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100 Flowers Movement 1956-1957

100 Flowers Movement 1956-1957. Under the slogan “ Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom and a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend ,” Mao actively encourages the opinions and criticisms from all walks of society, including intellectuals

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100 Flowers Movement 1956-1957

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  1. 100 Flowers Movement 1956-1957

  2. Under the slogan “Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom and a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend,” Mao actively encourages the opinions and criticisms from all walks of society, including intellectuals (the name is a reference to the Hundred Schools of Thought period of the Warring States Period-Confucius, Lao Tze, etc). 100 Flowers Movement 1956-1957

  3. Constructive criticism will make the CCP and China stronger CCP leaders will learn from and be responsive to the masses Idea of 100 Flowers (or so Mao claimed)

  4. Too much criticism? However, in 1957 the Party/Mao cracked down. Began an ‘Anti-Rightist” campaign. Many who had spoken out were arrested, lost jobs, were sent to camps for “thought reform”

  5. First & Last time Free Speech Encouraged Uncertain: A plot to determine who opposed the Party?

  6. Lecture 2: Great Leap Forward1958-1961 China’s Second 5-Year Plan

  7. Questions What led to the starvation of over over 20 million people? What were the political effects on China?

  8. GLF Goal: Overcome China’s backwardness • Make China strong • Catch-up to the West • Insure China will remain independent

  9. How to accomplish? Mass mobilization of the country side: Increase agricultural production: Combine farms into COMMUNES Industrialize: Iron & steel production increased through backyard furnaces

  10. Mao’s belief “If you have the will, I am convinced all things can be successfully accomplished”

  11. The strength of people working together

  12. For Mao, battle as important as ultimate success Political part: Increase allegiance to communist ideology. Masses will be a critical part of the ongoing communist revolution

  13. Increase Agriculture: CommunesLive & Work Together • Commune leaders controlled almost every aspect of a person's life • Communal eating halls • Nurseries for children • “Houses of Happiness” for old people • By 1958, 90% of Chinese were living in communes

  14. By 1960 there were over 26,000 communes, with 5,000 to 20,000 people each

  15. Industrialize: Backyard furnaces

  16. Over 600,000 steel furnaces set up throughout China

  17. Propaganda was everywhere The communes are big, the people numerous, the natural resources are plenty. It is easy to develop a strong economy People's communes are good

  18. Problems soon became apparent • Industrial: • Old and overworked machines fell apart under the pressure of increased production demands • Much of the steel produced was terrible quality

  19. Problems soon became apparent • Agricultural: • So many people were working in steel production that there weren't enough people to farm • Communes over-reported the amounts they were growing: Government took food based on false reports

  20. Over-reporting Commune grew 50 tons of grain. Need 25 tons for food for commune

  21. Over-reporting BUT reported they grew 70 tons. Gov’t would take 45 tons- gov’t believing they were leaving 25 tons for food. Reality: Only 5 tons of food left for commune

  22. Add to these problems draught

  23. …and in other places floods

  24. Result: Disaster on a Grand Scale

  25. Mass Starvation: “3 Bitter Years” 1959-1961

  26. Between 1959 and 1962 at least 20 million Chinese died of starvation and related diseases

  27. Political Impact of GLF: Rise of the ‘Moderates’

  28. Moderate’s Economic Policies: Practical • The moderates abandoned the Great Leap Forward • Communes were reduced in size • Backyard steel factories were shut down • Peasants were returned to the fields • Some were given their own plots of land & were • allowed to sell their surplus LED TO A POWER STRUGGLE AND MAO’S RETURN TO POWER A FEW YEARS LATER WHEN HE STARTED THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION

  29. A casualty of the GLF: PengDehuai • Mao’s longtime contemporary • Long March • Fought Guomingdang • Fought Japanese • Fought in Civil War • Korean War hero • Head of the People’s Liberation Army Peng complained about GLF problems….

  30. As a result…. Lost his position Branded a rightist/ anti-revolutionary Ultimately purged during Cultural Revolution Tortured and died in prison

  31. Poem by PengDehuai about GLF Grain scattered on the ground, potato leaves withered; Strong young people have left to make steel; Only children and old women reap the crops; How can they pass the coming year? Allow me to raise my voice for the people!

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