Mao’s China 1949-1976

China after 1911 The Revolution of 1911 was intended to create a modern republican form of government in China. Instead, the country broke up into warlord-dominated regions with increasing poverty and violence. The Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party led the revolution, but controlled few areas.

Kuomintang Party Sun Yat-sen was the main leader of the 1911 Revolution and the Nationalist Party (KMT). He died in 1925 and was succeeded as leader by Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang cooperated with the Communists for a time, but then massacred them in 1927.

The Peasant Revolution Mao was a leader of the Chinese Communist Party since its founding in 1921. While most Chinese Communists believed that urban workers were the group that would be the most important supporters of the revolution, Mao decided that peasants had more revolutionary potential.

Land Reform Mao discovered even in the 1920s that the Communists could win the support of the peasants by taking away land from the rich and sharing this with the poor. Mao learned how to get the vast majority of peasants on his side by concentrating the confiscations on a small minority of wealthy farmers.

The Long March Mao led a Communist area in Jiangxi Province in 1934, but attacks by the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) government army forced them to undergo the “Long March” lasting over a year and covering 3700 miles to a new, safer area to the north in Shanxi Province.

World War II At the end of the Second World War, the Russians moved into Manchuria against the Japanese and were able to share some weapons with the Chinese Communists. Stalin urged Mao to ally with Chiang Kai-shek rather than to fight him.

Communist Victory, 1949 Due to corruption and inefficiency among the KMT leadership, the Communists took power in mainland China in October, 1949. The KMT leaders retreated to the island of Taiwan. Now Mao was in charge of the whole country.

The Former Elite Hundreds of thousands of members of the former elite were put to death in the mass trials of 1949-1951. Their land was then distributed among the poorer peasants. This was the most important revolutionary act in the rural villages of China.

Industrialization Between 1949 and 1960, China followed the Russian strategy of industrialization. (nationalization of industry, collectivization of agriculture, and central planning) They built large factories in the cities. Many Russian engineers came to China to assist in this effort. Many of the largest factories in China today were built during this period. Hundred Flowers Campaign- short attempt at public criticism

Great Leap Forward, 1958-60 In 1958, Mao decided that the Russian strategy of industrial development was not suitable for China. This urban, large-factory system was not having enough of an impact on the mass of the population in the countryside. Mao decided to opt for a unique Chinese method of industrialization.

Great Leap Forward The most mocked aspect of the Great Leap Forward was the backyard steel furnaces. Mao thought that peasants could learn to make steel on a broadly decentralized basis. Most areas of China, however, lacked the ore and fuel for this.

Great Leap Forward Millions of peasants were pulled away from their agricultural tasks in order to engage in industrialization or water conservancy projects. This lack of attention to the crops added to the problem of a serious drought and up to 30 million people died in China during this period.

Great Leap Forward Small villages were done away with, and the peasants were moved to larger towns. Mao attempted to have the peasants live in dormitories – with the separation of husbands and wives. Communal kitchens and nurseries were established. These measures failed.

Sino-Soviet Dispute, 1960 From 1960 onward, China and Russia had a great ideological quarrel. Mao asserted that the world was in a revolutionary situation. Mao expected revolution to come from the poor peasants of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Sino-Soviet Dispute The Soviet Union was led in 1960 by Nikita Khrushchev and he insisted on the need for “peaceful coexistence” with the West. Khrushchev was against promoting revolution in Third World countries as China wished to do.

The Cultural Revolution Between 1961 and 1963, conditions were relatively quiet in China, but in 1964 Mao began pushing a new crusade to transform the culture to make the country more purely communist. Mao attacked traditional Confucian and Buddhist elements in Chinese culture.

Cultural Revolution Any Communist leaders who were not strongly for equality were condemned in this movement. The Cultural Revolution started among students (Red Guards), but it began to affect other sectors of society.

Cultural Revolution Eventually, the military stepped in and sent the students off to work as peasants.

Assessing Mao Most people both in China and the West consider Mao’s leadership atrocious – particularly the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

Assessing Mao In spite of the deaths during the Great Leap Forward and the social and economic disruption of the Cultural Revolution, the two movements helped to modernize China both in its rural economy and in its ideology.

After Mao From 1975 to 1997, China was led by Deng Xiaoping who welcomed economic reforms in the direction of capitalism. “reform and opening” Peasants were allowed to farm on their own and to leave the collective farms. Local governments were permitted to establish township and village enterprises (TVEs) that functioned like capitalist firms.

Deng Xiaoping