Mao’s Five Year Plan 1953-1957

Why do you think Mao used help from the USSR? The Five Year Plan 1953-1957 1953: the economy had stabilized and Mao began the First Five Year Plan. Impressed by the USSR, Mao based his changes on the Soviet model. With the help of the USSR Mao began an ambitious program to ‘build socialism’ in China, achieving 9% growth by 1957. 10,000 Russian scientists and engineers supervised millions of Chinese on over 700 major projects. 156 were built directly by the Russians. Why do you think Mao used help from the USSR?

The Five Year Plan 1953-1957 The focus was on heavy industries – steel, coal, chemicals. These would provide the raw materials to build planes, trains and engines which would improve transport. Light industry like clothing and consumer goods was neglected.

The Five Year Plan 1953-1957 By 1953, inflation had been reduced to 15% and the government was in complete control of industry. Mao also benefitted from the ‘National Resources Committee’ (NRC) which had been established by the KMT. 200,000 managers and workers had stayed to work in China after 1949. The urban population doubled from 57 to 100 million by 1957, which created a huge industrial workforce (mass mobilization).

How reliable are these government statistics? The Five Year Plan 1953-1957 In many sectors, the plan was a complete success: How reliable are these government statistics?

The Five Year Plan 1953-1957 In some respects, these statistics need to be treated with caution. As in Soviet Union, officials tended to make up the statistics. CCP Cadres and industrial managers, as well as foremen and workers, were all anxious to appear to be fulfilling targets. Despite this, China had impressively achieved 9% growth from 1953-1957. However, all the 10,000 Soviet advisors had to be paid. The $300 million loan from the SU also had to be paid back.

The Five Year Plan 1953-1957 “In 1951 we set up a Mutual Aid Team. The work went well, but there were lots of quarrels about whose land should be worked on first. It was difficult to solve all these problems. Some said ‘Why should his field be taken first? I’ve got a bigger crop.’ Whatever we did this went on. So we then began to talk about forming a peasant’s co-operative.” To pay for this rapid industrialization, and to feed the workers, Mao also needed to boost agricultural production. Despite the introduction of Mutual Aid Teams, some peasants were too poor or ill-equipped to efficiently farm the land. From 1953, the CCP encouraged peasants to form lower-stage cooperatives. 30-50 families pooled their land and equipment to make one bigger, efficient farm. Each family was then paid rent for their land.

The Five Year Plan 1953-1957 These lower-stage cooperatives were eventually merged into higher-stage cooperatives. 200-300 families were forced to pool their land and labor. They lost their land and only received wages. They had to surrender all their equipment and animals to the cooperative. By 1957, over 90% of China’s peasants belonged to cooperatives. The 300 million peasants who had received land after the 1950 Agrarian Reform Law now lost it.

f 1953 – All peasants encourage to join co-operatives 1957 – Over 90% of peasants now in co-operatives 1951 – Mutual Aid Teams set up