Mao was essentially more successful in his domestic policies for China, then he was in his dealings with foreign powers, how far do you agree?

Amir Nilipour

Mr. Mimmack

History H/L

20.05.2003

After Mao had defeated the Nationalists he was aware of the instability of communism in china. He aimed of stabilizing china by dividing it into six main regions also called the Organic Law of 1949, each was governed by a Bureau including four major officials : Chairman, party secretary, military commander and political commissar. The last two officials were members of the PLA, which effectively left china under army control but also Mao hoped that through these actions he would be able to stabilize communist China. Nevertheless, Mao had to adopt force in order to control china. Since Mao had send his officials also in regions in which communism was not welcome. After one year fighting Mao’s aims were fulfilled, but the price given for it was high.

Marriage reform law paragraph

During the early 1950’s Mao wanted to divide land which were owned by the Landlords to his peasants. Again the price paid in order to fulfil the Agrarian reform Law was very high, because of the hatred between the working class and the landlords over one million landlords were killed, and their land was divided to the working class. The amount of land received varied with the location of the land. The land given to the peasants was used for two main things: Planting of food which was used by the individual and a percentage of the harvest was given away to the CCP. Mao’s aim was fulfilled, since the land was divided up between the peasants and some of the harvest was given to the party, still over one million landlords were killed, only a little number was allowed to keep on living.

During 1950 Mao saw that Communist China needs another push towards the red area, and declared the “three Anti- Movements”. Since the Chinese culture was in the habit of classifying programmes under Cardinal numbers Mao realized his chance and introduced the three Antis of 1950 : Anti - waste, Anti - corruption and Anti - inefficiency. These three Antis were successful, and fulfilled Mao’s plan to get rid of the capitalist class system, and the “problems“ linked to it. In 1952 Mao realized that China would need again a new domestic policy and since the three Antis were successful he extended the three Antis and introduced the “ five Anti - movement”. His aim was to extinguish the as he called it ”bureaucratic capitalist class”, and to give Chinas economy a sudden push. This time the campaign was against, tax evasion, bribery, fraud, industry sabotage and theft of government property. Mao’s goals for the Anti campaigns were almost all fulfilled, so it can be seen that the Anti - movements showed that Mao was successful in his domestic policies.

Mao always referred to the Soviet union and how successful they were. Mao was very interested and surprised by the outcomes of the serious of five year plans of the soviet union. And eventually in 1953 he introduced the first five year plan. The emphasis of the plan was on state

directed growth of heavy industry. A basis for this was already in China since the GMD government had establish a National Resource committee which had taken control of industrial investment policies. A large numbers of workers and members of the NRC had stayed in china Also a significant population shift had begun and Mao was hopping to get the best results through his five year plan, which meant that China would be as strong as its capitalists neighbours in Europe. He changed the whole school system, so that more technicians and engineers were educated, then artists and writers. China ...

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After the first five year plan was successful Mao started to travel a lot, and in 1957 he decided that he should allow some freedom of speech, since he thought it would be time for it. Through that he was aiming to satisfy the Chinese population more. But Mao had done a major mistake. His hope was totally reversed, the people were complaining more and more and Mao was even afraid of loosing his power, so he reversed everything. “Let a hundred flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend” was not heard again, and here it is shown how some of Mao’s domestic policies failed, since it can be clearly said that the 100 flowers campaign lead to the revolution a decade later.

Mao still surprised by the outcomes of the first five year plan, wanted to start a second one. But this time it would be harder and stronger, also it would be more risky. The second five year plan was launched in 1958. Mao knew that China had not enough labour forces, still enough food was made, nevertheless it was not reached by the urban workers. The population thought that the families were to big and were having to much food. Mao’s aim was to strengthen China as much as possible. He divided the agricultural land in 70,000 communes, and each commune was made up of roughly 750 brigades. And each brigade contained around 200 households. The whole system was controlled from the PRC’s central government and prices, distribution and farming methods were given from above. In the five year plan, Mao did not have to many concerns of the people that is why he also abandoned independent harvesting. Which meant that all man and women would only get a small amount of food, which wont be enough. Also Mao believed in a Russian scientist called Trofim Lysenko, who put a new way of farming which was supposed to bring up the farming output. Mao had the whole system followed and the agriculture went down enormously which eventually lead to huge famine. Mao also killed a lot of , which were supposed to eat the small bugs, but since they were almost all dead, they couldn’t anymore. Which again harmed the agricultural output. Mao was hoping for “backyard furnace“ since china had such a great population Mao thought that by using Chinas resources and some easy to make machinery every family could build up something and contribute to the development. But Mao was wrong, as an

example the pots which were made could not stand heat and got cracks. Here it is shown that the second give year plan (great leap forward) did not fulfil what it was started for. The main positive effect was that it made china very strong, since now China had the Nuclear and Hydrogen Bomb under control, but Mao’s industrial and agricultural goals were not fulfilled.

After the “failure” of the second five year plan, Mao stepped back as the leader of communist China and was replaced by Liu Shaoqi . The leader of the CCP was Deng Xiaoping. Both adopted more pragmatic economic policies which made approaches to better and strengthen the disastrous economic situation as well as the social organisation in China after the fail of the GLF. These ruling - styles were totally different than those of Mao, who realized that and called for an Cultural revolution in 1965. It was designed to prevent the development of a bureaucratisation Soviet-style of Communism.

In the earlier stages of Maos domestic policy him and his National minister Lin Bao, who also replaced Liu Shaoqi wrote the „Little red book“, in which Maos philosophy and his view of communism was given. Deng and other political leaders who lost their positions due to radical youth movements which they brought to existence. These movements rivalled against movements that did not follow Maoist life. One of the first victims was Peng Dehuai, in 1967 he lost his governmental post and was arrested and was never seen again. Zhou Enlai was also a victim of the red guards, even though he supported the Great Leap forward and the Cultural revolution, still he gave shelter to victims of the red guards, but therefore he was attacked periodically. It was not only the red guards, but also other groups which formed, which Mao called to “ smash the four olds“, the old ideas, old culture, old costumes and old habits. Soon many schools were closed and many “intellectuals“ were followed and killed. Mao played a godlike figure, and in September 1971 Lin Bao tried to stage against Mao. Mao found out, Lin, his family and some of his supporters left the country but their plane “crashed“ and the passengers were never seen again. In 1974 Maos wife Jianq Quing came public and critized Lin and other betrayers in several campaigns. She was one of the most powerful governmental members in China during Maos last years, and was sentenced to death by Hua Guofeng in January 1981. The arrest of Jianq Quing marked the end of the Cultural Revolution, also Mao passed away in September 1976.

Because the situation in China was very tense, the foreign policies of Mao Zedong and the communist Party were aggressive and invariably aggressive. After Japans defeat in 1945, Korea was divided by the 38th parallel. The country was split between the USSR and America. Nevertheless, in 1950 the North Koreans invaded the “American side”, in order to make whole Korea communist. In America it was said that this was a pact between “Red China” and USSR, nevertheless, Mao and the

CCP were aiming on less military cost and were also shocked by this move. Also China at that point of time was more interested in Taiwan and Tibet. While the situation was getting more tenser Mao did not really understand the importance, still he had promised Stalin his naval stations. Mao did not want to enter the Korean struggle at the beginning, but Korea was lying to close, and china got involved. Also Mao was hoping for economical boost, because of the greater sphere of influence. Many governors in China were against this move, but Mao was sure that if America would take actions in Korea, then this would eventually lead to China. Finally, after the US had declared war on North Korea in October 1950, Mao officially entered, even though there were Chinese troops already fighting for Korea. By 1953 China had nearly lost one million men, and the outcome had no positive aspect, actually it had a negative aspect for China, because now America was also helping Chinas main aim Taiwan. Here it is clearly shown that the Korean war, was a failure for China and Mao Zedong because of the soldiers lost bvut also because of economic issues. In Addition, the Korean war also had some positive aspects for China: Through the three years of war the new Chinese Government had high experiences, but also it was shown that China was capable of stalemating the United States.

From 1949 to 1961 the situation between the US and China was very tense. Several issues had build up the bitter mood including: Chinas Nuclear Weapons, the American loos of China and the Koran issue. Mao handled the conflict with to much indifference. Mao thought that his path should be close to Stalin’s path, which was his mistake. Eventually after even building shelters for war, Mao realized his mistake, and the Sino - American negotiations were re-started after President Nixons visit in China. The visit had very positive aspects for china, and at the end of it, both sides hoped for further communication in Commercial, cultural and educational issues. Which really happened, until 1979 where Deng was invited to America, and was greeted cheerfully. Maos main problem was that he was going Stalin’s way, but China was not in the same situation as Russia, eventually Mao realized and him and Deng managed to be successful in the Sino - American relations.

Now it was Chinas time to gain Taiwan, which they saw as their land. After the Koran war, the shelling between China and Taiwan continued and both sides were ready for war, but since the Chinese army was weakened, no attempted to start war was made. While Nixon visited China in 1972 the Taiwan issue, was one of the main points. China wanted Taiwan, and they were willing to pay a high price, however America did not want war, and they came to the conclusion, that Taiwan would be dropped out of the UN, and Red China would replace them. China gained Taiwan without any great looses. The Taiwan issue was successful for China, but had negative effects on America.

Even though Tibet had a different culture, way of living and Religion, China still wanted that peace of Land, and they were willing to do everything to get it. Settlers were sent to Tibet, to introduce the communist Chinese way of living. The Tibetans fought, but the Chinese started to assault religious heads, also the Dalai Lama was forced to leave Tibet in 1959 by China, in order to make the Tibetans surrender. The communists treatment of Tibet aroused worldwide condemnation, also in India which has a border to Tibet. The Situation did not ease until in 1970 the Chinese tried not to use to much force anymore, but still the fighting continued. The Tibet issue was a failure, too, because it made China start a war with India. Again it was shown that Chinas dealings with foreign powers was not very successful.

The Sino-Indian war was a short border war between and , which took place in . The disputed area was strategic for China as it contained a major road between and . India and China shared good relations through the 1950s. However, after the Chinese occupation of in 1959, the Indian government adopted a policy of forward military deployment in the border area. The Indian deployment was spread over a large area. Logistics were difficult to maintain, since the road network was poor. Hostilities began on October 16, 1962. The Chinese stated that they were responding to Indian provocations. On , , the Chinese launched two coordinated in the Chip Chap valley in and the Namkachu river. After securing a substantial portion of the disputed territory, the Chinese made an offer to negotiate . The Indian government rejected this offer. By November 18, the Chinese had penetrated close to the outskirts of , a major frontier town nearly fifty kilometres from the border. The Chinese did not advance farther and on November 21 declared a unilateral cease-fire. The flew in massed supplies to India in , , but neither side wished to continue hostilities. The Nehru government also decided to assimilate several territories that they saw as a source of espionage and re-supply to potential enemies. Many Indians still regard the territorial acquisitions as an illegal occupation, and for this reason proposals to formalize the border at the line of actual control have proven impossible to implement. However, neither the Indian nor the Chinese government appear very interested in disturbing the status quo, and the disputed boundary, called by Indians the is not considered a major flashpoint. Military commissions from India and China meet regularly in the capitals of both countries to discuss the status of the border.