Amanda P asked:
Please help me with this. I have do this project on the first two years of the people’s republic of china (1949-1951). Can someone tell me what kind of changes did the people have to go through when the people’s republic of china was formed in 1949? I already did tons of research on this, but I don’t understand the whole “communism” part. Please give me some information on the agrarian law, marriage reform, the three anti(s) reform, the five anti(s) reform, trade union law, anything that has something to do with the effect on people. By the way, what is collectivitation or something like that (related to communism)?
By the standards of what was to happen later, Mao’s victory in the civil war against the Nationalists had only a mild impact on the lives of many Chinese.
In the cities especially, during this early “honeymoon” phase of Communist rule, changes were kept to a minimum. Accommodations were reached with the (vast majority) non-Communist elements in the cities. Many former bureaucrats and capitalists were retained in positions of authority in factories, businesses, schools, and governmental organizations. The urban economy ran much as before, with many businesses left in private control. Manufacturers and shopkeepers were urged to keep functioning.
But two vital elements of the infrastructure were placed immediately under strict PRC government control. The old law courts were abolished, and replaced with judicial committees composed entirely of Communist Party functionaries. And any notion of “freedom of speech” was also abolished: from now on, tight censorship was imposed throughout the media; and any non-party-line expression of opinion was stamped out.
Marriage Laws 1950:
•Removed gender distinctions within the family. Women were given full equality with men in matters of marriage, divorce, and property ownership
1951 Three-Anti movement (san fan):
•The Three-Anti movement was directed ostensibly against the evils of “corruption, waste, and bureaucratism”. But its real aim was to eliminate both incompetent and politically unreliable public officials; and to bring about an efficient and disciplined bureaucratic system that would respond immediately to orders from the Communist Party.
1952 Five-Anti movement (wu fan):
•The Five-Anti movement aimed at eliminating businessmen and industrialists, suspected of activities such as “tax evasion, bribery, cheating in government contracts, thefts of economic intelligence, and stealing of state assets.” In the course of this campaign, the Communist Party claimed to have uncovered a well-organized attempt by businessmen and industrialists to corrupt party and government officials. This charge was then enlarged into an assault on the bourgeoisie as a whole. The number of people imprisoned or murdered in the various punitive anti-bourgeoisie campaigns that followed ran into the millions.
1951 Thought Reform:
•“Thought Reform” required bureaucrats, writers and artists to criticize themselves before mass meetings of their colleagues, to guard against conceit and ideological mistakes. It was, essentially, a form of brainwashing. On paper, it was supposed to be self-imposed. But those who were slow to discover and confess to (real or imagined) mistakes in their thoughts and actions were then subjected to criticism from the mass meeting. This campaign was a (comparatively mild) precursor to the later (extremely violent) Cultural Revolution.
Agrarian Reform and Collectivization:
•The Agrarian Law of 1950 was one of Mao’s first moves towards the full socialization of Chinese society. Essentially, the 1950 Law proposed to take land away from wealthy landlords, and give it instead to poor peasants to work for themselves. This was a very popular move, because there were far more poor peasants than wealthy landowners. Landowners, together with their wives and children, were arrested: condemned at local public meetings; and then usually murdered by mobs on the spot.
•It seemed like the peasants had been given land for nothing. But that apparent gain for the peasants did not last very long. Mao intended this only as a first move before abolishing all private ownership of land.
•One of Mao’s priorities was not only to grow enough food for China’s population; but also to provide surplus food that could then be exported (mainly to Soviet-bloc countries) to fund purchases of capital equipment for heavy industry, and to buy military hardware. To satisfy these needs, the government began to collectivize agriculture.
•“Collectivization” meant the abolition of private farming. The lands of all peasants in a village were lumped together and became a “Collective”. All villagers were formed into “Danwei” work units to farm the land under Party supervision. The food produced became the property of the state. Village workers would, if they were lucky, be rationed some of the food for themselves. But the bulk went to feed urban populations and to be exported in exchange for armaments or factory equipment. Collectivization was resisted by peasants in many areas, but their resistance was crushed by the Army.
•Collectivization was 90 percent completed by the end of 1956. Private ownership of land in China was virtually abolished.
Comment by Gromm — December 23, 2007 @ 8:23 am
china joined its ally north korea in the korean war during these years
Comment by :) — December 24, 2007 @ 12:31 am