1. Consolidating Power

2. “China has stood up”…The problem with winning
“Victorious revolutionaries have a problem. After winning power as outsiders, they become the new establishment. The have to construct and manage society, building bridges rather than blowing them up. Few handle the transformation well and things usually end up badly for the people on whose behalf they claim to have acted.” Fenby

3. The state of China 10’s of millions of people had been killed
In factory output was 44% below the 1937 level.
In some areas people were suffering starvation
Half the railway networks had been destroyed
Inflation had ruined the economy

4. CPP issues They didn’t bring peace or stability straight away
The party itself struggled internally.
Their ideology had only been applied
to “isolated cocoons”
There was a shortage of experienced officials
Mao turned out to be a mass killer greater than Hitler or Stalin whose prime aim was not to improve the lot of the peasants.
40-70 million lives lost
Fenby says that “his indifference to the suffering and loss of humans was breathtaking.”

5. The new government – a people’s democratic dictatorship.
Modelled on the Soviet structure
Zhou Enlai became Premier
Co-alition government
Non-Communists in government
“Flower vases”
Provincial elections
Not a Dictatorship of the Proletariat
“Pantomime of popular Democracy” Fenby “
Tom Ryan – Rising China

6. Zhou Enlai

7. Immediate changes and improvements
Land redistribution – in accordance with Law and Reason
Recruitment drive
Focus on cities and production rather than the country and consumption.
GMD ‘bandits’ were captured and some executed – 2.6 million by 1951
Began restoration of railways and dykes
Food and clothing distributed
State banks were created (more on finances later)
Many counter revolutionaries were also executed

8. The hopeful honeymoon period?
Public health campaign
Equality for women
New divorce laws
No more arranged marriages or child brides, foot binding or polygamy
Beggars were rounded up and sent to training colleges to lean
Anti opium programs
Brothels outlawed
More than 1 million women got divorced
BUT changes didn’t always work well.

9. Mao Cult of personality Parental figure
It wasn’t just a “murderous confidence trick on the people of China”

10. Military Many Nationalists kept their posts
The military remained very close in structure to the Government.
Soviet assistance with weapons and advisors
Tension over Soviet refusal to provide Nuclear blueprints.
700,000 CCP army administrators to fill 2 million positions.
Although they were a separate arm or government there was many close ties that kept the military firmly in control.
The PLA was supervised by the Military Affairs committee which came under the jurisdiction of the Politburo. Leading military members such as Lin Biao were in government also.

11. Financial stability People’s currency – May 1949
Foreign money was banned
Banks were nationalised
Taxes reformed and made more equitable
“Ingenious pay system” (Ryan) based on the price of five basic items; flour, rice, coal, cotton and oil.
Inflation went from 85000% in 1949 to 15% by 1951
Government revenue went from 6.5billion in 1950 to 13.3 billion by