Establishing Communist Rule (Edexcel A Level History: Route E: Communist states in the twentieth century): Exam Questions

Study Sources 1 and 2 before you answer this question.

Source 1: From a speech made by Lin Xiling, during a debate at Beijing University, 23 May 1957. Her words were recorded in note-form by university students attending the meeting. Lin Xiling was a communist revolutionary who had become critical of the Communist Party. She supported the Hundred Flowers campaign.

I am very excited today to be able to breathe the fresh air of the University. There has been a loosening up here, but I am not optimistic about the overall success of the campaign because there are still too many guardians of the rules. These officials want to use socialism as a ladder to climb to higher positions. It is also said that there are signs of reining in the Hundred Flowers movement in order to keep the people quiet. This University has acted in favour of the campaign, and it is a good beginning. Now the students of the north-west and elsewhere are stirring. But we have no way to communicate with each other; there is a news blackout. If we utter one wrong word, the guardians can manufacture charges out of nothing. We should be vigilant! We are honest people! Honest people are found everywhere and we should unite! The masses of the people are not fools. I am not afraid to speak out in this way. My friends constantly tell me: 'You little devil, all of us are going to find you in jail one day.' Although this was said jokingly, there is such a possibility. Our struggle today is not merely personal grumbling. Our objective is crystal clear: to establish genuine socialism – to lead the life of real people.

Source 2: From an officially-published statement by Fei Xiaotang, 13 July 1957. Fei Xiaotang was a prominent academic and a leading member of an official political group called the Democratic League, which had been supportive of the Hundred Flowers campaign. Here he is being forced to renounce his past political activities.

The Chang-Lo conspiracy – Chang and Lo were leaders of the Democratic League

I admit my guilt to the people and continue to expose my crime, and that of the Chang-Lo conspiracy. In 1955, I worked for the Culture and Education Committee of the Democratic League. I proposed organising small forums and inviting those League members who were dissatisfied with the Party. Names of the persons attending the forums were off the record. This work did extremely serious harm: (i) It encouraged the uncritical growth and spread of backward thoughts. (ii) It influenced moderate League members. In February this year I made an extremely absurd speech against the Party at a forum of the League Central Committee. I wrote 'Early Spring Weather for Intellectuals' based on that speech. Lo read my draft and spurred me on. This article aroused anti-Party and anti-socialist feelings. This article was indeed an attack on the Party. I accept and am thankful for criticism of this action from Communist Party deputies. I should go a step further and criticise myself. I hate my past and I must change. I hate my links with the Chang-Lo conspiracy and I must draw a boundary line against them and sever our connections. I am grateful to the Party for keeping the door of reform open to those guilty of mistakes and who have fallen into the swamp of the rightists. Permit me to enter this door courageously and completely reform myself.

How far could the historian make use of Sources 1 and 2 together to investigate the changing nature of the Hundred Flowers campaign?

Explain your answer, using both sources, the information given about them and your own knowledge of the historical context.

How far do you agree that the consolidation of communist rule in China, in the years 1949-56, can be explained more by support for the CCP than by the use of intimidation?

'The popularity of Mao's land reform policies in the years 1949–57 was mainly responsible for the successful establishment of communist rule in China.'

How far do you agree with this statement?

Study Sources 1 and 2 before you answer this question.

Source 1: From an interview with a retired policeman, recorded by Xinran, a Chinese academic based in the West, 2006. The policeman had a career which covered the entire period of Mao's rule. Here he is commenting on his role as a young policeman in Henan province.

In 1949, I had responsibility for monitoring a number of streets, checking households and keeping an eye on bad influences. We were told to ignore people like petty thieves and vagrants for the time being. Just to leave them. We had to concentrate our efforts on detaining counter-revolutionaries. Our chiefs gave us different categories to investigate: bandits and bullying landlords who held control in the countryside; key Guomindang counter-revolutionaries; followers of reactionary religious beliefs; spies. Checking and recording under these categories went on until 1956.

Xinran: How did you know if someone was in these categories?

Firstly, some of the counter-revolutionaries turned themselves in, and they were treated leniently. Secondly, we regularly went around checking households. We asked each family what each person had been doing. We noted it all down in their files. Thirdly, ordinary people reported suspects. All of those doing the reporting just thought that once that information was recorded that would be an end to it. It never occurred to them that those records could cause trouble for the suspects for the rest of their lives, let alone that it might implicate relatives and friends too.

Xinran: Do you still think that they were counter-revolutionaries?

According to the policies in force then, maybe they were. But some policemen went so far 'left' that they started to make false arrests. Things were chaotic then, and it wasn't easy to tell truth from lies.

Source 2: From the CCP directive, On the Struggle Against the 'Five Evils', published 26 January 1952. The directive was sent by the Central Committee of the CCP to provincial organisations and local cadres in urban areas.

In the cities, we should rely on the working class to unite with the law-abiding capitalists and other sections of the urban population to wage a determined, large-scale and comprehensive struggle. This struggle is against those capitalists who are violating the law through bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on government contracts, and stealing economic information. We should coordinate this struggle with the struggle against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy, which is already being waged inside the Party, government, army and mass organisations. This action is both essential and necessary.

In the struggle against the 'five evils', we should adopt the tactics of using contradiction and provoking divisions. By uniting with the many, and isolating the few, a united front against the 'five evils' will speedily take shape. In a big city, such a united front may well come into being within about three weeks. Once this united front is formed, those reactionary capitalists guilty of the worst crimes will be isolated. The state will also be in a strong position to administer the right punishments, such as fines, confiscation, arrest, imprisonment, or execution, without much opposition. All our big cities should start the struggle against the 'five evils' in the first ten days of February. Please make prompt arrangements.

How far could the historian make use of Sources 1 and 2 together to investigate the methods used to establish control in the early years of CCP rule in China?

Explain your answer, using both sources, the information given about them and your own knowledge of the historical context.