History 112

Based upon your careful reading of chapter 21 as a whole, and then the primary sources excerpted in the “Working with Evidence” section at the end of chapter 21, to what extent do the “Working with Evidence” primary sources display the successes of Maoist communism? To what extent do they offer insight on its shortcomings? (You may find the “Historians’ Voices” section at the very end of the chapter useful.)

WORKING WITH EVIDENCE

Mao’s China

Within the communist world of the twentieth century, the experience of Chinese people was distinctive, particularly during the decades when Mao Zedong led the country (1949-1976). The sources that follow provide a glimpse into those tumultuous decades, at times hopeful for some and at other times tragic for many.

Source 21.1 Revolution in Long Bow Village

The Chinese revolution occurred in thousands of separate villages as Communist Party activists called “cadres” encouraged peasants to “speak the bitterness” of their personal experience, to “struggle” with their landlords, and to “settle accounts” with them. Source 21.1 provides a brief account of one such struggle as it unfolded in Long Bow Village in northern China in 1948. It was written by the American farmer and activist William Hinton, who had worked in China with the U.S. government during World War II and later with the United Nations. He personally observed and took part in the events he describes.

• What grievances found expression as peasants challenged landlords and husbands in Long Bow Village?
• In what specific ways did these gatherings take shape?
• What change in consciousness had occurred in the course of these events? How might you imagine the conversations that occurred at the New Year’s feast that evening or following the women’s gathering?

WILLIAM HINTONConfronting Landlords and Husbands

1948

There was no holding back. . . . So vicious had been Ching-ho’s practices and so widespread his influence that more than half the families in the village had scores to settle with him. Old women who had never spoken in public before stood up to accuse him. Even Li Mao’s wife — a woman so pitiable she hardly dared look anyone in the face — shook her fist before his nose and cried out, “Once I went to glean wheat on your lands but you cursed me . . . and beat me. Why did you seize the wheat I had gleaned?” Altogether over 180 opinions were raised. Ching-ho had no answer to any of them. He stood there with his head bowed. . . . When the committee of our [Peasant] Association met to figure up what he owed, it came to 400 bags of milled grain. . . .

That evening all the people went to Ching-ho’s courtyard to help take over his property. We went in to register his grain and altogether found . . . only a quarter of what he owed us. Right then and there we decided to call another meeting. People said he must have a lot of silver dollars. . . .

We called him out of the house and asked him what he intended to do since the grain was not nearly enough. He said, “I have land and house.”

“But all this is not enough,” shouted the people. So then we began to beat him. Finally he said, “I have 40 silver dollars under the k’ang.” We went in and dug it up. The money stirred up everyone. We beat him again. He told us where to find another hundred after that. But no-one believed that this was the end of his hoarding. We beat him again and several militiamen began to heat an iron bar in one of the fires. . . .

Altogether we got $500 from Ching-ho that night. . . . We were tired and hungry. . . . So we decided to eat all of things that Ching-ho had prepared to pass the New Year.

All said, “In the past we never lived through a happy new year, because he always asked for his rent and interest then and cleaned our houses bare. This time we’ll eat what we like.”

[The revolution in Long Bow also encouraged women to confront abusive husbands. When one of those women registered a complaint against her husband, the local Women’s Association took action.]

In front of this unprecedented gathering of determined women, a demand was made that Man-ts’ang explain his actions. Man-ts’ang, arrogant and unbowed, readily complied. He said that he beat his wife because she went to [political] meetings and “the only reason women go to meetings is to gain a free hand for flirtations and seduction.”

This remark aroused a furious protest from the women assembled before him. Words soon led to deeds. They rushed at him from all sides, knocked him down, kicked him, tore his clothes, scratched his face, pulled his hair, and pummelled him until he could no longer breathe. . . .

“Stop. I’ll never beat her again,” gasped the panic stricken husband. . . . From that day onward, Man-ts’ang never dared beat his wife and from that day onward his wife became known to the whole village by her maiden name, Ch’eng Ai-lien, instead of simply by the title of Man-ts’ang’s wife, as had been the custom since time began.

Source: William Hinton, Fanshen (New York: Random House, 1966), 137-38, 158.

Source 21.2 A Vision of the New China

In the eyes of its leaders, the Chinese Communist Party’s victory in 1949 by no means meant the end of the struggle with enemies. Former landowners and capitalists had to be confronted, as did those within the Communist Party who had become infected with “bourgeois values” such as materialism, careerism, and individualism and were suspected of opposition to some of Mao’s radical policies. What the party called the “Four Olds” — old customs, cultures, habits, and ideas — had to be destroyed so that a wholly “new world” might take shape. Source 21.2, a poster from the Cultural Revolution era (1966-1976), effectively presented the major features of this imagined new society. Its caption urged everyone to “encourage late marriage, plan for birth, and work hard for the new age.”

• How does this poster define the “new age” to which the Chinese Communist Party was beckoning its people?
• What kind of gender relationships does the poster favor?
• What elements of prerevolutionary Chinese life might be included in the “Four Olds,” which had to be rooted out?
• The caption also speaks of “encouraging late marriage and planning for birth.” What might such values contribute to creating the “new age”?

Poster: “Work Hard for a New Age”

1970s

Source 21.3 Socialism in the Countryside

The centerpiece of Mao’s plans for the vast Chinese countryside lay in the “people’s communes.” Established during the Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s, these were huge political and economic units intended to work the land more efficiently and collectively, to undertake large-scale projects such as building dams and irrigation systems, to create small-scale industries in rural areas, and to promote local self-reliance. They were also intended to move China more rapidly toward genuine communism by eliminating virtually every form of private property and emphasizing social equality and shared living. Commune members ate together in large dining halls, and children were cared for during the day in collective nurseries rather than by their own families. Source 21.3A contains Mao’s vision of these communes, expressed at a party conference in 1958, while Source 21.3B shows a highly idealized image of one such commune in a poster created in 1958 under the title “The People’s Communes Are Good.”

The actual outcomes of the commune movement departed radically from its idealistic goals. Economic disruption occasioned by the creation of communes contributed a great deal to the enormous famines of the late 1950s and early 1960s, in which many millions perished. Furthermore, efforts to involve the peasants in iron and steel production through the creation of much-heralded “backyard furnaces,” illustrated in Source 21.3B, proved a failure. Most of the metal produced in these primitive facilities was of poor quality and essentially unusable. Such efforts further impoverished the rural areas, as peasants were encouraged to contribute their pots, pans, and anything made of iron to the smelting furnaces.

• What do these sources suggest about the long-term goals of the Chinese Communist Party leadership?
• What aspects of Mao’s description of communal life are illustrated in the poster? One of Mao’s chief goals was to overcome the sharp division between industrial cities and the agricultural countryside. How is this effort expressed in these sources?

Source 21.3AMAO ZEDONGOn Communes

1958

The characteristics of the people’s communes are (1) big and (2) public. [They have] vast areas of land and abundant resources [as well as] a large population; [they can] combine industry, agriculture, commerce, education and military affairs as well as farming, forestry, animal husbandry, side-line production and fisheries — being “big” is terrific. [With] many people, there’s lots of power. [We say] public because they contain more socialism . . . [and] they will gradually eradicate the vestiges of capitalism — for example the eradication of private plots and private livestock rearing and the running of public mess halls, nurseries, and tailoring groups so that all working women can be liberated. They will implement a wage system and agricultural factories [in which] every single man, woman, old person and youth receives his own wage, in contrast to the former [system of] distribution to the head of household. . . . This eradicates the patriarchal system and the system of bourgeois rights. Another advantage of [communes] being public is that labor efficiency can be raised. . . .

Source: Roderick MacFarquhar, Timothy Cheek, and Eugene Wu, eds., The Secret Speeches of Chairman Mao (Cambridge, MA: Council on East Asian Studies/Harvard University, 1989), 431.

Source 21.3BPoster: “The People’s Communes Are Good”

1958

Source 21.4 Women, Nature, and Industrialization

Among the core values of Maoist communism were human mastery over the natural order, rapid industrialization, and the liberation of women from ancient limitations and oppressions in order to mobilize them for the task of building socialism. Source 21.4, a 1970 poster, illustrates these values. Its caption reads: “Women hold up half of heaven, and, cutting through rivers and mountains, change to a new attitude.”

• In what ways does this poster reflect Chinese communism’s core values?
• How is the young woman in this image portrayed? What does the expression on her face convey? Notice her clothing and the shape of her forearms, as well as the general absence of a feminine figure. Why do you think she is portrayed in this largely sexless fashion? What does this suggest about the communist attitude toward sexuality?
• What does this image suggest about how the party sought to realize gender equality? What is the significance of the work the young woman is doing? What is the “new attitude” to which the caption refers?
• Notice the lights that illuminate a nighttime work scene. What does this suggest about attitudes toward work and production?

Poster: “Women Hold Up Half of Heaven”

1970

Source 21.5 The Cult of Mao

A central feature of Chinese communism, especially during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976, was the growing veneration, even adoration, of Chairman Mao. Portraits, statues, busts, and Mao badges proliferated. Everyone was expected to read repeatedly the “Red Treasured Book,” which offered a selection of quotations from Mao’s writings, believed to facilitate solutions to almost all problems, both public and private. Many families erected “tablets of loyalty” to Mao, much like those previously devoted to ancestors. People made pilgrimages to “sacred shrines” associated with key events in his life.

During the Cultural Revolution, millions of young people, organized as Red Guards and committed to revolutionary action, flocked to Beijing, where enormous and ecstatic rallies allowed them to catch a glimpse of their beloved leader and to unite with him in the grand task of creating communism in China. Source 21.5, a poster created in 1968, depicts such a rally. Its caption reads: “The reddest, reddest, red sun in our heart, Chairman Mao, and us together.” Following such events, these young people fanned out across the country to attack Mao’s alleged enemies, those who were “taking the capitalist road.” (See “Communism Chinese-Style.”)

• What relationship between Mao and his young followers does the poster suggest? Why might some scholars have seen a quasi-religious dimension to that relationship?
• How do you understand the significance of the “Red Treasured Book” of quotations from Mao, which the young people are waving?
• How might you account for the unbridled enthusiasm expressed by the Red Guards? Can you think of other comparable cases of such mass enthusiasm?

Poster: “Chairman Mao and Us Together”

1968

Source 21.6 Experiencing the Cultural Revolution

As the Cultural Revolution unfolded, teachers and other intellectuals became a particular target of the young revolutionary Red Guards, who publicly humiliated, tortured, or killed those they believed to be enemies of Mao and the revolution. Source 21.6 contains an account of such confrontations or “struggle meetings.” It was written by Gao Yuan some twenty years after it occurred. Some of the victims of these confrontations committed suicide to escape the horror that befell them.

• What actions did the Red Guards take toward their teachers? What were the actions intended to accomplish?
• How might you imagine the motivations of those who participated in these sessions?

GAO YUANBorn Red

1987

The list of accusations grew longer by the day: hooligans and bad eggs, filthy rich peasants and son-of-a-bitch landlords, bloodsucking capitalists and neo-bourgeoisie . . . counterrevolutionaries . . . imperialist running dogs and spies. Students stood in the role of prosecutor, judge, and police. No defense was allowed. Any teacher who protested was certainly a liar.

The indignities escalated as well. Some students cut or shaved teachers’ hair into curious patterns. The most popular was the yin-yang cut, which featured a full head of hair on one side and a clean shaven scalp on the other. Some said this style represented Chairman Mao’s theory of the “unity of opposites.” It made me think of the punishments of ancient China, which included shaving the head, tattooing the face, cutting off the nose or feet, castration, or dismemberment by five horse-drawn carts.

At struggle meetings, students would often force teachers into the “jet-plane” position. Two people would stand on either side of the accused, push him to his knees, pull back his head by the hair, and hold his arms out in back like airplane wings. We tried it on each other and found it caused great strain on the back and neck. . . .

A few students even argued that we should use a bit more force. After all, weren’t many of these bad eggs Kuomintang and American agents? . . .

A young teacher from a worker’s family was charged with emphasizing academics over politics and a young woman of poor peasant origin was criticized for wearing high heels, proof that she had betrayed her class. Each apologized in a public meeting.

Source: Gao Yuan, Born Red (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987), 53-55.

DOING HISTORY

1. Analyzing communist intentions: Based on these sources, how would you describe the kind of society that the Chinese Communist Party sought to create in China during Mao’s lifetime?
2. Distinguishing image and reality: Based on these sources and the chapter narrative, to what extent do these sources accurately represent the successes of Maoist communism? What insights do they shed on its failures?
3. Defining audience and appeal: To whom do you think these sources were directed? What appeal might they have for the intended audience?
4. Noticing change: How could you use these sources to define the dramatic changes that transformed China since 1949? How might a traditional Chinese official from the nineteenth century respond to them?

HISTORIANS’ VOICES

Assessing Mao

The towering significance of Mao Zedong in China’s recent history has led to no end of effort to assess his role and legacy. By some mysterious mathematical reckoning, the Chinese Communist Party declared him 70 percent correct and 30 percent wrong. Historians too have weighed in on the question. Voice 21.1 by Maurice Meisner, a prominent historian of modern China, highlights Mao’s role as a modernizing figure in China’s history, while lamenting his limitations as a builder of democratic socialism. In Voice 21.2, the Dutch historian of China, Frank Dikotter, proclaims Mao’s responsibility for perhaps the greatest famine in world history, which emerged from the Great Leap Forward.

• In what respects was Mao a successful modernizer and a failed builder of socialism according to Meisner?
• How does Dikotter explain the “great famine” of 1958-1962?
• Integrating Primary and Secondary Sources: How might the primary sources in this feature be used to support or challenge the arguments of Meisner and Dikotter?

Voice 21.1

Maurice Meisner on Mao, Modernization, and Socialism

1999

Mao Zedong was far more successful as an economic modernizer than as a builder of socialism. . . . Between 1952 . . . and 1977, the output of Chinese industry increased at an average annual rate of 11.3 percent, as rapid a pace of industrialization as has ever been achieved by any country in a comparable period in modern world history. . . . [T]he Maoist era was the time of China’s modern industrial revolution. . . . It is a record that compares favorably with comparable stages in the industrialization of Germany, Japan and Russia. . . . Maoist industrialization proceeded without benefit of foreign loans or investment. . . . The near doubling of average life expectancy over the quarter century of Mao’s rule . . . offers dramatic statistical evidence for the material and social gains that the Communist revolution brought to the great majority of the Chinese people.

More questionable . . . is his lingering, if tarnished, image as the builder of a socialist society. . . . As industrial development proceeded, new bureaucratic and technological elites emerged. The rural areas were exploited for the benefit of the cities. . . . And industrial values of economic rationality and bureaucratic professionalism became the dominant social norms, subordinating the socialist goals [of equality, selflessness, service to the collective]. . . . The Maoist state machine became increasingly separated from the society it ruled . . . and the division between rulers and ruled became ever more pronounced. . . . Maoism . . . was not a doctrine that recognized popular democracy as both the necessary means to realize socialism and one of its essential ends as well.

Source: Maurice Meisner, Mao’s China and After (New York: Free Press, 1999), 414-15, 417-19, 421-22.

Voice 21.2

Frank Dikotter on Mao’s Great Famine

2011

Between 1958 and 1962 China descended into hell. Mao Zedong . . . threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch up with and overtake Britain in less than 15 years. By unleashing China’s greatest asset, a labor force that was counted in the hundreds of millions, Mao thought he could catapult his country past its competitors. . . . In pursuit of a utopian paradise, everything was collectivized as villagers were herded together in giant communes which heralded the advent of communism. People in the countryside were robbed of their work, their home, their land, their belongings, and their livelihood. Food, distributed by the spoonful in collective canteens according to merit, became a weapon to force people to follow the party’s every dictate. Irrigation campaigns forced up to half the villagers to work for weeks on end on giant water conservancy projects, often far from home, without adequate food and rest. The experiment ended in the greatest catastrophe the country had ever known, destroying tens of millions of lives. . . . [A]t least 45 million people died unnecessarily between 1958 and 1962. . . .

[A] vision of promised abundance . . . also inflicted unprecedented damage on agriculture, trade, industry, and transportation. Pots, pans, and tools were thrown into backyard furnaces to increase the country’s steel output, which was seen as one of the magic markers of progress. Livestock declined precipitously . . . despite extravagant schemes for giant piggeries that would bring meat to every table. . . . As everyone cut corners in the relentless pursuit of higher output, factories spewed out inferior goods. . . . Corruption seeped into the fabric of life, tainting everything from soy sauce to hydraulic dams.

Source: Frank Dikotter, Mao’s Great Famine (London: Bloomsbury, 2011), xi-xiii.

Strayer, R. W., & Nelson, E. W. (2018). Ways of the World with Sources, Volume 2 (4th Edition). Macmillan Higher Education. https://ccis.vitalsource.com/books/9781319109806