Mao’s China 1949-76
A: The Government of the People’s Republic of China; Mao’s authority
and ideas; his leading colleagues; the People’s Liberation Army; the
Hundred Flowers Campaign and its consequences
Mao’s authority
Mao was the undisputed leader of the People’s Republic of China. He was President of
China and also Chairman of the CCP.
Mao’s political ideas were based on Marx, but he interpreted those in his own way. His
ideas were embodied in the Constitution of the PRC.
Marx and Soviet leaders had believed that the proletariat (urban working class) had been
the key to communist success. Mao followed the Chinese tradition of relying on peasants.
Mao also believed in the human will; that difficulties could be overcome through sheer
persistence. This led him to rely on mass manual labour as a means of achieving
economic progress.
In China, human labour was plentiful but technology was in short supply. Mao believed
that it was possible to use one to make up for deficiencies in the other, hence the Great
Leap Forward.
Despite differences, China immediately became a one party state. All other parties were
suppressed in a series of purges from 1950 to 1952, although a few small groups were
allowed to survive.
However, in the 1950s, he showed that he was prepared to adapt to circumstances.
Policies were changed and other leaders gained or lost influence from time to time. The
golden rule however was that it was unwise to cross Mao.
From 1949 to 1976, all rivals who attempted to challenge Mao came to a sticky end one
way or another.
Why did most Chinese welcome the victory of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)?
It reminded them of the May 4th Movement of 1919, at the end of the First World War.
This had been an outburst of nationalism when it was revealed that Japan had been given
Chinese territory as part of the Versailles settlement.
The PRC offered an opportunity to expel foreigners and foreign influence which had
dominated China since the early twentieth century.
The PRC promised an end to the corruption and cruelty of the GMD (Guomindang)
government of Chiang Kai-shek.
1
, Mao had given hints that there might be some democratic trends in the new China: he
called a Political Consultative Conference to act as a provisional parliament.
How did Mao govern China?
In fact, China was governed, and always would be, by the CCP. This had a Central
Committee, from which was appointed the Politburo.
This in turn had a five man standing committee, which took all major decisions.
The five members were, Mao, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Chen Yun.
Liu controlled the CCP and, with Deng Xiaoping, was the most important organiser in the
party.
Liu was expected to become leader of China after Mao, but he fell from power in the
Cultural Revolution.
Zhou Enlai was the prime minster and foreign minister and ran the government.
He was a smooth talking bureaucrat, who managed to survive, virtually unscathed, all of
the changes under Mao. He died just a few months before Mao in 1976.
Zhu De was the most important figure in the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) and took
overall command during the Korean War. He was dismissed in 1966, but returned in
1971.
Chen Yun was an economist who was responsible for many of the changes in industry in
the 1950s. He was the figure behind the reforms of Liu and Deng in the early 1960s, but
was dismissed in 1966.
Other important figures
Lin Biao, a general, was seen as a possible successor to Mao but was killed in a plane
crash in 1971 after an attempted coup.
Gao Gang, a former general, took over central planning after 1950, but was dismissed for
supporting the Soviet Union and for sexual scandals. He committed suicide in 1954.
Peng Duhai was the senior general during the Korean War and later became Minister of
Defence. He fell from power after criticising the Great Leap Forward in 1959.
How was China governed?
Control of China was divided up between the main leaders. The country was split into six
‘bureaus’, or districts.
The three most important were Manchuria in the north-east controlled Gao Gang; the
south-west run by Deng Xiaoping; the south where Lin Biao was in charge.
2
, The creation of the bureaus resulted in a high degree of centralisation. In fact, final
decisions were in the hands of the CCP because all bureaus were controlled by senior
party figures.
What were Mao’s immediate aims?
Mao’s immediate aim was to gain control of the cities, where the GMD had been at its
strongest. He was determined to stamp out any remaining support for the GMD and
ordered massacres of suspects.
Maoist slogans began to appear on walls all over China for the first time.
65,000 people were killed in Guangzhou and 28,000 in Shanghai. All organisations were
closed down, including churches and all religions were attacked.
The Danwei (neighbourhood unit) became the chief means of repression and control.
People were expected to spy and report on each other. As many as 750,000 were killed
and 1.5 million arrested in a wave of persecution.
Mao used this hysteria to whip up anti-western feeling. Foreign businesses were taken
over and foreigners were attacked.
After China entered the Korean War, the initial moderation in Chinese domestic policies
gave way to a massive campaign against the ‘enemies of the state,’ actual and potential.
These enemies consisted of ‘war criminals, traitors, bureaucratic capitalists, and
counterrevolutionaries.’
The campaign was combined with party-sponsored trials attended by huge numbers of
people.
The major targets in this drive were foreigners and Christian missionaries who were
branded as United States agents at these mass trials.
An ideological reform campaign requiring self-criticisms and public confessions by
university faculty members, scientists, and other professional workers was given wide
publicity.
Artists and writers were soon the objects of similar treatment for failing to heed Mao's
statement that culture and literature must reflect the class interest of the working people,
led by the CCP.
The ‘antis’
These campaigns were accompanied in 1951 and 1952 by the ‘three antis’ and ‘five antis’
movements.
3
A: The Government of the People’s Republic of China; Mao’s authority
and ideas; his leading colleagues; the People’s Liberation Army; the
Hundred Flowers Campaign and its consequences
Mao’s authority
Mao was the undisputed leader of the People’s Republic of China. He was President of
China and also Chairman of the CCP.
Mao’s political ideas were based on Marx, but he interpreted those in his own way. His
ideas were embodied in the Constitution of the PRC.
Marx and Soviet leaders had believed that the proletariat (urban working class) had been
the key to communist success. Mao followed the Chinese tradition of relying on peasants.
Mao also believed in the human will; that difficulties could be overcome through sheer
persistence. This led him to rely on mass manual labour as a means of achieving
economic progress.
In China, human labour was plentiful but technology was in short supply. Mao believed
that it was possible to use one to make up for deficiencies in the other, hence the Great
Leap Forward.
Despite differences, China immediately became a one party state. All other parties were
suppressed in a series of purges from 1950 to 1952, although a few small groups were
allowed to survive.
However, in the 1950s, he showed that he was prepared to adapt to circumstances.
Policies were changed and other leaders gained or lost influence from time to time. The
golden rule however was that it was unwise to cross Mao.
From 1949 to 1976, all rivals who attempted to challenge Mao came to a sticky end one
way or another.
Why did most Chinese welcome the victory of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)?
It reminded them of the May 4th Movement of 1919, at the end of the First World War.
This had been an outburst of nationalism when it was revealed that Japan had been given
Chinese territory as part of the Versailles settlement.
The PRC offered an opportunity to expel foreigners and foreign influence which had
dominated China since the early twentieth century.
The PRC promised an end to the corruption and cruelty of the GMD (Guomindang)
government of Chiang Kai-shek.
1
, Mao had given hints that there might be some democratic trends in the new China: he
called a Political Consultative Conference to act as a provisional parliament.
How did Mao govern China?
In fact, China was governed, and always would be, by the CCP. This had a Central
Committee, from which was appointed the Politburo.
This in turn had a five man standing committee, which took all major decisions.
The five members were, Mao, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Chen Yun.
Liu controlled the CCP and, with Deng Xiaoping, was the most important organiser in the
party.
Liu was expected to become leader of China after Mao, but he fell from power in the
Cultural Revolution.
Zhou Enlai was the prime minster and foreign minister and ran the government.
He was a smooth talking bureaucrat, who managed to survive, virtually unscathed, all of
the changes under Mao. He died just a few months before Mao in 1976.
Zhu De was the most important figure in the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) and took
overall command during the Korean War. He was dismissed in 1966, but returned in
1971.
Chen Yun was an economist who was responsible for many of the changes in industry in
the 1950s. He was the figure behind the reforms of Liu and Deng in the early 1960s, but
was dismissed in 1966.
Other important figures
Lin Biao, a general, was seen as a possible successor to Mao but was killed in a plane
crash in 1971 after an attempted coup.
Gao Gang, a former general, took over central planning after 1950, but was dismissed for
supporting the Soviet Union and for sexual scandals. He committed suicide in 1954.
Peng Duhai was the senior general during the Korean War and later became Minister of
Defence. He fell from power after criticising the Great Leap Forward in 1959.
How was China governed?
Control of China was divided up between the main leaders. The country was split into six
‘bureaus’, or districts.
The three most important were Manchuria in the north-east controlled Gao Gang; the
south-west run by Deng Xiaoping; the south where Lin Biao was in charge.
2
, The creation of the bureaus resulted in a high degree of centralisation. In fact, final
decisions were in the hands of the CCP because all bureaus were controlled by senior
party figures.
What were Mao’s immediate aims?
Mao’s immediate aim was to gain control of the cities, where the GMD had been at its
strongest. He was determined to stamp out any remaining support for the GMD and
ordered massacres of suspects.
Maoist slogans began to appear on walls all over China for the first time.
65,000 people were killed in Guangzhou and 28,000 in Shanghai. All organisations were
closed down, including churches and all religions were attacked.
The Danwei (neighbourhood unit) became the chief means of repression and control.
People were expected to spy and report on each other. As many as 750,000 were killed
and 1.5 million arrested in a wave of persecution.
Mao used this hysteria to whip up anti-western feeling. Foreign businesses were taken
over and foreigners were attacked.
After China entered the Korean War, the initial moderation in Chinese domestic policies
gave way to a massive campaign against the ‘enemies of the state,’ actual and potential.
These enemies consisted of ‘war criminals, traitors, bureaucratic capitalists, and
counterrevolutionaries.’
The campaign was combined with party-sponsored trials attended by huge numbers of
people.
The major targets in this drive were foreigners and Christian missionaries who were
branded as United States agents at these mass trials.
An ideological reform campaign requiring self-criticisms and public confessions by
university faculty members, scientists, and other professional workers was given wide
publicity.
Artists and writers were soon the objects of similar treatment for failing to heed Mao's
statement that culture and literature must reflect the class interest of the working people,
led by the CCP.
The ‘antis’
These campaigns were accompanied in 1951 and 1952 by the ‘three antis’ and ‘five antis’
movements.
3
