As societies develop, they affect and are affected by the ways that they produce, exchange, and consume goods and services.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Explain the causes and consequences of China’s adoption of communism.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS

KC-6.2.I.i As a result of internal tension and Japanese aggression, Chinese communists seized power. These changes in China eventually led to communist revolution.

KC-6.3.I.A.ii In communist China, the government controlled the national economy through the Great Leap Forward, often implementing repressive policies, with negative repercussions for the population.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

Rise and policies of the People's Republic of China

§ Communist revolution

§ Great Leap Forward

The process by which societies group their members and the norms that govern the interactions between these groups and between individuals influence political, economic, and cultural institutions and organization.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Explain the causes and effects of movements to redistribute economic resources.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS

KC-6.2.II.D.i Movements to redistribute land and resources developed within states in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, sometimes advocating communism or socialism.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

Land and resource redistribution:

§ Communist Revolution for Vietnamese independence

§ Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia

§ Land reform in Kerala and other states within India

§ White Revolution in Iran

• Iran Revolutions

§ Communist revolution

Chiang Kai-shek and The Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT)

• after pacifying the Communists (Mao) in 1934-1935 (The Long March), Chiang Kai-shek consolidated power in China until the Japanese invasion in 1937.

• WWII -- Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT fought against the Japanese occupation of China

• Post WWII

  • • The United States (and Allies) supported The Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT) and its leader leader Chiang Kai-shek.

    • Inflation Crisis of 1947 under the Nationalist government:

      • • January ‘47: 7,000 Chinese Yuan (dollar) = $1 USD

        • July ‘47: 45,000 Chinese Yuan (dollar) = $1 USD

    • Inflation led to political and economic collapse

      • • January ‘49-Beijing falls to CCP

        • April ‘49-Nanjing (capital) falls to CCP

        • October 1, 1949-Gate of Heavenly Peace-Mao declares the est. of the People’s Republic of China

• Republic of China

  • • December 1949-Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT flees to Taiwan (also known as Formosa)

    • established their own country called the Republic of China

    • The U.S.A. recognized Chiang's government as the sole legitimate government for all of China, U.S. President Truman announced on 5 January 1950, that the United States would not engage in any intervention in the Taiwan Strait disputes, and that he would not intervene in the event of an attack by the PRC

    • after the outbreak of the Korean War on 25 June 1950, Truman declared that the "neutralization of the Straits of Formosa" was in the best interest of the United States, and he sent the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent any conflict between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China, effectively putting Taiwan under American protection.

    • Here’s the Real Story Behind General Tso's Chicken

Mao from the Long March to the People’s Republic of China

• The Long March (1934-1935)

  • • Mao begins with 86,000 troops (35,000 of which were women)

    • 368 days and over 6,000 miles (approx. 24 miles a day avg.)

    • Under steady bombing attacks they crossed 18-mountain ranges and 24 rivers

    • 7,000-8,000 survive (less than 10%)

    • Great Defeat or Victory?

      • • Less than 10% survived, but those who survived were committed to the Revolution

        • Mao emerged as the clear and unquestionable leader of the CCP

• The War Years (1937-1945)

  • • The Japanese invasion and occupation changes the direction of the Communists

    • 1937=less than 10,000 CCP members

    • 1945=1.2 Million CCP members

    • The war enables the Communists to be viewed as the Nationalistic party

    • Maoism is developed and applied in China--Peasants become leaders of the revolution

      • • Bottom-Up approach=opinions of peasants dominate

    • Two Policies emerge during the war years:

1.) Rectification campaign: Provide cohesion within the party during its tremendous growth

• • • • • • • Rectification (change one’s ways); Reeducation; Thought Reform

            • 1942-Party mission and unification goals for new members (Mao did not trust)

            • Cadre’s and intellectuals sent to countryside to learn peasant life, and to understand their grievances.

2.) Meaning of Art and Literature

• • • • • • • was to serve the people (peasants and workers)

            • No such thing as art for arts sake. Art and literature must benefit the revolution

            • Conscience of the Masses

§ "Red" Mao Zedong Thought

• Qing era was dominated by intellectuals/experts in the Confucian bureaucracy.

  • • Confucian bureaucracy was too feudal (dialectical analysis)

• Experts not the answer...Common Sense/the people was the answer

• Class struggle must be maintained

• Belief that class status was genetic (once a capitalist family, always…)

• Caste system was developed

  • • • Red = working class, peasant

      • Black = capitalist, intellectual

§ Social Reform

• Marriage Laws-make men and women equal

• Women can:

  • own land

  • Initiate divorce (results in tens of thousands of murders and suicides)

• Bans: selling of women into marriage and infanticide

• Commune life

  • • Private cooking was banned

    • Mess-communal dining

    • Everything owned by the household was shared (animals, rice, pots, etc.)

§ Land Reform -- Staged Collectivization

• GOAL-increase agricultural production and use that to spring to Industrial production

“Land to the Tiller”

• Land redistribution-into the hands of the peasants

• by the summer of 1952-43% of land given to 62% of rural masses

Consolidation of land into Larger Units

• Goal: Consolidation of land into Larger Units--Mechanize the process

• Stage 1: Mutual Aid Teams

  • • share resources (tractors, harvesting machines, etc.), but peasants still own land.

    • 1956-92% of all households were in a mutual aid team

• Stage 2: Agricultural Production Cooperative

  • • collectivize the land

    • Land taken from Families--ownership given to the cooperative

    • Peasants get a “share” of the profit

    • Quotas are established

    • Party cadre make decisions

    • Result: This step results in peasant protest

§ Great Leap Forward (1958-1961)

• Mao Zedong based this program on the Five Year Plans used by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union.

• The Great Leap Forward is now widely seen—both within China and outside—as a major economic and humanitarian disaster, with estimates of the number of people killed by famine during this period ranging from a minimum of 14 million to as many as 43 million.

§ Sino-Soviet split

• Maoism was the application of Stalinism in China

• Sino-Soviet split begins after 1953

• As Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev was making market reforms in the Soviet Union, Mao was continuing with Stalinist reforms in China.

• Khrushchev's Secret Speech, 1956

  • • We have to consider seriously and analyze correctly [the crimes of the Stalin era] in order that we may preclude any possibility of a repetition in any form whatever of what took place during the life of Stalin, who absolutely did not tolerate collegiality in leadership and in work, and who practiced brutal violence, not only toward everything which opposed him, but also toward that which seemed to his capricious and despotic character, contrary to his concepts. ...

• Khrushchev was also concerned with Mao's views towards the United States:

  • • Mao, 1957-- “American Imperialism Is a Paper Tiger.”

    • "We have a very large territory and a big population. Atomic bombs could not kill all of us."

    • “I’m not afraid of nuclear war. There are 2.7 billion people in the world; it doesn’t matter if some are killed. China has a population of 600 million; even if half of them are killed, there are still 300 million people left. I’m not afraid of anyone.”

§ Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

Phase 1-mid-1966-January 1967

• Free mobilization of student and rebel groups, attacked intellectuals throughout China and formed “Red Guard” factions

  • • Officials arrested and put on stage and humiliated

    • Huang Hsin-pai, a government official, told the New York Times (1966), “We want to enable our students to have the same steely revolutionary spirit that moved the men who fought in the struggle for revolution.”

Phase 2-January 1967-middle of 1968

• began with a wave of power seizures of local governments and resulted in armed battles between rebel factions.

Phase 3-mid-1968-1971

• began with a suppression of the insurgency by military force and the creation of revolutionary committees, largely under military rule. Marshall law.

Phase 4-1972 until the death of Mao (September 9, 1976) and the arrest of the “Gang of Four” (October 1976)

• Period of restoration to the previous (pre-1966) status quo.

  • • Period of disputes within the CCP: Maoist radicals, veteran officials, and a protest movement against Maoist radicals (seeds of the democratic movement)