Power structure and Mao’s position in the People’s Republic of China (OCR A-Level History A): Revision Notes

Power structure and Mao's position in the People's Republic of China

Millions of peasants began to support Mao Tse-Tung's People's Liberation Army (PLA), which was initially the Red Army, as they were attracted by the promises of land.

In the cities, middle-class families began to withdraw their support for Chiang Kai-shek due to worsening inflation and the nationalists' hostile attitude towards dissidents.

Flag of the People's Liberation Army

Mao Tse-tung declares the founding of the PRC

When the PRC was established in 1949, Mao believed that the new government was a 'people's democratic dictatorship'. The Chinese People's Political Conference created a new constitution for China. It allowed for freedom of expression, freedom of religion, multi-party elections and equal gender rights.

The highest body of the new government was the National People's Congress (Parliament). There was a State Council with Zhou Enlai as the appointed premier. Mao became the first PRC president but he did not intend to act democratically. He gave himself all of the key roles – President, Chairman, Head of the PLA – for unlimited power.

The core of the new government was based on the principle of democratic centralism. Originating from Vladimir Lenin, the principle states that political decisions resulting from voting are compulsory to all members of the party.

Excerpt from Article 3 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China:

The state organs of the People's Republic of China apply the principle of democratic centralism. The National People's Congress and the local people's congresses at different levels are instituted through democratic election. They are responsible to the people and subject to their supervision.

As Mao needed to replace the Kuomintang officials, the party needed two million trained officials but there were only 720,000 trained CCP officials. Hence, he increased CCP membership to fill the positions, which resulted in mass party membership. By the end of 1952, the CCP was successfully running the military, education, police and trade unions through a Politburo.

Mao used the PLA to maintain control in the country and had them hunt down 100,000 enemies of the state between 1950-1953. The PLA was also used to rebuild railways and roads. The peasants (proletariat) became the fundamental component of the new government in China.

The majority of the population of China were peasants. Hence, the government prioritised them. They were needed for the new revolutionary army in which they would be trained in guerrilla tactics and would protect the CCP against capitalist attacks.

Part of the promotion of the ideals of the CCP was the enforcement of moving ownership of land from the wealthy landlords to the peasants. This was stipulated in the 1950 Agrarian Reform Law. Its main objective was equitable redistribution of land to landless peasants by seizing it from wealthy landlords. By 1953, the CCP had 6.5 million members.

Early 1950s propaganda depicting peasant lives after the Agrarian Reform Law

Issues concerning the country's economy

Destroyed farmlands

Low value of the Chinese Yen

High unemployment rate

Shortage of food supply in relation to the continuous rise of the country's population

Being an agricultural country, Mao and his government decided that economic reforms should focus on this area. Hence, several policies were about the removal and redistribution of land from landlords.

Four Freedoms

Buy, sell and rent land

Lend money to peasant farmers

Hire labour needed for food production

Trade

Peasants were rewarded by the government and by 1952, 40% of land in China had been redistributed and 60% of peasants had benefited from the CCP's redistribution of land. The government saw this as an opportunity to spread the message of classlessness in society. The main objective of Mao's government was to increase the supply of food. Hence, through the redistribution of land, they came up with the concept of Four Freedoms.

This resulted in a 15% increase in food production by 1952 as the peasants were motivated to work for a profit. However, the government encountered problems. Bigger farms were needed to further increase food supply and the redistribution of land led to small-scale farming. Furthermore, more peasants were moving to urban areas as industrialisation was also taking place. Thus, Mao shifted his focus to cooperatives.

In 1951, the concept of mutual aid teams was introduced by Mao's government. It lasted until 1952 and saw the government encouraging peasants to cooperate with one another by sharing workload, tools, machinery and knowledge in order to increase food production.

Land reform poster

By 1952, 40% of the peasants had joined mutual aid teams. They were encouraged by the following reasons:

• They still owned their own land.
• They could work in teams of 5-10 households.
• Tools and equipment could be shared, making farming cheaper.
• It was not compulsory.