Decode the ques on
The role of the People’s Libera on Army (PLA) was the key factor in establishing communist rule in China in the years 1949–57’. How far do you
agree with this view?
State your argument Paragraph focus and opening point Iden fy your pieces of evidence including however point
The PLA was the key The PLA was used principally to establish power - Was assigned responsibility to suppress bandits (suggested to be a
factor in establishing straight a er the war euphemism for CCP opposi on) and over 100,000 communist enemies
communist rule in China killed
1949-57. This was as the - PRC posts were the majority of roles in regional governments (2/4) =
party was growing in more power and in uence
size, they were a small - ‘Learn from the PLA campaign’ instructed people to learn from
minority in a huge revolu onary and discipline of PLA soldiers = increased pres ge and
country and it was respect for new regime
impossible to exert However
authority without - could be argued that the expansion of the party was the key
aggression and control. factor in establishing communist rule
Mao said “all poli cal - party expanded from 4.5 million (in popula on of over half a
power lies in the barrel billion) to 5.8 million and co-ordinated all branches of
of a gun” and the gun educa on
was the PLA. Their - nevertheless the CCP was s ll a minority
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, involvement in the The PLA further reinforced their power through - Promoted unity by uni ng behind the PLA and crea ng opposi on to
reuni ca on campaigns the Korean War the USA, and Mao was also able to use the war as a ra onale to purge
and Korean War also enemies on pretence of traitors/enemies - recorded nearly a million
helped to establish execu on during rst half of 1951
communist role. - spread rumours that US were tes ng biological weapons
- created propaganda of the idea PLA soldiers being hugely brave and
noble.
- the fact the chinese weren’t defeated by the UN enhanced Mao and
China’s pres ge
- therefore the PLA’s role in the Korean War was signi cant in
establishing communist role back home
- Tibet (1950): imposed policies to wipe out Tibetan iden ty - banned
The PLA were the ones who established tradi onal religious prac ces, teaching of Tibetan language and
communist role in Tibet, Xianjing and Guangdong culture, poli cal mee ngs forbidden and encouraged migra on eg
building highways of Chinese to Tibet to marginalise the Tibetans
-
- Xinjiang - had high amounts of Muslim living there who had es to
muslims in the USSR. China feared separa sm and invited muslim
leaders to Beijing, but on the way their plane mysteriously crashed,
killing all the leaders on board, and the leaders were replaced with
ones loyal to Mao. Immigra on of Chinese also encouraged
-
- Guangdong: formerly a na onalist stronghold. 28,000 killed during
‘suppress counter-revolu onary’ campaign
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, Decode the ques on
‘The use of terror and violence was the most important factor in Mao’s consolida on of his regime, 1949-57? How far do you agree with this
statement?
State your argument Paragraph focus and opening point Iden fy your pieces of evidence including however point
In order for it to be the Terror + violence in the an s campaigns created - campaign against counter-revolu onaries targeted na onalist
‘most important’,it has to an atmosphere of fear which meant that ordinary sympathisers, killing/imprisoning 800,000 in the rst half of 1951.
have the longest e ect people were increasingly unable to speak out However it was controlled carefully by Mao, who was careful to
on the people and on prevent the use of terror against the party, and in theory aimed it just
then regime. The terror at those who had par cipated with na onalists
campaigns had the - However during the 3 and 5 an s campaigns, the criteria for arrest/
longest-las ng e ect as it execu on widened . Middle classes and business owners were rounded
created an atmosphere up and executed, or tricked into naming more people.
of fear which never went - ‘Denuncia on boxes’ on street corners and in work places - people
away, however the informed on those they had personal grudges against
Korean War and the PLA - Es mated 100,000 deaths, mostly from suicides which became so
were also signi cant widespread the party put policemen in parks to stop people from
factors hanging themselves
- However - could be argued these didn’t consolidate Mao’s regime as
later on in the hundred owers campaign, people spoke up, whereas if
his power had been consolidated through terror, they would be too
scared to
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, Korean War was also an important factor in Mao’s - the Korean War proved to Mao’s claims to the people that the west
consolida on of his regime as it gave him status were just “paper gers” and nothing to be scared of
as a military leader - The small and under-equipped PLA was able to resist the UN
- Gave Mao pres ge back home and interna onally, reinforced by
propaganda claiming that the uSA were using biological weapons
- Proved himself to be a tough leader
However another key consequence of the war was that Mao was able to
launch a terror campaign back home under the distrac on of the war and the
excuse of roo ng out spies and saboteurs
- used the cover of war for the execu ons of nearly a million
- Therefore could be argued terror and violence was the most important
factor, as the other key factor (war) allowed it to happen on such a
wide scale
The hundred owers campaign and its use of - at this point, there was a climate of fear as it was a er the an s
terror and violence was a key factor in Mao’s campaigns but people s ll had their reserva ons about the regime
consolida on of the regime. This was the nal - Encouraged cadres to ‘let a hundred owers bloom’ and allow
stage in consolida ng power through terror as it intellectuals to voice opinions on the regime
meant that people were permantly scared to - Mao was shocked by the hugely nega ve response, with people
speak out. comparing the regime to behaviour of Nazis at auschwitz, and some
party headquarters were stormed by angry students who ed up
o cials and marched them through streets
- This led to the launch of the an -righ sts campaign, in which the
‘poisonous weeds’ the campaign was aimed at was de ned so broadly
that anyone the regime wanted to get rid of was included. Simply
‘denying the achievements of the revolu on’ could lead to arrest
- Cadres given a quota of 5% of people in their work units to be damned
as a righ sts, leading many innocent people to be accused - a ected
ordinary people
- Es mated 400,000-700,000 were purged and many more commi ed
suicide
- Meant people didn’t speak up when there were issues with the GLF etc
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