THE ROLE OF COLLECTIVIZATION IN CHINESE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT, 1949--1957

This dissertation examines the role of collectivization in Chinese agricultural development from 1949 to 1957. The problem investigated centered on what was the effect of collectivization policies on agricultural production. Previous research by Western scholars has doubted the benefits of collectivization. Previous researchers have investigated the effect of collectivization by aggregating provincial data to arrive at national data. Collectivization policies were then evaluated by examining changes in aggregate grain production. This dissertation presents evidence that collectivization policies were implemented over a wide range of time with some provinces implementing collectivization up to three years after others. A model of Chinese agriculture was constructed to analyze the relationship between agricultural production, agricultural inputs, and collectivization. It was decided that provincial data could provide better information for testing the hypothesis of whether or not collectivization was directly beneficial to agricultural production. A cross-section analysis was employed to avoid some concerns of previous researchers regarding the reliability of Chinese statistics. The results of the model led to the acceptance of the null hypothesis that there was no statistically significant direct relationship between collectivization and grain production. The model was modified by separating provinces into two groups depending on whether rice or wheat was the dominant crop. The results for rice-growing provinces led to the support of the hypothesis that collectivization was detrimental to grain production. The results for wheat-growing provinces led to the acceptance of the null hypothesis that collectivization was not significantly related to grain production. Two other models were constructed to evaluate the indirect effect of collectivization on other agricultural inputs. The results indicate that as collectivization proceeded, cultivated area increased. A hypothesis was also tested which argued that provinces with a high degree of hydraulic agriculture were slower to collectivize. The results supported this hypothesis. In conclusion, the results indicate that as collectivization proceeded, it affected rice agriculture in a negative way and did not have any measurable direct impact on wheat agriculture. The impact of collectivization on Chinese agriculture from 1949 to 1957 was greatly influenced by the agricultural mode of production.