Mao: Collectivisation and agricultural policies

1. Mao: Collectivisation and agricultural policies ElissaKhawli

2. Historical Background of the agriculture in China • Private land ownerships and one-family farms. • Early 1950’s, the CCP was planning to improve then eliminate this system. • Marxist goals of eliminating this system following Stalin’s model of collectivization.

3. What is collectivization? • Collectivism= A political or economical theory advocating collective control especially over production and distribution. "collectivism." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010.Merriam-Webster Online. 13 March 2010<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collectivism> • Collectivization= To organize by collectivism. "collectivization." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010.Merriam-Webster Online. 13 March 2010<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collectivization>

4. Ressemblances withStalin’s model • Mao followedStalin’s model in collectivization. • Heavyindustry • Role of women changes • Liberation of women • Collectivization, land reforms and sharing houses • Abolishment of rich class

5. Agrarian Reform Law (1950) • The reform’s basic key points consisted of: • Abolishment of feudal services and forced labors • Training and dispersion of cadres in the countryside • Supervision of local peasant associations and militias • Landlords to refund rent deposits for peasants

6. Agrarian Reform Law (continued) • Identification of villagers’ class status • Meetings taking place for oppressed people to denounce their oppressors • Properties of rich landlords shared by the poor and middle classes and landlords given share of lands. • By the end of 1952: agricultural productivity increasing and peasants gaining self confidence

7. Problems with the Reform law • Some plots were too small • Appearance of social divisions • Poor harvests in 1953-4 • Peasants were migrating to the cities

8. Society’schange in terms of women • Pre-Communist China: • Inferior to men • Excludedfrompolitical life • No property/inheritance rights • Have to obeytheirfather or theirhusband • No education or social activities • Arrangedmarriages, don’t have the right to remarry • Polygamy and prostitution • Foot-binding

9. Society’s change (continued) • Communist China: • 1949: The Common Program • Endedwomen’s oppression : men and womenshareequal rights politically, economically, socially, culturally and educationally • Abolishment of prostitution: close brothels + educate and reform former prostitutes

10. Society’s change (continued) • 1950: Marriagelaw: Abolition of forcedmarriages, equalitybetweenhusband and wife • Reduction in domesticmaltreatance and abuse • Increase in love marriages

11. Transition Chaos • Major social change fromfeudalism to socialism • Former rich class feelsoppressed • Loss of worker’sincentive • Destruction of privileged class • Change in social structure due to enhancement of role of women

12. Stage number one: Mutual Aid Teams (MATs) • 5 or 6 households would join each other to work cooperatively on activities such as sowing or harvesting. • Each household still owned its own land and the crops harvested on that land would belong to that family. • By 1952, 40% of China’s rural households were in MATs.

13. Stage number two: “Lower”Agricultural Producers’ Cooperatives (APCs) • Includes more households than MATs (around 20 households) • Merge tools and lands and work all together • A management committee would give daily work points to each family

14. “Lower” APCs (continued) • At the end of the year, crop and income would be divided to each family according to how much points they have earned and how much tools and land they have contributed to the APC • 15 thousand APCs were established at the end of 1953

15. Stage number three: Full Collectivization (higher APCs) • 150 to 200 households • No more nominal ownership like in the semi-socialist APC • Lands were legal property of the APC • Crop distribution to each household was only made according to the amount of labor of each household. • By 1956, 88% of the APCs were higher APCs

16. People’s Communes • Communes were a dozen of higher APCs grouped together. • 25 thousand people average • 26 thousand communes by the end of 1958 • One organization combining political, administrative and military functions

17. Positive Results of Collectivization (for CPP) • CCP became more powerful over Chinese peasants • A large amount of the income gained from the countryside was invested for industrialization

18. Negative Results of Collectivization • After 1955: Inefficiencies in agricultural productivity • Peasants were dissatisfied because they didn’t own any land anymore and lost motivation for work • Mismanagement in rural areas

19. Equality versus economic growth • While Mao achieved economic growth in China and the Chinese economy improved, was equality in the society achieved? • Terrible conditions in the people’s communes • Rich class society deprivedfromtheir lands, poorhad right to denouncethem.  Inequality

20. Bibliography • http://history12.qataracademy.wikispaces.net/file/view/rule%20of%20mao_textbook%20notes_tomkinson • www.google.com/images • Chinesepropaganda posters, http://www.maopost.com:8000/wcat=mao&wlan=en&wreq=posterdec&code=50&displistindex=3 • Book Rags, Agricultural Collectivization– China http://www.bookrags.com/history/agricultural-collectivization-china-ema-01/ • Mao’sdomesticpolicy-part 2 • http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:bPnnd2p_9lcJ:www.mrbaker.org/Mao's%2520Domestic%2520Policies%2520-%2520Part%25202.ppt+mao+agricultural+policies+filetype:ppt&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk