing amount and the party was unable to requestion too aggressively or risk alienating their supporters
The solution was communes that would be massive and incorporate both industrial and agricultural aspects
Walking on two legs
The process
It began when Mao banned all private farming and endorsed the communes which was enough to quicken the pace of construction
By the end of 1958 the party claimed 99% of the peasant population lived in communes
Characteristics
Approximately 5000 households
Organised by both agricultural and industrial production as well as healthcare and education
The plan was that the communes would not be reliant on urban industry as it would be able to grow its own food and produce its own industrial goods like tools
Vision vs reality
the Vision
Mess halls would enable communal eating and allow for revolutionary fervour
Creches and boarding schools would be included
Women would not have to work in the kitchen or on children but could work in the fields and factories
Grandparents would no longer have to care for children but could instead could spend time in happiness homes
The reality
The party could easily bombard people with propoganda as they were all organised together
all citizens between the age of 15 and 20 were part of a commune militia that acted as a police force that punished those who didn't work enough and took too much food
Family life was devastated as parents loss influence over their children and grandparents became isolated from relatives
time was wasted going to mess halls which had poor quality food that worsened diets
Women were not liberated and had to do harsh physical labour previously thre work of men
Production failed to increase and so Mao began the 4 pests campaign
The four pests campaign
the Campaign to destroy creatures eating the grain of China
the four pests were
Sparrows
Flies
Mosquitoes
rats
party cadres encouraged people to destroy them and a small reward was given for bodies of sparrows
Consequences
Crops were left to rot in fields as people chased birds
the sparrowcide meant that the caterpillar population grew and destroyed the harvest
Lysenkoism
A completely fraudulent agricultural theory that was supposed to increase yield but was completely pointless
Along with the backyard furnaces meant that there was a big drop in agricultural production which was not reported by the cadres who claimed they had exceeded production
The First five year plan 1952
The plans were based on the USSR's five year plans and were helped by the USSR
The USSR promised
Construction or reconstruction of 156 major industrial enterprises
Industrial experts to help design plants and train workers
inviting 28,000 Chinese technicians to train in the USSFR
a loan of 300 million USD over the next five years
Targets
High rate of growth in industry particularly in heavy
Investment in advanced technology
Autarky due to the lack of trading partners
Very high level of grain procurement to fund industrialisation
Stimulate transformation into socialist country
Successes
Annual growth rate averaged 16%
Industrial output grew 15.5% per year
heavy industry output nearly tripled
railway freigh tvolume more than doubled
geological exploration revealed vital resources like uranium and oil in Xinjiang
Industrial working class grew from 6 million to 10 million
The private industry was abolished in 1956
Standard of living increased
party was able to increase its influence as it was in control of entertainment healthcare industry marriage and travel with Danwei internal passport
Failures
The party was dependant on Soviet Loans which had a very high interest rate which meant that food prices were kept low which meant the peasants paid the price
Agricultural output only grew an average of 2.1% a year
Consumer good supply was very low
Still a lack of Chinese Expertise and this caused bottlenecks
Very little improvement in the healthcare or education system particularly in rural areas
The Great Leap Forward (Second FYP) 1958-1962
Why?
Mao was desperate to transform China into a great economic power
Mao had good right to be optimistic as industrial production had risen by 18.3% and so believed that the large improvements in agriculture could be made
His optimism is further enhanced by the fact that communist technology was superior to the west
Mao wanted to achieve 'Walking on two legs'
Mao believed that sheer force of will was enough to overcome technological backwardness
Successes
Irrigation projects made land more fertile
Construction projects like remodelling of Tiananmen square
Communes brought people close to true communist living
Failures
Targets were absurd and Mao created an atmosphere of competition where the ministries would compete to put up their targets until they were completely unrealistic
Mao lost all sense of reality and believed that the masses would overcome anything and would set up expectations that were arbitrary and impossible
The Anti-Rightist Campaign left no experts and intellectuals to offer advice or create a rational plan
The backyard furnaces
These were furnaces that were set up to create steel on the communes
The steel was terrible quality as it was made of anything like cooking utensils that were vital
This meant countries refused to trade with China because of the terrible quality and destroyed vital tools
They also required a lot of manpower which drove people away from the fields which left food to rot in the fields and destroyed the economy
Factories were forced to close or reduce production due to the lack of raw materials as well as the lack of workers as they died from the Great Famine
The Great Famine
The Great Famine
Causes
Cadres and the wind of exaggeration
Extraction numbers from the countryside also increased so more and more grain was taken from the countryside as they assumed that there would be enough
The expectation of such a massive amount of grain was so great that there were orders to not farm 1/3 of the farmland as there would not be enough storage
More grain kept being sold to the USSR
Officials then demanded even higher results based on the inflated numbers
This was caused by the exaggeration of the local cadres who were terrified of not meeting their targets so inflated their number
Cadres refused to speak up as they were desperate to not let their jobs go
Natural disasters
Typhoons caused flooding in South China
Droughts helped to destroy the 60% of the cultivated lands in Shandong
2 million died from drowning or starvation when their crops died
Soviets
Khrushchev decided to remove all the soviet advisors in 1960
This meant that the Chinese regime was increasingly reliant on cadres who had very little economic expertise
The anti-rightist campaign
Intellectuals and experts were unwilling to assist the communist government due because of the purges
Consequences
Estimated that between 30 and 50 million died
Starving peasants launched attacks on grain storage only to be killed and tortured by police
Peasants resorted to eating tree bark and leaves for food
Birth rates dropped
Women were forced into servitude or sex work by their husbands or went willingly to survive
The Lushan Conference and economic reform
The Lushan Conference
Peng Dehuai wrote a letter to Mao and criticised the Great Leap Forward
He also voiced doubts to the conference about the validity of the reports on the grain harvest
Mao felt attacked and Peng was demoted and sent into exile
Mao said that if the criticism continued he would return to the countryside and his life as a guerrilla and bring down the government
He did accept some responsibility for the chaos and the failure of the GLP and withdrew from day-to-day politics
Economic Reform
After Mao's withdrawal from politics, Liu and Deng were left to manage the economy
The main policies were aimed at rebuilding and using agriculture as the foundation of the economy instead of walking on two legs
Reforms
Communes scaled back for greater freedom for the peasants to grow what they wanted however tehy still needed to meet quotas
Peasants allowed to trade what they wanted on the market
Peasants were allowed to claim any unused land
Emergency aid in the form of fertiliser tools and insecticides sent from factories to the farms
Aim for the factories was to create a profit
Industrial production changed to support agriculture
Role of low level cadres downgraded
Those who possessed technical knowledge or expertise were promoted to create an efficient economy
Experts, intellectuals and party bureaucrats that had been ignored or purged during anti-rightist campaigns returned
Urban cadres sent to replace the Maoist local rural cadres
prisoners in labour camps put to work making cooking utensils to replace the ones that were melted or destroyed
Success
the reforms were successful
agricultural production in 1965 had recovered to the same level before the GLF
By the end of 1962 the availability pf tools hand carts and boats had been restored to the level before the communes
Light industry growing at a rate of 37% per year and heavy industry at a rate of 17%
Production of consumer goods was double the 1957 level