Which is the Odd One Out?

1. Mao, Zhou Enlai, Chiang Kai Shek, Zhu De

2. Chiang Kai Shek, TV Soong, Zhou Enlai, Sun Yat Sen

3. Galen, Otto Braun, Voitinsky, Sneevliet

4. Yuan Shikai, Mao Zedong, Chiang Kai Shek, Zhang Zuolin

5. Bo Gu, Wang Ming, Zhang Guotao

1.Chiang Kai Shek

2.Zhou Enlai

3.Galen

4.Zhang Zuolin

5.Zhang Guotao

The People’s Republic of China1st October 1949

• Why was there so much optimism in China in 1949?• What challenges faced the CCP in 1949?• How was the new government structured?

What challenges faced the CCP in 1949?

• Decades of armed conflict meant China was in a mess

• Agricultural and Industrial production had fallen

• Terrible financial situation• Crime• Only foreign “friend” was Soviet Union• Size and historic internal divisions within

China

How did the CCP solve immediate problems?

• Hyper-Inflation

• Property of GMD supporters confiscated

• All foreign assets confiscated

• Banks, Gas, Electricity and Transport nationalised

• 1950-51 3 reunification campaigns

• BUT a cautious approach

The Organisation of the Government of the PRC

• Three separate but parallel strands• Mao at the head• CCP at the centre• All key roles held by ….?• All key decisions taken by Party Standing

Committee• CCP members held key roles in regions too

Eg Gao Gang in Manchuria, Deng Xiaoping in SW, Peng Dehuai in NW and Lin Biao in South

The Common Programme of the CCP

The workers

The peasants

The petty bourgeoisie

Patriotic capitalists

New Democracy?

• 14 other parties allowed to exist

Eg Revolutionary Committee of the GMD, China Democratic League

• 1949 – Political Consultative Conference to establish the PRC

• A National Party Congress met to debate policy issues

• Reactionaries were not allowed any say

The Party

• By 1950 – 5.8 million members• 500 million population• Membership confined to an elite• Party Cadres put in key positions in army,

schools, factories, hospitals etc to ensure CCP control

• Privileged lifestyle – “The Iron Rice-Bowl”• Ensured their areas following political direction

of the State

The Party at local level

• “Mass autonomous organisations” at a local level – to involve the masses in transforming society under eye of CCP

• Urban Neighbourhood committees, public security committees and people’s mediation committees

• Every employee belonged to a Work Unit. Non workers belonged to Residents Committee.

• Controlled allocation housing, grain, cooking oil etc

• Ate in centralised canteen

• Issued permits to travel, marry, change job etc

The People’s Liberation Army

• 5 million men, 41% national budget• Reduced to 3.5 million by 1953• Every man had to do 3 years national service• Symbol of heroism and revolutionary virtues –

Japan, GMD, Korea• A CCP commissar of every regiment• Roles included passing on communist ideology

to peasants and public works projects

Charge till the last breath

Hold high the red banner of Mao Zedong thought

Homework

Use your notes from today’s lesson and pages 88-93 (Stewart) to explain how Mao

created a totalitarian society in China.