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How communism and land reforms impacted China and other countries
- Land reform was a vital issue in China, Iran, Vietnam, Ethiopia, India, and a number of Latin American countries, including Mexico, Bolivia, and Venezuela
- Often stuff like feudalism, capitalism, and colonialism led to small groups controlling all the land while the majority (peasants) owned little or no land
Communism in China
Victory by Communists
- Chinese Civil War continued after Japanese were defeated in China, and by 1949 the Communists won
- Peasants saw Communists as less corrupt than the Nationalists and widely supported the Communists
- Mao ordered the nationalization of Chinese industries and created five-year plans based on the Soviet model
- Like the Soviets, the Chinese plans emphasized heavy industry (iron and steel mining for example) instead of consumer goods
Great Leap Forward
- Lasted from 1958 to 1962
- Goal was to rapidly transform China's economy from an agricultural to an industrial society
- Emphasized the collectivization of agriculture
- communes = large-scale agricultural communities where peasants lived and worked together
- Backyard furnaces encouraged to make steel & metal for heavy industry rather than building large factories
- Led to poorly produced steel & agricultural equipment
- Workers taken off communes to produce steel → not enough farm workers
- Agricultural production suffered due to the focus on industry
- Unrealistic production targets affected both industry and agriculture of China
- Severe drought in 1959 exacerbated these problems, and widespread famine ensued, leading to millions of deaths
- Although Great Leap Forward was a massive failure, it paved the way for which the pragmatic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s under Deng Xiaoping
Cultural Revolution
- Mao launches Cultural Revolution in 1966
- Purpose was to completely get rid of capitalist elements still lingering and reassert Mao’s power over China
- Mobilized young people, called the Red Guards, to attack traditional cultural and social norms and snitch out those against the party
- Those who got caught going against the party were sent to “reeducation” camps
- Reeducation = performing hard physical labor and attending group meetings where Red Guards pressured them to admit they had not been revolutionary enough
- This was similar to Stalin’s purges of political opponents in the USSR
- Country became more isolated and ideologically rigid
Relations with the Soviets
- USSR and China were mostly hostile to each other despite both being Communist states
- They skirmished at the border and competed for influence worldwide
- Ex: Albania, a Soviet satellite, decided to ally with China instead of the USSR
Turmoil in Iran
- 1941: Allies (British and Soviets specifically) invade Iran to secure supply routes
- Force shah to abdicate power to his young son, Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi
- 1951-1953: PM Mohammad Mossadegh comes into power
- Iranians viewed Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi as a Western puppet and was overthrown
- Mossadegh was a nationalist and proponent of democracy and enacted several reforms
- Nationalized Iran’s oil industry that was controlled largely by a British corporation
- British obviously get very mad by this
- In 1953 the CIA orchestrates a coup that topples Mossadegh and restores the Shah's power
- Shah, upon coming back to power, ran an authoritarian regime that relied on a ruthless secret police force
- Deepens anti-Western sentiments in Iran
- 1963: White Revolution
- Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi introduces a series of reforms known as the White Revolution, aiming to modernize Iran
- Examples: recognizing women’s right to vote, creating a social welfare system, and funding literacy programs in villages
- Called White Revolution as these reforms were enacted without spilling blood
- Most important reform was land reform
- Motive for this was to increase the shah’s popularity amongst peasants
- Government would buy land from existing landowners and sell it at a lower price to peasants
- Program helped many peasants become first-time landowners, but it failed to reach a majority of peasants
- However the plan frustrated many
- Landowners were forced to sell their land and many peasants were frustrated that they received nothing
- On top of the land reform resentment, religious conservatives didn’t like the modernization reforms
- 1979: Islamic Revolution
- Revolution topples shah in favor of a theocracy (form of government in which religion is the supreme authority)
- New government was ruled by an Islamic cleric
- Iran opposed Western policies in the Middle East and the state of Israel
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Land Reform in Latin America
Venezuela
- Government redistributed five million acres of land
- Some land redistributed was state-owned while other pieces of land were forcibly seized from large landowners
Guatemala
- Democratically elected leader Jacob Arbenz began instituting land reforms in Guatemala
- Feeling threatened, the United Fruit Company persuaded the US to overthrow Arbenz
- Arbenz deposed in 1954
- US government spread propaganda that he was a communist, so that justified the deposition
Land Reform in Asia and Africa
Vietnam
- During WWII, Japan occupied Vietnam, which France still claimed as a colony
- After WWII, Vietnam declared its independence from both Japan and France
- Like in many places. a small group of people owned the majority of the land in Vietnam
- Communists vowed to change this; this pledge made them very popular
- North Vietnam implemented land reform swiftly, and at times would even use violence
- South Vietnam was slow in land reform
- Was one reason why they were unpopular
Ethiopia
- In 1974, Mengistu Haile Mariam took over
- The previous leader aligned himself with the West and tried to enact land reforms bit failed
- Mengistu Haile Mariam declared Ethiopia socialist and decided to align with the USSR
- Implemented land reforms based on Marxist-Leninist principles
- Collectivization of agriculture, for example, used
- Reforms however, led to famine, failed economic policies, and rebellion
- Led to the fall of his rule in 1991
India
- India became independent after WWII in 1947
- India shortly after its independence enacted land reforms, trying to redistribute some land to the landless
- Results of land reform in India were mixed