Agriculture and industry

• Agricultural co-operation

  
  

  • Aimed to end private ownership and production.
  • The increased production would create a surplus that could be used to feed the urban industrial workforce in modern factories.
  • Mao knew they wouldn't want it - "the peasants want freedom, but we want socialism."
  • MATs Distributed and peasants had to pool in their tools, animals and knowledge.
  • MATs were consistent of 10 households and by 1952, 40% of peasants were in one.
  • APCs introduced to reduce capitalist characteristics, for example land gained from Land Reform was now shared.
  • APCs had a size of 30 - 50 households.
• The abolition of private farming

  
  

  • Mao judged that the early period had been successful enough, so now all private farming was abolished.
  • First commune in Henm in July 1958.
  • By the end of the year, 740,000 co-operatives had been reorganised into 26,000 communes.
  • Party claimed 99% of the peasant population lived in communes, almost half a billion people.
• Communal living - the vision

  
  

  • Mao thought it brought them closer to a perfect communist society.
  • Mess halls for communal eating, theory being that sharing meals would help to develop revolutionary fervour.
  • Boarding schools provided.
  • Mao believed women should be able to join the fields and factories, not just the kitchen and kids.
  • Grandparents no longer should be expected to care for grandchildren, now they can spend free time with other elderly people in 'Happiness Homes'.
• Communal living - the reality

  
  

  • Everyone is forced into one location, making propaganda easier.
  • 15-50 year olds in the militia, who enforced commune rules.
  • Mess halls removed traditional family meals.
  • Parents lost influence over raising their kid.
  • Grandparents became isolated from their relatives.
  • Women had it worse with long physical labour working hours and were forced into prostitution for extra mess hall food tokens.
• Lysenkoism


  
  

  • He was a Soviet scientist.
  • Theories were wholly fraudulent as he manipulated his research to gain political influence.
  • He 'believed' crops yields could increase through exposing seeds to moisture and low temperatures and by planting them closer together.
  • The use of his theories led to a drop in agricultural production.
  • Scared cadres refused to report the failings, instead claiming it exceeded expectations.
  • The happy party then increased their already high quotas.
• The Great Famine, 1958-62


  
  

  • Between 1958-61, the amount of land in use for crop production was reduced by 7%.
  • Before the famine - rural death rate was 11.07 people per 1000.
  • By 1960 - rural death rate was at 28.68 per 1000.
  • Gangs of starving peasants attacked grain resources and were punished by death.
  • Used bark for porridge and leaves for flour.
  • Too exhausted to catch rats, so they ate frogs, toads and worms.
  • Birth rate dropped as women didn't have enough energy to procreate.
  • Children were kidnapped and cannibalised.
  • Women sold themselves for a chance of survival.
• The USSR's support of the first Five-year plan


  
  

  • The 'Sino-Mutual Assistance Treaty' of 1950 meant the USSR and China would economically aid each other when needed.
  • They constructed 156 major industrial enterprises, including 7 iron and steel plants and 24 electronic power stations.
  • 11,000 soviet and Eastern European industrial experts sent to China to help train workers and design the plants.
  • 28,000 Chinese technicians invited to study in Russia.
  • loan of 300 million US Dollars over the 5 years of the plan.
• The first Five-year plan's targets


  
  

  • High growth of heavy industry.
  • Construction of modern industrial plants.
  • Investment in advanced technology.
  • China to become self-sufficient.
  • High levels of grain - in 1953 they planned to procure 22 million tons of grain.
  • Transformation into a socialist society.
• The first Five-year plan's successes


  
  

  • Industrial output grew 15.5% per year.
  • heavy industrial output tripled.
  • Railway freight volume more than doubled, allowing for transportation of essentials.
  • Geological explorations found oil, uranium and minerals in Xianjiang.
  • Industry working class went from 6 million to 10 million.
  • Moved closer to socialism when private sector industry was abolished in 1956.
  • Standard of living and job security improved.
  • With greater urbanisation, the CCP could heighten its influence.
• The first Five-year plan failures


  
  

  • Grain was taken from the people to repay the USSR.
  • Agricultural value only grew 2.1% a year, a decline from the 14.1% from 1949-52.
  • Consumer goods were at a low supply.
  • lack of co-operation or experience led to bottlenecks in production.
  • Little investment in healthcare or education.
  • Rural standard of living still low.
• Mao's reasoning for the second Five-year plan (GLF)


  
  

  • Khrushchev said USSR would overtake the USA's industrial production, so Mao said China would beat the UK in 15 years.
  • Optimistic from last plans success.
  • Optimistic as it appeared the USSR was winning the Cold War, making communism look better than the West.
  • Mao wanted to be 'walking on two legs', meaning improving both agriculture and industry at the same time.
  • He believed that the people's sheer force of will would be enough to overcome all technological obstacles
• The second Five-year plan's successes (GLF)


  
  

  • Massive irrigation terracing helped make agricultural land more fertile.
  • Construction projects changed the face of Chinese cities,
  • Ideological success as the communes made people live closer to a communist model as they lacked private property, pooled labour, resources and responsibilities.
• The second Five-year plan's failures (GLF) (1958-62)


  
  

  • Anti-rightist campaign meant there was no intellectuals or experts left
  • Economy broke as people were mobilised to help with backyard furnaces
  • Factories shut down due to shortages of raw materials
• The Lushan Conference (1959)


  
  

  • Peng Dehaui doubted the grain numbers after witnessing poverty in his home, the Hunan province.
  • Wrote a letter to Mao about his worries, confident his high position would protect him.
  • Mao saw it as an attack and called him a 'right opportunist clique' and accused him of negatively reporting information to the USSR.
  • Peng was stripped of his rank, barred from the Politburo and forced to live in a run-down area in Beijing.
  • During the Cultural Revolution, he was attacked by Red Guards.
• Deng and Lui's economic improvements

  
  

  • Factories were functioning to ensure they made profit.
  • Light industry up by 27%.
  • Before reforms, steel production dropped by 1.13 million tons since 1958.
• Deng and Lui's social improvements

  
  

  • Communes removed.
  • Peasants income came from private trade.
  • 1965 infant mortality was below 10% and in 1960 it was at 25%.
  • However, peasants still had to meet quotas of food to their state, limiting their freedom.
• Deng and Lui's relaxation on intellectuals

  
  

  • Stopped attacking scientists, experts and managers.
  • The experts started closing down ineffective projects, led to a stable economy.
  • The scientists built an Atomic Bomb in 1964.
• Deng and Lui's reforms not being wide reaching

  
  

  • Reforms not implemented in Tibet, despite them loosing 1 million people.
  • Deportations of 25 million people to the countryside to compensate for the famine deaths.
  • This led to urban labour shortages.
• GLF failing because of withdrawing technical experts

  • Khrushchev was against collectivisation and his destalinisation policies worsened his relationship with Mao
  • In summer 1960, there were 1400 soviet experts in China, by September a soviet chemist claimed ‘not a single soviet citizen remained in China, apart from diplomats and a few trade officials’
  • Anti-Rightest campaign removed experts, the party relied on methods like Backyard Furnaces
  • Most steel produced was low quality, made from cooking utensils
  • People were mobilised to work on the furnaces, leaving crops to rot
• 4 pests campaign

  • Mao blamed poor harvests on pests eating grain
  • Tackled sparrows, rats, mosquitoes and flies
  • Citizens banged pots and pans to scare sparrows into the air, leading to them dying of exhaustion
  • Decreased bird population meant caterpillar population grew, so crops kept being eaten
• GLF unrealistic targets

  • Targets were too high and people didn't want to loose their jobs, led to lots of misinformation
  • “Make it snappy! Lets just double it! Why dilly-dally? Lets make it 11 million tonnes” in relation to increasing the steel target from 6 to 9 million
  • Ministry of Metallurgy claimed steel production would reach 100 million by 1977
• GLF and the weather

  • 1960 - worst drought in over 100 years resulted in the flow of the Yangtze being reduced by 2/3 and 8/12 main rivers in Shandong dried up
  • Typhoons led to severe flooding in Southern China
  • 60% of cultivated land affected
  • 2 million dead to drowning or starvation
  • However, Liu Shaoqi admitted in January 1962 that natural disasters only made up 30% of the failure, with 70% being credited to man-made mistakes