mao’s consolidation of power
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Mao’s Consolidation of Power. Terror Andrea, Emma, Deborah. Introduction. Terror was used as during Mao's consolidation of power. There were primarily five different ways of terror: 1. Labour Camps (Lao Gai) 2. Public Denunciations & Purges 3. Mass Campaigns 4. Imprisonments & Executions - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Mao’s Consolidation of Power
TerrorAndrea, Emma, Deborah
Introduction
• Terror was used as during Mao's consolidation of power. There were primarily five different ways of terror:
• 1. Labour Camps (Lao Gai)
• 2. Public Denunciations & Purges
• 3. Mass Campaigns
• 4. Imprisonments & Executions
• 5. Social Scrutiny
Labor camps (Lao Gai)
• lao-gai prisons
• millions of Chinese sent to these camps
• harsh environments, hard physical labour in the fields or mines.
• over 1,000 camps by the late 1960s
• estimated that as many as 27 million people
• executed, committed suicide or worked to death in camps.
Public Denunciations & purges
• The purge of Gao Gang and Rao Shushi
• Gao became head of the Central Planning Commission to direct the First Five Year Plan.
• Gao took side of Mao, criticised Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi for their more cautious approach
• Mao accused Gao and Rao of attempting to build independent kingdoms and of ‘underground activities’.
• Gao committed suicide and Rao was arrested
Mass Campaigns
• The Resist America & Korea Campaign
• Korean War 1950
• foreigners were the enemies of China
• Westerners were prosecuted and accused of being spies
• Churches were closed and priests expelled
• Suspicion
Mass Campaigns
• Suppression of Counter-revolutionaries Campaign
• October 1950
• concentrated on internal threats; • counter-revolutionary = GMD, bandits and
religious sect
• denounced, investigated, punished
• Shanghai = 28,332 in less than 1 year
• Public executions
• Mao: “Persons who have to be executed to assuage the people’s anger must be put to death for this purpose”
Mass campaigns
• The Three-Antis Campaign
• started in Manchuria, late 1950s
• targets; corruption, waste, obstructionist bureaucracy
• mass meetings & denunciations
• self-criticism
• success!
Mass campaigns
• The Five-Antis Campaign
• January 1952
• directed against the bourgeoisie
• Targets; bribery, tax evasion, theft, cheating
• Group criticism & confessions
• those found guilty had to face enormous fines• confiscation of property & labour camps
• 2-3 million suicides
• people had no freedom and private thought
Imprisonments & executions
• Persecution of former landlords and merchants
• Execution of more powerful landlords
• Drug dealing was clamped down - dealers shot
• Public executions to terrorise the population
• Jung Chang's view: Mao intended most of the population (children and adults alike) to witness violence and killing - aim was to scare and brutalise the entire population
Social Scrutiny
• A nationwide network of work units, street and neighbourhood committees established
• By summer of 1951: Chinese citizens over age of 15 - acquire official residence permits from the police + obtain permission if they wished to move to another area
• Every citizen under scrutiny of their neighbours, workmates + people = encouraged to inform on each other
Results & Conclusion
• Effective method in consolidating Mao's power in China
• Feeling of fear and constant scrutiny from society led to obedience of the Chinese people
• Opposition = virtually wiped out or silenced
• Prostitution = virtually stamped out by 1953
• Through ruthlessness and careful organisation, much of crime in China’s cities in years before 1949 = stamped out
• CCP increased control over Chinese society