Summary

Before 1953, the Communists' 'Agrarian Reform Law' destroyed the old feudal regime of the countryside.  Landlords were denounced in 'speak bitterness' meetings; the lucky ones were allowed to leave with nothing. The peasants were encouraged to cooperate in Mutual Aid teams.

After 1953, Mao introduced a much more radical programme of collectivisation, forcing the peasants to join huge communes (which were going to meet the country's industrial, as well as agricultural targets), and to introduce the new farming methods of the Soviet 'expert' (really crank) Lysenko.  The result was the failure of Chinese agriculture.

Links:

The following websites will help you complete the task:

Agriculure:
• gcsehistory.org.uk

• Agriculture under Mao

• Chinese posters:
a. land reform,
b. the 8-point charter

Peasants were encouraged to cooperate, and to share the work, tools and machinery, knowledge and ideas; this was very successful

After 1953, Mao abandoned his agrarian reforms and embarked upon a much more radical programme of collectivisation and state-control of farming

Trofim Lysenko was a Soviet agricultural expert who in 1958 drafted an eight-point agricultural ‘constitution’ for China, which every farmer had to follow

As a result of Mao’s agrarian changes, production fell – whilst terrified officials reported huge increases! The result was widespread famine which killed perhaps 30 million Chinese

Cadres were sent into the villages, where they conducted surveys to see who owned the land, and which landlords were good and which were bad

‘People’s Courts’ were held in which peasants were encouraged to accuse the landlords; sometimes, this resulted in immediate beatings and executions – perhaps 2-3 million landlords were executed, and feudal China came to an end

About half the land in China was re-assigned to the peasants – 300 million peasants were given 47 million hectares (so plots were very small, especially in the south)

Peasants were encouraged to cooperate, and to share the work, tools and machinery, knowledge and ideas; this was very successful

In many villages, the cadres stayed on and took control of production, advising farmers on new methods and crops; since they knew almost nothing about farming, this was often unsuccessful

Collectivisation was part of Mao’s wish to ‘overtake the capitalist countries in a short time and become the most advanced, powerful country in the world’

If industry and the towns were going to grow, they needed food, and food was not getting through – Mao thought the peasants were hiding food – and a way had to be found to produce a surplus

If industry was to grow, it needed more workers – a way had to be found to make peasants migrate to the towns

Mao always believed that the peasants were naturally capitalist, not communist, and collectivisation gave him the opportunity to force them to be communist

Although peasants were being encouraged to form voluntary cooperatives, only 14% of the peasants had done so by 1955 – the peasants would have to be forced

China’s farmland were amalgamated into 25,000 huge communes, each with about 5,000 families, organised into ‘brigades’ of about 200 families

All decisions – farming methods, sale of crops, prices – was decided by the government; its orders were often stupid/inappropriate, and it merely set impossibly high targets

The commune was supposed to provide its families with all they needed, including hospitals and schools; in some places people handed over all their possessions and went to live in ‘habitation centres’

Farmers lost their independence, and worked for a wage; this damaged incentive because it seemed to guarantee food

Peasants needed a passport to travel from one commune to another

Trofim Lysenko was a Soviet agricultural expert who in 1958 drafted an eight-point agricultural ‘constitution’ for China, which every farmer had to follow

Lysenko based his ideas on the faulty theory of genetics of Russian biologist Ivan Michurin, which said that, if you treat a plant in a certain way, its descendents will naturally have those characteristics. As a result, Lysenko came up with a string of silly ideas – e.g. planting winter wheat in boggy, frozen ground – and claimed 400% increases in productivity

The first 'Four Pests' campaign included sparrows – people were encouraged to kill them because they ate grain; in fact, exterminating the sparrows allowed the proliferation of many pests so the campaign actually reduced yields

Although the Conference was called to discuss the agricultural problems, when Peng Dehuai reported the famine, he was denounced as a troublemaker – so nobody else dared contradict Mao, and instead gave speeches announcing huge increases in production!

As a result of Mao’s agrarian changes, production fell – whilst terrified officials reported huge increases! The result was widespread famine which killed perhaps 30 million Chinese

1958-60, grain production fell from 200-143m tonnes, meat production from 4-1m tonnes – whilst terrified officials reported huge increases!

The result was widespread famine which killed perhaps 30 million Chinese

Just before the Lushan Conference, Mao stood down from government

Taking over as president in 1959, Liu Shaoqi allowed the peasants to own their own allotments, awarded bonuses and incentives for effort, and reduced the size of communes

Mao resented Liu’s actions, and felt that the CCP was pulling back from communist principles … which led him to launch the Cultural Revolution in 1966