China Under Mao Zedong

1
China Under Mao Zedong

• Kevin J. Benoy

2
A New China

• China was completely transformed since 1945.
• First came the great changes brought by
  Communism.
• Next there was the Cultural Revolution.
• Finally came the transformation under Deng
  Xiaoping.
• This presentation will deal entirely with China
  under Mao.

3
Revolutionary Transformation

• Mao and his communists faced a situation not
  unlike that of Lenin.
• Utopian promises had been made, but the country
  they ruled was in an appalling mess.
• In the first year, the tasks were to eliminate
  the influence of foreigners and national
  reactionaries.
• Aristocrats and landlords were ruthlessly
  eliminated as Peoples Courts pronounced sentence
  on opponents and potential opponents of the
  regime.
• At least 2 million were killed and many more fled
  the country.

4
Revolutionary Transformation - Agriculture

• Mao sought to replace small-scale private farms
  with large collective units.
• Though land was initially parcelled out to
  individual farmers, the small holdings often
  less than an acres simply were unworkable.
• To modernize and mechanize, larger farms were
  needed.
• By 1954, as many as 200 million people worked on
  collectives.

5
Revolutionary Transformation - Agriculture

• By 1954 around 200 million worked on collectives.
• In 1956 the pace picked up so that soon 95 of
  available land was within large-scale communes,
  numbering 26,000 by 1958.
• Each had as many as 40,000 to 50,000 members.
• Communes were responsible for all services in
  their area schools, road construction and
  factory management.

6
Revolutionary Transformation - Industry

• Mao inherited a mainly peasant society.
• Industrialization was still a key aim of the
  Communists.
• Within 2-3 years of the revolution, about 85 of
  heavy industry and 50 of light industry was
  under state ownership.
• The first 5 year plan was announced in 1951 and
  began in 1953.
• Emphasis was on heavy industry, as it had been in
  the USSR.
• Some small business were allowed to remain in
  private hands.

7
Revolutionary Transformation - Society

• A key goal was the social transformation of
  China.
• Here, more than anywhere else, change was
  dramatic.
• The position of women in China had not improved
  greatly since feudal times.
• Though the KMT passed laws, they had little
  effect.
• In 1950 the communist marriage law finally
  abolished child marriage and infanticide.

8
Revolutionary Transformation - Society

• Public health was greatly improved though it
  remained rudimentary.
• Medical services were extended and public hygiene
  improved.
• Paramedics were sent into the countryside to
  deliver health care to even the most remote areas.

9
Social Transformation - Society

• Population was a pressing issue.
• In 1950 China numbered 450 million. In the 1960s
  it was increasing by at least 20 million per year
  50,000 a day.
• Though Mao seemed to be of the opinion that China
  could support even greater numbers, others argued
  something needed to be done.
• In the 1970s Chinese leaders began population
  control schemes, culminating in the one child
  policy, whereby penalties were applied to larger
  families and encouragement was given to family
  planning.

10
The Hundred Flowers Campaign

• In 1957 the pace of change produced political
  strains in China.
• Mao offered to lift restrictions to prevent an
  opposition forming.
• Criticism of officials was allowed and
  intellectuals were encouraged to speak their
  minds.
• However, the campaign did not last and soon those
  who spoke out were silenced.

11
The Great Leap Forward

• In 1958 Mao launched an ambitious plan to achieve
  the work of twenty years in a single day.
• Small scale industries were promoted in the
  countryside, including 600,000 backyard furnaces
  to produce iron and steel.

12
The Great Leap Forward

• Peasants were given rudimentary training by
  specialists to produce metals, machine tools,
  farm machinery and other tools so there would
  be less dependence on centralized factories.
• Vast public works schemes were also undertaken
  dams, bridges, irrigation canals and the like.
• The result was increased industrial production at
  the cost of agriculture.

13
The Great Leap Forward

• Food rationing was required from 1959-1961.
• Even so, starvation was widespread and the death
  rate rose enormously.
• Local industrial goods were often shoddy and
  almost useless.
• Major construction projects were often
  ill-conceived, poorly engineered, and sometimes
  even abandoned before completion.

14
The Great Leap Forward

• Opposition to Maos policies grew as failures
  mounted.
• Maos criticism of the Soviet leadership further
  complicated matters as the Soviets withdrew their
  help.
• Mao was outflanked. Though he kept the post of
  Chairman of the Communist Party, he was forced to
  resign as Chairman of the Peoples Congress.
• In the background the Soviets seemed to be
  helping engineer his complete removal.

15
The Cultural Revolution

• The growing strength of the right wing of the
  Party alarmed Mao who feared bureaucratisation
  of China.
• In 1966, while Liu Shaoqi appealed for support
  within the Communist Party of China, Mao went to
  the Chinese public with his call for support.

16
The Cultural Revolution

• Young Maoists, calling themselves Red Guards,
  toured the countryside whipping up public
  support.
• Purges were organized, resulting in the closing
  down of schools and factories as meetings took
  precedence over productive work.

17
The Cultural Revolution

• Managers were fired.
• Teachers were lynched.
• A wave of Maoist hysteria swept the country,
  destroying the opposition who were killed or
  sent down.
• Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, were
  forced out of their jobs and into the countryside
  to learn the value of peasant labour.

18
The Cultural Revolution

• Mao sought to destroy all privilege and remove
  elitism in society.
• Everyone wore the ubiquitous plain Mao suits
  and waived copies of Maos little red book.

19
The Cultural Revolution

• For more than 2 years the upheaval continued.
• Ultimately, in 1968, the Cultural Revolution ran
  its course.
• The army stood aside in the earlier phases, but
  came into conflict with the Red Guards and ended
  their activities.

20
The Cultural Revolution

• Zhou Enlai and others convinced Mao that the
  chaos must end.
• Though peace was restored, the right/left
  struggle continued behind the scenes.
• In 1971 Lin Biao, an important party leader, died
  under mysterious circumstances. Lin may have
  been plotting against Mao.
• The public struggle did not return.

21
Sino-American Normalization

• The early 1970s saw an opening up of relations
  with the USA.
• Mao understood that the Sino-Soviet split was
  extremely dangerous.
• War looked very likely and it is known that the
  Soviets went so far as to enquire as to American
  intentions if the Soviets went so far as to
  launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike.
• Mao determined that China could not afford
  continued American hostility.

22
Sino-American Normalization

• Ping-pong Diplomacy sporting competition as a
  front for secret negotiations bore fruit in
  1971.
• American President Nixon visited Mao in China and
  normal relations began between the two countries.
• China wanted an end to US hostility at a time of
  great tension with the USSR.
• America wanted to play the Chinese off against
  the Soviets.

23
Maos End and the Struggle for Leadership

• In January 1976 Zhou Enlai died.
• In September Mao died as well.
• Hua Guofeng, who had replaced Zhou as Premier now
  became chairman of the Party.
• He brought back Deng Xiaoping as his premier a
  man who only recently had been forced out of
  leadership by leftists.

24
Maos End and the Struggle for Leadership

• The Right/Left struggle was now fought in
  earnest.
• The so-called Gang of Four including Madame
  Mao, Jiang Qing, were arrested and vilified in a
  well-publicized show trial. It was this group
  who had arranged Dengs purge in 1976.
• Unbroken and unrepentant, Jiang Qing swore at her
  accusers and argued her case.
• All were found guilty. Two were sentenced to
  death, later commuted to life sentences. Two
  others received life sentences.

25
Maos End and the Struggle for Leadership

• The struggle for primacy continued between Hua
  and Deng, with Deng emerging the clear victor.
• Hua was conservative and resistant to change.
  Deng was prepared to make dramatic changes at
  least insofar as the economy was concerned.
• Freeing parts of the economy, while maintaining
  strict political orthodoxy was Dengs objective.

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