Communism in China

The Chinese Civil War  Dates: and (with a pause to fight the Japanese)  Two sides  Communists (CCP), led by Mao Zedong  Nationalists (KMT), led by Chiang Kai-shek  October 1, 1949: Mao declares the People’s Republic of China

Maoism  Version of Marxism adapted to Chinese conditions  Rural peasants as revolutionary class  “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun”

The Great Leap Forward  Date:  Ambitious plan to modernize and industrialize China’s economy  Organized villages as communes – everything was collectively owned  Move towards industrializing the countryside – “backyard furnaces”

“Strike the battle drum of the Great Leap Forward ever louder” (1959)

“The grain belongs to the granary. Don’t waste even one piece of food!”

“The vegetables are green, the cucumbers plump, the yield is abundant”

“The future of the rural village”

“More pigs, more fertilizer, higher grain production”

 In your notebook: Based on these posters, what do you think was the result of the Great Leap Forward?

Results of the Great Leap Forward  Quotas were completely unrealistic  Commune leaders overstated production numbers, for fear of punishment  Prioritizing industry over farming led to massive famine  Estimated to cause between 20 million and 45 million deaths  Communist Party abandoned the Great Leap Forward in late 1960

The Cultural Revolution  Date:  Attempt to restore Mao’s control over China and the Communist Party  Targeted intellectuals, political opponents, anyone with wealth…  Ended with Mao’s death in 1976

Results of the Cultural Revolution  Terror induced by overzealous “Red Guards”  Millions of people forced into hard labor  Tens of thousands of executions  Removed most of Mao’s political enemies from power