W’s
What/Why/Where
Refers to the last two steps of the CCP’s three step plan to implement collectivization in the countryside to enable greater and more efficient farming and agricultural production.
After the mutual aid teams (MAT), the Party moved to organize lower-level and upper-level APCs
- Lower-level APC: 30-50 households, donating your own farm animals, equipment, land, etc. to the cooperative nets you a payout, but you still owned it
- Higher-level APC: 200-300 households, land is owned by the collective, private ownership is officially ended. Payment of donations is also ended, and you’re now only paid for your labor.
Many farmers were unhappy to give up the land they were just distributed in earlier land reforms, and increasingly fought with the party cadres that enacted the changes
Originally APCs were voluntary, representing Mao’s beliefs of the party not forcing change upon anyone. But the party’s delusions about a “great leap forward” started causing APCs to be forced upon communities, which weakened the people-party relationship and caused many conflicts.
Who
Impacts farmers and laborers in the countryside, initiated by the Party and Mao
When
During the First Five-Year Plan, 1953-1957