TYBA-SEM-6-PAPER-8-ENGLISH-History-of-Asia-munotes

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DOMESTIC POLICY IN PEOPLE’S
REPUBLIC OF CHINA UNDER MAO
ZEDONG (MAO TSE TUNG)
Unit Structure :
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Domestic Policy in the People’s Republic of China under Mao Tse
Tung
1.3 Summary
1.4 Questions
1.5 References
1.0 OBJECTIVES

1. To introduce students to the study of the progress People’s Republic of
China and the leadership of Mao Tse Tung

2. To explain the significant economic progress, particul arly in agriculture
and industr y

3. To highlight the key points of movements such as the Great Leap
Forward

4. To give detailed information about the Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution and its consequences.
1.1 INTRODUCTION
This paper is titled History of Asia, and in the first module, we'll look at
how China changed over time. The major his torical occurrences that
impacted humanity in modern China have to be studied. These incidents
have had an impact on how modern politics, society, the economy,
religion, and culture have developed. Communists had a clear agenda for
China's development afte r the Civil War, and they had planned for their
rule to recommence.
1.2 DOMESTIC POLICY IN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF
CHINA UNDER MAO TSE TUNG
A) Socialist Experiment
Following the Communists' victory over the Nationalists during the Civil
War, they declared th e establishment of the People's Republic of China. munotes.in

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2 Initially, the People's Republic had the appearance of a coalition
government under the management of the majority of the people's
Communist Party. China was ruled by so -called Natural Laws until the
adopt ion of a regular Constitution in September 1954. In September 1954,
a charter become followed by means of which the Communist authorities
turned into formalized.
b) Socialist Experiment Agriculture:
Following the Communists' victory over the Nationalists d uring the Civil
War, they declared the establishment of the People's Republic of China.
Initially, the People's Republic had the appearance of a coalition
government under the management of the majority of the people's
Communist Party. China was ruled by s o-called Natural Laws until the
adoption of a regular Constitution in September 1954. Furthermore,
despite the fact that China had a land area slightly larger than America,
only about 15% of it was cultivated. Because few people lived in cities,
there was an extremely high density of population in properly agricultural
areas. Because peasants were living on a subsistence level, there was little
savings and little money available for industrial investment. This scenario
could be accelerated by the use of new farming practises, new technology,
and mechanisation, or by accelerated organisation. The CCP decided to
pursue the closing alternative in order to bring about economic
transformation in China.
Agrarian Law of 1950: Following the restoration of agricultur al
production in 1949, the CCP implemented a nationwide land redistribution
policy. This policy had already been implemented in some Communist -
controlled areas prior to 1949. The land redistribution programme was
expanded to cover the entire country with t he passage of the Agrarian
Reform Law in June 1950. The landlords' land, animals, tools, and other
property, as well as the rich peasants', were confiscated.
a. Elimination of the Landlords: Though the land redistribution
programme was intended to increase ag ricultural productivity, its
primary goal became political, breaking the power of the owner
magnificence. A large number of landlords who refused to surrender
their land voluntarily were killed. This had a negative impact on the
land's productivity. The CC P devised programmes to increase farm
productivity and facilitate centralised decision -making, which
ultimately resulted in land collectivisation.

b. Mutual -Aid Teams: The CCP introduced mutual -aid teams as a first
step toward land collectivisation. These w ere based on the traditional
Chinese practise of pooling resources, including animals and
equipment, during the busy seasons of sowing and harvesting. Mutual -
resource groups were typically formed by three to five households.
They have gradually evolved int o permanent mutually beneficial
resource groups of six to ten households. However, peasants retained
private ownership of their land, animals, and implements. munotes.in

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3 c. Agricultural Producers' Cooperatives (APCs): The formation of
Agricultural Producers' Cooperative s was the next step toward
collectivisation (APCs). Each APC contained approximately 40
households. Collective control was established over land use, labour,
and animals. Despite this, the peasants retained, at least in theory,
possession of their land and were prepared to leave the cooperative if
necessary. As a result, the APCs were best described as semi -socialists
in worker. The earnings of peasants were determined by the inputs of
labour.

The formation of Agricultural Producers' Cooperatives was the next
step toward collectivisation (APCs). Each APC contained
approximately 40 households. Collective control was established over
land use, labour, and animals. Despite this, the peasants retained, at
least in theory, possession of their land and were prep ared to leave the
cooperative if necessary. As a result, the APCs were best described as
semi -socialists in worker. The earnings of peasants were determined by
the inputs of labour.

d. Establishment of the Communes: The CCP attempted to
revolutionise the soc ial and economic structure in 1958 by establishing
communes. These communes were designed to function as basic units
of Chinese society. Around 24,000 communes had been established in
China by the end of the year. These communes protected approximately
500 million peasants. Each commune housed between 1,000 and
10,000 families. These communes were formed by combining small
cooperative farms. Each commune formed an administrative unit,
which aided in reducing some of the vital government's obligations.
The e stablishment of communes was expected to boost agricultural
production and accelerate China's transformation into a clearly
Communist country.
However, the strict regimentation of life within communes and the
unexpected destruction of all forms of individ ualism clearly sparked
opposition and friction in the country. Some private asset rights were
collectively restored with other incentives in December 1958. The
peasants were also given twelve hours of leisure for eating and
sleeping. Peasants' small privat e plots were restored to them in April
1959. The communes had gradually decentralised to the level of former
APCs.
Socialist Experiment in Industry
a. Challenges to transform urban economy: Although Chinese
Communism was born in the cities, it had been primar ily a rural
movement since 1927. In 1949, the Communist Party marched into
Peking, Shanghai, Wuchang, and Canton and found itself in strange
surroundings. To run the urban economy, then grow and expand it,
CCP leaders needed to employ not only employees, b ut also people
with important skills such as technicians, managers, and directors, as
well as acquire some of those skills themselves. munotes.in

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History of Asia
4 b. Economic stability: China was more fortunate to have an abundance
of natural resources, particularly coal and water. Oil and iron -ore
reserves were moderately adequate. China's herbal assets have been
sufficient to sustain the modern industrial financial system. However,
for the exploitation and development of these assets, significant capital
and system funding became requi red, which China lacked at the time.
Under these circumstances, Communist planners decided to use the
first period of peace to restore business and agricultural manufacturing
to pre -conflict levels. They also aimed to achieve some economic
stability by lim iting inflation and rebuilding the delivery network.
Following that, the CCP decided to adopt the vast outline of financial
development on the model of Soviet Russia. That is, agricultural
collectivization, industrialization, and the abolition of private
enterprise.

The CCP needed to prevent the breakdown of city society immediately
after the People's Republic of China's status quo. It had to keep its
offerings and production going. In the long run, it became determined
to greatly expand and improve the c ommercial quarter in order to make
China a modern country.

c. State Enterprise: As the Communists moved into the cities, they took
over businesses owned by previous Nationalist authorities as well as
those owned by 'bureaucratic capitalists' (individuals who held essential
positions within the Kuomintang, or have been intently related to it).
By the mid -1950s, these corporations, along with new ones established
by the government after 1949, constituted a large state region in terms
of production and commerce.

d. Policy of 'Use, Restrict and Transform': Article 10 of the state
charter discussed the kingdom's policy toward capitalist industry and
commerce. The policy was changed to "use, restrict, and transform."
The period of 'use' lasted from 1949 to 1951. The r estriction was in
effect from 1952 to 1953. During this time, the government restricted
private organisations in terms of manufacturing, sales, and earnings.
Restriction was also made easier by the party -led 'Five -Anti' campaign
of 1952. This campaign aime d at bribery, tax evasion, robbery of state
assets and state economic secrets, and fraud on government contracts.
These measures had been used to limit capitalists' overall autonomy.
This marketing campaign put nearly every agency at risk. The
campaign pen alised many people for flawlessly regular business
practices.

At public trials, industrialists, traders, and businessmen were tried to
accuse. Many people had committed suicide or had already done so.
The fortunate ones escaped with high marks or a stin t in a rehabilitative
labour camp. In the end, the 'Five -Anti' marketing campaign was
successful in reducing capitalists' monetary and political strength.
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5 e. The length of 'transformation' lasted from 1954 to 1957 . This time
period was broken down into range s. Initially, the emphasis was on the
gradual transformation of private organisations into joint state non -
public corporations. The enterprise's owners and buyers have received
5% annual interest payments on their investment. This programme was
accelerated in the latter half of 1955 and early 1956 as a result of the
second level of development known as 'joint operation via complete
trading activities'. As a result of 1956's assistance, not only agriculture,
but also industry, were given full command.

f. First Five Year Plan (1953 -57): The First Five Year Plan, which
began in 1953 and ended in 1957, was not made public until mid -1955.
The Chinese adhered to annual plans for the first and a half years.
According to Mao Tse Tung's estimates, China needed three Fi ve Year
Plans to transform into a socialist society, and forty or fifty years to
build an effective country with a high degree of socialist
industrialisation.

g. Development of Heavy Industry: In the mid -1950s, Chinese
economic policy was entirely based on t he Soviet model of economic
development. The primary goal changed into to broaden heavy
enterprise, which included steel, machinery, and so on. As soon as
possible. The large commercial base investment became a return on the
rural surplus provided by colle ctivisation. Russian technicians assisted
in the design and construction of large plants in a variety of locations.
During the First Five Year Plan period, China made significant
progress in heavy industrial development, particularly in iron and steel
manu facturing, as well as alternative fuels, raw materials, electric
powered electricity, and machine device manufacturing. For the first
time China synthetic cars, trucks, jet aircrafts and ships. During the
First Five Year Plan length the common annual rate of growth of
business manufacturing become among 14 to 19 in step with cent. New
roads had been built and railroads have been laid out, which had navy,
political and financial cost.

h. Slow Growth of Agriculture: China's economic policy was entirely
based on the Soviet model of economic development in the mid -1950s.
The primary goal was to broaden heavy enterprise, such as steel and
machinery. As soon as possible, please. The substantial commercial
base investment served as a return on the rural surplus gener ated by
collectivisation. Russian engineers helped design and build large plants
in a variety of locations. China made significant progress in heavy
industrial development during the First Five Year Plan period,
particularly in iron and steel manufacturing , as well as non -petroleum
fuels, raw materials, electric powered electricity, and machine device
production.

i. 'Let Hundred Flowers Bloom': Mao Tse Tung became confident in
the sympathy of the people and the Communist party after the muse of
the Communist state was firmly laid. This encouraged him to allow munotes.in

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6 some freedom of expression. Mao Tse Tung used the slogan 'Let a
Hundred Flowers Blossom, a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend' in
a speech on May 2, 1956.

Khrushchev's 'de -Stalinisation' speech in Febru ary 1956, as well as the
Hungarian Uprising in October 1956, most likely triggered the CCP's
insistence on greater freedom of thought and criticism. Mao Tse Tung
added his speech 'On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Most of
the People' on February 27 , 1957. He advocated for the 'Hundred
Flowers' motion in this speech. A decision by the Central Committee
encouraged rectification of the celebration. Non -birthday celebration
personnel have been encouraged to take part in criticising birthday
celebration cadres and repairing the party's flaws.

However, the perceived grievance grew stronger than anticipated.
Intellectuals and college students used this opportunity to criticise the
Communist system, which became a hobby. They used Western
democratic langua ge to criticise the CCP's monopoly on power as well
as the arrogant attitude of the birthday celebration contributors.
Censorship was reinstated, and freedom of expression was restricted
once more. A growing number of intellectuals are being sent to the
countryside to work as guides.

Great Leap Forward

a. Problems Faced by means of the Government: Although industry,
particularly heavy industry, expanded rapidly at one point during the
First Five Year Plan, agriculture lagged far behind. Through 1957,
attempt s to increase output while also changing the entire land tenure
machine through collectivisation resulted in only a widening of the gap
between agricultural output and demand. This problem was exacerbated
by declining Soviet aid and a loss of momentum in i ndustrial growth.

b. Programme: In these circumstances, Mao Tse Tung announced the
'Great Leap Forward' plan for expanded economic growth at a National
People's Congress meeting in February 1958. This programme
reemphasized the significance of rural areas an d guide paintings.
Higher production goals were established for a variety of industries.
The Communist regime declared its intention to outperform England's
commercial output in fifteen years. To achieve this goal, agricultural
productivity must be increas ed through large -scale irrigation projects
and extensive cultivation. Individuals were required to work harder
than ever before at their regular jobs, as well as to expect more
effective responsibilities. Hundreds of thousands of peasants who
spent their days farming have been forced to work in factories during
the night. To improve management, wholesale mergers of Agricultural
Producers' Cooperatives (APCs) into larger entities have occurred. By
the end of 1958, the Communist government claimed a hundred percent
increase in agricultural manufacturing. Iron and metal output was said
to have doubled. munotes.in

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7 c. Consequences: The Great Leap Forward financial boom turned into a
nightmare. Despite all of the legitimate boasts, the device's flaws were
quickly revealed. The quality of the peasant's paintings began to suffer
as a result of a lack of sleep and rest. Exhaustion and poor meals served
in network mess halls, withdrawal of personal plots, and downgrading
of circle of relatives' lifestyles all lowered peasant morale . They
worked slowly and slaughtered farm animals. These factors reduced
farm productivity.

d. Concessions: To deal with the problems caused by the Great Leap
Forward, the Communist regime had no choice but to make certain
concessions to the people. The aut horities reversed a number of the
program's harsh measures. Life in the commune became easier. Some
non-public property rights of the peasants had been restored, and they
had been given private plots to use as they pleased.

e. 'Walking with Two Legs' Policy: As early as 1958, China observed
the Soviet Union's version of financial development by focusing on
heavy industry. The emphasis on heavy enterprise and cutting -edge era
was maintained in the Second Five Year Plan (1958 -1962), which was
superseded by the Great Leap Forward. It did, however, deliver a
policy of growing small -scale native industry, the use of indigenous
techniques, and labor -intensive techniques. This programme became
known as the "on foot with two legs" policy.

1. End of the Great Leap Forwar d Programme: Following the poor
harvest of 1960, Communist authorities reduced investment in heavy
industry in January 1961. Recognizing agricultural output deficiencies,
Communist leaders delayed the Great Leap Forward programme. A
new policy of started o perating on the rural zone was developed. The
Tenth Central Committee Congress, held in September 1962, stressed
"agriculture as the groundwork of the national financial system." In this
way, the Chinese maintained their departure from the Soviet Union's
version of economic development, which had begun in 1958.

2. Social Reforms
By 1970, the Communist government had brought about positive
fundamental changes in the social sphere, particularly in the family. In
pre-Communist China, the circle of relatives became the most basic
social unit. The eldest male member of the family held authority in the
home. Individuals thus owed their loyalty to their families rather than
the state. The women in the family were subservient to the men.
Women were also not free t o choose their life companions.

The rules of the Chinese traditional family shape began to erode in the
latter half of the nineteenth century. This resulted from the beginning of
industrialisation and the introduction of Western standards of private
freedom and individual rights. This deterioration was accelerated by the
overall collapse of authority that occurred following the fall of the
Manchu dynasty in 1911, as well as the decline of the republic due to
civil conflict. The Nationalist authorities att empted to reform the social munotes.in

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8 structure. However, Westernisation was typically restricted to the
wealthier instructions in urban areas.

After gaining political power, the CCP aimed to destroy the feudal
form of traditional family structure while retaining the own family as a
basic social unit. Girls had equal rights with men in the newly
dependent circle of relatives. Many of the girls' traditional features have
been adopted with the help of the kingdom. This freed them up for
productive labour on farms and in industry. They had been granted
marriage freedom, broadening the horizon of individual liberty. As a
result, it became believed that people owed their loyalty not to their
family, but to the collective and the country.

Women gained full equality with men in marriage, divorce, and
possession of property under the Marriage Law of 1950. Keeping
concubines, toddler marriage, and bride payment had all been
prohibited. For both men and women, the minimum age for marriage
was twenty and eighteen years, respe ctively. The couple registering
with the local authorities made the marriage ceremony a simple affair.
The enforcement of the Marriage Law was one of the primary
responsibilities of the All -China Federation of Democratic Women,
whose Vice -Chairman was Teng Ying Chao, Chou En -. lai's wife The
federation's main challenge was to ensure that the law was
implemented in China's poorer regions.

3. Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

a. The Cultural Revolution (1966 -1969) It was a political campaign
launched in 1966 by Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse
Tung to eliminate his political rivals and revolutionise Chinese society.
Thousands died and millions were imprisoned or exiled as a result of
the ensuing social chaos and political persecution.

b. Interpretation o f the Cultural Revolution: There was no episode in
Mao Tse Tung's long career that was more difficult to comprehend or
more contentious than the Cultural Revolution. When it began in 1966,
the Cultural Revolution was a situation that could be interpreted i n a
variety of ways. It became visible as an energy conflict between Mao
Tse Tung and Liu Shao Chi, the president of the People's Republic of
China.

c. Justification of the Cultural Revolution by Mao Tse Tung: Mao Tse
Tung himself justified the Cultural Revo lution. He believes that the
revolution should be on multiple levels. The first level was political, in
which the 'bourgeoisie' state was overthrown and the Communist
birthday celebration, champion of the masses, involved electricity.
Then comes the econom ic revolution, in which the capitalist financial
system and the 'feudal' land gadget are first altered, and then replaced
with the aid of new socialist forms of economic system and land tenure.
This became completed in the years following the army victory, and
culminated in the Commune system and, in fact, the total
nationalisation of enterprise and trade. There was still one more degree, munotes.in

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9 according to Mao. The authorities have changed, and the economy has
changed, but the Chinese themselves, their minds, ta stes, outlook on
life, and private hopes and ambitions have largely remained unchanged.
Thus, the final step became a cultural revolution, in which these
characteristics were to be remodelled, resulting in genuine socialists.

d. Background of the Cultural Re volution: After the failure of the
Great Leap Forward in 1960, Mao Tse Tung saw his power and
influence dwindle. However, he retained control of the armed forces
through his old friend, Li Piao, who served as War Minister. Irritated
by the intellectuals' c onstant criticism, Mao requested a significant
increase in the effort to destroy reactionary ideas at a private meeting of
the Central Committee in September 1965. The general public of
Central Committee contributors refused to conform to Mao's notion
unde r Peng Chen's management. Mao felt a lack of confidence, and he
suspected that there had been a plot against him. In the face of rising.

e. 'Hai Rui Dismissed from Office': The conflict between Mao Tse
Tung and his warring parties reached a top in 1966. Wu H an, the
Deputy Mayor of Peking, became an educator after joining the
Communist Party with many other intellectuals in the 1950s. Wu Han
wrote a play called Hai Rui Dismissed from Office in 1961. The play
became the news item of a sensible and virtuous Ming dynasty official
dedicated to the welfare of the people, who was removed from office
by an egotistical emperor. This play was interpreted as a veiled
criticism of the Great Leap Forward and Mao's dismissal of Defence
Minister Peng Te Huai, who had critici sed the programme and argued
for additional minor regulations.

f. Call for Cultural Revolution: Wu Han's allusive style turned into
strongly attacked inside the Shanghai, Wen Hui Pao, which become
below the direct supervision of Chiang Ching, Mao's spouse. I n
February 1966 Chiang Ching proclaimed Wu Han's play a "reactionary
poisonous weed," and referred to as for assaults on other cultural works
that criticised Mao's guidelines. In April 1966, the army's mouthpiece,
Jeifangjun Bao (Liberation Army Daily), po sted a rousing call for a
'cultural revolution'. In May 1966, Nieh Yuan Tsu, the Communist
birthday celebration secretary of the philosophy department at China's
prestigious Peking University, fired any other beginning shot of the
Cultural Revolution whils t she displayed a poster caution that the
bourgeoisie, or elite managed the college. The poster referred to as for
an all -out attack against elitist forces. By Mao's order, the poster
changed into examine over country wide radio on 1 June 1966.

Mao Tse T ung also accepted editorials in the Communist Party
newspaper criticising bourgeoisie elements in society. By doing so, he
officially declared the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, though
few noticed at the time that it would result in ten years of cha os and
violence. Formally, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution lasted
from August 1966 to April 1969. munotes.in

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10 g. Red Guards: In response to Mao's name, Peking high school students
began forming organisations known as the Red Guards. Mao Tse Tung
authorised the formation of these corporations. Following Mao Tse
Tung's assistance, high school and college students throughout the
United States formed other bands of Red Guards. The 11 million young
Red Guards led a revolution that destroyed not only humans, but also
numerous works of art, temples, and other cultural relics of China.
These students began by criticising teachers, college directors, and
leaders in positions of authority. On August 18, 1966, Mao personally
gathered hundreds of thousands of Red Guards in P eking's Tiananmen
Square. Schools were closed, and college students from across the
country travelled. From 1966 to 1969, all schools and universities were
closed. Mao urged scholars to "wreck the four olds": old thoughts, old
ways of life, old customs, an d old behaviour.

h. Attack on Institutions: As the Red Guards destroyed temples,
artworks, books, and anything associated with traditional or foreign
cultures, chaos and lawlessness spread throughout China. They raided
the homes of professors and other intel lectuals, confiscating or
destroying Western -style clothing, books, and artwork, as well as
anything else that irritated them. Radical leaders and Red Guards also
persecuted artists, writers, and people with international connections.
Victims had faced pub lic shaming, humiliation, and physical abuse.
Many of the victims who committed suicide or died as a result of Red
Guard abuse were intellectuals, such as writer Lao She and historian
Wu Han. Many others had been imprisoned or forced to perform
menial labo ur. The police and military had been beneath orders now
not to intrude.

i. Attack on the Moderates: On August 5, 1966, the Cultural
Revolution's course began to shift. Mao Tse Tung himself issued a
statement titled "Bombard the Headquarters." He made the poi nt in this
statement that there were people in the CCP at all levels, right up to the
top, who were pursuing reactionary 'bourgeoisie' policies. As a result,
radicals launched an attack on moderate government officials. The
most prominent moderate was Liu Shao Chi, China's president at the
time and Mao's chosen successor. Liu was accused of being "China's
number one capitalist roader" and a traitor to Chairman Ma because of
his pragmatic policies. He was imprisoned and died in prison in 1969.
Those associat ed with Liu's policies, such as Deng Xiaoping, were
removed from government positions and imprisoned or exiled. Lin
Piao, a military leader who supported Mao's Cultural Revolution
policies, was appointed as his successor in 1969.

j. Restoration of Order: The Communist birthday party shape gradually
crumbled under the weight of the Cultural Revolution, leading to
anarchy and lawlessness. The People's Liberation Army (PLA)
remained the only disciplined structure within the United States of
America. In 1967, the People's Liberation Army was called in to restore
order after the Red Guard unleashed anarchy and mob violence. From munotes.in

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11 1967 to 1969, thousands died in violent clashes between Red Guard
factions and between the Red Guards and the army. In a try to control
the chaos, Mao and his supporters placed most authorities’ companies
underneath the manager of the Peoples Liberation Army.

k. Campaign to Purify Class Ranks : Mao Tse Tung launched the
'Campaign to Purify Class Ranks,' a new segment of the Cultural
Revolution. Beginning in 1969, city officials and intellectuals were
dispatched to the geographical region to do hard labour and study
Mao's works. Many urban youths between the ages of sixteen and
nineteen have been sent to the nation -state, where they have been
instructed to study from peasants. Family members have frequently
been split up and forced to live in harsh conditions thousands of miles
apart. Many young people stayed in the countryside for years because
they couldn't get permission to return to their home towns or cities.

l. 'Barefoot Doctors': Throughout the early 1970s, Mao maintained his
goal of closing the economic gap between the city and the countryside.
The children of the urban elite lived and worked alongside rural
peasants. Children of peasants, wor kers, and soldiers attended reopened
schools where they learned about Mao's works and peasant
achievements. Thousands of students received rudimentary medical
training and went to work as 'barefoot doctors' in the countryside. They
provided basic health ca re to peasants who would not otherwise have
access to medical facilities. New revolutionary ballet, opera, and
literature, much of it produced under the patronage of Chiang Ching,
replaced urban culture. The new work reflected peasant struggles while
glori fying Chairman Mao.

m. Death of three great leaders: 1976 turned out to be a year of agony
for China. LAI CHOU EN -LAI (1898 -1976). Chou En -death lai's on
January 8, 1976, was a tragic loss. He became the moderating influence
through numerous political storms as a pillar of strength in each
birthday party and authorities. Chou had saved the United States of
America from total chaos during the Cultural Revolution's upheaval
and had assisted the Gang of Four's hold close for ultimate power.

n. Gang of Four: Deep g rief spread throughout the country following the
deaths of three of its great leaders: Premier Chou En -lai in January,
Marshal Chu Teh in July, and Chairman Mao Tse -tung in September.
In July, a major earthquake destroyed the economic city of T'ang -shan,
150 miles southeast of Peking, and the Yellow River flooded seven
times over the next two months. The succession disaster precipitated by
Mao's wife Chiang Ch'ing and her friends, later dubbed the Gang of
Four, impacted the human misery and political instab ility.

o. End of the 'Gang of Four': While most of the radical excesses of the
Cultural Revolution had diminished by the mid -1970s, some of its
rhetoric and policies continued even after Mao's death in 1976. Chiang
Qing, the widow of Mao Tse Tung and the res t of the 'Gang of Four' munotes.in

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12 (Zhong Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuon, Wang Hongwin) were arrested that
year. With their arrest the Cultural Revolution officially came to an
end. In 1981 the members of the 'Gang of Four' were convicted for their
crimes. The Communist party leadership under Deng Xiaoping
officially condemned the Cultural Revolution. Deng Xiaoping laid the
groundwork for what has since become known as the Four
Modernizations: a comprehensive modernization of agriculture,
industry, national defence, and scienc e and technology that would put
China in the front ranks of the world by the end of the century.

p. The Deaths of National Leaders: CHOU EN -LAI (1898 -1976). The
dying of Chou En -Lai on January 8, 1976, have become an irreparable
loss. A pillar of strength i n both celebration and authorities, he emerge
as the moderating have an effect on via numerous political storms.
Teng Hsiao -p'ing, joined the Chinese Communist Youth Corps and
later the Chinese Communist Party. He became a dedicated sup porter
of Mao after the Tsunyi Conference of January 1935.

q. The tang shan earthquake . As if the deaths of national leaders and the
political chaos of the succession war were not sufficient punishment for
the country, on July 28, 1976, a major earthquake measuring 8.2 on the
Richter scale struck T'ang -shan, a mining town of one.6 million people.
A private government file listed 655,237 dead and 779,000 injured,
though later figures provided by the Chinese Seismology Society were
greatly reduced. The Gang's Plot: When the elect ed leader died, there
was a succession crisis because there was no constitutional mechanism
for the nonviolent transfer of electricity. As if the deaths of national
leaders and the political chaos of the succession war were not enough
punishment for the co untry, on July 28, 1976, a major earthquake
measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale struck T'ang -shan, a mining town of
one.6 million people. A private government file listed 655,237 dead
and 779,000 injured, though later figures provided by the Chinese
Seismol ogy Society were greatly reduced. The Gang's Plot: When the
elected leader died, there was a succession crisis because there was no
constitutional mechanism for the nonviolent transfer of electricity.
6. Consequences of the Cultural Revolution:
1. Slowdown of the Chinese Economy: The Cultural Revolution had far -
reaching effects on all aspects of Chinese society. The years of chaos
from 1966 to 1969 resulted in a slowdown and partial collapse of the
Chinese financial system. Because agricultural markets were
prohibited, peasants were pressed to promote all produce to the
kingdom. Due to China's emphasis on self -reliance and concern about
foreigners and overseas influence 'corrupting' the Chinese subculture,
the possibility of monetary cooperation with the Wes t became
eliminated. This resulted in economic isolation and stagnation. In
comparison, the economies of Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea all grew
tremendously during the same time period.
2. Setback to Education: Education has suffered a significant setbac k.
An entire technology of young humans had their religious training munotes.in

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Domestic Policy in
People’s R epublic Of
China Under Mao Zedong
(MAO TSE TUNG )
13 disrupted. A large number of high school and college students joined
the Red Guards and completed revolution' for Chairman Mao. College
front checks, which had been suspended in 1966, wer e not resumed
until 1977. Many valuable books and art collections were destroyed
during the Cultural Revolution, and many scholars from China's
leading schools and faculties died as a result of abuse and assaults by
the Red Guards.
3. Loss of Prestige of the CCP: The Cultural Revolution caused
significant damage to the Chinese Communist Party. The high -level
power struggles and the insecurity of the party's coverage infuriated
people from all walks of life. However, the CCP maintained control of
the situat ion. Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms of the 1980s and
1990s attempted to erase the Cultural Revolution's legacy.
1.3 SUMMARY
Under People’s Republic of China Mao Tse Tung tried to bring prosperity
to the China, but under so called leftist errors it brough t Cultural
RevolutionEven Mao Tse Tung, once known as 'The Great Helmsman' and
the 'Red Sun,' was publicly chastised for his 'leftist errors' during the
Cultural Revolution. Nonetheless, he was praised for his leadership in both
the war against Japan and t he civil war against the Kuomintang. Despite
being reviled privately by many Chinese, Mao is widely regarded as a
capable national leader today.
1.4 QUESTIONS
1. What was the domestic policy of People’s Republic of China? Explain.
2. Describe about imp ortance of Agrarian Laws.
3. What was the socialist experiment in the industry?
4. Elucidate the importance of Great Leap Forward.
5. What was the Great Proletariat Revolution? Explain its consequences.
1.5 REFERENCES

1. Immanuel C. Hsu, “The Rise of Modern China”, T hird Edition, Hong
Kong Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1983. ISBN 019581360X

2. Shive Kumar, “History of Modern China (1839 -1980), S. Chand &
Company Ltd., third edition, reprinted, New Delhi, 1985

3. Dr. V. S, Nayar, Mr. Fredrick Sequeira, ‘History of As ia (1900 A.D to
1960 A.D.), Manan Prakashan, Bombay, 1995

4. Dr. Eugene D’Souza, ‘History of Asia 1945 CE - 2000 CE’, Manan
Prakashan, First Edition, Mumbai, 2018
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14 2
ECONOMIC PROGRESS IN CHINA
UNDER DENG XIAOPING
Unit Structure :
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Economic Progress in China under Deng Xiaoping
2.3 Summery
2.4 Questions
2.5 References
2.0 OBJECTIVES
1. To acquaint students about the notable Economic progress initia ted by
programs and policies introduced by Deng Xiaoping

2. To introduce students to China's economic progress after Mao Tse
Tung's leadership, that implied China's transformation to the greater
power.

3. To highlight the key points of Deng Xiaoping’s vision a bout
introducing Economic Reforms
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter describes China's steady progress under Deng Xiaoping's
management in strengthening the economy in China. We'll take a glance at
how China has evolved over time. The major historical scenarios that
impacted society in modern China must be studied. These events
influenced the growth of modern politics, society, the economy, religion,
and culture. Communists had a clear plan for China's post -Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution development, and they meant to restore
their rule. The progress under Deng Xiaoping initiated through: Economic
Reforms, moved towards Capitalist Economy, Ten Year Plan, Open Door
Policy, Reforms in Agri culture, Reforms in Industry etc.
2.2 ECONOMIC PROGRESS IN CHINA UNDER DENG
XIAOPING
1. Emergence of Xiaoping: Out of the turmoil of the Cultural
Revolution Deng Xiaoping emerged as a sturdy leader. As each Mao
Tse Tung and Chou En -lai have been sick, he became given greater
responsibility in day -to-day sports of the Communist Party's Central
Committee. Following the loss of life of Mao Tse Tung in 1976, Deng
Xiaoping who taken into consideration become as a mild communist munotes.in

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Economic Progress In
China Under Deng
Xiaoping
15 leader took fee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Deng
spearheaded political r eforms in an try to bring balance to the US.
And to gain strong help. Though the CCP's repressive guidelines
eased extremely, the birthday party maintained a grip on political and
social existence. However, in the monetary sphere Deng's reforms had
enormou s effect and through the twentieth century, China got here to
project the US as the sector's best financial power. Deng Xiaoping
delivered Four Modernizations: a complete modernization of
agriculture, enterprise, national defence, and science and era that
might positioned China within the front ranks of the sector by the
cease of the century.

2. Deng Xiaoping First initiative in Economic Reforms: Following
the quilt of the Cultural Revolution and the autumn of the 'Gang of
Four', the Chinese Communist Party below the leadership of Deng
Xiaoping reaffirmed the modernization programme initiated by using
Chou En -lai in 1975. It also mentioned new guidelines for the motive
of engaging in the Four Modernizations. By 1982 Deng Xiaoping had
complete control of the C CP and the government. He wanted to make
crucial changes in order that China may want to compete with the
West. He became also of the opinion that it became important to
begin keeping apart the authorities from the birthday celebration as he
desired to ins tall area regulations which would fluctuate from
communist ideologies. The aim turned into to modernise China in
order that it could compete with the West in purchaser items and
industrial manufacturing. However, although Deng desired to put in
region West ern rules, he became nonetheless a communist and made
positive that the political machine remained communist.

3. Move towards Capitalist Economy: Deng realized that without a
capitalist -based financial system, China might now not prosper.
Hence, he converted a nation -owned and operated economic system
into one that allowed private assets, exceedingly open markets, and
international commerce.

In order to growth economic productiveness, the new guidelines of
the Chinese authorities under the manager of Deng X iaoping
pressured empowering the managers and financial selection -makers
on the rate of party officers. Encouragement turned into to be given
for the growth of the studies and schooling systems. Foreign trade was
to be extended, and exchanges of students a nd "overseas experts" with
evolved countries had been to be endorsed.

4. Ten Year Plan: This new coverage initiative changed into given final
shape on the Fifth National People's Congress in February and March
1978. In this Congress Hua Kuo Feng presented th e draft of an
formidable ten -yr plan for the 1976 -85 period. The Ten Year Plan
focused on economic sectors with heavy enterprise. The purpose
become to reach a stage at which China could be capable of guide
itself and compete with the West. The opening up of China to the
West with the aid of Mao Tse Tung and Chou En -Lai turned into munotes.in

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History of Asia
16 quite useful to the plan because it supplied some of the capital wished
for the plan. The plan cantered on China's development, especially
metallic production. Besides this, desi res were set for natural useful
resource extractions including oil, petroleum, coal, and nonferrous
metals. In addition, the plan included enormous infrastructure
development which worried electricity, railroads and water delivery.
The plan proved to be to o bold and the authorities couldn't come up
with the money for the prices so in 1979 the goals of the plan had
been changed. The plan would awareness at the Four Modernizations:
agriculture, enterprise, technology and generation and the military.

5. Positive Results: The reform initiative undertaken on the Fifth
National People's Congress had tremendous results. Between 1976
and 1978, the economy quickly recovered from the stagnation of the
Cultural Revolution. Though the rural production was sluggish in
1977 due to 3 years of awful weather situations, China registered a
report harvest in 1978. Similarly, commercial manufacturing jumped
with the aid of 14 percentage in 1977 and by means of thirteen
percentage in 1978.

6. Open Door Policy: The Party introduced th e Open Door Policy in
December 1978. This was a first -rate thing for the success of the Ten -
Year Plan and the Four Modernizations. A high degree of capital was
had to make the modifications and the Open Door Policy provided
this capital. Also, China could gain from mastering and uploading
technological know -how and technology via buying and selling with
the West. China targeted on best of its merchandise, the
diversification of its exports, and the devaluation of the Yuan and
constructed up its foreign mone y reserves. In this way, China has
become very appealing to buyers like Japan, West Germany, and the
US.

Besides this, Coca -Cola announced that it might be establishing a
plant in Shanghai. Early in 1979 Chinese government shifted its
monetary approach t o emphasize the manufacture of purchaser goods
for sale overseas.

7. Policy of 'Reform and Opening': Deng Xiaoping did no longer
originate the policy of "reform and establishing”, which commenced
under the management of Hua Kuo Feng after the loss of life of Mao
Tse Tung in 1976. But Deng supplied the consistent hand, the clear
direction, and the political talent for China to be successful. He
enjoyed the support of senior cadres who realized that Mao's
continuing revolutions delivered catastrophe, however, h e had the
judgment to tempo the reforms and hold the help of folks who feared
the opening of markets, in addition to individuals who feared that the
whole could be too slow. To prepare for modernization, Deng evolved
closer relations with the leading moder n-day international locations.
He paved the manner for nearer family members in Europe in his go
to France in 1975. He made the political decisions that paved the
manner for the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Japan in 1978 munotes.in

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Economic Progress In
China Under Deng
Xiaoping
17 after which went to Japan in October of that years in a triumphal go
that received the aid of Japanese political and business leaders. He led
the introduction of Japanese movies, literature, and tv series into
China, helping the Chinese conquer their terrible emotions in Japan
and learn from Japanese scientists, technicians, and commercial
leaders.

He supervised the negotiations at the normalization of members of the
family with the US till the very last levels in which he in my view
completed negotiations. This turned into accom panied by his
excursion to the United States in January 1979 in which he installed
desirable relations with President Carter, congressional leaders, and
enterprise leaders. As a part of the drive for monetary advancement
and starting to the West, students have been sent to foreign nations to
look, at authorities' prices. And in 1984, to enhance China's operating
dating with overseas powers and foreign agencies, China adopted a
patent regulation to guard overseas patents. Also under Deng, non -
secular freedom was restored. Nine hundred Protestant churches and
ninety Catholic Church buildings have been reopened.

8. Reforms in Agriculture: The purpose of reforms in agriculture
turned into to boom in the yields of farmers. For this reason, the
authorities wanted fa rmers to move away from traditional farming
techniques. Instead of manual paintings, the government wanted the
farmers to introduce mechanized farming. To increase productivity
the authorities, deliberate to improving water supply to the farmers,
promote t he use of chemical fertilizers and aid private incentives and
diversification.

9. Household Responsibility System: A big turning point became the
implementation of the Household Responsibility System. Under this
device despite the fact that there has been no netheless no private
possession of land, each farming household received a plot of land
which the farming families should use as they wanted. Under this
system, the farmers should have a contract with the nearby commune
in which they needed to lease a cert ain quantity of workers and plant a
specific quantity of plants. The farming households had managed over
the labour within their families and could distribute this labour but
they needed. All farming family surplus will be both sold or kept
which became a notable gain to farmers. In exchange for the usage of
the land for a period of 15 years, a quota that had been predetermined
might lower back to the nearby commune.

The Household Responsibility System became very successful. By
1989, ninety per cent of households had been involved inside the
system. The System allowed growing productiveness via more than
what had been set via the Ten -Year Plan. Hence, China became the
most important agricultural manufacturer. Improvement in agriculture
caused multiplied productivity. Due to this elevated productiveness,
factories were constructed and the communes saw the revival of
neighbourhood crafts. In flip, the development and productiveness in munotes.in

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History of Asia
18 agriculture induced farmers to leave their family plots and paintings
regionally within the factories.

10. Reforms in Industry: The important attention of the monetary
reforms delivered with the aid of the authorities underneath Deng
Xiaoping in the area of enterprise turned into on capital construction
and enhancing heavy indust ries. Hence, attention turned into
interested in metal, iron, coal and oil production and the government
invested 55 billion Yen on this zone. They’re become a total of a
hundred and twenty projects to be completed. However, the plan
proved to be too ambit ious to be carried out successfully. Thus, in
1979 it became readjusted

11. Industrial Responsibility System: As within the case of agriculture,
the Industrial Responsibility System turned into added inside the
industry as nicely. Under this system, the super visory frame of a
State -Owned Enterprise might have a contract in which a percent of
the production and earnings might visit the kingdom and the State -
Owned Enterprise could preserve the excess. This improved the mind -
set and motivation of business people which led to elevated
productivity. In October 1984 the Resolution at the Reform of the
Economic System was added.

Individual business enterprise also turned into allowed, after having
truly disappeared for the duration of the Cultural Revolution.
Indep endent cobblers, tailors, tinkers and companies once more have
become not unusual attractions within the towns. Foreign -trade
techniques were substantially eased, allowing character organizations
and administrative departments outdoor the Ministry of Forei gn
Trade, renamed the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and
Trade in 1984, to interact in direct negotiations with foreign firms. A
wide variety of cooperation, buying and selling and credit score
preparations with foreign corporations have been legal ized so that
China could input the mainstream of global trade.

The formidable step undertaken through China underneath the
leadership of Deng Xiaoping proved to achieve success. By 1987, the
programme had executed notable outcomes in growing materia ls of
food and different purchaser goods and had created a new weather of
dynamism and possibility within the economic system. At the
identical time, however, the reforms also created new troubles and
tensions, leading to excessive wondering and political struggles over
the programme's destiny.

12. Military Modernization: China has the largest regular armed force
within the international, numbering some 4,325,000. The army by
myself includes 3,250,000 troops, and China's naval and air forces
rank 0.33 across t he world in terms of numbers. But, besides for
wallet of in -depth improvement in the strategic region (e.g., nuclear
bombs and ballistic missiles), Chinese navy generation remains a few
twenty to thirty years behind the West. Troops are properly -skilled,
tremendously motivated, and politically indoctrinated however munotes.in

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Economic Progress In
China Under Deng
Xiaoping
19 equipped with woefully inadequate weapons. The state of affairs,
brought about by using a loss of funds and with the aid of
underdeveloped era, worsened

13. Strategic Forces: Medium -range ballistic missiles: 30 -forty CSS -1,
six hundred -seven -hundred miles. Intermediate -range ballistic
missiles: 30 -40 CSS -2, 1750 miles

14. Army: three,250,000 men, 10 armoured divisions, 121 infantry
divisions, and 150 impartial regiments.

15. Navy: three hundred,000 men, 30 ,000 Naval Air Force with seven
hundred shore -primarily based aircraft, 38,000 Marines, 23 essential
floor fight ships, and a instead massive quantity of submarines and
destroyers with missile -launching capability.

16. Air Force: 400,000 men, 5,000 fight plan e together with 4,000 MIG
17/19, and a small quantity of MIG 21 and F -nine warring parties.

17. Period of Readjustment: The first few years of the reform
programme underneath Deng Xiaoping have been distinct as the
"duration of readjustment". During this per iod key imbalances inside
the economy had been to be corrected and a foundation turned into to
be laid for a nicely -deliberate modernization of the financial system.
The schedule of Hua Kuo Feng's ten -year plan was given up.
However, many of its elements h ave been retained.

The important goals of the readjustment process have been to expand
exports swiftly; overcome key deficiencies in transportation,
communications, coal, iron, steel, building substances, and electric
energy; and redress the imbalance be tween mild and heavy enterprise
by using increasing the increase rate of light industry and lowering
funding in heavy industry. The important policy improvements
expanded the autonomy of organization managers, decreased
emphasis on deliberate quotas, allow ed corporations to supply items
outside the plan on the market in the marketplace, and approved
enterprises to test with the usage of bonuses to praise higher
productiveness.

Agricultural production was stimulated by using reliable
encouragement to establ ish free farmers' markets in city areas, as well
as within the nation -state, and by way of permitting a few households
to operate as "specialised families," devoting their efforts to
producing a scarce commodity or provider o n a earnings -making
foundation.

Deng Xiaoping believed that the chaos inside the century before the
Communists took electricity in 1949 and the chaos of the decade of
the Cultural Revolution had retarded the financial boom of China.


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History of Asia
20 2.3 SUMMARY
Under Deng Xiaoping's management econo my in China started
strengthening. China has evolved over time towards Economic progress in
to the domestic affairs. Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms, transition to a
capitalist economy, Ten Year Plan, Open Door Policy, agricultural
reforms, industrial ref orms, and other policies effected China's
modernization in the twentieth century.
2.4 QUESTIONS
1. What was the Deng Xiaoping’s ideas implemented for strengthening of
Chinas Economy? Explain.

2. Describe about importance of Policy of 'Reform and Ope ning'.

3. Explain about Open Door Policy implemented by Deng Xiaoping.

4. Elucidate about the Deng Xiaoping’s first initiative in Economic
Reforms.

5. What was the Ten Years Plan? Explain
2.5 REFERENCES
1. Immanuel C. Hsu, “The Rise of Modern China”, Third Edition, Hong
Kong Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1983. ISBN 019581360X

2. Shive Kumar, “History of Modern China (1839 -1980), S. Chand &
Company Ltd., third edition, reprinted, New Delhi, 1985

3. Dr. V. S, Nayar, Mr. Fredrick Sequeira, ‘History of Asia (1900 A.D to
1960 A.D.), Manan Prakashan, Bombay, 1995

4. Dr. Eugene D’Souza, ‘History of Asia 1945 CE - 2000 CE’, Manan
Prakashan, First Edition, Mumbai, 2018


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21 3
FOREIGN POLICY OF CHINA WITH USSR
Unit Structure :
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Foreign Policy of China with USSR
3.3 Summ ary
3.4 Questions
3.5 References
3.0 OBJECTIVES
1. To acquaint the students with communist China's foreign poli cy toward
the Soviet Union.

2. To explain the significant changes that occurred during and after Mao
Tse Tung, Deng Xiaoping, and other leaders of Modern China

3. To educate students on the history of China's struggle for supremacy in
international politics wi thin the framework of Communism.

4. To familiarize students the socialist perspectives of China and
Khrushchev’s Policy of de -Stalinisation and China’s reaction to it.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter describes China's Foreign Policy with USSR i.e., Union of
Soviet Socialist Russia. As Cold War greatly implemented various
strategies on various powers which were involved either involved in Axis
powers or in Allied during Second World War. Major polar powers such
as USA (United States of America) and USSR (Union o f Soviet Socialist
Russia) were consistently tried to make countries under their influence.
However, countries such a China played dynamic role being communist in
the Asian region even dominated cold war politics in case of Chinese
Criticism of Khrushchev' s Visit to the US, China's Reaction to the Cuban
Missile Crisis (1962), China's Criticism of the NTBT, Differences over the
Vietnam War made a great difference in international politics.
3.2 FOREIGN POLICY OF CHINA WITH THE USSR
Both China's remote and cu rrent history had been essential determinants
of her overseas policy. For several thousand years, China considered
herself politically, culturally, and economically advanced to her on the
spot neighbours. More recent activities have re -emphasised China's munotes.in

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History of Asia
22 perception in her historic role to a paramount role in Asia and international
affairs. These historical determinants are further reinforced by using
ideological considerations. In the triumphing perception gadget of
Marxism -Leninism -Maoism, the Chinese Comm unist leaders are
convinced that their U .S .A . Is historically destined to be the standard
bearer of revolution. China had been at the forefront of the warfare for the
establishment of Communism on a worldwide scale.

After assuming political manage over China following the civil war in
1949, the Chinese Communists sought diplomatic popularity. Within
seven months, the complete Communist bloc such as Yugoslavia and
different nations together with Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Israel, the
Netherlands, Switzerla nd, England, and 6 Asian nations, Afghanistan,
Burma, Ceylon, India, Indonesia and Pakistan acknowledged the People's
Republic of China. China additionally claimed membership of the United
Nations, and the proper to a permanent seat at the United Nations S ecurity
Council.

1. Sino -Soviet Treaty of Friendship: Close members of the family with
Russia marked the early years of Chinese overseas policy. The
Communist Government in China requested reputation from all
Governments "inclined to look at the standards of equality, mutual
benefit and mutual recognize of territorial integrity and sovereignty".
Russia become one of the earliest nations to realise the Communist
regime in China. Immediately after the established order of the new
Chinese authorities in Peking in October 1949, Mao Tse Tung
undertook his first visit outdoor the Chinese territory, to Moscow in
December 1949, to negotiate useful resource and exchange
agreements. Both China and Russia abrogated their old treaties and
entered right into a thirty -12 m onths Sino -Soviet Treaty of Friendship,
Alliance and Mutual Assistance in February 1950.

2. Russian Advisers and Technicians in China: Following the Treaty
of Friendship, the Soviet Union despatched a large quantity of
advisers and technicians to China to a ssist her in financial
improvement along Communist strains. Direct navy and monetary
assistance were additionally to Communist China. On the alternative
hand, the Russian -constructed railway across Manchuria from Siberia
to the ports of Darien and Port Art hur became to be mutually
controlled by means of China and the Soviet Union. Mao Tse Tung
and Chou En -Lai, in a telegram to Malenkov and Molotov after the
death of Stalin, mentioned "the fraternal aid rendered by using the
Soviet Union to the Chinese peopl e."

3. Sino -Soviet Differences: The alliance among China and the Soviet
Union, seemingly so sturdy in 1950, became cracking by 1960.
China's electricity quite alarmed Russia which noticed an ability
hazard to her management of the Communist World in addition to a
danger to Soviet strength itself. The management of the communist
world, after Stalin's death, need to have fallen at the shoulders of Mao munotes.in

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Foreign Policy of China
with USSR
23 due to his seniority however to his dismay, Khrushchev emerged
because the chief of the communist bloc.

4. Khrushchev’s Policy of de -Stalinisation : In 1953, whilst Stalin died,
a conflict for succession changed into on among Malenkov and
Khrushchev. Khrushchev recommended a more difficult attitude
closer to the West, an attitude that appropriate the Chinese inter ests.
The management of the communist world, after Stalin's death, ought
to have fallen on the shoulders of Mao due to his seniority but to his
dismay, Khrushchev emerged as the chief of the communist bloc.
Mao did now not then oppose it because of his inv olvement in several
home and foreign issues the fixing of which he acquired Khrushchev's
help. In the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
(February 1956), Khrushchev made a blistering assault on Stalin.
Initiated the manner of de -Stalinisation and thereby wounded Mao's
best of 'hero -worship'. He also initiated the manner of liberalisation;
advocated 'peaceful coexistence'; secure the Marxist -Leninist idea of
the inevitability of struggle. This led to uncertainty within the
communist g lobal with regard to persevering with cold conflict
scenario happening and on.

5. China's Reaction to De -Stalinisation: The first source of public war
of words among China and the Soviet Union become de -Stalinisation
in the Soviet Union. When Stalin died in 1953, it changed into no
longer clean who might succeed him. However, all of his capacity
successors were of the opinion that the Stalinist system needed some
diploma of reform. By 1956 Nikita Khrushchev, who changed into in
favour of extensive reform of the Soviet gadget emerged as the brand
new chief in Moscow.

6. Change in Attitude toward Eastern Europe: Besides criticising
Stalin as an man or woman, Khrushchev became dismantling some of
Stalin's regulations. The Soviet Union started out to loosen up its
preserve over other Communist international locations, specially in
Eastern Europe. However, whilst the Hungarians took advantage of
this relaxation and revolted towards the Soviet Union in November
1956, the Soviet Red Army entered Hungary to repair it to the Soviet
bloc. To the Chinese, this regarded proof of Soviet incompetence. The
Russians, then again, resented the Chinese presumption in trying to
inform the Soviet Union a way to run Eastern Europe.

7. China's Disapproval of the Policy of Peaceful Co -existence: The
bitterest controversy among China and the Soviet Union turned into
over Khrushchev's policy of 'non -violent coexistence'. Khrushchev
felt that it become time to improve relations with the Western
democracies to increase change and decrease the hazard of struggle.
As towards the Marxist Leninist principle of the inevitability of
struggle, Khrushchev argued that the further growth of Communism
in the world could be performed with the aid of peaceful political
way, instead of through conflict. Chin a disagreed with Khrushchev's
doctrinal shift. Chinese Communists were of the opinion that violent munotes.in

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History of Asia
24 way alone may want to offer an inexpensive desire for success to the
Communists, specifically in south -east Asian nations like South
Vietnam.

The deb ate between the Soviet Union and China close to how
Communist events in trendy ought to act inside the international as a
whole consumed tons in their energy and time. The result was that the
Russians came to the conclusion that the Chinese have been
dange rously insane, even as the Chinese accused the Russians of
cowards who had been forsaking the conventional Communist
principle of revolution and becoming 'revisionists'.

8. Mao's Stress on Vigorous Policy in the direction of the West : The
Soviet Union teste d an Inter -Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) in
August 1957 and released the sector's first space satellite in October
of the equal 12 months. The Chinese noticed these technological
successes as a manifestation of Soviet superiority over America. In
October 1957, Mao Tse Tung attended a assembly of the world's
Communist events held in Moscow following the celebrations of the
Fortieth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. He took the
possibility to re -pressure his notion that 'the East wind prevails o ver
the West wind', and pressed for a greater forceful overseas coverage,
particularly towards the West. However, the Soviet leaders were
unwilling to concede to his arguments.

9. Russia's Neutrality During the 'Offshore Island' Crisis : Soviet
Union's reluct ance to guide China's overseas policy targets turned into
absolutely proven all through the 'offshore island' disaster. In August
1958, China determined to take the islands of Quemoy and Matsu
from the manipulation of the Nationalist authorities based in T aiwan.
A massive bombardment from the nearby mainland became opened
and persevered for lots days. The United States came to the rescue of
the Nationalist authorities by way of threatening intervention to shield
Taiwan and the offshore islands. China was fo rced to retreat.
Khrushchev maintained silence on the problem of the offshore islands
during the crisis. This manifested a complete loss of coordination
inside the Sino -Soviet foreign policy.

10. Differing Views on the Great Leap Forward : The rift among the 2
facets widened in 1958 by means of China's Great Leap Forward.
China boasted the achievement of the communes because the 'buds of
communism' and claimed that China might achieve communism
earlier than its economically greater superior rival, the Soviet Un ion.
On the other hand, Khrushchev criticised Chinese communes as 'old
school, 'which could not paintings.

11. Russian Neutrality in the course of the Tibetan Crisis : There
changed into an anti -Chinese revolt in Tibet in March 1959. The
revolt changed into ru thlessly suppressed and the Dalai Lama sought
refuge in India. India denounced the Chinese action. However,
Khrushchev studiously remained neutral at some point of the Tibetan munotes.in

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Foreign Policy of China
with USSR
25 crisis and in the Sino -Indian border dispute of 1959, which annoyed
China in add ition.

12. Chinese Criticism of Khrushchev's Visit to the US: In September
1959, unmindful of Chinese criticism, Khrushchev went to the US to
seek advice from President Eisenhower at Camp David to defend
Russian pursuits. Khrushchev flew from America directly to Peking to
persuade the Chinese management concerning the blessings of the
concept of 'non -violent coexistence and to suggest that the Chinese
should undertake the de facto reputation of ' Chinas' as a way to the
Taiwan hassle, and to induce them now no t to 'check by using
pressure the stability of the capitalist machine'. However, China
strongly criticised Khrushchev's go to the United States and Mao Tse
Tung, who believed that each one electricity grew out of the barrel of
the gun, gave Khrushchev cold reception.

13. Withdrawal of Soviet Experts from China: From this time
onwards, the space between the Soviet Union and China widened in
addition. In 1960 the Chinese launched a bitter assault on Soviet
guidelines. Following this Khrushchev ordered the withdr awal of
Soviet specialists from China and cancelled all monetary resource.
Each accused the opposite of ideological deviation from the genuine
Marxist -Leninist doctrine. Their perspectives regarding struggle and
peace, disarmament, non -alignment and neutra lity had been
diametrically opposed to every different.

14. China's Reaction to Khrushchev's Congratulatory Message to
JFK : When John F. Kennedy became elected the President of the US,
Khrushchev sent him congratulatory messages in February 1961. The
Chinese, who continued to oppose the coverage of 'non -violent co -
existence, disapproved of this gesture of the Soviet leader and his try
to set up detente with Kennedy. The Soviet Union attacked Albania, a
staunch best friend of China, as a dogmatist and broke off diplomatic
relations with it. On the opposite hand, China dubbed Yugoslavia as
revisionist.

15. Russian Neutrality inside the Sino -Indian War (1962) : The rift
between China and the Soviet Union deepened in 1962 with the Sino -
Indian border warfare, in which t he Soviet Union remained neutral,
after which supplied fighter aircraft to India. The Chinese considered
the diplomatic help given with the aid of the Soviet Union to India as
a 'treachery'.

16. China's Reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) : When the
Cuban missile crisis took place almost concurrently with the Sino -
Indian border struggle, China at first introduced its help for the Soviet
choice to place missiles in Cuba. However, while Khrushchev
subsidized down because of the United States strain on 27 October,
Chinese leaders denounced the Soviet choice to area missiles in Cuba
as 'adventurism', and the selection to take them out as
'capitulationism'. munotes.in

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History of Asia
26 17. Question of Sino -Soviet Border : The question of the Sino -Soviet
border also became a first -rate flash p oint in 1962. The Chinese
accused Russia of incorporating into the Soviet Union extra than
60,000 Chinese residing in Sinkiang and refused to let them return
home. By elevating the border query, the Chinese also cited the
'unequal treaties' imposed on Chin a by Tsarist Russia.

18. China's Criticism of the NTBT : The Chinese criticised the Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty, signed in Moscow through England, America, and
the Soviet Union in July 1963. The Chinese leaders noticed the
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty as a Soviet -West plot to preserve China and
others out of the nuclear membership. Mao saw this as a clean
indication that Khrushchev had selected the West over China. Still,
there had been attempts at reconciliation between the two Communist
nations. Boundary negotiations passed off in Peking in 1964. But the
negotiations have been deadlocked due to war of words between the
two.

19. Testing of the First Nuclear Device through China : Khrushchev
was ousted from electricity on 15 October 1964. On the following
day, the Chinese an nounced that that they had tested their first nuclear
device. This proven the fast improve of Chinese era to the level of the
maximum advanced commercial countries, without resource from any
person of them, which includes Russia.

20. Differences over the Viet nam War : Increasing anxiety over the
Vietnam War, and whether or not China and the Soviet Union must
engage in 'united motion', quickly have become the focal point of
Sino-Soviet members of the family. China decided to prohibit Soviet
resource through air to Vietnam from passing over Chinese territory.
Mao Tse Tung strongly rejected Soviet proposals for united action.
The Chinese and Albanians did not attend the twenty third Congress
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in March 1966, as they
dubbed i t as 'revisionist'.

21. China's Criticism of the Russian Invasion of Czechoslovakia :
China criticised the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia within the
summer of 1968. Chou En -lai accused the Soviet Union of looking to
create puppets with the assist of weapon s and compared the Soviet
'act of aggression with Hitler's beyond invasion of Czechoslovakia
and with the USA' aggression towards Vietnam. The Breznev
doctrine, affirming the right of the Soviet Union to take navy motion
against any member of the socialist community turned into denounced
by China as an 'outright doctrine of hegemony'.

22. Clash between Chinese and Russian Troops: On 2 March 1969,
preventing broke out over Damansky Island within the Ussuri River.
From 1960 there have been several smaller incide nts, but this became
the first severe clash among Soviet and Chinese forces, ensuing in
heavy Soviet casualties. The battle escalated along the Manchurian
and Sinkiang frontiers. On eleven September 1969, Alexie Kosygin,
the Soviet Premier, returning from the funeral of Ho Chi Minh in munotes.in

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Foreign Policy of China
with USSR
27 Hanoi, stopped in Peking for talks with Chou En -lai. These airport
conversations ended in an settlement for an immediate cease -hearth
and withdrawal of troops. An settlement to maintain talks on border
questions changed into f inally reached on 7 October, and the talks
were held in Peking on 20 October. However, because 1969 there has
been no resolution to the border query. The treaty of friendship
between China and Russia became allowed to lapse without a new
settlement to take its location.

23. Rapprochement with the USA: The bilateral Sino -Soviet
relationship had not markedly changed in the period from 1969 to
1982. However, there have been a extensive alternate within the
international surroundings. The worldview of Chinese le aders
underwent a exchange. In the Seventies China succeeded in breaking
through her isolation. By the early Seventies, most Western countries
had acknowledged her. In 1971, China changed into finally admitted
to the United Nations on its personal phrases, which supposed the
exclusion of Taiwan. The amazing victory of Chinese international
relations changed into the rapprochement with America in 1972. Mao
Tse Tung met President Nixon and then President Ford, and good
sized steps have been taken closer to th e Sino -American
normalization of members of the family.

After Mao's demise, the contention between the Soviet Union and
China become not profound. However, the internal politics of either
united states or greater in the worldwide discipline, where in the
national interests of the two states frequently clashed led to
inflammation inside the courting between China and the Soviet
Union.

24. Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia: The first predominant
disagreement changed into in Indo -China. The give up of the Vi etnam
War in 1975 left pro -Soviet regimes in power in Vietnam and Laos
and a pro -Chinese regime in Cambodia. The Vietnamese have been at
the beginning organized to disregard the murderous home rules of the
Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. However, the persecuti on of ethnic
Vietnamese groups and clashes along the border, led to the invasion
of Cambodia by using Vietnam in 1978 resulting inside the overthrow
of the Pol Pot regime. The Chinese vehemently denounced this act of
Vietnam and released a "punitive" invas ion of northern Vietnam,
resulting within the Sino -Vietnamese War. The Soviet Union in turn
denounced China but took no military action.

25. Intervention of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan: In 1979, the
Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan whilst the Commun ist regime
in Afghanistan became in danger of being overthrown. The Chinese
authorities, viewing this as part of a Soviet plot to encircle China,
formed an alliance with the USA and Pakistan to help the Islamist
resistance actions in Afghanistan and preven t the Soviet invasion.
This became rather a hit. The interminable struggle in Afghanistan did
a whole lot to weaken the Soviet device. China turned into. Also munotes.in

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History of Asia
28 involved in secretly supplying aid to the Contras fighting the Soviet -
sponsored Sandinista govern ment in Nicaragua. In 1982, rapidly
before his demise, Leonid Brezhnev delivered a speech in Baku that
way for changed into rather conciliatory closer to China. This opened
the Chinese ministerial illustration at his funeral (1982) and coffee -
key efforts a t lowering tensions.

26. Gorbachev's try to repair everyday relations with China: When
Mikhail Gorbachev got here to strength inside the Soviet Union in
1985, he endeavoured to repair ordinary members of the family with
China. Soviet army forces alongside the border had been significantly
decreased, normal economic members of the family were resumed,
and the border problem was quietly forgotten. The Soviet withdrawal
from Afghanistan removed the most important rivalry among the 2
states. However, the ideologic al problems of the 1960s had been no
longer resolved, and legit relations between the 2 Communist events
were now not resumed. The nevertheless cold relations between the
Soviet Union and China induced many in the United States authorities
under Ronald Rea gan to remember China a natural counterbalance in
opposition to the Soviet Union, resulting in American navy resource
to the People's Liberation Army.

To cement improving members of the family, Gorbachev visited
China in May 1989. An unintentional result of this summit turned into
the excessive insurance by using overseas media of the Tiananmen
Protests of 1989 and the following crackdown.

The Chinese authorities become sceptical of Gorbachev's reform
programme, which led in the end to the fall apart of the Soviet Union
and the cease of Communist Party rule in 1991. Since the Chinese
authorities did no longer officially understand the Soviet Union as a
fellow "socialist country", it had no authentic opinion on how
Gorbachev must reform Soviet socialism. In non -public, Chinese
management expressed the opinion that Gorbachev turned into silly to
embark on political reform before enforcing economic reform,
whereas Deng Xiaoping had applied economic reform without
weakening Communist Party rule.

27. Collapse of the Soviet Union and development of Sino -Russian
members of the family: The crumble of the Soviet Union ended the
Sino-Soviet split. Rather than a large Soviet invasion, the Chinese
government became then extra worried approximately the USA
intervention in guide of Taiwanese independence. Likewise, a
weakened Russia changed into then extra worried about American
tasks together with the growth of NATO and its intervention in the
former Yugoslavia. Rather than a counterbalance in opposition to
Russia, the USA started out to view China as a competitor.

Due to these factors within the new political panorama of the world,
Russia and China advanced relations if you want to counter American
strength. In 1992, the two countries declared that they were pursuing a munotes.in

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Foreign Policy of China
with USSR
29 "positive partnership. In 1993, the two international locations signed a
treaty that officially demarcated the border and formally ended all
exquisite disputes. In 1996, they progressed in the direction of a
"strategic partnership which led to the establis hment of the Shanghai
Five, later renamed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a free
alliance at the side of states in Central Asia. In 2001, both China and
Russia signed a treaty of "friendship and cooperation".
3.3 SUMMARY
Various strategies were im plemented on various countries that were either
Axis or Allied powers during W orld war -II as the Cold War progressed.
Major polar powers such as the USA (United States of America) and the
USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Russia) have consistently attempted to
creat e countries under their influence. However, countries such as China
played dynamic roles as communists in the Asian region, even dominating
cold war politics in cases such as Chinese Criticism of Khrushchev's Visit
to the US, China's Reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), China's
Criticism of the NTBT, and Differences over the Vietnam War.
3.4 QUESTIONS
1. What was the basic principle of China's foreign policy towards the
Soviet Union? Explain.

2. Describe about importance of Khrushchev’s Policy of de -Stalinisation.

3. What was the policy of Mao's in the direction of the West?
4. Elucidate about the China's Reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis
(1962).

5. Critically analyse the China’s differences over the Vietnam War.
3.5 REFERENCES
1. Immanuel C. Hsu, “The Rise of Modern China”, Third Edition, Hong
Kong Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1983. ISBN 019581360X

2. Shive Kumar, “History of Modern China (1839 -1980), S. Chand &
Company Ltd., third edition, reprinted, New Delhi, 1985

3. Dr. V. S, Nayar, Mr. Fredrick Sequeira, ‘History of Asia (1900 A.D to
1960 A.D.), Manan Prakashan, Bombay, 1995

4. Dr. Eugene D’Souza, ‘History of Asia 1945 CE - 2000 CE’, Manan
Prakashan, First Edition, Mumbai, 2018

munotes.in

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30 4
AMERICAN OCCUPATION
OF JAPAN
Unit Structure:
4.0 Objective
4.1 Introduction
4.3 Impact o f the Second World War on Japan
4.4 The Period of Allied Occupation –the SCAP Administration
(1945 -52)
4.5 The Political Programme of Oc cupied Japan
4.6 Social Programme of The Scap Administration
4.7 Summary
4.8 Question
4.9 References
4.0 OBJECTIVE
After going through this unit, the learner will be able to:
 Know the reconstruction programme in Japan after World War -II
 Understand the imp act of World War- II on Japan.
 Review the SCAP administration in Japan.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
Japan had participated in the Second World War on the side of the Central
Powers. With the dropping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima on 6 th
August and the next on Nagasaki on 9 th August by the USA, Japan
unconditionally surrendered before the Allies on 14 th August 1945 and
the War came to an end. With the surrender of Japan, her fifty -year age of
imperialism came to an end. Asia was freed from the Japanese milita rism
and imperialistic expansion. The war had serious evil effects on the
national life of Japan.
4.3 IMPACT O F THE SECOND WORLD WAR ON
JAPAN
The impact of the war on Japan was felt everywhere. In mid 1945 Japan
presented a picture of physical destruction , economic collapse, and social munotes.in

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American occupation of japan
31 and spiritual emptiness. Due to heavy bombardment during wartime,
Japan had suffered huge loss of life and property. About 20 lakh people
had been killed and 25 lakh houses had been totally or partly destroyed, in
Tokyo alone, some 7 lakh houses had been destroyed. The industrial and
commercial buildings of Japan, inclusive of the equipment also faced
similar consequences. About 40 per cent of the urban area was lost.
Inflation consumed the meagre savings of millions of peopl e. In the
economic field, the production system had collapsed. During the wartime,
since all importance was given to the production of war equipments, other
industrial production had considerably declined. Compared to the level of
1930 -31, by 1945, product ion had declined by 70 per cent. Her merchant
marine, the third largest in the world before the war, had all vanished. Her
assets abroad, especially in the United States were frozen. Thus, Japan had
reached the lowest ebb of her economic activity. Tremendo us price hike,
black marketing and social crime had become the order of the day. The
influence of law had declined. Men defied authority, and gangsters
terrorized the innocent people. The condition of the Japanese people,
without housing, food, clothing an d heating can well be imagined. But, the
emotional damage was still greater. The national pride of Japan was
tremendously hurt.
Even in such a situation, Japan had accepted the bitter truth of surrender
and humiliation with great restrain. They owned respo nsibility for their
defeat. Discipline is an inseparable part of Japanese life. Therefore, the
Japanese people accepted the Emperor’s humiliating order of surrender. It
is on the strength of this discipline that Japan achieved the economic
reconstruction o f the war-torn Japanese life. The Japanese cooperated with
the occupation machinery created by the Allied powers, and finally it led
to the reconstruction of Japan in the postwar period. The Japanese adjusted
themselves to the changed circumstances. Within a short period, like
phoenix, Japan once again rose from the ashes of the Second World War,
and ventured to conquer the world through her technological and
economic might.
The post -war Japan is divided into two periods: (a) the period of Allied
Occupation (1945 -52), and (b) the period of Independent Japan (1952 to
present times).
4.4 THE PERIOD OF ALLIED OCCUPATION – THE
SCAP ADMINISTRATION (1945 -52)
Although, all the Allied Powers had participated in framing the policy
about post -war Japan, the USA had pl ayed the most vital role. The
background of this policy was already created by the Cairo Declaration,
Yalta Agreement, and Potsdam Declaration. A vast administrative
machinery was created for the enforcement of this policy. Later at the
Moscow conference o f foreign ministers held in December 1945, it was
decided to establish an eleven -nation Far Eastern Commission and a Four -
Power Allied Council for Japan.
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History of Asia
32 The Administrative Machinery of Allied Occupation:
The SCAP: On 6 th September 1945, the Allied troop s occupied Japan and
military administration began over there. The Allied Powers created a vast
administrative machinery for Japan. General Douglas A. MacArthur of
America was appointed as the “Supreme Commander of the Allied
Powers” (SCAP). Russia insiste d that there should be two Supreme
Commanders, one of Russia and another of America. But, this demand
was not agreed upon by the Allies.
The Far -Eastern Commission: It was appointed at Washington,
consisting of members representing 11 countries who had pa rticipated in
the war against Japan. These 11 countries were: America, Russia,
England, France, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India,
China and Philippince. In 1949, the representatives of Burma and Pakistan
were added into it. Its work was t o decide the policies, principles and
criteria of fulfilling Japanese responsibilities arising in the context of
surrender, and to review the actions of SCAP. The responsibility of
executing the decisions taken by the Far -Eastern Commission was of the
SCAP . This execution was to be done not by the American troops but by
the Japanese Emperor through Japanese government machinery. In
addition, to assist and advice the SCAP, there was a small teem of officers
from American military and civil services. These officers were experts in
different subjects.
The Allied Council for Japan: In addition of the Far -Eastern
Commission, a body called “Allied Council for Japan” was created at
Tokyo on the insistence of Russia. It comprised of four representatives,
one each fr om Russia, America and China, and one collectively
representing England, Australia, New Zealand and India. It was under the
Presidency of the USA, and it was only an advisory and consultative body,
having no executive powers.
The Central Liaison Office: The SCAP Administration created “Central
Liaison Office” to bring about cooperation, understanding and
coordination amongst various American and Japanese departments and
officers. This office carried out about 1000 orders into execution within a
year, with t he help of the Japanese officers.
However, all this institutional apparatus remained only formal and
nominal in nature, and all the real powers regarding the control of Japan
remained with the USA i.e. the SCAP. . An appeal could be filed against
his order s with the Far -Eastern Commission, but, in reality, his
interpretation was regarded important. The Far -Eastern Commission and
the Allied Council did not have any powers with regard to military action
and territorial exchanges. In order to enable Japan to f ulfil the conditions
of surrender, the USA took up the responsibility of Japanese defense, and
the Allied troops were stationed in Japan, which had to act under the
guidance of the SCAP. In this context, advice of the Allied Council could
be taken but, in case of a disagreement, the decision of the SCAP would
be final. munotes.in

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American occupation of japan
33 Objectives of Allied Occupation of Japan:
The chief objectives of the Allied Occupation were clearly outlined in two
important documents: 1. The United States Initial Post - Surrender Policy
for Japan (29 August 1945) and 2. The Basic Initial Post - Surrender
Directive (8 November 1945). The aggressive militarism and imperialism
of Japan had imposed the war on the Asian Continent. Therefore, the main
objectives of the Allied occupation of Japan were: 1 to eradicate this very
aggressive militarism and imperialism, so that Japan would not again
become a menace to peace and security of the world, and 2 to bring about
her democratization and demilitarization, so that the establishment of a
peaceful a nd responsible self -government could be ensured. In relation to
these two main objectives, the following objectives had been mentioned:
1. To destroy the aggressive nationalism in Japan.
2. To conduct an enquiry of the war criminals and heavily punish those
who would be found guilty. Only the Japanese Emperor was an
exception to this enquiry.
3. To dismiss the Japanese government officers and other leaders who had
been responsible for the Japanese aggressive policies.
4. To recover war indemnity from Japan.
5. To democrat ize and secularize Japan.
6. To demilitarize and disarm Japan.
7. To destroy the Japanese industries producing war materials and
equipments.
8. To disintegrate the Japanese Empire and to confine her territory to the
islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and the nearby minor
islands.
9. To bring about the necessary social, economic and political reforms, so
that the democratic way of life could be developed in Japan.
For Example:
(a) Establishing in Japan such peaceful and responsible government,
which would respec t the rights of other countries and would support
the aims and objectives of the UNO.
(b) Fostering democratic thoughts and tendencies among the Japanese
population, developing democratic institutions and teaching the
Japanese people how to respect individual liberties and fundamental
human rights.
(c) Distributing the national resources and the ownership of the means of
production among the common people to the maximum level, and
bringing about appropriate changes in labour unions, industrial
projects, trade and agriculture for their democratization. (d) munotes.in

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History of Asia
34 Reforming the educational system and inculcating democratic values
upon the minds of the Japanese youth.
Fulfilment of the Objectives:
In order to fulfill the aforesaid objectives, the SCAP Administration
impleme nted the following political, economic and social programme:
4.5 THE POLITICAL PROGRAMME OF OCCUPIED
JAPAN
The SCAP decided not to establish direct control on the Japanese people,
but would retain the Japanese Government and act through it. Thus,
MacArthu r executed Occupation policies through the Japanese Emperor
Hirohito, who ensured stability and continuity of authority. The SCAP
worked through the bureaucracy and the traditional machinery in Japan.
Disarmament and Demilitarization:
Disarmament and demil itarization of Japan was the main objective behind
the Japanese occupation. This process was completed with great speed and
without any difficulty. The SCAP Administration made every possible
effort for the destruction of Japan's war potential.
The ind ustries producing war materials were destroyed. Japanese troops,
stationed in foreign countries were called back and were disarmed. The
war ministry, the naval ministry and the “Imperial General Staff” were
dissolved. The internal defense bases were destro yed. All munitions,
military equipments and aircrafts were confiscated and destroyed. A ban
was imposed on the production of aircrafts, war materials and
ammunitions. The programme of nuclear research was stopped. Industries
such as, steel, chemicals and e ngineering, which were favourable for the
production of war materials, were considerably curtailed. Military, quasi -
military, ultra -nationalist, anti -foreign and terrorist organizations were
dissolved. Thus, within a short period, the aggressive machinery of Japan
was totally eradicated.
Enquiry of War criminals:
The programme of demilitarization also included the destruction of the
authority and influence of those, who had been instrumental in promoting
the martial power of Japan. Action had to be taken ag ainst the intellectual
or spiritual sources of war. As soon as the Occupation began, arrests were
made of suspected war criminals. To conduct an enquiry of the war
criminals, an international war criminal enquiry tribunal was established at
Tokyo in Januar y 1946. Its judges represented those 11 countries, which
had fought the war against Japan. Mr. Radha Winod Paul, a judge of the
Calcutta High Court, represented India. The trial of war criminals
continued from 1946 -1948. Cases were lodged against 30 import ant
Japanese leaders in this Court. Four charges were levelled against them: 1
Causing danger to World Peace, 2 killing several innocent people, 3
behaviour against humanity, and 4 atrocities and duress against people munotes.in

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American occupation of japan
35 during the wartime. The verdict of the tribunal came in December 1948.
The wartime Prime Minister of Japan General Tojo and six other leaders
were convicted and were sentenced to death. While several criminals were
sentenced to life imprisonment. In each of the Far -Eastern countries, local
enquiry tribunals were set up and more than 5000 cr iminals were given
punishments. More than 1300 Japanese organizations, giving
encouragement to aggressive militarism were dissolved. More than two
lakh government officers working on different levels, and who were found
to be directly or indirectly responsible for the aggressive policies of Japan,
were dismissed. In addition, SCAP attempted wherever possible to recover
looted property and return it to its rightful owners.
Disintegration of the Japanese Empire:
After the Meiji Reforms, whichever territories Japan had occupied by her
expansionist activities since the end of the nineteenth century, had now to
be given back by her. The decisions pertaining to the disintegration were
taken in the Cairo conference of November 1943 and Potsdam conference
(Germany) of February 1945. Kurile and Southern Sakhalin were returned
to Russia. All the Chinese territory, occupied by Japan during the wartime,
was freed from Japanese domination. The state of Manchucuo was
annulled . Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadore Islands were kept back
under Chinese suzerainty. The rail lines in Manchuria were given back to
Russia. Korea ceased to be a part of the Japanese Empire.
The Pacific Islands of Marshals, Marianas, Carolines, Momin, a nd
Ryukyu (Okinawa) were brought under the American control. Thus, By
the Potsdam Declaration of July 1945, Japan was deprived of all the
territories obtained by her during the previous 50 years, and Japan was
once again reduced to the original four main i slands of Hokkaido, Honshu,
Shikoku and Kyushu, together with some minor adjacent islands. Thus,
the Japanese Empire, driven by imperial instinct and built by military
might collapsed.
Democratization of Japan:
Japan was under the Allied Occupation for six years from 1945 to 1951.
During this period, General MacArthur exercised supreme powers.
MacArthur became highly popular among the Japanese. On the other
hand, the Japanese showed an excellent cooperation with MacArthur.
He took upon himself the difficult task of democratization of Japan.
During the post -war period, establishment and consolidation of democratic
institutions was one of the main objectives of the Allied Occupation. Even
this responsibility was entrusted with the SCAP. There was a need of
preparing a democratic form of constitution. However, till then, instead of
dissolving the “Diet” i.e. the Japanese Parliament, the SCAP got several
important laws passed through it. The Parliament had only nominal
powers, and it simply passed the laws made b y the SCAP. The “House of
Peers” was dissolved and the privileges of the nobility were cancelled. The
post of the Emperor was made nominal. Property of the ruling dynasty
was nationalized. As a result, the Emperor had to depend for his expenses munotes.in

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History of Asia
36 upon the sa nction of the Parliament. New laws were introduced in the
industrial and labour field, educational system was reformed, Important
changes were introduced in legal system, the ban on political parties was
lifted up, the civic liberties like freedom of thoug ht, expression,
association and faith were granted, political leaders imprisoned by Japan
during the time of militarism, were released, even the Communist leaders
of Japan were released.
Now the Communist Party of Japan immerged as a legal political party,
with well -trained leaders. This party was in a sound financial condition as
against other parties. The industrial workers were very much influenced
by their ideology and programme. In February 1947, the Communists tried
to organize a general strike as a p rotest against the economic condition of
workers. In 1949, when SCAP Administration adopted the programme of
economic rehabilitation, the Communists resorted to violence, sabotage
and a “Hate America” campaign, and on 30 th May 1950, the Communist
demonstr ators attacked the American citizens in Tokyo. The new electoral
law was passed, which granted an equal franchise to all the Japanese men
and women above the age of 20. All ultra nationalist, paramilitary, and
terrorist organizations were suppressed. Certa in categories of persons were
prohibited from engaging in public affairs.
Secularization of Japan:
The earlier regime had taken support of religion to give ideological and
divine justification to militarism. Shintoism was recognized as the State
Religion. It was on this religious basis that the leaders of militarism had
consolidated aggressive nationalism by making people wrongly believe
that Japan is a divine state, the Japanese Emperor is a representative of
God, the Japanese people are superior to other races and only they have
the right to dominate over others. It was necessary to end this stand, in
order to eradicate Japanese aggressive militarism. Shintoism and the
doctrine of divinity of the Emperor were considered to be spiritual barriers
in the deve lopment of democracy. The Diet cancelled the status of
Shintoism as State Religion. It even cancelled the economic patronage
given to Shintoism by the Government. Shintoism was recognized only as
private personal affair. Religion was separated from politic s and secular
principles were upheld. Religious freedom was granted to all citizens. By
an order issued on 1 st January 1946, the divine theory of kingship was
cancelled.
The First Elections (1946):
In order to frame a new constitution, it was necessary to elect a new
constitutional committee. By passing an act, the Diet accepted the system
of Universal Adult Franchise. The first elections were conducted in 1946,
on the basis of this act. Seventy -two per cent of the eligible voters cast
their votes. Many po litical parties participated in them but no single party
got a conclusive majority. The Liberal Party got the maximum i.e. 130,
whereas, the Progressive party got 93 seats. As a result, a coalition munotes.in

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American occupation of japan
37 government of Liberal and Progressive Parties came to powe r and Yoshida
Shingeru assumed the oath of Prime Ministership in May 1946.
After a brief period of political uncertainty due to split in political parties
and short -lived governments, Yoshida with the support of the Americans
remained as the Premier of Jap an for six years from 1948 to 1954. He
adopted a programme of thorough rehabilitation, free enterprise and a pro -
Western foreign policy.
The MacArthur Constitution of 1947:
As a matter of fact, the new Constitution was prepared by MacArthur, but
in theory, it was proclaimed by the Japanese Emperor on 3 May 1947. In
March 1946, the draft of the Constitution was published, and in October
1946, the constitution received the formal approval of the Diet. From 3 rd
May 1947, the new Constitution came into force. With this new
constitution, the 58 -year old rule of 1889 Meiji constitution got over.
Broadly speaking, the new constitution established the British type of
constitutional monarchical form of parliamentary democracy in Japan. The
new constitution consisted of 31 articles. Provisions were made in it for
the Japanese Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and Local Governments.
The present constitution of Japan is largely based on SCAP draft.
Main Features of the New Constitution:
Demilitarization and democratizat ion, which were the two main objectives
of Allied , were prominently reflected in this constitution also and to
realize them, the following features were incorporated into it.
1. Sovereignty of the People:
The Meiji Constitution was given by the Emperor, w hereas, the new
Constitution, at least in theory, had been prepared by the people and had
been approved by the people. In the Meiji Constitution, all the ultimate
authority had been concentrated in the hands of the Emperor, whereas,
under the new Constitut ion, people were sovereign. They exercised their
sovereignty through general elections. The Preamble of the Constitution
mentioned that Government was the holy inheritance of the people, the
Government got its rights from the people, these rights would be executed
through the people’s elected representatives, and their fruits also would be
enjoyed by the people themselves. Thus, the people -oriented nature of the
Constitution becomes clear. The basic principle of democracy,
“Government of the people, by the people and for the people” was
incorporated in the Constitution itself.
2. The Emperor’s post became nominal:
With the sovereignty of the people, the Emperor became only a symbol of
the unity and integrity of the state and the people. He derived his posit ion
from the will of the people. His jurisdiction was confined only to
ceremonies and formal programmes. All the administrative rights were munotes.in

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38 taken away from him, and he continued to be the constitutional head only
in name.
3. Parliamentary Democracy:
The P arliament comprised of representatives elected by the citizens
through universal adult suffrage. The Parliament was bicameral – the
Lower House and the Upper House. The duration of the Lower house or
the House of Representatives was four years, whereas, th e duration of the
upper house or the House of Counsellors was of 6 years. The Lower house
comprised of 467 representatives elected from 118 electoral fields,
whereas, the Upper house comprised of 250 representatives, out of whom
150 were elected from the p rovinces and the remaining 100 were elected
from the nationwide constituencies by the citizens. Therefore, each citizen
was given the right to cast two votes. Every three years, half i.e. 125 of the
Counsellors retired and had to be newly elected. Therefor e, the Upper
house never got dissolved. Only the Parliament had the right to make
legislations and to pass the budget. The Diet exercised financial control.
The Upper house had a limited veto power, and if the Upper house
rejected a bill, it again went to the Lower house, and if the Lower house
passed it for the second time by 2/3 rd majority, the upper house could not
oppose it.
The constitutional amendment bill had to be passed in the joint sitting of
both the houses with a 2/3 rd majority, then be submit ted to a popular
referendum. On the basis of the new constitution, the new parliament
prepared “new civil service code” in 1947.
4. Responsible Form of Government:
The Cabinet comprised of civilian members only. The members of the
cabinet of ministers wer e selected from among elected members of the
Parliament, and it was responsible not to the Emperor but to the
Parliament. The Prime Minister was elected by the members of the Diet
(Parliament) and the Emperor formally appointed him. It was obligatory
that the Prime Minister must be a member of the Parliament. He selected
the members of the Cabinet and majority of them had to be the members
of the Parliament. There was a special condition in the constitution that no
military officer could become any minister , including the Prime Minister.
5. Independent Judiciary:
According to the new constitution, an independent Judiciary was created.
The Parliament and Cabinet were based on British model, whereas, the
Judiciary was based on American model. At the apex of t he Judiciary was
the National Supreme Court. It had the right to interpret any law,
resolution, act, order, administrative rule or decision, and to have a
judicial review of its own verdicts. Further, it was also the “Court of
Records”. The Judges were app ointed by the Cabinet of Ministers, but
these appointments had to be approved by the people in the next General munotes.in

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39 Elections. Thus, incompetent judges could be called back through the
ballot box.
6. Fundamental Rights:
The Constitution proclaimed a charter o f fundamental rights. According to
it, all citizens were granted the freedom of thought, expression, assembly,
association , and faith etc. People were given the right to elect their
representatives through secret ballot. They had the right to make an appea l
to the government for the redracal of their grievances, to establish labour
unions, solve their disputes through collective bargaining, and have equal
educational opportunity etc. The citizens could move the Judiciary for
safeguarding these rights.
7. Decentralization of Authority:
To consolidate democracy, the authority of the government was
decentralized. The local governments were made more responsive to
public opinion. The jurisdiction of the local and regional officers was
increased. The number of e lected officials in local administration was
increased. Provincial administration was entrusted with the popularly
elected legislative assemblies, and with the Governors, elected by the
members of the assembly. Local bodies like municipalities were given
wide legislative powers. The mayor of the cities was directly elected by
the voters. The police machinery of internal security was also
decentralized and was placed under elected local police commissions.
Article 9, a Special Article: According to article 9 of the Constitution,
Japan had denounced war and had agreed not to keep military forces,
naval bases or air force. Japan, who once by her military strength had
given a blow to the big powers of the world, had to accept such a
condition. Thus, it becomes e vident how the Allied Powers were eager to
curb the aggressive militarism of Japan.
The Economic Programme of Allied Occupation:
The SCAP Administration undertook a programme of radical economic
reforms. The new administration was well aware that democrati c
institutions could not be strengthened unless liberal atmosphere was
created and a healthy and self -sufficient economy was developed in Japan.
To revive the Japanese economy, it required huge foreign help. The USA
decided to provide every possible help t o Japan.
Encouragement to Industrial Progress:
The industrial system of Japan had suffered tremendously due to war.
Even then, the industrial base of Japan was stronger than that of any other
Far Eastern country. Japan was far ahead in the field of industr ial
technology. With the compulsory disarmament and demilitarization of
Japan, the pressure of non -productive industries on economy was reduced,
and greater attention could be paid to productive industries. Basically, the
Japanese are hardworking and disci plined people. With the help of high-munotes.in

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40 quality technology and American financial assistance, Japan, soon
emerged as the most industrialized nation in Asia. To boost Industrial
development of Japan, foreign currency was made available in large
quantity. The US Government encouraged the US industrialists to make
large investments in Japan. The Truman administration of the USA poured
into Japan the necessary aid such as food, fertilizers, chemicals, raw
materials, machinery and various other requirements. Joint industrial
projects were undertaken. Through the American aid, Japanese industry
and railway were revived. Until the end of the Occupation, the USA gave
economic help to Japan, amounting to over two billion dollars. They
brought Senator Dodge from Detroit in America to advise the Japanese.
His task was to help the Japanese to put their financial house in order by
insisting on strict austerity and balanced budgets. As a result, there was a
considerable increase in the GNP of Japan.
Eliminating the influence of the Zaibatsus:
For the democratization of Japanese economy, the decentralization of
economic power was very essential. Wealthy Zaibatsus was the greatest
hindrance in the way of economic decentralization. The class of Zaibatsus
had greatly helped the mi litary imperialists.
Therefore, the SCAP Administration had realized that democratization of
economy would not be possible unless the influence of Zaibatsus on the
economy was destroyed. So, the industrial property of four major business
houses was frozen and instead, they were given interest -free but taxable
government bonds. These ten -year bonds could not be sold. To break the
economic power of the Zaibatsus, an order was issued on 6 th November
1945, by which all the Zaibatsus were dissolved, and their s hares were
handed over to the “Holding Company liquidation Commission”. Later on,
they were sold to the people. A law was passed in 1947, by which The
Zaibatsu family members were not allowed to be associated with the
companies, for a period of ten years, which they once owned. Thus,
decentralization of economic power was largely achieved. In 1947, an
Anti-Monopoly Law was passed in order to eliminate the influence of the
Zaibatsu. However, due to their tremendous wealth, the Zaibatsus
continued to influenc e the economy from behind the curtain. The
“Economic decentralization Law” of December 1947, intended to break up
the big companies into small companies to create a new economic
environment.
Passing of new Labour Laws:
Democratization of economy required l iberal atmosphere in industries and
protection of labour welfare. The laws passed in the industrial field, fixed
the national minimum wages, and a 48 -hour working week. The labour
movement received a new direction. A new trade union law was passed in
Decem ber 1945 on the line of the “American National Labour Relations
Act” of 1935. It gave freedom to the trade unions and gave the workers the
right to join trade unions, to bargain collectively, and to strike. The union
leaders, who had been imprisoned since 1930 during the military regime, munotes.in

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41 were now released. As a result, by 1950, the membership of the trade
unions rose to more than 50 lakhs . Federations of workers like “Federation
of Labour” and Congress of Industrial unions” came into being. However,
when the Communist Party began to use strike, sabotage and violence for
political purposes, the SCAP had to take cognizance of it. Because these
techniques created hindrances in the economic reconstruction of Japan.
Therefore, strikes for political purposes were banned. Communists were
purged from workers’ organizations. A law was passed prohibiting
government employees from striking.
Agricultural Reforms:
The agricultural reforms attempted to provide rural employment and also
to produce the food required by the n ation. Prior to 1945, rural poverty
was a serious economic problem before Japan. There were two basic
reasons of rural poverty. 1 rapid growth of population compared to
agricultural progress, and 2 unequal distribution of agricultural land.
Obviously, the new administration provided utmost priority to agricultural
reforms. They attempted to provide employment to rural population and
produce food required by the nation. The influence of landed gentry in
rural politics and economy was decreased. A land reform act was passed
in October 1946. Its main objectives were: reducing feudalism in
agricultural field, passing the ownership of land to the tillers of land,
improving the economic condition of the farmers, giving them economic
independence, freeing the tenan ts and agricultural labourers from the
tyranny of landlords, and obtaining the cooperation of the peasants in the
building up of democracy. In this context, several revolutionary changes
were brought about. Ceiling on landholdings was imposed, and under no
circumstances, a person would be allowed to hold more than ten acres of
land. It was decided that all the absentee landlords would sell their entire
land, and other landlords, keeping ten acres with themselves, would sell
the excess land to the Government . The land thus becoming available to
Government was then sold to the cultivators at a very moderate price and
they were given the facility to pay the stipulated amount to government in
installments over a period of 30 years. Fifty lakh acres of land was t hus
distributed among the cultivators. Every peasant was allowed to purchase
7/5 acres for self -cultivation and 2/5 acres for giving to tenant on rent.
Thus, the ownership of 90 per cent land passed on to the tillers of land. A
new big class of petty lando wners came into existence, which proved to be
even politically influential. To feed the growing population, the SCAP
Administration made efforts to increase food production. It encouraged the
peasants to make use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insect icides and
mechanical tools. Tenants were given greater protection of law. It was
made obligatory that every agreement of leasing land must be in written
form. The rate of rent was fixed to 25 per cent of total income from land.
This was nearly half of the former rent. By 1955, 12 lakh acres of new
land was brought under cultivation. The government objective of
eradicating feudalism was achieved to a great extent. The result of all
these reforms was that the rural indebtedness largely disappeared.
However, the agricultural problem of Japan could not be fully solved
because there were too many farmers for too little land. Therefore, munotes.in

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42 peasants were encouraged to adopt the subsidiary occupations like
sericulture, cottage industry and fishing. The newly formed pe asants’
union attracted more than a million farmers as its members.
Other Economic Reforms:
The SCAP Administration introduced other measures like reducing
government expenditure, restricting the bank -practice of giving loans at a
very low interest rate, r ecovering taxes on regular basis, stabilizing the
salaries and wages, controlling market prices, agricultural reforms,
effective requisitioning of food grains, improving the food distribution
system, balancing income and expenditure, and avoiding deficit b udgeting
etc. From 1948 however, instead of reformation, the Government
emphasized on rehabilitation and reconstruction.
4.6 SOCIAL PROGRAMME OF THE SCAP
ADMINISTRATION
Social Equality:
The new constitution had recognized equality of men and women. It was
accepted in political and educational fields as well. Japanese law codes
were revised to give women equality with men in all respects. Women
were given right to inheritance, right to vote and right to get elected on the
Diet. The basic unit recognized by J apanese law was changed from the
' household ' to the individual. In the field of education, the
reforms were directed to achieve equal educational opportunity to men and
women.
Educational Reforms:
The new administration aimed at introducing radica l reforms in the
traditional system of Japanese education. Because the educational system
of Japan was favourable for aggressive militarism. It had strong faith in
the divinity of the Japanese Emperor and the racial superiority of the
Japanese people. The school textbooks emphasized the militant traditions
of Japan. The teaching community also maintained the imperialistic
traditions. Thus, the educational environment was conducive to aggressive
imperialism. Therefore, the educational reform programme emphas ized on
curbing the militaristic traditions.
The teachers actively preserving and supporting aggressive nationalism
and militarism were sacked. About 1/4 th of teachers were purged under
this campaign. The curricula were changed, new subjects were introduc ed
and textbooks were newly rewritten. The traditional education emphasized
upon strict obedience, blind faith about national leadership, and ethical
education. It did not have any scope for independent thinking. As a result,
it had been possible to make t he attitude and tendency of the Japanese
people favourable for militarism.
The new system emphasized on independent thinking and liberal
education. Instead of ethical education, greater attention was paid towards munotes.in

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American occupation of japan
43 the study of social sciences. The period of compulsory education was
extended from six years to nine years. Education was given a broader
outlook. The introduction of new subjects required new trained teachers as
it was based on the American lines. The teaching of Shintoism was
prohibited in school s.
From 1948, the Japanese youth were provided greater opportunities to go
to Western countries for education. The literacy rate in Japan was very
high, but very few students got the opportunity of higher education. The
new administration remodelled Japane se educational system on American
lines. To bring about the decentralization of education, universities were
established on regional basis. Earlier, the selection and appointment of
teachers, curricula and textbooks were under the education department.
But, now these things were placed under the local elected committees. The
history of Japan was rewritten, so that students would not learn about the
glorious careers of emperors but about the realities of the world like class
struggle, exploitation etc.
Chang e in American Attitude towards Japan:
A number of factors contributed to a gradual change in the attitude of the
United States towards Japan. The growing strength of Communism was
posing a great threat to Democratic capitalistic countries. After 1948, the
Cold War between the USA and the USSR got intensified and even the
Far Eastern region came under its grip. Moreover, in October 1949, a
Communist revolution had been successful in China. The Japanese
Communists, along with the industrial workers and studen t organizations
had launched the “Hate America” campaign from 1949. There was a great
concern in America about the cost of subsidizing the Japanese economy.
Checking the spread of Communism was the central theme of the US
international policy. To check the growth of Communism in the Far East,
the USA found it necessary that instead of treating Japan as an enemy
country, it would be in her own interest to treat Japan as a friendly nation
and obtain her cooperation. Out of this attitude, it was strongly felt in the
USA that the Japanese Occupation should be ended , Japan should be given
full independence and a Peace Treaty should be signed with her. Due to
the Korean War of 1950, this stand got greater backing. The main aim
behind the Allied Occupation of Japan was to curb the aggressive militant
Imperialism of Japan, and that goal had been largely accomplished. Once
the economic stability was restored, the presence of the Allied troops in
Japan was found to be uncomfortable and humiliating to the Japanese
peopl e. It was not in the US interest to extend the period of Occupation
and provoke the anger of the Japanese people. Owing to all these reasons,
the USA took a lead in entering into a Peace Treaty with Japan.
The San Francisco Peace Treaty (1951):
In November 1950, the USA finalized the basic terms of a Peace Treaty to
be made with Japan. According to them, the Allied Occupation was to
come to an end, Japan was to have her fully independent Government, she
was to be partly remilitarized for her internal defens e, and efforts were to munotes.in

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44 be made to bring Japan closer to the Western countries. Soviet Russia and
China opposed this Peace Treaty. On 5 th September 1951, a conference
was held at San Francisco, in which representatives of 52 countries
participated, out of which 49 countries signed the Peace Treaty with
Japan. India, Burma and Yugoslavia did not participate in this conference.
The Nationalist China and Communist China were not invited for this
conference. Although, Soviet Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia and o ther
Communist countries participated, they did not sign the Peace Treaty. The
US representative John Foster Dulles played lion’s role in drafting this
treaty. Prime Minister Yoshida signed the treaty on the part of Japan. By
this Treaty, Japan was accorde d the status of a full sovereign independent
nation. It was not kept binding on her to adhere to all the laws passed
during the period of Occupation. Japan gave her consent to forgo all the
territories, which she was deprived of in 1945 after the Second Wo rld
War. The foreign armies stationed in Japan, were to be withdrawn within
90 days. She also agreed to recognize the principles of the UNO. Japan
was allowed to partly develop her own troops for her internal defense. No
economic sanctions were imposed on her.
End of Allied Occupation:
The Treaty of San Francisco came into force from 28th April 1952, and
from that day, the period of Allied Occupation came to an end, and Japan
again emerged as a sovereign independent nation. On the same day of
signing the Sa n Francisco Treaty, another agreement called the Mutual
Security Pact was made between the USA and Japan. By this Pact, even
after the termination of Allied Occupation, the American troops would
continue to be stationed in Japan and America permanently too k over the
responsibility of providing external protection to Japan.
4.7 SUMMARY
The ambitious reform programme launched by the administration of
Allied occupation under the supreme leadership of General Douglas
MacArthur, was largely successful. The Japan ese army had been
demoralized due to the defeat and surrender in the Second World War.
The image of the army in the Japanese life was badly affected. The Allied
administration carried out the task of demilitarization with great discipline
and restrain; the refore, it could be achieved without much difficulty.
Although, the post of the Emperor was reduced to a nominal head, his
historic institute was not abolished; therefore, strong resentment of the
people could be avoided. Even the Emperor did not show much opposition
to the changes taking place during the period of transition. The goal of
Allied Occupation to consolidate democratic institutions and establish a
socially and economically free society was achieved as per expectations.
Several historians regard the Occupation years as “a major historic
watershed for Japan, ranking next to the period of Meiji restoration as a
time of fundamental change in institutions and values.” For many
observers these years appeared to bring about Japan’s final break with
those feudal and Confucian values, which had remained as remnants of the
Tokugawa old regime. One cannot deny that the Occupation was more munotes.in

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American occupation of japan
45 than a catalyst, though it was not the only force that pressed for change in
the post -war Japan. The administrative skil ls, leadership, vision,
enthusiasm and charisma of General MacArthur made him extremely
popular among the Japanese.
4.8 QUESTIONS
1. Explain the administrative machinery of Allied Occupation in Japan.
2. What were the Objectives of the Allied Occupation in Japan ?
3. How did the SCAP achieve its objectives?
4. Explain the main objectives of Allied Occupation of Japan, and bring
out how they were accomplished.
5. Discuss the political programme of the SCAP Administration
6. How was a new Constitution for Japan framed? What wer e its main
features?
7. Describe the Economic programme implemented by the SCAP.
8. Explain the social achievements of the Allied Administration.
9. Why did the American attitude towards Japan change? How Japan
emerged to be an independent Nation?
10. Write short notes on the following:
(A) Effects of Second World War on Japan
(B) Allied Occupation of Japan
(C) Objectives of Allied Occupation
(D) Structure of Administrative Machinery
(E) Demilitarization and Democratization of Japan
(F) The new Constitution of 1947
(G) The Economic Reforms under A llied Occupation
(H) Development of Education
(I) End of Allied Occupation
4.9 REFERENCES
English Books:
1. Chandhan R. S., History of Far East, Forward Book Depot, New Delhi,
1990.
2. Chaunasia Radhey Shyam, History of Japan, Atlantk Publication &
amp; Distribution, 2003.
3. Clyde P. & Beers B., The Far East: A History of Western Impact
& Eastern Response, Prentice Hall. New Delhi, 1976.
4. David M.D., History of Modern Japan, Himalaya Publishing House,
Bombay, 1979. munotes.in

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46 Marathi Books:
1. Dev Prabhakar R., Adhunik China va Ja pan, Sharada Prakashan,
Nagpur, 1976.
2. Gadre Prabhakar, Japancha Itihas (1879 -1970), Vidya Prakashan,
Nagpur, 2000.
3. Mali M. N., Adunik Japancha Itihas, Prashant Publication, Jalgaon,
2009.
4. Nikam Tanaji, Aadhunik Chin va Japancha Itihas, Daimand
Publication, Pune, 2006.



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47 5
ECONOMIC MIRACLE IN JAPAN
Unit Structure:
5.0 Objective
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Initial Problems Before Independent Japan
5.3 The Economic Miracle
5.4 Summary
5.5 Questions
5.6 References
5.0 OBJECTIVE
After going through this un it, the students will be able to:
 Understand the various problems before Independent Japan.
 Study the economic Miracle in Japan.
5.1 INTRODUCTION
With the Treaty of San Francisco, the Allied Occupation of Japan came to
an end and Japan emerged as an indepe ndent sovereign country from
1952. Now she got an opportunity to frame her own destiny through new
political, economic and social programmes.
5.2 INITIAL PROBLEMS BEFORE INDEPENDENT
JAPAN
The seven -year period of Allied Occupation was not sufficient to cha nge
the mindset of Japanese and establish democratic institutions on firm
footing. Although, from 1947, the SCAP Administration had introduced
several reforms with a view to consolidating democratic institutions, the
Japanese people had not acquired suffic ient experience to run the
democratic institutions. Japan had not yet developed the transparent
atmosphere necessary for the development of democratic machinery.
Japan had achieved only a limited amount of economic development and
stability. During the per iod of Allied Occupation, the Japanese polity and
economy had been inevitably influenced by the USA. The Communist
countries like Russia and China were against this US influence. Even
some of the Japanese groups did not like this US influence. On the
international scene, Japan stood on the borderline of Communist World munotes.in

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48 and the so -called Free World. In such a situation, Japan had to start her
new life.
Introduction of further economic reforms, limited remilitarization of Japan
for her internal defense, impro vement of relations with the Communist
Block and improvement of economic relations with other countries were
the main problems before the Yoshida Government.
Yoshida’s successor Prime Minister Hatoyama tried to develop economic
and diplomatic relations wit h Soviet Russia and Communist China, but
while doing so, he took sufficient care not to offend the USA.
5.3 THE ECONOMIC MIRACLE
Initial Difficulties:
Establishing a progressive and stable economy was a challenge before the
new government. But there were s everal obstacles in the way of achieving
this goal. The industrial resourceswere limited and due to the defeat in the
Second World War, Japan had to lose many important territories, which
put further limitations on her economic development. Due to the loss of
Korea, Manchuria, Formosa and the Pacific Islands, Japan was deprived of
important mineral resources, sugar, rice and other food grains. Reduction
in her oceanic field, adversely affected her fishing industry. Thus, while
the factors favourable for eco nomic development were reducing, there was
a constant increase in the Japanese population. After the end of the Second
World War, more than sixty lakh Japanese people returned home from
colonies. The rate of population growth was also quite high. By the ti me
the Allied Occupation came to an end, the population of Japan had
reached nine crores . In such an adverse situation, Japan had to accomplish
her economic development. However, the disciplined Japanese population
was her greatest capital. With the help o f this population and constant
American aid, Japan could make the economic miracle.
Population Control:
In order to achieve rapid economic development, two important things had
to be done: 1 population control, and 2 searches for new markets. Efforts
were made to control populationgrowth. Abortion was legalized in 1948
and the programme included a national campaign to encourage family
planning. This programme was largely successful due to government
encouragement and cooperation of the people. The populatio n first got
stabilized and there after grew slowly. Gains in economic output,
therefore, were not offset by a rapidly expanding population, and steady
industrial growth brought full employment and even labour shortages.
Growth of Commerce and Industries:
Japanese trade with the South -East Asian countries had discontinued after
the end of Second World War. But, the dispute of war indemnity was
solved and the markets of those countries were recaptured. Due to high
quality of her finished goods, Japan could wi thstand foreign competition munotes.in

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Economic Miracle in
Japan
49 and could capture new markets in the countries of Latin America, Africa
and Europe. Due to the compulsory demilitarization of Japan, she could
now save the huge expenditure incurred on armed forces. The expenditure
on maintenanc e of the colonies was also saved. This money and energy
could be employed in industrial development. During the wartime, her
huge industrial field had been ravaged. Now government gave several
concessions to rebuild new industrial units in those areas. As a result, a
network of small industrial units with latest production techniques was
created throughout the country. These units used the latest developments
in technology, which were often more efficient than those of their foreign
competitors. The develop ment of consumer economy gave a significant
boost to Japanese industries. She now began to concentrate on high -
quality and high -technology products meant for domestic and foreign
consumption. In all types of industries ranging from shipbuilding to
electron ics, and from textile to printing industry, Japan began her
production on par with the most advanced Western countries. Industries
like mining, coal, chemicals and machines and tools made remarkable
progress. More people got employment in industries than i n agriculture.
Japan led the world in the production of steel, electronics, radio sets,
automobiles and ships. The Japanese goods were less expensive compared
to those produced by the Western countries, because skilled labour could
be available in Japan at low wages. Thus, Japan rapidly captured even the
markets of the Western countries by supplying high quality goods at a low
price. The Japanese became enthusiastic followers of the American
statistician W. Edward Deming’s ideas on quality control and soon began
producing goods that were more reliable and contained fewer flaws than
those of the United States and Western Europe. Japan undoubtedly
became the industrial leader of Asia.
In the field of power generation, Japan produced 50 per cent of the total
electricity produced by the entire Asian continent excluding the Russian
portion of Asia. Japan ranked fifth in steel production, fourth in cement
production, third in total industrial production, and the first in commercial
navy in the world. Japanese expor ts included high quality steel, precision
optical equipment, automobiles, textiles, ships, colour television sets, and
other electronic products. In the 1960s Japanese exports expanded at an
annual rate of more than 15 per cent, and in 1965 Japan had a tra de
surplus.
Economic Prosperity:
An average increase in Gross Domestic Production of over 9.2 per cent
per annum from 1953 to 1973 is a quantum of growth unparalleled in any
other advanced country in the world. By 1960, food shortage had become
the thing o f the past. By 1961, the growth rate of industrial production in
Japan reached the pre -war level, which is considered as a phenomenal
economic growth, as Japan had lost about more than a half of her pre -war
territories and had to take back about 50 million overseas Japanese. By
1963, Japan became one of the leading industrial nations of the world. She
was successful in keeping the per capita output more than the rate of her
population growth and the per capita income was about 20 per cent higher munotes.in

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50 than the pr e-war level. It is astonishing to know that a defeated and nearly
bankrupt nation could exceed the average income by three to four times,
that of any other Asian country, and could boast of a higher income than
that of Mexico, Turkey and Soviet Russia, in a span of ten years after
independence. The key Government offices like the Ministry of Finance,
the Bank of Japan, and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry
(MITI) played an important role in bringing economic prosperity to Japan.
Japan was abl e to import advanced foreign technology at low cost. Their
was a youthful and well -educated workforce, a high domestic savings rate
that provided ample capital, and an activist government and bureaucracy
that provided guidance, support, and subsidies. All these factors were
favourable for rapid and sustained economic growth of Japan.
Another significant factor was Ikeda Hayato's'Income
Doubling Plan' of 1960. This plan reaffirmed the government's
responsibility for social welfare, vocational training, and education. The
gross national product had nearly doubled during the decade after
independence. The per capita rate of growth was around 8 per cent. The
standard of living substantially increased, as by 1960, practically every
home had a radi o set and nearly half of the population owned television
sets and washing machines. In 1960, the Japanese Government expected to
double the national income by 1970. After 1970, the Japanese yen
dislodged even the American dollar in the international market . Japan
emerged as the most prosperous nation in Asia.
Growth of Agricultural Sector:
The progress was not restricted to the industrial field alone, the farm
output increased by about 40 per cent. Independent Japan passed the
“Agricultural Labour Law” in 1 952 and thus confirmed the SCAP
legislation in that direction. Rents were paid in cash and the tenant was
guaranteed security of tenure on the basis of a written contract. There was
less of leasing the land and more of investment of capital into farming.
Mechanization in the large size holdings increased the yield. The changing
patterns of urban food consumption provided an expanded market for cash
crops, fruits and vegetables, and meat products. Even then, due to the
limited availability of agricultural la nd, the peasants had to search for
income from non -agricultural sources. During the period of 15 years,
(1952 -1967), production in the fields of agriculture, fishing and forest
work increased by over 40 per cent.
Foreign Policy:
The focusing of the new for eign policy was on obtaining maximum
foreign aid and promoting export trade. Though the Peace Treaty between
the USA and Japan was signed, it did not bring about the solution to
Japanese problems. It was merely the formal beginning of Japan’s efforts
as a sovereign state to chart her course at home and abroad in the post -war
world. The relations between Japan and Soviet Russia were not very
cordial. Japan’s strong tie with the USA during and after the Occupation
was a hindrance in the way of improving relations between Japan and munotes.in

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Economic Miracle in
Japan
51 Soviet Russia. However, after a compromise agreement in 1956, the
relations began to improve. The American pressure prevented Japan from
cultivating cordial relations with Communist China. However, Japan
maintained friendly relations with the Nationalist Government of Chiang -
Kai-Shek in Taiwan. Japan’s attempts to cultivate good relations with
countries of South -East Asia also did not succeed due to the bitterness
created by the Japanese occupation of those countries during the Second
World War.
However, Japan’s relations with India were consistently cordial. Japan
became a member of the UNO in December 1956 and slowly her relations
with other countries improved in her interest. Relations with Germany
were established in 1955 purely on commercial basis.
Foreign Relations leading to Economic Development:
Japanese foreign policy and her economic development went hand -in-
hand. Many factors contributed to this economic miracle. The character of
the Japanese people, their capacity to work ha rd and their high technical
skill were obviously very significant factors.
Improvement of diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia and China,
leading to the development of commercial relations with them was also an
important factor. Commercial treaties were signed with other Western
countries as well. The contribution of the United States to the spectacular
development in the economic field was the largest single factor for the
prosperity of independent Japan. Further, the outbreak of the Korean War
in June 1950 brightened her prospects for exports. As the staging area for
the United Nations forces on the Korean Peninsula, Japan profited
indirectly from the war. The American Government placed orders for
goods and services necessary for the war effort that gav e Japan an indirect
aid of about four billion dollars. The United States sponsored Japan’s
membership of “General Agreement on Tariff and Trade” (GATT),
Development Assistance Group (DAG) and Organization in Economic
Cooperation and Development. The United States thus helped Japan to
bring her into the world market. By 1957, the USA spent over fifty crore
dollars per annum in Japan. The American sponsorship, technical
assistance and a generous tariff policy enabled Japan to maintain an
increasing volume of world trade and at the same time, keep control over
her domestic consumption. The new industrial policy that emerged out of
the “Ministry of Trade and Industry” (MiTI) of 1959 changed the structure
of the Japanese economy. It began to concentrate on high -quality and
high-technology products meant for domestic and foreign consumption.
Ikeda Hayato’s “Income Doubling Plan” of 1960 reaffirmed the
Government’s responsibility for social welfare, vocational training and
education. Improvement in transportation su ch as, cargo -handling methods
and bulk transport by large ore carriers and tankers helped Japan to export
her products to far off countries. During this period, the domestic market
of Japan was expanding to an unprecedented level. But, Japan had to
control domestic demand, as she had to purchase raw materials needed for
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52 Temporary slowing down of Japanese Economy:
The era of rapid economic growth ended in the early 1970s, when
Japan's economy underwent a sudden slowdown. This was due to
two external events. In 1971 the United States abandoned the system of
fixed foreign exchange rates. This change caused the value of the yen to
rise, and consequently, Japanese exports fell. In 1973 an increase in crude
oil prices caused recessions in countries around the world. In Japan price
increase. Japan soon overcame these difficulties, but growth continued
only at a much slower rate. Meanwhile, Japan began to face the problems
of an industrialized society. These included urban congestion, poll ution,
and environmental degradation and dissatisfaction with increasing land
price.
Recovery of the Economy:
During the 1970s and 1980s, Japan tried to integrate its economy more
effectively into the global system. Japan became a firm advocate of
internat ional free trade. She tried to create a measure of energy through
the increased use of nuclear power generation. Laws were passed in the
Diet to combat environmental pollution.
By the 1980s the Japanese economy had become one of the worlds largest
and most sophisticated. Her per capita income had surpassed that of the
United States, The Japanese economy successfully met the problems of
the recessions created by increased oil prices in 1972 -74 and 1979 -81.
This enabled Japan to increase the volume of exports .
Reconstructing Japanese Economy:
Mounting Japanese trade surpluses increased friction between Japan and
its trading partners in Europe and the United States. Japan was accused
that she advocated free trade abroad but maintained a closed market at
home. T here were also complaints that Japan sold goods abroad at lower
than domestic prices. The government and bureaucracy responded to these
accusations by making efforts to &# 39; open ' Japan. Restrictions on
many agricultural products were lifted. Japan 9;s financial markets
were deregulated and liberalized. By the end of the decade formal barriers
to trade had been largely removed.
5.4 SUMMARY
Japan unbelievable economic recovery within a short period after her
devastating experience during the Se cond World War can be considered
more than an ‘Economic Miracle . It goes to the credit of the Japanese
leadership in particular and the people in general that they could pull out
the nation from humiliating defeat and utter destruction. In this respect ,
the role played by General Mac Arthur cannot be ignored. The Economic
Miracle brought about by discipline and hard work by the Japanese
replaced their pre -War militarism into an economic imperialism . Japanese
products, by their qualit y and competitiveness captured the world and
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Economic Miracle in
Japan
53 Following the Economic Miracle Japan came to be counted as one of the
most powerful economies of the world.
5.5 QUESTIONS
1. Once Japan became indepen dent, what were the initial difficulties
before her?
2. What do you understand by the term ‘Economic Miracle’? How was it
achieved?
3. Discuss the economic progress made by Japan during the Post -
Occupation period.
4. Describe the progress made in the fields of comm erce and industry by
Japan during the Post -Occupation period.
5. Explain the effects of the Economic Miracle on the Japanese life.
6. Discuss the Japanese achievemen ts in agriculture, commerce and
industry.
7. How Japanese foreign policy helped to achieve the Econo mic Miracle?
8. Write short notes on the following:
(A) Progress in Agriculture
(B) Export trade
(C) Industrial development
(D) Foreign policy
5.6 REFERENCES
English Books:
1. Chandhan R. S., History of Far East, Forward Book Depot, New Delhi,
1990.
2. Chaunasia Ra dhey Shyam, History of Japan, Atlantk Publication
& Distribution, 2003.
3. Clyde P. & Beers B., The Far East: A History of Western Impact
& Eastern Response, Prentice Hall. New Delhi, 1976.
4. David M.D., History of Modern Japan, Himalaya Publishing House,
Bombay, 1979.




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54 Marathi Books:

1. Dev Prabhakar R., Adhunik China va Japan, Sharada Prakashan,
Nagpur, 1976.
2. Gadre Prabhakar, Japancha Itihas (1879 -1970), Vidya Prakashan,
Nagpur, 2000.
3. Mali M. N., Adunik Japancha Itihas, Prashant Publication, Jalgaon,
2009.
4. Nikam Tanaji, Aadhunik Chin va Japancha Itihas, Daimand
Publication, Pune, 2006.


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55 6
FOREIGN POLICY OF JAPAN WITH
THE USA
Unit Structure:
6.0 Objective
6.1 Introduction
6.2 The Yoshida doctrine of 1951
6.3 Guidi ng Principles of Foreign Policy
6.4 Japanese Efforts to improve relations with other countries
6.5 Foreign Rela tions leading to Economic Development
6.6 US Efforts to Improve Relations
6.7 Summary
6.8 Questions
6.9 References
6.0 OBJECTIVE
After going through this unit, the lerner will be able to understand to:
 Understand the foreign policy of Japan.
 Review the foreign relations to economic development.
6.1 INTRODUCTION
Non-involvement in political events of the world became the central theme
of Japanese foreign policy together with very rapid growth of her
industrial exports. Soon Japan emerged to be one of the four largest
economies in the world. The focusing of the new foreign policy was on
maintaining political neutrality in foreign affairs while expanding
economic relations wherever possible and obtaining maximum foreign aid
and promoting export trade. T his policy could be successful due to the
military protection provided by the USA. Though the Peace Treaty
between the USA and Japan was signed on 8 th September 1951 at San
Francisco, it did not bring about the solution to Japanese problems. It was
merely the formal beginning of Japan’s efforts as a sovereign state to chart
her course at home and abroad in the post-war world. Along with the
Peace Tr eaty, Japan also entered into a Security pact with the USA in
1951, by which the US troops were allowed to be stationed on Japanese
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56 Friendly and cooperative relations with the USA is the cornerstone of
Japan’s foreign policy. The main difficulty was how to establish and
improve relations w ith other countries without offending and alienating
the USA. This foreign policy is based on principles like freedom,
democracy, human rights, rule of the law, international peace and stability,
security and cultural exchange. As her economic power increa sed, Japan
could not remain aloof for a long period on international scene. She had to
play a prominent role on global basis.
6.2 THE YOSHIDA DOCTRINE OF 1951
Japan has close economic and military relations with the USA. America is
the major market for Jap anese exports and the major source of Japanese
imports, and is committed to defending the USA with military bases in
Japan. The Japanese Prime Minister Shejiru Yoshida (1948 -1954) formed
a strategy known as the Yoshida doctrine of 1951. It shaped the Japan ese
foreign policy for the future. It reiterated that 1. Japan is firmly allied with
the USA in the Cold War against Communism, 2. Japan relies on
American military strength and therefore, limits its own defense forces to
a minimum, and 3. Japan emphasizes economic diplomacy in her world
affairs. The Yoshida doctrine was accepted by the United States.
However, this approach has changed from time -to-time. Although initially
Japan agreed to keep minimum military forces and has renounced her right
to declare a war, now she spends huge portion of her budget on her
defense and maintains latest self -defense forces which rank as the world’s
strongest military forces.
6.3 GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF FOREIG N POLICY
The foreign policy of Japan was based upon certain guidin g principles – 1.
Close cooperation with the United States for both security and economic
reasons; 2. Promotion of a free- trade system congenial to Japan's
own economic needs; 3. International cooperation through the United
Nations Organization (UNO); 4. To establish its credibility as a peaceful
member of the world community. National security was entrusted to the
protective shield and nuclear umbrella of the United States; 5. To remove
the suspicion and resentment for Japan, which prevailed in the mi nd of the
neighbouring countries; 6. To oppose terrorism in any form and in any
country.
6.4 JAPANESE EFFORTS TO IMPROVE RELATIONS
WITH OTHER COUNTRIES
The relations between Japan and Soviet Russia were not very cordial. The
relations were strained due to Japanese rejection of Russian control over
the Southern Kuril Islands. Japan’s strong tie with the USA during and
after the Occupation was a hindrance in the way of improving relations
between Japan and Soviet Russia. However, after a compromise
agreement in 1956, the relations began to improve. The American pressure
prevented Japan from cultivating cordial relations with Communist China. munotes.in

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Foreign Policy of Japan
with t he USA
57 However, Japan maintained friendly relations with the Nationalist
Government of Chiang -Kai-Shek in Taiwan. Japan’s attempts to cultivate
good relations with countries of South -East Asia also did not succeed due
to the bitterness created by the Japanese occupation of those countries
during the Second World War. However, Japan’s relations with India were
consistently cordial . Japan became a member of the UNO in December
1956 and slowly her relations with other countries improved in her
interest. Relations with Germany were established in 1955 purely on
commercial basis.
6.5 FOREIGN RELATIONS LEADING TO ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
Japanese foreign policy and her economic development went hand -in-
hand. Many factors contributed to this economic miracle. The character of
the Japanese people, their capacity to work hard and their high technical
skill were obviously very significant facto rs.
Improvement of diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia and China,
leading to the development of commercial relations with them was also an
important factor. Commercial treaties were signed with other Western
countries as well. Even during the post -occu pation period, the USA
continued to pour money in Japan. The contribution of the United States to
the spectacular development in the economic field was the largest single
factor for the prosperity of independent Japan. Further, the outbreak of the
Korean W ar in June 1950 brightened her prospects for exports. As the
staging area for the United Nations forces on the Korean Peninsula, Japan
profited indirectly from the war. The American Government placed orders
for goods and services necessary for the war effo rt that gave Japan an
indirect aid of about four billion dollars. The United States sponsored
Japan’s membership of “General Agreement on Tariff and Trade”
(GATT), Development Assistance Group (DAG) and Organization in
Economic Cooperation and Development. The United States thus helped
Japan to bring her into the world market. By 1957, the USA spent over
fifty crore dollars per annum in Japan. The American sponsorship,
technical assistance and a generous tariff policy enabled Japan to maintain
an increasing volume of world trade and at the same time, keep control
over her domestic consumption.
foreign relations leading to economic development:
Although Japan had signed the Security Treaty with the USA in 1951, it
did not specify the date of its abrogation. I t did not place Japan on equal
footing. From 1952, the treaty came to be strongly opposed by many
Japanese. Protests were staged in different parts of Japan against the
ongoing presence of American naval basis and American troops even
though the foreign oc cupation had officially ended. Moreover, America
had not returned some of the Japanese islands like Okinawa and Bonin
occupied by her. The protests in Tokyo turned violent, coming to be
remembered as “Bloody May Day”. In response to this situation, the
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History of Asia
58 the USA proposed to expand her air base at Sunagawa to the south of
Tokyo, the Japanese people vehemently opposed it. At last, during the
Prime Ministership of Nobusuke Kishi, the Eisenhow er administration
agreed to significantly withdraw the American troops from Japan and
revised the Security Treaty in January 1960. It placed Japan on equal
footing. Now the treaty could be abrogated by either power by giving one-
year prior notice.
6.6 U. S. EFFORTS TO IMPROVE RELATIONS
Although the revised treaty was far better, some of the Japanese were not
happy with it. They demanded not ratification but total abrogation of the
treaty and ending the US -Japan alliance entirely. So, the protest march
continue d. The Security Treaty crisis significantly damaged U.S. -Japan
relations. So, the new US President John F. Kennedy and new Japanese
Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda worked to repair the damage. They both met
at Washington in 1961. At the Summit, Kennedy promise d Ikeda that he
would henceforth treat Japan more like a close ally such as Great Britain.
Kennedy appointed sympathetic Japan expert and Harvard
professor Edwin O. Reischauer as ambassador to Japan, rather than a
career diplomat. Reischauer worked to repa ir the recent rift in US -Japan
relations. In June 1968, the USA returned the Bonin Islands to Japan. In
1972, the USA returned the Okinawa Island to Japan.
Mounting Pressure of Public opinion leads to Changing Foreign
Policy:
From 1970 the pressure of the Japanese public opinion was mounting on
the government that without disturbing relations with the United States,
Japan must take greater initiative in international matters independent of
the USA. Japan’s phenomenal economic growth had made her a ranking
world economic power and had generated a sense of pride and self -esteem
among the younger generation. They believed that it is now high time that
the strong economic power of Japan turns into a strong political power.
However, the growing international trad e of Japan was taken by many
countries as an economic aggression. The political scenario on the
international front also demanded that Japan should re -think of her foreign
policy. Two external events adversely affected the growth of Japanese
economy. In 19 71 President Nixon gave two shocks to Japan. Without
consulting Japan, he announced his visit to China. He also increased the
export duty by 10 percent, which would adversely affect the Japanese
exports to USA. The United States abandoned the system of fix ed foreign
exchange rates. This change caused the value of the yen to rise, and
consequently, Japanese exports fell. In 1973 an increase in crude oil prices
caused recessions in countries around the world. In Japan, it caused price
increase. Thus, although the basic relations between Japan and the USA
continued, there were mounting frictions due to economic rivalry.
Changes in the power relationships in the Asia -Pacific quadrilateral —
made up of Japan, the People's Republic of China, the United States,
and the Soviet Union also called for re -examination of policies. The events
like the failure of the United States in Vietnam War and the subsequent munotes.in

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Foreign Policy of Japan
with t he USA
59 withdrawal of the US troops from Indo -China, and the expanding Soviet
military power in the Western Pacific r equired a re -evaluation
of Japan's security position and overall role in Asia.
The Japanese people started questioning the credibility of the United
States ability to protect Japanese interests. The shift therefore required
autonomous framing of foreig n policy. Japan began to depend less on
Western countries for her resources. For example, oil was obtained
directly from the producing countries in the Middle East and not from the
Western -controlled multinational companies. Other important raw
materials a lso increasingly came from countries other than the United
States and its allies, while trade with the United States as a share of total
trade significantly dropped during the decade of the 1970s. Thus, the oil
crises of the 1970s prompted Japan to adopt l ess passive and more
independent foreign policy.
Improvement in mutual Relations:
After 1982 however, the Japan -US relations began to improve owing to
several unhappy international events. The leaders of Japan welcomed the
reassertion of United States mili tary power in Asian and world affairs
following the Islamic revolution in Iran, the Teheran hostage crisis, and
the Soviet military invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet expansionist
policy on international level alarmed the democratic capitalist group.
Japan supported the USA in imposing economic sanctions on Soviet
Russia. Japanese leaders played a strong supporting role in checking the
expansion of Soviet economic and political power and her allies in
sensitive areas among the developing world countries. J apan quickly
responded to the US request of foreign assistance to the countries of
Middle -east and Central Asia. Japan provided economic aid to Pakistan,
Turkey, Egypt, Oman, Jordan and Jamaica. Soon Japan emerged to be the
second largest donor of foreign aid. The realignment of United States and
Japanese currencies in the mid -1980s increased the growth of Japanese
trade, aid, and investment, especially in Asia. Japan became the
world's largest creditor, an increasingly active investor in the United
States, and a major contributor to international debt relief, financial
institutions, and other assistance efforts. Japan began to play an important
role in International bodies like the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund. On the request of the UN O, Japan sent her peace keeping
force to certain countries. The US -Japan Nuclear Cooperation Agreement
was signed in 1987, which was an agreement concerning the peaceful use
of nuclear energy. It would benefit both.
Collapse of Soviet Union increases Japan ese Importance:
The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the independence of several
republics and East European countries. Internally they faced several
economic and political problems for which they expected Japanese help.
These former communist countries were anxiously seeking aid, trade, and
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History of Asia
60 Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus, the power of the United States was
also waning.
Therefore, the USA increasingly looked towards Japan to sh oulder the
responsibility of helping the East European countries in their
transformation. Japanese industries and enterprises were among the most
capable in the world. High savings and investment rates and high-quality
education solidified Japan into an in ternational leader.
6.7 SUMMARY
The foreign policy of Japan was slowly evolving through the decades.
Initially, Japan depended on the USA for her military and economic help.
So, Japan adopted a submissive and neutral foreign policy. Japan entered
into the Peace Treaty and the Security Pact with the USA. Under the
American help and protection, Japan made tremendous progress in all the
aspects of her economy. Now the new generation of Japan demanded that
Japan should end her submissive policy and should indep endently play an
assertive role on global basis. Japan could not remain unaffected from the
political events which were taking place on international scene. The
Growing economic power of Japan began to creat friction and rivalry
between Japan and the USA. The United States tried to create several
hindrances in the way of Japanese progress. However, at last, the USA
herself required increasing Japanese help and support. Therefore, Japan
began to play a prominent role as an international leader.
6.8 QUESTIONS
1. What were the guiding principles on which the foreign policy was
based? How far were they successful?
2. Explain the Japan -US relations during the post -occupation period.
3. Describe the rapid economic progress made by Japan under the US help
and protection.
4. Why did the public opinion demand revision of Japanese foreign
policy?
5. What factors led to the emergence of Japan as an international leader?
6. Write short notes on the following:
(a) The peace Treaty of 1951
(b) The Security Pact of 1951
(c) Basic principels of Japanese foreign policy
(d) The Yoshida Doctrine of 1951
(e) Revision of the Security Pact
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Foreign Policy of Japan
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61 6.9 REFERENCES
English Books:
1. Chandhan R. S., History of Far East, Forward Book Depot, New Delhi,
1990.
2. Chaunasia Radhey Shyam, History of Japan, Atlantk Publication
& Distribu tion, 2003.
3. Clyde P. & Beers B., The Far East: A History of Western Impact
& Eastern Response, Prentice Hall. New Delhi, 1976.
4. David M.D., History of Modern Japan, Himalaya Publishing House,
Bombay, 1979.
5. David M.D., Rise and Growth of Modern Japan , Himalaya Publishing
House, Bombay, 1989.
6. Dubey Prakash Kumar, History of China & Japan, Dominant
Publisher & Distributors, New Delhi – 2006.
7. Vinacke H. M., A History of the Far East in Modern Times, George
Allen & Unwin Ltd. London, 1967.

Marathi Books:
1. Dev Prabhakar R., Adhunik China va Japan, Sharada Prakashan,
Nagpur, 1976.
2. Gadre Prabhakar, Japancha Itihas (1879 -1970), Vidya Prakashan,
Nagpur, 2000.
3. Mali M. N., Adunik Japancha Itihas, Prashant Publication, Jalgaon,
2009.
4. Nikam Tanaji, Aadh unik Chin va Japancha Itihas, Daimand
Publication, Pune, 2006.
5. Rade K. R., Chin va Japancha Itihas, Prashant Publication, Pune, 2005.
6. Yadav Gujar, Chin va Japan: Rajkiya Itihas, Vibhavari Prakashan,
Nagpur, 1993.


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62 7
COLD WAR AND VIETNAM
Unit Structure:
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Ancient Vietnam
7.3 National Resistance Movement: The Early Phase
7.4 National Resistance Movement - The Mature Phase
7.5 Second Indochina War 1964 -1975
7.6 Summary
7.7 Bibliography
7.0 OBJECTIVES :
After going through this unit, the learners will be able to understand
 To know the ancient historical background of Vietnam.
 To understand the national movement of Vietnam.
 To review the Cold War and Vietnam conflict.
7.1 INTRO DUCTION
Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia which has
China, Cambodia, and Laos as its neighbours. During the colonial times it
had Thailand as its neighbour. As per interpolated U.N. data 2021 it has a
population of 9.85 crores. It is located in the Indo -China peninsula. And
has a land border with neighbouring countries measuring 4500 kilometres.
From north to south it measures 1,650 kilometres. There are two major
deltaic regions in the country: The Red River delta called the nor thern
delta and the Mekong delta called the Southern delta. The coastline of the
country measures 3,260 kilometres. Apart from a few well -known islands
about 3000 islets in Tonkin gulf belong to the country.



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63

https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/vietnam -political -
map.htm
7.2 ANCIENT VIETNAM
Vietnam had many names in the ancient period. The Chinese had named it
Nan-Yueh and the Tonking area as Chiao Chih. In th e seventh century it
was called Annam which is a Chinese term with the meaning ‘the pacified
south’. When the Vietnamese overthrew the direct Chinese rule of
Northern Vietnam in the 10th Century they called the country Dai -Co-Viet
(country of the Great Vie t People)
The Hindu Funan kingdom comprised parts of Vietnam, Cambodia and
Thailand. It existed between the 1st and the 6th century C.E. when it
merged with the state of Chenla. In the coastal region in Central Vietnam
the kingdom of Lin Yi was in existe nce since 192 C.E. In about the 7th
century the kingdom of Champa or the Chams rose.. Indrapura, Amravati, munotes.in

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History of Asia
64 Vijaya, Kauthara and Panduranga were important coastal cities during the
period. Shaivite sect was the prevailing religion and Sanskrit inscriptions
are available. The Champa power reached its zenith in about 9th to 10th
Century C.E. The influence of Chams spread over southern and central
Vietnam. In the 14th century. There was constant fighting between the Dai
Viet in north Vietnam and the Chams. They faced many invasions from
neighbours and by the 15th century they were wiped out by the Vietnamese
from the north. By the 17th century the entire Cham territory was
conquered by the Vietnamese.
In the 16th century the European missionaries landed in Viet nam. The
locals welcomed them for many reasons including trade. The Portuguese
had established regular trading connections in Annam and Tonkin in the
16th century. In the 17th Century the Jesuits landed in Northern Vietnam
from Japan. In the 17th Century t he English East India Company made
attempts to start a factory in North Vietnam but beyond a point they were
not successful. The French East India Company in 1668 established its
formal presence in Indochina. Over time the French gradually expanded
their i nfluence in and around the country including Cambodia and Laos.
Their soldiers guarded their territorial interest, their traders protected their
commercial interest, and their priests oversaw conversion to Catholicism.
Emperor Gia Long (1762 -1820) founded the last ruling dynasty namely
the Nguyen dynasty in Vietnam with his ascension to power in 1802. He
had many challenges to his rule, and he sought and got the help of French
Catholic Bishop Pierre Pigneau de Behaine who campaigned for help in
both Pondic herry and Paris. Gia Long, in the meanwhile, conquered
Saigon through alliance and military action. He stabilised his rule in
Saigon which at that time was called Cochin China by the Portuguese. The
French Engineers had built a citadel and a palace where G ia Long could
live securely. Though Pierre Pigneau was given a high position, he
maintained a balance between the Vietnamese and the French. In 1792
when Nguyen Hue Quang Trung of North Vietnam died. Gia Long seized
the opportunity to conquer North Vietnam too and became the emperor of
the Unified Vietnam in 1802.
Gia Long wanted all three religions namely, the Confucianism, Buddhism
and Christianity to maintain harmony within the region. Despite such
avowed tolerance in religious policy, Gia Long harshly treated the new
converts to Christianity. He could not forgive Behaine for converting
prince Canh to Christianity. The crown prince Minh Mang (1820 -1841)
who succeeded to power was a practitioner of Confucianism and during
his rule a large -scale persecuti on of Christians took place in Vietnam. In
response to this Napoleon III planned an invasion in 1857. He envisaged a
trade empire based in Mekong. Over time, the French adopted the policy
of punishing locals through battles and other violent measures if an y of
these three groups were hurt by the Vietnamese in anyway. This also gave
them opportunities to expand territorially in Vietnam. They took part in
local wars supporting one or the other side and exacting territories as prize
for their participation. In 1858 a French expedition reached Vietnam to
fight with the king’s army. In 1859 it captured Saigon. After three years of munotes.in

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Cold War a nd Vietnam
65 fight they signed a treaty in 1862 according to which the Vietnamese
emperor had cede three provinces to the French in Cochin China in cluding
Saigon. By signing the treaty Vietnam had agreed to be the political
protectorate and it gave right to the French to navigate through the
Mekong river. In 1863 the French made Cambodia their protectorate. By
1867 more territories were placed under the French control in the Cochin
China region. They entered the Red River Delta in north in 1873 but could
not capture the region till another decade. In 1882 under the leadership of
Captain Henri Rivieri French army explored the Red River Delta but
Henri Rivieri was killed in the pursuit. The French government in Saigon
tried to exploit the situation by imposing its rule in about 1882. In August
1883 the French and the Vietnamese Government signed a treaty by which
Northern Vietnam (Tonkin), and the Centra l Vietnam (Annam) became
French protectorates. Already Cochin China or Saigon was a colony and
by about 1893 Laos was conquered by the French, and they unified all
these regions and called it Indochina.
As the French conquered the north, there were freque nt clashes between
them and the Chinese. On 28th March 1885 they were beaten by the
Chinese forces at Langson. They reacted by attacking Keelung in Formosa
(Taiwan). A treaty was signed on 9th June 1885 recognising the French
protectorate over Annam and To nkin. The provisions of the same treaty
stated that French traders could trade with South China. They got the right
to construct the railways line from Hanoi to Kunming. This treaty
completed the French conquest of Vietnam.
During colonial rule, the French were on a civilising mission in the
territories they controlled. They made criminal justice more lenient; they
officially changed the script from Chinese to Roman.
Paul Daumer, who became the governor of Indochina in 1897 made
Vietnamese bear the cost o f administering the country. French was made
as the lingua franca of the country. He facilitated a market for French
products in Vietnam. Opium sale was made legal, and the government
started collecting tax for the same. The French Government made Vietnam
the largest rice exporting country in the world. It also became a leading
nation in rubber plantation. Many Vietnamese became Catholics and they
spoke French fluently. They became well versed in French History and
Literature. But this trend also gave rise to Vietnamese nationalism against
French rule. Violent incursions against French governance took place
throughout the colonial period.
7.3 NATIONAL RESISTANCE MOVEMENT: THE
EARLY PHASE
Due to the occupation of Vietnam by China previously, the Vietnamese
were always freedom loving. This was more prevalent in the rural areas.
Resistance to the French rule started as soon as the French rule began in
Cochin China in 1862. It became so widespread in 1885 when the French
conquered Annam. Cautiously since 1895 a nd quite fiercely since 1909
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66 murdered them one by one. The Boxer movement in China in 1899 which
opposed western presence and domination had a profound influence on
Vietnam. During this pe riod people read the translated versions of the
writings of John Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau etc., They were also
inspired by the revolutionary leadership of Dr. Sun Yat Sen.
Phan Boi Chau and Phan Chau Trinh were two Vietnamese leaders who
were most inf luenced by the revolutionary movement of Dr. Sun Yat Sen.
Phan Boi Chau started the Reformation Society which stood for
revolutionary monarchism. This society wanted to restore monarchy on
the model of Japanese monarchy which did not stand in the way of
development of the constitutional government. Phan Boi Chau secretly
went to Japan where he met Chinese revolutionaries including Sun Yat
Sen. He learnt from them the techniques of starting a revolution. His work
‘History of the loss of Vietnam’ became extre mely popular. He made
Canton his base to start his revolutionary activities. He founded ‘the
Association for the Restoration of Vietnam’. In 1914 he decided to
establish a revolutionary army. This led to his arrest by the Government of
Canton. Due to Sun Y at Sen’s efforts, he was released in 1917. Through
his efforts forty Vietnamese were admitted to the famous Whampoa
military academy. In 1925 he was taken to Hanoi and there he was
sentenced to death. But there was a widespread protest against this
sentenc e and hence, it was reduced to life imprisonment. He was in jail till
his death in 1940.
7.4 NATIONAL RESISTANCE MOVEMENT - THE
MATURE PHASE
The liberal western thought caught on in Vietnam and the French medium
of instruction enabled the change in the min dset of the Vietnamese. The
privileged middle and upper class who studied French history, literature
and philosophy were impressed by the French Revolution and the
subsequent 1830 and 1848 revolutions. They wanted similar changes in
Vietnam. It is these we stern educated young men who crossed over to
China and established the Association for the Restoration of Vietnam.
They also organised many small uprisings in north Vietnam. The royal
family supported them. The 1916 uprising led to the exile of the king an d
the crown prince. More than a lakh soldiers served the French army during
World War I. When they returned home they wanted political presence for
the Vietnamese. It was after this war that the nationalists of Vietnam
turned to communism. The nationalists were trained in China in the art of
resistance. One of the leaders, Duong Van Gieu, met J. Nehru during one
of the sessions of the League of Nations in 1927 and attended the Indian
National Congress session in 1928.
7.4.1 Formation of VNQDD Party -
The V NQDD or the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang (the Nationalist Party of
Vietnam) was founded in Hanoi in 1927. It adopted the principles of
nationalism of Dr. Sun Yat Sen. The members of VNQDD wanted Phan munotes.in

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67 Boi Chau to lead the new party since he was jailed Nguyen Thai Hoc, a
teacher, was made as their leader.
7.4.2 Ho Chi Minh Early Life -
Ho Chi Minh was born in 1890 in Hoang Tru, his mother’s village in
Central Vietnam. His original name was Nguyen Sinh Cung. He had many
aliases. From 1895, he grew up in his paterna l hometown in Kim Lien. His
father Nguyen Sinh Huy was a scholar and a revolutionary. He was
enrolled in Quoc Hoe College in Hue.
Ho Chi Minh became a cabin boy in the French merchant navy and
travelled around the world starting from 1911. ‘He applied fo r the French
Colonial Administrative School, but his application was rejected’. During
his stay, he worked as a cleaner, waiter, and film retoucher. Ho spent most
of his free time in public libraries reading history books and newspapers to
familiarise hims elf with Western society and politics. After doing many
small jobs in England and France he was considered as a good
pamphleteer. In England while he worked in a hotel, he was also a
member of the secret society called Overseas Workers Union. As per some
sources, in 1912, Ho Chi Minh travelled to the United States and seemed
to have stayed here till 1918.
7.4.3 Political education in France -
Ho Chi Minh lived in France from 1919. He tried to attend the Treaty of
Versailles meeting to press the Allies that Vietnam should be given self -
determination. His other demands included general amnesty for
Vietnamese political prisoners, equal rights for the French and the
Vietnamese, prevention of criminal justice system being misused to punish
Vietnamese patriots, f reedom of thought, association, assembly,
movement and of travelling abroad, right to education, to open technical
and vocational schools for the Vietnamese, freedom of press and
appointment of a Vietnamese representative in Paris to settle issues
concerni ng Vietnamese. It was a heartbreaking moment for him when he
realized that the doctrine of self -determination introduced by the U.S.
President Woodrow Wilson was to be applied to Europeans in general and
East Europeans in particular and not to non -European s. This
disillusionment led to him to embrace communism especially under the
influence of Marcel Cachin. Thereafter, he became very active in the
French Socialist party.
In 1920 Ho Chi Minh voted for the Third International and communism.
After reading Le nin’s “Theses on the National and Colonial Questions” he
was drawn to communism. French reluctance to give the same rights that
they advocated for themselves and to other European nations led to Ho
becoming a communist. In 1923 the French Communist party s ent him to
Russia for further training. There he represented the French Communist
Party at the Peasant International in October 1923. In 1924 he attended the
fifth congress of the Communist International as a delegate. In the same
year he was sent to Canto n as translator to Mikhael Borodin (the Russian
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68 From Canton HO Chi Minh formed the Association of Vietnamese
Revolutionary Youth. Many young revolutionaries joined this association.
This association became very popular in a short while that revolutionaries
from other organisations joined it. Ho Chi Minh trained about 250 young
members in the methods of Marxist revolutionary techniques. He got some
of them enrolled in the Whampoa military academy and others to the
USSR to s tudy Marxism. These young cadets later became the leaders of
the Indochina Communist Party.
Two years later Ho went to Bangkok where Comintern South Seas Bureau
was established. Here he trained the Vietnamese immigrants. In 1930 he
merged three communist factions into one and named it as Vietnamese
Communist Party. This was shortly afterwards renamed as Indochina
Communist Party. Ho was appointed as the head of Far Eastern Bureau of
the Comintern. In 1930 his party organised a revolt against the French
government but many got either killed or arrested. Ho fled to Hong Kong
where he was arrested the next year. The next few years he was believed
to have been in the USSR recovering from illness. He returned to China in
1938 as an advisor to the Chinese Commun ist Party.
In 1930 VNQDD (Vietnamese Nationalist Party) also revolted against the
French government called the Yen Bai uprisings. The military garrison
posted in Yen Bai mutinied, but the French government crushed it so
severely that the VNQDD was destroy ed. It is believed thousands were
killed or arrested in these two uprisings. The impact of these two uprisings
on Vietnamese masses was strong. Some French government officials
believed that there should be reforms. The popular front government of
France recognized the Communist Party of Indochina in 1936 and released
all political prisoners. But when the Popular Front Government fell in
France, the bonhomie with the communists in Indochina ended.
In September 1932 Prince Bao Dai was brought from France w hen he was
eighteen years of age to titularly rule Indochina. Pham Quynh became the
Chief of Cabinet and Ngo Din Diem; a nationalist became the interior
minister. Despite these changes the French government kept full control
over China and made the king an d his ministers puppets. This forced Ngo
Dinh Diem to leave the country in frustration.
In 1940 the Vichy government of France and the Governor General of
Indochina signed an accord with Japan. This accord allowed the French
government to continue in Indo china while many of the natural resources
and military hardware went under the control of Japan. In 1941 Japan used
Indochina to attack Malaysia, Hongkong, Philippines and Indonesia.
Despite the accord in March 1945 Japan imprisoned the French
government f unctionaries. During the second world war USSR and
Nationalist China joined the allies. This rare combination led to HO Chi
Minh being released from a Chinese prison to start a resistance movement
against the Vichy government which was supported by the Jap anese. The
logistics including the military hardware was provided by the American
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69 7.4.4 Viet Minh -
In March 1941 the ICP’s Central Committee met and formed a new
organisation called the Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi or in short the
Viet Minh or the Vietnam Independence League. It tried to unite all
patriots without any distinction for the liberation of Vietnam. This
organisation had wider appeal amongst the massesin general,since, people
had associated capitalism and democracy with the coloni alists in general
and the French in particular,the nationalists espousing such values were
suspiciously looked upon by the people. Hence, when a communist
organisation united everyone to liberate the country from the imperialists
there was a lot of enthusi asm for it. In March 1945 Japan took over the
direct administrative control of Vietnam. At that time a severe famine
broke out in the country. Rescue measures were scarce and both the
Japanese and the French governments were ineffective. Viet Minh rose to
the occasion and arranged distribution of rice. It also organised guerrilla
bases and administrative control over three provinces. The Japanese
government asked the emperor to abdicate the 1884 protectorate treaty
with France and declare the country as in dependent.
7.4.5 Democratic Republic of Vietnam -
When Japan surrendered on 7th August 1945 Viet Minh emerged as the
future power centre. The National Congress of Viet Minh elected a
National Liberation Committee which became the provisional government
under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. On 26th August 1945 the Viet Minh
took over Hanoi. King Bo Dai abdicated power. On 2nd September 1945
Ho formally announced the birth Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He
tried to appear a nationalist leader by inviting ot her nationalists to share
power. But the new republic was not recognized by any world power. At
the Potsdam conference, the Allies had decided that the Nationalist China
should occupy Vietnam up to the sixteenth parallel and Britain should
occupy the rest of the country. Both the Chinese and the British arrived in
Vietnam to take charge of their respective portions. General Douglas
Gracey released all French authorities who were imprisoned by the
Japanese and armed them with weapons and also weaponized th e
surrendered Japanese making them take over public buildings in Saigon to
prevent communist takeover of Southern Vietnam. King Bo Dai appealed
to the French President Charles De Gaulle not to take over Vietnam but it
was ignored. The VNQDD and the Dong Mi n Hoi helped by the Chinese
army, controlled North Vietnam while the Viet Minh controlled the
Central and South Eastern coast of Vietnam. On 23rd September the
French flags flew on the public buildings of Saigon. In October 1945
French Commander Philippe L eclerc arrived in Saigon and together with
General Gracey he forced the withdrawal of Viet Minh from Saigon.
Shortly afterwards, the British concluded a treaty which recognized the
French as the legitimate power south of 16th Parallel of Vietnam. Viet
Minh had deep roots in the rural areas and General Leclerc captured most
towns and cities in the south forcing the Viet Minh forces to start guerilla
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70 Ho Chi Minh started negotiations with the French. He wanted to end the
Chinese occupation of North V ietnam. On 11th November 1945 Ho
announced the dissolution of the Indochina Communist Party. He offered
alliance with VNQDD in the forthcoming National Assembly elections in
January 1946. He signed a treaty with the French allowing them to send a
limited n umber of French troops to take over north Vietnam. Elections
were held the same month and the Viet Minh won with two thirds
majority. But the French were not willing to honour the election. Ho Chi
Minh tried unsuccessfully to get the support of the U.S. go vernment but
failed. In March 1946 the French took control of North Vietnam, they then
proceeded to free Tonkin from the Chinese influence but failed. The
French government signed an agreement with Ho stating that the Republic
of Vietnam was a free state w ithin the French Union. Towards the end of
May 1946 Ho left for France to negotiate with the French government for
freeing the country. Shortly after his departure the French High
Commissioner declared that the agreement between the French
Government and H o did not include Southern Vietnam.
7.4.6 First Indochina War: 1946 -54 -
In October 1946 Ho Chi Minh returned to North Vietnam. In November
Viet Minh demanded that all the three regions of Vietnam be merged into
one unit. Battle broke out shortly in Novem ber and the French government
was determined to teach a lesson to the communists. The French
bombarded the coastal city of Haiphong and killed a large number of
Vietnamese civilians. The American Government was in a dilemma as
whether to support Ho in his effort or not. They fully favoured the
independence Movement of Vietnam but feared that the outcome would be
the establishment of a communist government which would be controlled
by Moscow.
The Viet Minh started their offensive in December attacking the F rench
forces stationed in Hanoi. Ho Chi Minh appealed to countrymen to rise
against French imperialism. France tried to calm down Southern Vietnam
by giving concessions to Vietnamese in Saigon by giving autonomy in
internal governance. By February 1947 the French were able to push the
Viet Minh forces out of major cities in the north. Ho tried very hard to get
the support of the U.S. government but France pressured the Americans
not to yield to it.
In November 1947, the French government tried to take over Viet Minh
strongholds in northern Hanoi but failed. They tried again and briefly
succeeded in capturing the areas dominated by the Viet Minh. Throughout
1948 the Viet Minh forces resorted to guerilla attacks on the French troops
and population. They enjoy ed a large civilian support.
In March 1949, the Elysee accord was signed by the French Government
and king Bao Dai’s government which was under the patronage of the
French. As per the accord the whole of Vietnam was united under the
governance of Bao Dai but the French government retained defence and
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71 In October 1949 the Communist government was formed in China. In
January 1950 the new government sent advisors to assist Viet Minh in its
efforts for liberation. Ho Chi Minh visited China an d Moscow to gain
support for the freedom movement. While China was ready to give
military assistance, Stalin declined to commit.
The French requested American aid to fight against the Viet Minh forces.
A U.S. intelligence report predicted that the Bao Dai government hardly
had the support of the people which the Viet Minh enjoyed. By May 1950,
in an effort to contain the spread of communism in SouthEast Asia, the
U.S. government declared military aid to the Bao Dai government. In June
1950 the Korean War b egan. This firmed up the American views on
spread of communism and towards the end of June 1950 American
military aid reached the Bao Dai government.
Viet Minh forces attacked and took Dong Khe in north Vietnam which
was under the control of the French. V iet Minh had a series of successes in
its offensives against the French forces in north Vietnam. The war dragged
on as it became a part of the struggle in the cold war between the U.S.A.
and U.S.S.R. By the beginning of 1954 the U.S. aid to the Bao Dai
government was about three billion dollars. Even that did not serve the
purpose as the Viet Minh forces were determined and they started
confronting the French in major battles.
7.4.7 The Battle of Dien Bien Phu -
The fifth military commander of the French a rmy in Vietnam vowed to
break up the enemy forces in Indochina. He believed that the Viet Minh
were only good at guerilla warfare and in conventional warfare the French
forces would be able to destroy the Viet Minh. So, he lured the Viet Minh
to a pitched battle at a remote location called Dien Bien Phu inLaos. The
French expected an easy victory. But the determined Viet Minh forces had
lugged the military hardware by foot and on bicycles and surrounded the
French forces atop the hills around the location. The French troops were
besieged by the Viet Minh and when the air force tried to rescue the
French forces, the Viet Minh shot them from the hill tops. U.S. Secretary
of State John Foster Dulles wanted to use nuclear weapons against the
Vietnamese to evacua te the French but Britain refused to support this.
There was a huge loss of life on both sides. Viet Minh had a spectacular
victory despite the losses and the French forces and government were
thoroughly demoralised.
7.4.8 The Geneva Settlement 1954 -
On 21st July 1954 the Geneva agreements divided Vietnam along the
seventeenth parallel into two zones until a viable final settlement. The
question of reunification of both the parties was to be decided by a
nationwide election to be held in 1956. Viet Minh r eluctantly accepted the
settlement. Both China and USSR pressured Ho Chi Minh to accept this as
they wanted peaceful coexistence with capitalistic nations at that time and
China believed in non -consolidation of power amongst the neighbours.
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72 out of the landmass of Vietnam namely the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam and the State of Vietnam or South Vietnam. It also created
separate countries of Laos and Cambodia. With this the French
domin ation in Vietnam ended.
7.4.9 SEATO -
Shortly after the Geneva settlement U.S. Secretary of State John Foster
Dulles made the united action strategy wherein he made Britain and
France sign the Manila pact which would counter Geneva accords in spirit.
On 8th September 1954 all the three countries along with Australia New
Zealand along with three Asian countries; Pakistan, Philippines and
Thailand established the SouthEast Asian Treaty Organisation (SEATO).
The non -aligned members such as India, Burma, Cambo dia and Indonesia
opposed this new formation. The establishment of SEATO formally began
the cold war era in Southeast Asia.
7.4.10 The Two Vietnams -
After the 1954 accords the North Vietnam was ruled by Viet Minh
whereas the South Vietnam was led by Bao Dai with Ngo Dinh Diem as
his prime minister. Diem, being a nationalist did not like the communist
takeover of the country. He was supported by the U.S. Government which
feared that the communist takeover of Vietnam might lead to a domino
effect in other S outheast Asian and East Asian countries. To prevent that it
started giving economic and military aid to South Vietnam and in general
it supported the government of Diem.
Ngo Dinh Diem being a nationalist and the one who had lost his family
members to mach inations of the Viet Minh, were not inclined to patch up
with Ho Chi Minh. He faced many challenges to his authority. At that time
South Vietnam was under the control of three religious military sects.
Within six months of assuming power Diem crushed the t hree sects. On
23rd October 1955 he held a referendum in which he asked for people’s
mandate to become the President of the country. Having received it, he
removed Bao Dai from power and elevated his position as the President of
the country. After the elec tion on 4th March 1956 a new constitution was
drafted. In all these Diem was supported by the United States. But after
the initial promise he was given to nepotism. He elevated his relatives to
all top positions. He reneged on the promise of conducting an election to
decide on the future of Vietnam as per the guidelines given in the Geneva
accords. About a million people belonging to the catholic sect migrated
from north to south Vietnam. Over time, these were given much
preference in Job opportunities. His viceregal hate for the communists
made him target them unnecessarily. In 1957 he started the “denounce
communists and mopping up” campaign using emergency powers. His
brother Ngo Din Nhu led the secret police service which imprisoned
thousands of communis ts in concentration camp -like holdings where many
were poisoned to death. In May 1959 Diem established special military
tribunals where people who were charged with economic offences or
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73 Though he introduced land reforms in rural areas the beneficiaries were
his supporters and Catholics who migrated from the north.
On the other hand, in Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh was
respected for his simplicity, lack of family, an d honesty. Despite being
ruthless, masses believed he was ascetic. People fondly called him uncle
Ho. He had a mass appeal that was unmatched.
Ho after coming to power tried to implement his promise of agrarian
reforms and redistribution of lands. He used forced labour to build
infrastructure especially, roads. After Americans and the French left, the
Viet Minh government did not have the technology to mine coal which
was the major source of income for the country. Over a million
Vietnamese, mostly Catholi cs migrated to South Vietnam during this
period. Land reform was resumed in 1956. The first five -year plan was
unveiled in 1961 -66. Hointroduced the Russian Socialist model as the role
model for the country. The Viet Minh government introduced Agrarian
Cooperatives. Every aspect of the economy was controlled by the state and
even those businesses which were run by the private sector were turned
into public -private partnerships. Peoples’ purchasing power reduced over
time and became the lowest during the Sec ond Indochina War period.
Despite these issues Ho’s personal popularity never waned.
On 13th May 1959, the Ho Chi Minh’s Lao Dong (workers) party’s central
committee in Hanoi declared that time had come to struggle heroically to
smash the government of so uth Vietnam. The party leaders resolved to
create unified Vietnam through all appropriate means. In December 1960
National Liberation Front was established in south Vietnam by the
southern Communists. The Diem’s regime called this group the Viet Nam
Cong S an or the Vietnamese Communists in short Viet Cong. The Viet
Cong forces depended on arms supply from North Vietnam through a trail
called the Ho Chi Minh trail which was routed through Laos and
Cambodia to South Vietnam from the north. They generally used guerilla
tactics during their fight. On 1st January 1962 the People’s Revolutionary
Party was established as part of the NLF which was directed by the Lao
Dong party from the north. By 1963 NLF became a gigantic organisation
of many wings. These wings re sisted the political power of the Diem
government at many levels. But starting from mid -1963, armed struggle
gained momentum as Diem’s government started using sophisticated
weapons to fight against the NLF.
7.4.11 The Buddhist Resistance -
A number of Bu ddhist monks and nuns in south were against Diem’s rule
as they felt it was against the majority Buddhists. Even during the French
rule there was an underlying tension that the French government was
giving a lot of privileges to the Catholics. During Diem’ s rule it became
more pronounced. On 7th May 1963 Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc forbade
the display of Buddhist flags to commemorate the birth of Lord Buddha.
When Buddhists protested against this they were tear gassed and some
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74 Duc, a venerable monkdousing himself with gasoline and lighting self.
This was filmed and the news spread to the whole world. This adverse
publicity bothered the U.S. Government so much they stopped backing
Diem’s gover nment. There was an army coup in Southern Vietnam which
caught and hung Diem and his brother Nhu on 1st November 1963. The
instability in the south continued with one general after another claiming
power.
7.5 SECOND INDOCHINA WAR 1964 -1975
7.5.1 Gulf of T onkin Incident -
President Johnson believed that what was happening in Vietnam was not
its internal matter and without U.S. intervention one by one all Southeast
Asian Countries would fall for communism. On 2nd August 1964 he
announced that U.S. destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy had been attacked
by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. The U.S. aircraft retaliated by
bombing Vietnamese strategic locations. Immediately afterwards, the U.S.
Congress unanimously authorised the U.S. President to ‘take all necessary
actions against enemy forces to prevent further aggression.’ Johnson sent a
force of half million soldiers to fight in Vietnam in an undeclared war.
This resolution was in force for six years. Later in 1968 the Pentagon
papers admitted that the news of Viet namese torpedos attacking U.S.
destroyers in 1964 was not true. Nonetheless, it started the Second
Indochina War which lasted till 1975 and Vietnam went through untold
sufferings through this period.
7.5.2 Operation Rolling Thunder – 7th February 1965 -
U.S. forces started bombing of north Vietnamese military installations and
staging areas. This continued on a regular basis. The objective of this
mission was to cripple north Vietnam's economy, stop the weapon supply
to south Vietnam and bring north Vietna m to a negotiated settlement. But
the outcome was not successful as NorthVietnam's economy was agrarian
and as such there was no one spot that Americans could damage. Also,
during monsoon season there was no clear sky to bomb specific targets.
But these of fensives made the North Vietnamese even more determined to
fight.
In 1965 -66 South Vietnam became more stable under the Presidency of
General Nguyen Van Thieu. Until the end of the war the U.S. government
supported Thieu’s government. By 1965 the U.S. had sent 5 lakh soldiers
to South Vietnam. They adopted a tactic of search and destroy the enemy
in the south through bombing, chemical defoliation, psychological
warfare, and counter -insurgency measures. The presence of foreign troops
led to militarization o f south Vietnam society. Youth joined the NLF
either voluntarily or by force. There was a lot of corruption amongst
American military contractors. The aid given by the U.S. government was
spent on support services for the American army.
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75 7.5.3 Tet Offensi ve -
In 1968 the north Vietnam government with the consent of Ho had
decided to attack during Tet festival season. It had planned a coordinated
attack on over hundred cities and military outposts in south Vietnam.
Though Viet Cong suffered heavy losses, th e spectacular nature of the
offensive stunned the U.S. forces. Though they along with South Vietnam
forces managed to stave off capture of these places by the Viet Cong, it
eroded the support of American public to this war and led to the eventual
but gradu al withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. The U.S.
administration decided to disengage from the war with honour.
In terms of human casualties up to 1971 the war led to the death of
3,35,000 civilians, double the number were wounded. By 1975 about 5
million refugees were living in Cambodia. About 58,220 American
soldiers were killed, as per U.S. calculation 2 to 2.5 lakh south Vietnamese
soldiers and 4 to 6.6 lakh NLF soldiers had died in the war.
By 1967 it was clear to Ho Chi Minh that he did not ha ve much time to
live. He was suffering from tuberculosis. He gradually withdrew from
active politics. In 1969 Ho suffered a heart attack. On 2nd September 1969
Ho died at his home in Hanoi due to heart failure.
7.5.4 U.S. withdrawal from the war -
The U. S. realised the futility of the war as early as 1967 but they could not
stop there. They refused to accept the truth that they were fighting in a
foreign soil with a force that was willing to sacrifice all for the sake of
homeland. In 1967 two American gener als questioned the rationale of
continuing with the war and this had a spiralling effect. Exponentially, a
large number of American masses started questioning the wisdom of
participating in this war. From the Tet offensive to the signing of the Paris
accor d the U.S. government seemed to have followed a two -track plan.
The U.S. government would negotiate a military settlement while the
south Vietnam government should negotiate with NLF for a political
settlement. In 1972 with the help of Pakistan, first Henr y Kissinger and
later Richard Nixon met the Chinese President with an agreement that the
Chinese would not attack Taiwan and would tolerate U.S. presence in
Vietnam for a while.
With these strategies on hand, the U.S. started attacking select spots and
cities in north Vietnam. From 1970 -73 U.S. started bombing both Laos
and Cambodia to expunge the presence of Viet Cong military in these
places. Its avowed objective was to capture the underground office of
military headquarters of south Vietnam but they cou ld not find it. By 1972
the cost of waging this war by the U.S. government was about 20 million
dollars. The total tonnage of bombing surpassed U.S. bombing during the
second world war.

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76 7.5.5 The Paris Accords - 1973 -
The Paris accords was signed by fou r countries; North Vietnam, the
government of South Vietnam, the communists of South Vietnam and the
United States Government on 27th January 1973. It brought about a
ceasefire in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The provisions of the
agreement included complet e withdrawal of American troops from
Indochina. Return of prisoners of war. A democratic solution to the South
Vietnam question: The South Vietnam government and the South Vietnam
communists were to resolve their issue through mutual consultations.
Reunifi cation could be considered through consultation between north and
south. The U.S. would pay for the reconstruction of north Vietnam.
7.5.6 Reasons for the failure of the U.S. in Vietnam -
The foremost reason for the failure of the U.S. was entering a war in a
foreign soil to contain the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. It was
not a good enough reason to start or win a war. Whereas for the
Vietnamese it was the question of homeland and their identity and the fear
of losing their homeland to foreigner s and hence, they had better motive to
fight the war. The other reasons were backing the corrupt Diem regime
and ignoring corruption within the U.S. army.
After the exit of the U.S. troops the South Vietnamese government
survived for some time and finally collapsed in 1975. Immediately, the
North Vietnam government troops and the Viet Cong moved into Saigon
on 30th April 1975. The American soldiers present there had to be
evacuated. On 3rd July 1976 the national assembly of Vietnam reunified
both the terri tories and renamed Saigon as Ho Chi Minh city. With this the
Vietnam war ended.
7.6 SUMMARY
By the early 1920s nationalist parties began to demand independence.
After the world War II French protectorate continue their imperialistic
policy and domain in north and south vetuare but during the cold war the
superpower USA and USSR was trying to interval in vetuare. The civil
war so there north and south vetuare become serious Issues because both
the super power was involved in nationality in 1973 USA.
7.7 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Martin Stuart Fox, The French in Laos, 1887 -1945, volume 29, No.1,
(Feb.1995), Pp. 11 -139, Cambridge University Press.
2. D.R. Sardesai, Vietnam: Trials and Tribulations of a Nation, Promilla
Publishers, New Delhi, 1988.
3. Dr. Sardesai, Sout h East Asia: Past and Present, New Delhi, (Reprint)
1983. munotes.in

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Cold War a nd Vietnam
77 4. D.G.E. Hall, A History of South -East Asia (fourth edition), Macmillan
Press, Malaysia, 1994.
5. William J Duiker, China and Vietnam: The roots of Conflict, India,
1986
6. Spencer C. Tucker, (Ed.), The E ncyclopaedia of the Vietnam Power,
Volume I, A -G,
7. George C. Herring, The Cold War and Vietnam, OAH Magazine of
History, Vol. No. 18, No.5, OUP, Vietnam, October 2014, Pp. 18 -21
8. Ronald J Cima, ( Ed.), Vietnam a Country Study, Library of Congress,
Washington , 1987.
9. Harold M. Vinacke, A History of the Far East in Modern Times, VI
Edition, New York, 1959.
10. Paul H Clyde, Burton F. Beers, The Far East: A History Western
Impacts and Eastern Responses, 1830 -1975, Sixth Edition, New Delhi,
1985
11. Office of the State H istorian, Milestones, 1953 -60, U.S.A.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953 -1960/dien -bien-phu
12. Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,
https://vietnamembassy -usa.org/vietnam/geography
13. Funan, Ancient State of Indochina -
https://www.britannica.com/place/Funan
14. Bernard B. Fall, The Second Indochina War, Chatham House, The
Royal Institute International Relations, OUP,
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2611949

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78 8
INDONESIA
Unit Structure:
8.0 Objectives
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Etymology
8.3 History o f Indonesia till 1900
8.4 Indonesian National Movement and t he Colonial Response
1900 -1945
8.5 Return of the Dutch and t he Indonesian National Rev olution
1945 -49
8.6 Unitary Indonesia 1950 -59
8.7 Guided Democracy 1959 -66
8.8 Guide d Democracy and Foreign Policy o f Indonesia Afro -Asian
Conference: April 1955
8.9 Liberation o f West New Guinea (West Irian) 1961 -63
8.10 Confrontation with Malaysia 1963 -65
8.11 Domestic Policies o f Indonesia
8.12 Sukarno a nd The Army’s Power Struggle
8.13 Sukarno’s Relations w ith Political Parties
8.14 Guided Democracy a nd Mass Organisations
8.15 Bureacracy i n Guided Democracy
8.16 Guided Democracy and Indonesian Economy
8.17 Fall of Guided Democracy a nd Sukarno
8.18 Mass Action a nd Massacres
8.19 Suharto’s New Order a nd Beyond
8.20 Summary
8.21 Questions
8.22 References munotes.in

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79 8.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, the learners will be able to
 Understand the history of Indonesia.
 Know the national movement of of Indonesia.
 Review the domestic policy of Indonesia.
8.1 INTRODUCTION
The Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia. Comprising
17,508 islands. It is the world’s largest ar chipelagic state. With an
estimated population of around 27.64 crore people as per 2021 U.N. data.
It is the world’s fourth most populous country and the most populous
Muslim -majority nation; however, no reference is made to Islam in the
Indonesian constit ution. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature
and president. The nation’s capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land
borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Malaysia. Other
neighboring countries include Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, and
the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

https://www.infoplease.com/atlas/asia/indonesia -map
Indonesia had trade relations with other countries, especially with India
and China since, the beginning of the common era. Local rulers gradually
adopted Indian cultural, religious, and political models from the early
centuries of CE. Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished there.
Indonesian history has been influenc ed by foreign powers drawn to its
natural resources. Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers
fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku in
about 16th century. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch
colonialism, I ndonesia secured its independence after World War II.
Indonesia’s history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by munotes.in

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80 natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and
periods of rapid economic change.
Across its many islands , Indonesia consists of distinct ethnic, linguistic,
and religious groups. The Javanese are the largest and most politically
dominant ethnic group. As a unitary state and a nation, Indonesia has
developed a shared identity defined by a national language, e thnic
diversity, religious pluralism within a majority Muslim population, and a
history of colonialism and rebellion against it. Indonesia’s national motto,
‘Bhinnekatunggalika’ (‘Unity in Diversity’ literally, ‘many, yet one’),
articulates the diversity t hat shapes the country. However, sectarian
tensions and separatism have led to violent confrontations that have
undermined political and economic stability. Despite its large population
and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that
support the world’s second highest level of biodiversity. The country is
richly endowed with natural resources, yet poverty is a defining feature of
contemporary Indonesia.
8.2 ETYMOLOGY
The term Indonesia was first coined in the middle of the 19th century. A
British geographer by name James Richard Logan coined the name to
refer to the vast archipelago with thousands of islands. The name implies
in Greek ‘ Indos’ for India and ‘nesos’ for island. For many Europeans
Indonesia was in cultural terms an ex tension of Indian sub -continent. The
British used the term ‘Further India’ to refer to Indonesia. The Dutch after
colonization called the islands Nederland Indie or Netherlands East Indies
which meant Dutch India.
From the early 1900 the word Indonesia wa s more frequently used by the
western elites outside of Netherlands. In 1913 SuwardiSuryaningrat
named the press bureau started in Netherlands by the name Indonesisch
Press Bureau. By late 1920s the nationalist movement used the name to
signify the indepen dent country and the cultural identity they wanted to
create. The Dutch colonial authority wanted to deny either of the identities
and hence, insisted on calling the country Netherlands East Indies. Due to
this Indonesia not only had to fight against colon ialism, but it also had to
fight for a name.
8.3 HISTORY OF INDONESIA TILL 1900
By1900 the colonial Dutch state had loosely integrated the archipelagic
state. There were states which were under the direct Dutch control and
there were other states called t he Native states which had accepted the
Dutch suzerainty. The organs of central government were strengthened
through introducing new policies in public administration and through
educational policies. Towards the late 19thcentury, the government -built
railways, expanded the existing ports, improved communication links,
introduced electricity and gas in main cities. The state -run schools were
established in 1848. By 1882 there were 300 primary schools in Java and munotes.in

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81 400 in the outer islands. The Christian missi onary organisations did a
commendable service to the cause of education.
8.4 INDONESIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT AND THE
COLONIAL RESPONSE 1900 -1945

In 1901 the Dutch queen Netherlands’ ethical obligation and moral
responsibility towards the people of the Indie s and heralded the
introduction of ethical policy. The avowed aim was to improve the welfare
of the Indonesian people and they were to be brought into closer contact
with the ethically and morally superior Dutch civilization. To achieve
these new features in administration such as Agriculture advisory services,
improved irrigation facilities, improved research programmes etc.
However, the impact of 1930 Great Depression watered down such
policies. But the introduction of ethical policy by the Dutch governme nt in
turn stirred thoughts on national and cultural assimilation amongst the
young people of Indonesia. In 1928 in the Second All Indonesia Youth
Congress the youth took a pledge that they would recognize Indonesian
language as the language of unity. The 1930s saw the spread of library
movement and public schools. Apart from these the small Dutch
community that existed in Indonesia along with the Eurasians introduced
western style of living and culture in major cities. The Chinese minority in
the country w ere influenced by the upheavals in China. They were
comparatively more prosperous but identified with the culture of mainland
China. The ethnic Arabs on the other hand were more supportive of
Indonesian nationalism.
The reaction to attitude of the dominan t minorities was the emergence of
Indonesian nationalism. The earlier anti -Dutch movements had declined
by 1920 and were replaced by the modern Indonesia focused movements.
The most important and the earliest of these were the Budi Utomo and the
IndischePa rtij. Students who popularized the Budi Utomo movement
believed in modern education and attaining status through merit. In a short
period, the movement attracted membership nationwide and it also took up
national issues. Differences in opinion amongst the members of Budi
Utomo led to similar such movements and all were focusing on national
issues. The IndischePartij party was more nationalist and radical as
compared to the former. But both the movements were based on Islam and
reformation. Following these Sarekat Islam was formed in 1912. Founded
initially by Islamic traders, it had wide membership from farmers, and
industrial labourers. In 1920 the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was
formed. Sarket Islam and PKI were in direct confrontation with each other
to attract new members and for political dominance. In 1923 these two
organisations merged to form PartaiSarekat Islam Indonesia. In 1925 this
party organized a series of strikes and the government retaliated by
arresting 13000 people. One among the arres ted was Mohammad Hatta
who along with Sukarno proclaimed Indonesian independence in 1945.
Hatta did his early education in Islamic schools and later moved to
Netherlands to pursue higher education. He was a thinker and a planner. munotes.in

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82 Once, in Netherlands he to ok active part in IndischeVereniging (Indies
Association)
Sukarno was born in 1901 to a Muslim Javanese father and Hindu
Balinese mother. He was more influenced by the urban Javanese culture.
Between 1915 -20 he attended Dutch language school and this scho ol
molded his thoughts. He was also influenced by the Surabaya branch of
Theosophical Society. He was a voracious reader and read books on
western philosophy and ideology. He was also a good orator. Through his
family connections he was in touch with vari ous leaders of Indonesian
national movement. He pursued higher education in Bandung. In 1926 he
formed the Bandung study club which was political in its approach with
Indonesian independence as its ultimate goal . In 1927 he transformed the
Bandung Study Cl ub into the Indonesian Nationalist Association or the
PNI (Perserikatan Nasional Indonesia). Its goal was to achieve
Independence to Indonesia. The ideology of the PNI was Marhaenism
which can be loosely described as socialism. It believed in community
rights rather than individual rights. In 1927 he united all political parties
under the umbrella of the Union of Political Organisations of the
Indonesian People or PPPKI (Permufakatan Per him punan Politik
Kebangsa an Indonesia). The Dutch community living i n Indonesia found
the activities of Sukarno alarming and hence, he was arrested in 1929. He
was sentenced to four years in prison. Immediately after his arrest the
party dissolved itself.
In 1931 Sutan Sjahrir, who had recently returned Indonesia started
Pendidikan Nasional Indonesia, or Indonesian National Education, or the
new PNI . In 1932 Hatta joined the New PNI. The party espoused socialist
ideology. When Sukarno was released from prison he tried to revive the
old PNI.
The Great depression of 1929 h ad its impact on Indonesia in 1931 -32, the
economy tumbled and as cost cutting measure the Dutch government
reduced salaries of employees and this led to naval mutiny in 1933. The
Dutch Governor implicating Sukarno in that mutiny imprisoned him.
Similarly, both Hatta and Sjahrir were imprisoned sent to one of the
islands. After this the government quickly arrested leaders of other
national parties.
In 1936 Soetardjo, one of the leftist members of Volksraad presented a
petition to the Volksraad calling for the convening of a conference to
arrange Indonesian autonomy within a Dutch -Indonesian union within ten
years. In 1938, the Dutch government in Hague rejected this proposal.
Around this time, Fascism was in rise in the west. Some Indonesian
leaders called for a joint action of both the Dutch government and
Indonesian political parties against the rising tide of fascism. But the
Dutch government did not pay heed to it as it did not want to accept
conditional cooperation by the Indonesian political parties.
On 10th May 1940 Germany raided Netherlands and dragged it into the
Second World War. On 10th January 1942 Japanese forces invaded Java munotes.in

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83 and Sumatra. The Dutch surrendered on 8th March 1942. The Japanese
required resources such as oil, tin, and rubber from Indonesia. Initially
they were trading with Indonesia and when the Dutch government put an
embargo on trade Japan raided Indonesia. Japan started a new programme
called Greater East Asia coprosperity sphere with Japan as the core
country. It claimed that t hat it would be non -exploitative economic and
cultural union of states with Japan as the protector of Asians.
The Indonesian political organisations which had resented the recent
actions of the Dutch government were attracted to the promises of the
invadi ng army. Also, the way Dutch surrendered to the Japanese made the
Indonesians realise that the Dutch were not as invincible as they thought it
would be. It also gave the Indonesian military an opportunity to train in
political and administrative affairs. B ut it brought in a lot of economic
hardship. The Japanese government maintained authoritarian rule. Food
and other necessities were confiscated by the invaders. This led to food
shortage and starvation. Millions of Indonesians were used as construction
workers during war time in other parts of Southeast Asia, they were called
the Romushas . All these led to people resenting Japanese rule. Both
Sukarno and Hatta agreed to cooperate with the Japanese in 1942. The
Japanese used Sukarno’s mass appeal to recruit Romushas. This tarnished
his image. In Octobr 1943 the Japanese organized the Consultative
Council of Indonesian Muslims. They also began organizing Indonesians
into military and paramilitary units to fight against the allied powers. It
created a milita ry force called Defenders of the Fatherland (PETA) in
1943. In 1944 it created a Muslim armed force, the army of God and
attached it to Masyumi. The kind of Nationalism promoted by Japan was
one that predisposed Indonesia to an authoritarian and militarist ic political
culture. On 7th November 1944, when Japan was on the verge of losing the
World War it favoured giving independence for Indonesia though no
definite date was set for the same.
Under pressure from radical and politicised youth groups Sukarno an d
Hatta proclaimed Indonesian Independence on 17th August 1945 two days
after the Japanese Emperor surrendered officially to the Allied powers. A
Republican government was established in Jakarta. A Central Indonesian
National Committee ( KNIP) was appointed to assist the President. Similar
committees were established at provincial and regency levels. Three days
after Japanese surrender KNIP announced Sukarno as the President and
Hatta as the Vice President of Indonesia. The kings of central islands
pledged a ffiliation to the Republican government whereas the kings of
outer islands wanted the Dutch rule to continue. In November 1945, a
parliamentary form of government was established and Sjahrir was
appointed Prime Minister.

8.5 RETURN OF THE DUTCH AND THE IN DONESIAN
NATIONAL REVOLUTION 1945 -49

Towards the end of the war Netherlands claimed power in Indonesia. It
was significantly weakened due to the war and it took a loan from the munotes.in

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84 United States to claim Indonesia. It returned Indonesia only in early 1946.
The country was placed under the charge of British admiral Lord
Mountbatten, supreme commander of Allied powers.
The conflict between the Allied powers and the Indonesians lasted for four
years and it led to sporadic armed conflict between the two. The
Republican government had to fight against the Dutch prisoners, Dutch
colonial troops (KNIL), Chinese, Indo -Europeans and Japanese. In
October 1945 the Japanese tried to reconquer power. The British forces
resisted the Japanese and the Indonesians resisted b oth. The British tried to
evacuate Indo -Europeans from central Java and they aerial bombed the
Indonesians. They left Indonesia in November 1946 and by this time the
Dutch army landed to recapture the archipelago. With British assistance,
the Dutch landed their Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA)
forces in Jakarta and other key centers. The Dutch forces used terror
techniques to kill over 3000 republicans. Despite these their domination
prevailed only in cities and towns and the rural areas were hardly
controlled by the Dutch. The Linggarjati Agreement, brokered by the
British and concluded in November 1946, saw the Netherlands recognize
the Republic as the de -facto authority over Java, Madura, and Sumatra.
Both parties agreed to the formation of the ‘United States of Indonesia’ by
1 January 1949, a semi -autonomous federal state with the Monarchy of the
Netherlands at its head. But this failed and the Dutch launched a major
offensive in May that year called the police action. This was followed
byOperatie Product in July 1947. The Dutch forces drove Republican
troops out of parts of Sumatra, and East and West Java. The Republicans
were confined to the Yogyakarta region of Java. The Dutch gained control
of lucrative Sumatran plantations, and oil and c oal installations, and in
Java, control of all deep-water ports. International reaction was not
favourable to the Dutch. Both India and Australia supported the
Republicans. The United Nations Security Council got directly involved in
the conflict, establis hing a Good Offices Committee to sponsor further
negotiations . A ceasefire, called for by UN resolution, was ordered by the
Dutch and Sukarno on 4 August 1947. The United Nations Security
Council brokered the Renville Agreement in attempt to rectify the
collapsed Linggarjati Agreement . The new agreement recognized a
ceasefire along the Van Mook line, an artificial line which connected the
Dutch areas. It also required referenda to be held on the political future of
the Dutch held areas. Though it was more advantageous to the Dutch, the
Republicans agreed to it as they had run out of ammunition to fight. This
earned American goodwill for the Indonesian struggle.
The Dutch did not honour the ceasefire agreement. They captured more
areas and the Indonesians c lashed with the Dutch troops regularly. Van
Mook the Dutch Governor General of Indonesia in March 1948 announced
the formation of a provisional government for Federal Indonesia. In
December 1948 they launched the second police action. In their
subsequent b attles with the Republicans the Dutch realized that they had
no people’s support. There was a lot of violence during this period
perpetrated by both the sides. Also, there were some regional factions munotes.in

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85 which fought against both the Dutch and the Republicans. The
Republicans recaptured some of the areas they had lost to the Dutch.
U.S.A. worked with the UN to broker peace in Indonesia in December
1949. On 27 December 1949 sovereignty was transferred by the Dutch to
the Republic of the United States of Indonesi a, the archipelago stretching
from northern Sumatra in the west to the Moluccu islands in the east was
united and was made independent.
8.6 UNITARY INDONESIA 1950 -59
The independence agreement was also called the Round Table Conference
agreement. Both sid es had some misgivings regarding the agreement.
Netherlands agreed to the agreement based on four principles:
1) The new nation would be structured as a federal system called the
United States of Indonesia. It would maintain ties with Holland on
several issue s.
2) West Irian should be temporarily with Holland and its status should be
determined shortly
3) Indonesia was asked to repay the debt incurred by Holland on account
of the wars it indulged in the country
4) The Dutch and foreign investments made in Indonesia sho uld be
recognized and the concessions and rights given to these companies
under colonial law should not be contested.
Within a year the Federal state structure was discarded in favour of unitary
state. Indonesia opted for a strong and centralized federal government. It
was called the Republic of United States of Indonesia (RUSI). By August
1950 all individual governments were merged, and the country adopted a
provisional constitution. The RUSI consisted of 16 states with the
Republic of Indonesia being the leading state. Its army was the core of the
federal army. Its leaders Sukarno and Hatta were the well -known leaders
of the country.
The provisional constitution established a parliamentary system. It had a
unicameral house with the head of the largest el ected party becoming the
Prime Minister. The role of the President was nominal and ceremonial. He
appointed the Prime Minister who in turn formed the cabinet and the
government. The executive was responsible to the legislature. The
constitution being provi sional, it talked about the formation of a
constitution assembly which would draft the new constitution.
Sukarno became the President of the country, and he was recognized as
the father of the nation. Mohmmad Hatta became the Vice President till he
resign ed in 1956.In the early 1950s there was a coalition government with
Partai Nasional Indonesia (PNI) in alliance with the Masyumi party.
Between August 1050 and 1957 six coalition government were formed.
Though the army had played a crucial role in the inde pendence of munotes.in

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86 Indonesia in 1950, it was factionalised and was fighting its internal battles.
It did interfere with political systems a few times but was on the whole,
stayed away from the active politics during this period.
The 1955 elections were a game ch anger. In the elections about 30
political parties contested. Though PNI got the maximum vote, PKI which
was the traditional Muslim communist party called the PartaiKomunis
Indonesia got more votes than expected to come to the third position. This
caused a lot of discomfort to PNI the party in power. The new prime
minister Ali Sastroamidjojo left out PKI candidates. Also, majority of the
candidates were from the rural areas of Java. This was resented by people
of other islands especially the people of Sumat ra. The cost of living of the
island of Java was much cheaper as compared to the other islands. This
created regional discontent.
The parliamentary democratic system espoused by the provisional
constitution started declining by 1957. In October 1956 Presi dent Sukarno
savagely criticized the existing political system, He blamed the political
parties for the malaise in the country. He made a public declaration of the
political system that should replace the existing parliamentary democracy.
He was never atta ched to the idea of liberal democracy. He believed that
parliamentary system was inherently divisive causing people to direct their
energies against each other. He talked about the unity of countrymen
during the revolution against the Dutch rule between 19 45-99 and wished
to bring back the spirit in the country. The leaders of the outer islands and
the army generals had shared a common dismay at the Pro -Java policies of
the central government. The army attempted military coup a few times to
capture power bu t failed. Mohmmed Hatta resigned from the office on 1st
December 1956. Various parts of Sumatra were captured by local army
units. The army territorial commander of Eastern Indonesia declared
martial law and the chief of army staff issued a charter of dema nds to the
central government. Prime Minister Ali found this to be very difficult to
handle. Hence, he resigned on 14th March 1957.
President Sukarno declared martial law in Indonesia. He started a wider
debate in the country about which political system would suit the nation
thereby signaling to the people that he was willing to take an active role in
country’s politics. He talked of cooperation amongst all political parties
and appointing National council. In April 1957 he appointed members of
cabinet he aded by Prime Minister DjuandaKartawidjaja. In May 1957, he
established the National Council (Dewan Nasional) which he chaired.
With this move he signalled his direct intervention into the political
system of the day. But the army did not run the day -to-day administration.
In fact, it became a center of power without direct responsibility to the
organs of the government or the people. It banned political activities of all
parties, it outlawed strikes, it created its own mass organization such as the
Nationa l Front for liberation of West Irian in 1958. It gained economic
power by taking over Dutch companies in the country.
In early 1958 a full -scale regional rebellion against the central government
erupted in Sumatra. This group headed called the PRRI Revolu tionary munotes.in

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87 Government by Sjafruddin. It demanded restriction of powers of the
President and reinstating Mohmmed Hatta. The Central Government
easily put down this rebellion with the help of the army. This increased the
prestige of the Sukarno -army alliance an d reduced that of his opponents.
The era of parliamentary democracy ended when the parties in power
could not agree on a new constitution. The provisional constitution
prevailed as the constituent assembly couldn’t finalise the features of the
constituti on. The Masyumi party and the Nahdlatul Ulama wanted Islam
as the basis of the constitution while the other parties wanted secularism as
the basis. These parties promoted Pantja Sila or the five principles as the
basis of the constitution. Also, they could not decide on the nature of
center -state relationship. So, President Sukarno through a decree,
abolished parliamentary democracy and restored the 1945 constitution on
5th July 1959.
8.7 GUIDED DEMOCRACY 1959 -66
President Sukarno made two specific proposa ls during his 1957 speeches.
He called for the establishment of a National Council to be responsible for
setting the broad outlines of national policy. The council was to be a non -
party assembly. Its membership was to be based on functional groups
which in cluded farmers, labourers, women, artists, the military, students
and so on. He wanted to establish a cabinet which was representedby all
parties. In 1959 the new interim People’s Consultative Assembly
(MajelisPermusyawaratan Rakyat Sementara, MPRS) was fo rmed. The
1945 constitution gave him vast powers. He stressed on deliberation and
consensus.
Formally, President Sukarno had all powers but in reality, he shared
powers with the army. Sukarno was in charge of ideology, foreign affairs
and public policies. The army was in control of regional government,
Dutch companies that were nationalized, some areas of administration and
internal security.
As Ideology Sukarno propagated the following:
1) NASACOM – Nationalism, Islam and Marxism under his leadership.
2) He b elieved that Society was a joint endeavourby different functional
groups such as workers, peasants, officials, intellectuals, soldiers,
students, and women. National goals could be achieved only when
regional and narrow interests were made subservient to l arger goal.
3) He rejected the idea that there were class divisions of any significance
in the country. He believed that a poor Indonesian peasant who owned
a small plot of land as well as his tools and animals cannot be termed
Proletariat.
4) He believed that the poor peasants of Indonesia (Marhaen) needed
compassion and sympathy from state and from the rest of the society. munotes.in

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88 5) In terms of foreign policy, he wished that Indonesians see themselves
as part of a global movement against colonialism, imperialism, and
exploitation.
6) He believed as former colony and now a founding member of Non -
Aligned Movement, Indonesia had a special responsibility to lead the
New Emerging Forces (NEFOS) against the Old Established Forces
(OLDEFOS).
In the United Nations speech in 196 0 he called the new trend “Building
the World a new”. According to him for the first time in modern history
the colonialist countries were outnumbered by anti -colonialist countries. A
new world order and a new United Nations should be created reflecting
this new reality.
8.8 GUIDED DEMOCRACY AND FOREIGN POLICY OF
INDONESIA AFRO -ASIAN CONFERENCE:
APRIL 1955
In April 1955, 29 governments of Afro -Asian countries gathered in
Bandung to discuss the role of third world countries during the cold w ar,
economic development, and de -colonisation. The core principles of the
Bandung Conference were political self -determination, mutual respect
for sovereignty, non -aggression, non -interference in internal affairs,
and equality. The governments of Burma, I ndia, Indonesia, Pakistan
and Sri Lanka were the founding members and the co -organisers of the
Bandung Conference. Towards the end of the conference, the
participating nations singed a communique assuring each other of the
promotion of economic and cultura l cooperation, protection of human
rights and the principle of self -determination, a call for an end to racial
discrimination wherever it occurred, and a reiteration of the
importance of peaceful coexistence. This conference became the
forerunner to the No n-Aligned Movement which took place at
Belgrade in 1961.
8.9 LIBERATION OF WEST NEW GUINEA (WEST
IRIAN) 1961 -63
Sukarno was opposed to the Dutch occupation of West New Guinea. In
1961 when the Dutch government tried to have a separate political
structure Sukarno announced that they would not be averse to a military
campaign called The Supreme Command for the Liberation of West Irian
(KOTI). Major General Suharto was the field officer. United States
supported Indonesia in this issue and on 1st October 1962 the
administration of Western New Guinea was transferred to the U.N. which
in turn transferred power to Indonesia in 1963.
8.10 CONFRONTATION WITH MALAYSIA 1963 -65
Malaysia was carved out former British colonies and protectorates as a
federation in 1963. It comprised of Malay Peninsula, the Island of munotes.in

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89 Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak of Northern Borneo. Sukarno objected to
this plan as he saw Malaysia as a neo -colony of the British and the
continuance of Malay sultans in power was tantamount to undemocratic to
forces hanging on to position . He also believed that Indonesia should have
been consulted before the creation of Malaysian federation. He organized
armed incursions in west and east Malaysia. When Malaysia was admitted
as the member of the U.N.S.C. Indones ia left the UN and tried to organize
an alternative conference called the New Emerging Forces (CONEFO).
8.11 DOMESTIC POLICIES OF INDONESIA
In 1960 Sukarno banned Masyumi and PSI parties on the ground of
rebellion against the government. The leaders were either arrested or were
forced to go on exile. Newspapers with dissented from the government
policies were banned. Though it was not a totalitarian state Sukarno’s rule
had much resonance with the authoritarian rule. One of the striking
features of guided democracy was the lack of government policy regarding
governance. It was a more ideological state, and everyone was expected to
confirm to the state ideology. No decision was taken without the
President’s consent. Public architecture in Jakarta became a sy mbol of
Presidential authority. There was a renewed interest in form and
ceremonial splendour while constructing monuments.
8.12 SUKARNO AND THE ARMY’S POWER
STRUGGLE
The army and Sukarno had an alliance while fighting for Indonesian
independence. The str uggle made them realise that they needed each other
to retain power. Due to his leadership during the struggle Sukarno was
considered as the leader and father of the country. In turn, Sukarno needed
the army as he had no party to back him, to control the f issiparous
elements of the country, to end parliamentary democracy and to usher in
guided democracy. In 1960 all parties were banned for a while as one of
Sukarno’s ally PKI heavily criticized both the cabinet and the army. In
1963 he pressurized army to r everse martial law which was enforced in the
country. To have full control over the country, Sukarno encouraged
divisions within and amongst the ranks of the army.
8.13 SUKARNO’S RELATIONS WITH POLITICAL
PARTIES
In 1959 President Sukarno issued a regulatio n to the political parties
pressurizing them to accept the 1945 constitution and the principle of
Pantija Sila. It prohibited acceptance of foreign aid and gave the President
the authority to ban a party that rebelled against the government. But he
did no t ban parties altogether and allowed PNI, NU and PKI limited
powers and functioning. But President’s concessions to PKI made army
believe that it was its biggest contender.
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90
8.14 GUIDED DEMOCRACY AND MASS
ORGANISATIONS
One of the most active ones was the National front established in 1960.
This was conceived to be a single future political party which would
subsume all other political parties in the country. Its role was to rally the
people behind the ideologies and programmes of the government of
Indones ia. It was at that time conceived as tool for completion of the
revolution. One by one individuals, large organisations and later political
parties were allowed to join. Army to had its presence within the
organization. There was a power struggle between p olitical parties and the
army within the National front. The main contenders for power were the
PKI and the army but by 1964 PKI had real control over the National
front.
Labour unions were another example of mass organisations. These unions
were federati ons of many individual labour unions. These unions were
very political, and the members provided the mass base for political
activity of parties. Towards the end of 1950s there were 3.7 million
members in these unions.
8.15 BUREACRACY IN GUIDED DEMOCRACY
The bureaucracy in guided democracy was a bloated one which was given
to elitism and groupism. By 1960 there a little over 8 lakh civil servants in
the country. There was no clearly laid down responsibilities for each
department with the result overlapping and contrary decisions were made
quite often. Multiple regulations and licensesbecame the norm of the day.
There was an inherent competition between the administrators (those
trained in civil service) and solidarity makers (those who played an
important r ole during the revolution). It was the solidarity makers who had
an upper hand over administration. With the decline of political parties,
the bureaucracy became more and more political.
8.16 GUIDED D EMOCRACY AND INDONESIAN
ECONOMY
Sukarno argued that In donesia’s insignificant position and influence in the
world economy and the consequent poverty despite its natural resources
was due to the global imperial order called NEKOLIM (neo -colonialists,
colonialist, and imperialists). He believed that United King dom and USA
led these powers and the Indonesian action of nationalization of Dutch
property in the country in 1957 was a step towards breaking the power of
NEKOLIM.
Sukarno coined terms such as TAVIP (The year of living dangerously and
Berdikari (standing on one’s own feet). The economic policies during this
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91 Five issues dominated the debates on Indonesian economy from 1950 -
1966. They were building an integrated economy which took cognizance
of the economic imbalances between Java and the other islands, the role
and position of indigenous Indonesians in the economy, the role of the
state in the economy, economic growth, and wealth distribution, and
financing the construction of the national economy. The three cherished
values of guided economy were the growth of state enterprise, national
planning and building an egalitarian society. In the early 1950s the capital
was in ruins due to continuous wars the country had faced opposing the
Dutch. Underinvestment, corruption a nd lack of expertise had worsened
the issue. Revenue declined during the period resulting in declining
government intervention in improving the economy. War in West Irian led
to further drain in economy. Guided economy was one of the chief
principles of Gu ided Democracy, but it was considered subordinate to the
political principles. Sukarno believed that important function of
maintenance of economy was political. He believed that once the political
system is stable economy could be easily improved. In 1963 he changed
this policy to give weightage to the opinion of the economists. The
economy improved slightly because of this. But this measure was short
lived. By 1965 the foreign debt became 2.1 billion. In the early years of
guided democracy, no budget was p roposed. Inflation increased,
infrastructure crumbled, and agricultural production declined.
8.17 FALL OF GUIDED DEMOCRACY AND SUKARNO
The crisis in Guided Democracy intensified in 1965. There was a strong
rumor that army’s senior generals were planning a coup -de-tat against
Sukarno. On 30th September 1965 a ‘30th September Movement’ took
place in which senior generals were arrested. It was announced that
Revolutionary Councils would soon be established in Jakarta and the
provinces would carry out Sukarno’ s policies and maintain the integrity of
Guided Democracy. Little later another announcement was made that the
Central Revolutionary Council had taken over all powers till elections.
Some of the generals were kidnapped. It was suspected that both Sukarno
and PKI’s leader Aidit were involved. On 1st October 1965 some military
generals were either shot dead or bayoneted or captured. In turn, the army
avenged this action by plotting a revenge action. Leader of counter -coup
operation was Major -General Suharto. He quickly gained control of the
radio station and other buildings in Central Jakarta. By evening he issued
ultimatum to the rebels to leave the airbase. On 2nd October the 30th
September Movement was over. Sukarno continued as before giving the
impressio n that Guided Democracy would continue like before. Suharto
gradually assumed more power and moved ahead cautiously. He became
interim army commander thereby rejecting Sukarno’s appointment of an
army commander. On 3rd October Sukarno was forced to entrust with
Suharto the responsibility of restoring order. On 8th October 1965 PKI was
banned. On 14th October Sukarno formally, appointed Suharto as the army
commander. This appointment gave him enormous power to take any
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92 8.18 MASS ACTION AND MASSACRES
The army attributed the coup attempt to the PKI. Around half a million of
its members and supporters were killed. The party members and the public
did not anticipate the scale of ferocity of the revenge attacks. Within days,
the killin g of PKI members began. Towards the end of 1965 a large
number of PKI members were massacred. By March 1966 the killings had
subsided but erupted periodically till 1969. The destruction of PKI led to
weaking of Sukarno’s position as otherwise he did not ha ve party base. At
the same timethough Suharto was preparing for a new order the blueprint
of it was not ready and in the intervening period he could not completely
abandon guided democracy. Sukarno’s attempt to strengthen his position
by broadening the bas e of Guided Democracy coalition did not take off.
During this period Suharto was taking firm measures to remove Sukarno
from power. In January 1966 the student and youth groups had mounted
street demonstrations against price rise, economic distress. Again, in
February they took to violent demonstrations and the disturbance spread.
Unable to bring order out of chaos and not wanting to risk his close aids’
life on 11th March 1966 signed an order instructing Suharto to take all
measures considered necessary to guarantee security, calm and stability of
the government and the revolution, and to guarantee personal safety and
authority of the President. Sukarno’s close aides were charged with
corruption and mismanagement and were sentenced to death. Later
Suharto w as appointed as acting president and Sukarno was kept under
house arrest in Jakarta till his death on 21st June 1970.
8.19 SUHARTO’S NEW ORDER AND BEYOND
Suharto’s New Order government set the achievement of political and
economic stability, and then eco nomic development, as its major broad
policy objectives. Suharto’s government eliminated communism and any
kind of opposition. With help of western educated economists, he tried to
reset the economy. Contrary to Sukarno’s ideology western aid and oil
produ ction were encouraged. From 630% in 1966 inflation reduced to 9%
in 1972 and he had achieved steady economic growth. There was limited
civil liberties. The country rejoined United Nations and in 1967 it became
the founding member of ASEAN. In 1976 it forci bly annexed East Timor
which was a colony of the Portuguese.Suharto was re -elected several
times. The country’s growth percentage rose to a steady 7%, In 1997
Indonesia got into financial crisis due to 100% foreign direct investment.
The financial crisis w eakened state institutions and led to anti -government
riots which in turn resulted in Suharto resigning from his position in May
1998. He was succeeded by B.J. Habibie.
8.20 SUMMARY
Indonesian nationalism has carried the nation to a point in history th at was
exciting and optimistic, yet also chaotic and dangerous, and the newly
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93 The Dutch rejected their declaration of independence and armed conflict
and negotiation was started to get independence. There were many int ernal
issues addressed by the new government after independence. It includes
the political structure and its adaptation. Dr. Ahmed Sukarno provided
strong leadership but many internal issues and challenges faced by him
also. After that, Suharto tried to co ntrol the situation of crises but he also
failed, and due to financial crises, the state economy was affected, and
many institutions became weak. Therefore, he was forced to resign in
1998 and Mr. B.J. Habibie was succeeded by him. All these points were
covered in this unit.
8.21 QUESTIONS
1) 1)Discuss the course of Indonesian independence .
2) Assess the nature and characteristics of parliamentary democracy in
Indonesia .
3) critically examine the features of guided democracy in Indonesia.
8.22 REFERENCES
 Colin Bro wn, A Short History of Indonesia: The Unlikely Nation?
Allen & Unwin, Singapore, 2003
 William A. Redfern, Sukarno’s Guided Democracy and the Takeovers
of Foreign Companies in Indonesia in the 1960s , Unpublished thesis,
University of Michigan.
 Robert Cribb and Colin Brown, Modern Indonesia: A History since
1945, Longman, London, 1995
 M.C. RICKLEFS , A History of Modern Indonesia c, 1300 to the
present, London, 1981
 Jeffery Dean, Narratives of the World War II in the Pacific: From Co -
prosperity to Japanese occ upation
https://library.tamucc.edu/exhibits/s/hist4350/page/Colonization
 The Japanese Occupation, http://countrystudies.us/indonesia/15.htm
 Department of State, U.S.A., Offic e of the Historian, Bandung
Conference (Asian -African Conference), 1955,
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953 -1960/bandung -conf

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94 9
ASEAN
Unit Structure :
9.1 Objectives
9.2 Introduction
9.3 Background to the establishment of the ASEAN : Economies and
Production
9.4 Social Implications
9.5 Authority and Opposition
9.6 Association of Southeast Asian Nations:
9.7 Conclu sion
9.8 Check Your Progress
9.9 Questions
9.10 References
9.1 OBJECTIVES
 To understand the historical setting in which ASEAN was established
 The understanding of the need of the Southeast Asian Countries to
start their own organization as distinct from NAM
 Aims, objectives, and organization of ASEAN
 The achievements of ASEAN
 The challenges faced by ASEAN

Flag of ASEAN. Motto: One vision One Identity One Community

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95 9.2 INTRODUCTION
A regional political grouping, the Association of Southeast Asi an Nations
(ASEAN), founded in 1967 by Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand,
and the Philippines, had little impact by the early 1970s on the foreign and
economic policies of the member nations. However, regional and world
developments in the 1970s, in cluding foreign involvement on a massive
scale in Southeast Asia and dominated development, the fall of Indochina
to communism and the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, steered
Singapore and its neighbors toward a new spirit of cooperation.
Before Second W orld War Southeast Asia was never seen as a cohesive
geo-political unit, this had led to a situation in which regional unity and an
association based on it was an unthinkable option. The concept of
Southeast Asia as a political entity emerged almost by acc ident from
World War II during the Quebec conference in August 1943 when the
Western allies decided to establish a separate Southeast Asia Command
(SEAC) embracing Burma, Malaya, Sumatra and Thailand. In the Potsdam
Conference in July 1945 the jurisdiction of SEAC was extended to
Netherlands East Indies and Indochina excluding North Vietnam,
Philippines, and Laos. In March 1947 the United Nations established The
United Nation’s Economic Commission for Asia and Far East with its
head quarters in Bangkok. Thi s was an important step in providing a
regional organization. While Britain looked forward to a continued role as
informal leader of South and Southeast Asia, Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru wanted an organization independent of any colonial
supervi sion in the same region. This led to him organizing the Asian
Relations Conference in New Delhi in March 1947. But the Southeast
Asian Countries were reluctant to form a South and Southeast Asian
Association to oppose Western imperialism at the initiative of India. They
were partly worried of being dominated by an Asian nation and this led to
the failure of this initiative.
Many tensions in the Southeast Asian region acted as impediment to
regional co -operation of Southeast Asian Nations. Though free of co lonial
dominations, most countries faced internal strife. Occasionally colonial
rule strengthened existing political structures but more often it had the
opposite effect and led to divisiveness in many of the erstwhile colonies.
Some were disappointed that political freedom did not immediately usher
in economic prosperity as was expected by the local population. In some
countries the colonial powers maintained both military and trade ties.
Between 1949 to 1959 Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Malaya
attained independence. Singapore at the same period attained self
government. But these years coincided with the cold war period and its
spillover could be seen in Southeast Asia. The newly independent
Southeast Asian Countries often aligned with Western or Communist
blocs to face internal struggles. This power bloc rivalry created lot of
tension and almost shook the foundations of the fledgling democracies.
This led to formation of Southeast Asian Treaty organization (SEATO)
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96 Russia and China. This led to further acrimony and resentment. The
United States and Britain were the two main pillars of SEATO, but this
organization roused intense suspicion amongst the communist countries
such as Ch ina and Vietnam. Even amongst the non -communist countries it
was seen as a foreign dominated organization. This led to the realization
that Asians needed an association for themselves. This in turn led to the
organization of Bandung Conference in 1955 and establishment of Non -
Aligned Movement thereafter. But the increasing membership to NAM
from African and European states shifted its focus away from Asia and its
relevance to Southeast Asian Countries became vague. It was in this
context that a regional ass ociation for Southeast Asian Countries was
mooted.
In 1961 Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) comprising of Thailand, the
Philippines and Malaya was established stressing on economic co -
operation. Its aim was to keep communism at bay through economic
prosperity and regional co -operation. But Sukarno of Indonesia opposed
ASA. Also, the proposed Malaysian Federation drove a wedge between
ASA partners. Philippines laid claim to Northern Borneo or Sabah. ASA
remained dormant during the conflict period between Malaysia and
Indonesia. It existed till 1966 though was not active. By this time
Indonesia was trying hard to forge friendship with Malaysia burying the
past differences but it did not want to be part of ASA. It wanted to create a
new organization for the whole of Southeast Asia.
9.3 BACKGROUND TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF
THE ASEAN: ECONOMIES AND PRODUCTION
The new states of Southeast Asia, then, were increasingly internally
integrated in ways that often defied both geography and long held practice.
This deve lopment had both a political and an economic aspect. Politically,
the colonial powers and the ‘neo -imperial' states of Southeast Asia
consolidated their territories through force of arms, persuasion, the
technology of railways and the telegraph, and people d its corners with
their administrative representatives. Economically, the early twentieth
century saw the growth of incipient national econo mies. In the
Netherlands indies, for example, efforts were made to redirect trade to
new colonial centers rather t han customary nodes of shipment such as
Singapore. Through this process of turning the archipelago 'inside out,
away from mainland Southeast Asia towards the small offshore island of
Java the products of what the Dutch called the Outer Regions were
increas ingly channeled through Batavia, by means of Koninklijke
Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM), which was the regional shipping line in
the Indonesian Archipelago, whose services extended to South Africa in
the west and Australia in the east, and China in the nort h. Similarly, once
tin and rubber assumed their signal importance in Malaya, the British
attention moved beyond the strategic imperatives which had driven their
initial engagement to begin the construction of colonial Malayan
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97 Under the persistent imperatives of the Industrial Revolution and trade
liberalization, the old monop oly trading systems, both indigenous and
colonial, faded into irrele vance. The overweening impulse of the colonial
powers from the late nineteenth century onwards was the pr oduction in
their colonies of a limited number, but vast quantities, of tropical
consumption goods 'condiments, food, and milk products and primary
products for industry (rubber, tin, oil). Java produced ever larger quantities
of sugar as the Dutch applied the newest technologies to cane production
and sugar manufacture, even as they retained the archaic format of
requisition ing small tracts of peasant rice land for cane cultivation and
employ ing contingents of cheap peasant labour to harvest and transpor t
cane to the mill. In the Outer Regions, most spectacularly in the vast and
newly developed plantation areas of East Sumatra, centered on Medan, the
Dutch planted tobacco, rubber, and palm oil, beginning the process of
turning the regions outside Java int o the colony's eco nomic powerhouse.
In the Philippines, sugar poured from the plantations established in Luzon
and especially in the island of Negros, and in Bicol the humble abaca plant
was culti vated to meet industrial world's insatiable appetite for c ordage
hemp rope or the 'Manila rope'. In the lands north of Saigon, vast tracts of
land were devoted to rubber production. To produce industrial products
like tin and rubber British Malaya organized the transfer of large number
of Chinese and Indian immig rants respectively to work the tin mines and
tap the trees in rubber plantations. To feed them, the British imported huge
quantities of rice from the rapidly developing rice frontier of Lower
Burma, the Central Plain of Siam, and the Mekong delta region of
southern Vietnam. In these three monoculture rice -bowls, smallholder
peasant rice cultivation expanded dramati cally in the late nineteenth
century, as increased security and certainty, greater freedom from
traditional imposts like corvee labour, and slav ery, enhanced mobility,
much improved infrastructure such as roads, canals, drainage systems,
dykes, irrigation facilities, milling capacity and especially accelerating
international demand for rice and much enhanced marketing and credit
networks built upo n and fur ther stimulated peasant production on a scale
unprecedented in both magnitude and duration. The same imperative
drove peasant small holder to produce rubber in Sumatra and Malaya, and
copra (dried coconut kernels) in eastern Indonesia and the Phi lippines.
Production came not just from cultivation but also from mining and
gathering. By the early twentieth century, the demands of the second
industrial revolution promoted the oil industry in places like Sumatra and
northern Burma and the ever more ef ficient application of new and
expensive technology, in the form of the giant dredge, to suck tin from the
soil in Malaya. Coal production from the mines of northern Vietnam
increased more than fourfold in the two and a half decades after 1913. The
teak fo rests of Siam and Burma were exploited for their fine timbers,
producing between them almost a quarter of a mil lion tons of teak for
export around the turn of the twentieth century.
The colonies were expected to consume the products of the industrialized
world, particularly machine -woven textiles, and industrial manufactures.
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98 Now they sold most of what they produced and purchased on the market
much of what they had to consume; domes tic industry, notably textile
production, declined and in many places disappeared altogether.
9.4 SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
All these developments stimulated an extraordinary increase in Southeast
Asia's population. Thus, Java's population, perhaps 5 million in 1800, had
reached 29 million a hundred years later and 42 million by 1930. The 7.6
million people in the Philippines in 1903 had more than doubled in
number to almost 16 million by 1939. Sumatra's population almost
doubled between 1900 and 1930. A small p art of this increase was the
result of immigration from outside the region, especially from south ern
China, but much the greater part was attributable to natural factor, to a
rapid reduction in mortality.
There were other serious social implications of t hese dramatic changes. As
the formerly empty frontiers of the region filled with people and industry,
the need for extension of agriculture increased. In Lower Burma the area
devoted to rice grew tenfold between 1855 and 1940. and the employment
of intens ive methods of agriculture. But it could provide only temporary
relief. One another conse quence of rapid increase in population growth
was a consequent rapid growth in land fragmenta tion, in tenancy, in
landlessness, in credit dependency, in general terr itorial mobility, and in
the variety of occupations practiced. Peasants who had previ ously devoted
much of their time as owner -occupiers in the cycles of rice production
now found themselves employed part of the year as paid labourers in
harvesting and in off-farm work in fields, factories, and other sites of
employment, often distant from their places of residence.
9.5 AUTHORITY AND OPPOSITION
During the colonial period, manufacturing itself remained seriously
underdeveloped. It involved low -level consume r manufacturing activities
such as ice, soap, cigarettes, and building materials manufacture, and for
the large part associated with export product processing such as cane and
rice milling, tin smelting, rubber processing and engineering and repairs to
service those industries.
Only to alleviate the impact of 1930s depression the need to develop
greater manufacturing self -sufficiency was thought about.
Notwithstanding the dimensions of the changes engineered, the imposition
of colonial control rested upon weak foundations. As the reach of their
imperialistic control expanded, the colonists' capacity to impose their will
through force alone declined. The development of colonial armies, often
peopled by ethnic minorities whose status and rewards were firmly tied to
the maintenance of colonial power, increased. Thus, the Ambonese in the
Netherlands Indies and Karens in Burma were enlisted in army mainly for
internal policing rather than as defense against external threat. The
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99 ruled. The white supremacist ideology was upheld and the white man’s
burden was emphasized upon at this time. Not trusting their own ideology,
the western nations practiced the divide and rule policy everywhere and, in
the process, upheld the rights of old landholders and elites. The old elites
became new bureaucracies in many states and under the direction of the
western masters mediated between the ruler and the ruled. Only later
would these brokering bureaucr acies be remodeled along more modern
and 'rational' lines.
The positions held by the new bureaucracies facilitated social mobility,
and enabled them with wealth, privilege, and prestige within their society.
It was much preferable to be a bureaucrat rathe r than a businessman; in
much of the region, the task of business fell to 'outsiders' like Chinese
traders and Tamil Indian Chettiars.
Political consciousness began to grow as these states developed a sense of
cultural identity through shared language, tra ditions, and memories of a
glorious pre -colonial past. In Siam, this brought in a strong sense of
cultural nationalism with love and respect for king’s rule and power.
Many indigenous political movements were modelled on the western
political movements an d sometimes even borrowing aspects of Indian
National movement. Examples include Young Men’s Buddhist
Association of Burma. Many of these movements were opposed to not
only colonial oppression but were also against outsider domination such as
Chinese and I ndian merchants’ domination in these countries’ economy.
Thus, the Southeast Asian countries over time adopted a political structure
which was a curious mix of liberal Western political thinking, aggressive
nationalism, Marxism with rapid economic growth. They needed an
association to represent their emerging identity which was different from
other Asian identities, and which especially would de -hyphenate them
from the South Asian identity.
9.6 ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN
NATIONS
ASEAN is a political, Social, economic, and cultural organization formed
on 8th of August 1967 by countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand through Bangkok declaration which
was signed by Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Foreign
Ministers of other four countries in August 1967.
In 1976 the Melanesian state of Papua New Guinea was accorded observer
status. On 8th January 1984 Brunei Darussalam joined the association as
its sixth member. On 28th July 1995 Vietnam became the seventh m ember.
Laos and Myanmar joined on 23rd July 1997. On 30th April 1999
Cambodia joined the association.
Throughout 1970s the organization worked for economic co -operation.
There was a set back in mid 1980s to this goal but it was revived in 1991
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100 Malaysia proposed the creation of an East Asia Economic Caucus
comprising of the existing members of ASEAN as well as the people’s
republic of china, Japan and South Korea. This proposal was stro ngly
opposed by the United States and Japan hence it did not take shape. In
1992 the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) agreement was
signed as a schedule for phasing tariffs to increase the region’s
effectiveness to face global market. After East Asian Financial crisis of
1997, a Malaysian proposal called Chiang Mai Initiative was revived
which called for better co -operation between economies of ASEAN and
the countries of China, Japan and South Korea.
On 15th December 1995 the South East Asian Nu clear Weapon Free Zone
Treaty was signed by the member countries turning South East Asia into a
nuclear weapon free zone. This treaty was ratified on 28ty March 1997. It
became fully effective on 21st June 2001.
Objectives of the ASEAN :
The ASEAN declar ation states that the purposes and principles of the
Association are: (1) to accelerate economic growth, social progress and
cultural development in the region. (2) to promote regional peace and
stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the
relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles
of United Nations Charter.
Purpose of ASEAN:
a) To maintain and enhance peace, security and stability and strengthen
peace -oriented values in the region
b) To enhance regional resilience through greater co -operation
c) To preserve South East Asia as a nuclear weapons free zone and
weapons of mass destruction free zone
d) To ensure people of ASEAN live in peace
e) To create single market and production base that is s table, prosperous
and competitive.
f) To alleviate poverty through mutual assistance and cooperation
g) To strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and rule of law
and to protect human rights
h) To respond effectively in accordance with principl es of
comprehensive security
i) To promote sustainable development to ensure the protection of
region’s environment
j) To develop human resources through closer cooperation in education,
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101 k) To enhance we ll being and livelihood of people of ASEAN through
equitable access to opportunities for human development, social
welfare, and justice
l) To build a secure drug -free environment in ASEAN
m) To promote community building and integration
n) To prese rve diverse culture and heritage of the region
o) To have proactive role for ASEAN while dealing with external
powers
Principles of ASEAN:
ASEAN member states reaffirm to adhere to fundamental pr inciples
contained in the declaration
The member states ac t in accordance with the following principles: -
a) Respect for independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity
and national identity
b) Collective responsibility in regional peace, security and prosperity
c) Renunciation of aggression in any manner inconsistent with
international law
d) Reliance on peaceful settlement of disputes
e) Non-interference in Internal affairs of ASEAN member states
f) Respect for the right of every member state to lead its national
existence free from extern al inference, subversion and coercion
g) Enhanced consultations on matters seriously affecting the common
interest of ASEAN
h) Adherence to the rule of law, good governance, the principles of
democracy and constitutional government
i) Respect for fundame ntal freedoms, the promotions and protection of
human rights and promotion of social justice
j) Upholding of UN charter and international law including Internal
Humanitarian Law, subscribed to by ASEAN member states
k) Absent from participation in any policy or activity including the use
of the territory which threatens the sovereignty, territorial integrity
or political and economic stability of ASEAN member states.
l) Respect for the different cultures, languages and religions of people
of ASEAN
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102 Rights & Regulations:
a) Member states have equal rights and obligations
b) Member states shall take appropriate measures including enactment of
appropriate d omestic legislation to effectively implement the
provisions and comply with the obligations of membership
Admission to new members is based on:
a) Location in the recognized geographical region of South East Asia
b) Recognition by ASEAN member states
c) To abide by the ASEAN charter
d) Its willingness to carryout the obligations of membership
Organs of ASEAN:
1) ASEAN Summit:
a) It is the supreme policy making body of ASEAN
b) It deliberates, provides policy guidance and takes decision on key
issues
c) Important matters are referred to it by the ASEAN Coordinating
Council, ASEAN Community Councils and ASEAN Sectoral
Ministerial Bodies
d) It addresses emergency situation affecting ASEAN
e) It authorizes the establishment and dissolution of S ectoral Ministerial
Bodies and other ASEAN Institutions.
ASEAN Coordinating Council :
It comprises of Foreign Ministers of the member states. It meets at least
twice a year.
a) ASEAN Coordinating Council prepares the meetings of the ASEAN
summit
b) To coordinate the implementation of agreements and decisions of the
ASEAN summit
c) Coordinate reports of ASEAN Community Councils to the ASEAN
community
d) Consider the annual reports of the Secretary General on the work of
ASEAN
e) Approves appointment o f Deputy Secretary General
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103 ASEAN Community Councils:
a) The ASEAN Community Council shall comprise of the ASEAN
Political Security Community Council, ASEAN Economic
Community Council and ASEAN Socio -cultural Community Council.
b) Each community council shall have under its purview relevant
ASEAN Sectoral Ministerial Bodies
c) Each ASEAN Community Council shall ensure implementation of the
relevant decisions of the ASEAN summit
d) It submits reports and recommendations to ASEAN summit on maters
under i ts purview
ASEAN Sectoral Ministerial Bodies:
a) Function in accordance with their respective established mandate
b) Strengthen cooperation in their respective fields in support of
ASEAN integration and community building
c) Submit reports and recommenda tions to their respective community
councils
Secretary General of ASEAN And ASEAN Secretariat:
The Secretary General shall be appointed by ASEAN summit for a non -
renewable term of office of five years.
Secretary General shall:
a) Carryout duties in accor dance with the charter
b) Facilitate and monitor progress in the implementation of ASEAN
agreements
c) Participate in the meetings of ASEAN summit, ASEAN Community
Council, ASEAN Coordinating Council, ASEAN Sectoral Ministerial
Bodies, and other relevant meetings
d) Be the Chief Administrative Officer of the ASEAN
e) Be assisted by four Deputy Secretary Generals of different nationalities
Committee for Permanent Representatives to ASEAN:
Each member state shall appoint a permanent representative with th e rank
of Ambassador based in Jakarta
Permanent Representative Committee shall:
a) Support the work of ASEAN community councils and ASEAN
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104 b) Coordinate with National Secretariats and other ASEAN Sectoral
Ministerial Bodies
c) Facilitate ASEAN cooperation with external partners
ASEAN National Secretariats:
Each ASEAN member state establishes a National secretariat
a) To serve as National Focal Point
b) Be repository of information on all ASEAN matters at national level
c) Coordinate and support the national preparations of ASEAN meetings
ASEAN Human Rights Body:
ASEAN Human Rights Body shall operate in accordance with terms
determined by ASEAN Foreign ministers meeting
ASEAN Foundation:
ASEAN Foundation shall support Secreta ry General and collaborate with
relevant bodies to support ASEAN community building by promoting
people to people interaction, close collaboration among the business
sector, civil society, academic and other stake holders in ASEAN
It is accountable to Secr etary General and submit reports to ASEAN
summit
Decision Making and Unresolved Issues:
Decision making is through consultation and consensus. If there is dispute
it is to be resolved through the prescribed dispute settlement mechanisms
specified in the Tr eaty of Amity & Cooperation in South East Asia and its
rules of procedure.
If it still remains unresolved it should be referred to the ASEAN summit.
Developments in ASEAN:
 ASEAN Declaration on the South China Sea, Manila, 22 July 1992
 Treaty on the Southe ast Asia Nuclear Weapon -Free Zone, Bangkok
 15 December 1997
 ASEAN Vision 2020, Kuala Lumpur, 15 December 1997
 Declaration of ASEAN Concord II, Bali, 7 October 2003.
In recognition of security interdependence in the Asia -Pacific region,
ASEAN established the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1994
including countries such as The Russian Federation, Singapore, Thailand,
the United States, and Viet Nam. The present participants in the ARF
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105 European U nion, India, Indonesia, Japan, Democratic Republic of Korea,
Republic of Korea (ROK), Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New
Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines .
The ASEAN Vision 2020:
The ASEAN vision 2020 agreed on a shared visio n of ASEAN as a
concert of South East Asian Nations.
ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY
The ASEAN Economic Community shall be the end -goal of economic
integration measures as outlined in the ASEAN Vision 2020. Its goal is to
create a stable, prosperous and highly c ompetitive ASEAN economic
region in which there is a free flow of goods, services, investment and a
freer flow of capital, equitable economic development and reduced
poverty and socio -economic disparities in year 2020.
ASEAN SOCIO -CULTURAL COMMUNITY
The A SEAN Socio -Cultural Community, in consonance with the goal set
by ASEAN Vision 2020, envisages a Southeast Asia bonded together in
partnership as a community of caring societies and founded on a common
regional identity.
EXTERNAL RELATIONS
The ASEAN Visio n 2020 affirmed an outward -looking ASEAN playing a
pivotal role in the international community and advancing ASEAN’s
common interests.
India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992. The sectors
were trade, investment, tourism and science and t echnology.
Besides, India has also been involved in a continuous effort to upgrade the
bilateral relationships with the ASEAN member countries. For example,
India has entered into an agreement with Thailand for a free trade area
(FTA). This was followed w ith a similar agreement with Singapore in a
Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).
Simultaneously, sub -regional cooperation has accelerated too. The
Mekong -Ganga Cooperation (MGC) and the BIMST -EC (Bangladesh,
India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation) are
indicators to this effect.
ASEAN at Crossroads:
On the 41st session of ASEAN held in Singapore in August 2008, its
Secretary General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan talked about getting the new charter
to the ASEAN ratified by all m ember states that is aimed at changing the
way ASEAN deals with everything from human rights to Southeast Asia’s
economy. It is precisely for this reason ASEAN finds itself in crossroads.
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106 Some scholars believe that ASEAN should move from consensus building
body to one which actually binds member states. It has to show that it can
function as a united diplomatic and legal body. ASEAN has so far stayed
out of member state’s internal a ffairs but now international pressure is
mounting on it that Myanmar should booked over its human rights record.
Some feel that the bloc has too much diversity, much more than European
Union: from authoritarian capitalism to state imposed communism to
mona rchy to full fledged democracy. There is also a feeling that bloc
needs to be more assertive on international stage. The supporters ASEAN
feel that barring human rights record ASEAN has achieved much in terms
of technology, agriculture, environment, health , education or trade.
9.7 SUMMARY
ASEAN is a regional forum modeled on the United Nations charter. It is a
forum where collectively the members of the South East Asian Nations get
together, voice their concerns, and sort out the collective challenges faci ng
the region. It so far, addressed only regional issues. Now it is bringing in a
new charter that would help it address various issues such as drugs, human
rights abuse, etc which were hitherto considered an internal matter of the
member nations.
9.9 QUE STIONS
1) Write a detailed note on the reasons why ASEAN was founded. Were
the issues resolved through the formation of ASEAN?
2) What were the Objectives, Purpose, and organs of ASEAN?
3) Assess the contribution of the organs of ASEAN. Also, discuss th e
challenges faced by Southeast Asian countries today and how
ASEAN is trying to resolve them.
9.10 REFERENCES
1) Ed. Nicholas Tarling, “The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia”,
Vol. II, Part II (Cambridge University Press), London, 1999.
2) Zafar Imam, Wor ld Powers in South and South -East Asia: The
Politics of Super -Nationalism, New Delhi, 1972
3) Richard Stubbs, ASEAN: Building Regional Cooperation, Mark
Beeson, (ed.), Contemporary Southeast Asia: Regional dynamics,
National Differences, New York, 2004
4) D.G.E. Hall, “A History of South East Asia”, The Macmillan Press
Limited, London, 1994.
5) ASEAN Secretariat, “The ASEAN Charter”, Jakarta, January 2008.
6) http://www.asean/
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107 10
ARAB ISRAEL CONFLICT (1948 - 2000)
Unit Structure :
10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Factors Responsible for Arab Israel conflict
10.3 Progression of the Arab -Israeli Conflict
10.4 Egypt -Israel Peace Efforts
10.5 Summary
10.6 Questions
10.7 Referenc es
10.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit the student wilt be able to
1) Understand the factors responsible for Arab Israel Conflict
2) Grasp the progression of the Arab -Israeli Conflict
3) Know about Egypt -Israel Peace Efforts
10.1 INTRODUCTION
Arab Israel Conflict is one of the major conflicts after the Second World
War. The creation of a new Jew nation in Palestine is the prominent cause
of this issue.The sources of the Arab -Israeli conflict can be traced to a
complex of interrelated events. The most impo rtant of these events was the
creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Until the end of the nineteenth
century the number of Jews inhabiting Palestine was the homeland of
Arabs for many years. The creation of a new Jew state in Palestine was the
root cause of this feud.
10.2 FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR ARAB ISRAEL
CONFLICT
There was no such rivalry between Arab and Jews. The Jews were
persecuted by western European countries and Russia because of their
separate identity based on religion, race and language. T he Second World
War brought horrific calamities to Jews as they have been persecuted by
Hitler on the mass level. They felt the need fora separate homeland as their
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108 2000 years. In 71 AD, the Romans had driven out the Jews from Palestine,
which was then their homeland. In fact, small groups of Jews stayed
behind in Palestine, and over the following 1700 years, there was a
gradual trickle of Jews returning from exile. They migrated to P alestine an
ancient homeland of Jews. This was the beginning of trouble as Arabs
have been living in Palestine for many years.
Jewish Immigration to Palestine:
In 1897 some Jews living in Europe established the World Zionist
Organization at Basel in Switz erland. Zionists believed that Jews ought to
be able to go back to Palestine and have a national homeland' or a Jewish
state. Jews had been facing persecution in Russia, France and Germany,
and a Jewish state would provide a safe refuge for Jews from all o ver the
world. The problem was that Palestine was occupied by Arabs, who were
alarmed at the prospect of losing their land to the Jews.
Balfour Declaration :
British facilitated the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. British
Foreign Minister, Arthur Balfour announced in 1917 that Britain
supported the idea of a Jewish national home in Palestine. After 1919,
when Palestine became a British mandate, large numbers of Jews started
to settle in Palestine. The Arabs protested bitterly against the British pl an
of creating a national home for the Jews in Palestine. They demanded an
independent Palestine for the Arabs, and an end to the immigration of
Jews into Palestine. Therefore, the clash between Zionism’s aims and the
national interests of the Arab people of Palestine was the original cause of
the Arab -Israeli conflict, which remains to this day at its core. The British
did not imagine that their generous offer to create conditions for the
Jewish State in Palestine would involve West Asia in one of the long est
conflicts of modern times. The British government stated in 1922 that
there was no intention that the Jews should occupy the whole of Palestine
and that there would be no interference with the rights of the Palestinian
Arabs. The British hoped to encou rage Jews and Arabs to live together
peacefully in the same state. However, this British expectation could not
be realized.
Division of Palestine and Creation of the State of Israel :
The immigration of Jews into Palestine greatly increased following the
Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany after 1933. Around, 1940 about half
the population of Palestine was Jewish. The Peel Commission appointed
by the British government proposed the division of Palestine into two
separate states, one Arab and one Jewish. How ever, the Arabsdid not want
the presence of Jews in Palestine, and rejected the idea. The British tried
again in 1939, offering an independent Arab state within ten years, and
Jewish immigration was limited to 10,000 a year. The Jews rejected this
proposal . The Second World War made the condition much worse. There
were thousands of Jewish refugees from Hitler's Europe desperately
looking for somewhere to go. In 1945 the United States pressurized
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109 the Jewish leaders, supported this demand. However, the British refused to
yield to the US pressure, as they did not want to offend the Arabs.
Jewish Attacks against Arabs and the British :
The Jewshad suffered at the hands of the Nazis and hence t hey were
determined to fight for their 'national home'. They began terrorist activities
against both Arabs and the British. One of the most remarkable incidents
was the blowing up of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which the
British were using as their headquarters. In this terrorist act, ninety -one
people were killed and many more injured. The British responded quickly
by arresting some Jewish leaders.
Declaration of Independent Jewish State :
England was weakened by the strain of the Second World War h ence it
felt unable to bring about a settlement to the Arab -Jewish conflict in
Palestine. Ernest Bevin, the Labour Foreign Secretary, questioned the
United Nations to deal with the problem, and in November 1947 the UN
voted to divide Palestine, setting asi de roughly half of it to form an
independent Jewish state. Early in 1948, the British decided to withdraw
from Palestine and let the UN carry out its own plan. Although the
fighting was already going on between Jews and Arabs, the British
withdrew all thei r troops from Palestine. In May 1948, Ben Gurian
declared the independence of the new state of Israel.
10.3 PROGRESSION OF THE ARAB -ISRAELI
CONFLICT
The Arab -Israeli War (1948) :
When the formidable coalition of the Arab states declared war on the
newly born state of Israel, most people expected Arabs victory easily.
However, Israelis defeated Arabs and even captured more of Palestinian
land than the UN partition had given them. They gained about three -
quarters of Palestine plus the Egyptian port of Eilat on the Red Sea. Arabs
were divided among themselves and poorly equipped. King Abdullah of
Jordan was more interested in seizing the area of Palestine west of the
River Jordan known as the West Bank, so that he could make it part of his
own state, than in giving it to the Palestinian Arabs. The most tragic
consequence of the war was that the Palestinian Arabs became the
innocent victims who found themselves without a state or a homeland.
Some were in the new Jewish state of Israel, others who lived in the area
grabbed by King Abdullah, found themselves living in Jordan. Nearly a
million Arabs fled into Egypt, L ebanon, Jordan and Syria where they had
to live in refugee camps in miserable conditions. Jerusalem was divided
between Israel and Jordan. Arabs refused to recognize the legality and
independence of Israel, and they regarded this war as only the first roun d
in the struggle to destroy Israel and liberate Palestine.
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110 The Suez War (1956) :
Nasser, the president of Egypt wanted to have best of both worlds decided
to keep equal distance from both America and USSR and tried to extract
maximum benefit for his countr y. In December 1955, it was announced
that the World Bank would provide a loan of 20 million dollars towards
the building of the Aswan High Dam, to add to an American loan of 56
million dollarsand a British contribution of 14 million dollars. The
Western l oan was conditional as the West demanded that Nasser should
break his ties with the communists, a condition that he was not prepared to
meet. This led to the withdrawal of the promised aid by the United States
and England. Nasser immediately retaliated by nationalizing the Suez
Canal intending to use the income from it to finance the dam.
Nasser’s action was seen by Britain as an illegal and irresponsible threat to
a vital international waterway and a move of great strategic danger. Nasser
increased his at tacks on Israel and in October formed a joint military
command with Syria and Jordan. At this point the French, further angered
by Egyptian support for rebels in Algeria, proposed a plan, whereby Israel
should counterattack in the Sinai peninsula, thus giv ing the British and
French a reason to reoccupy the Canal zone on the pretext of protecting
international waters. The war began with the planned Israeli invasion of
Egypt on 29 October 1956. This was a brilliant success, and within a week
the Israelis had captured the entire Sinai Peninsula. The attacks caused an
outcry from the rest of the world, and the Americans, who were afraid of
upsetting all the Arabs and forcing them into closer ties with the Soviet
Union, refused to support Britain, although they h ad earlier hinted that
support would be forthcoming. With the pressure of world opinion against
them, Britain, France and Israel agreed to withdraw, while UN troops
moved in to police the frontier between Egypt and Israel. The Suez War
was a complete humil iation for Britain and France.
Foundation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) :
The bitterness between Israel and her neighbours continued. In 1964 the
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded. Another secret
organizational Fatah (the Conquest) was also set up and guerilla groups
made increasing numbers of attacks on Jewish settlements. In Syria
political upheavals brought the Ba'ath party to power in 1966. It supported
al Fatah, the Palestinian Liberation Movement, a more effectiv e guerrilla
force than the fedayeen. In late 1966 the Syrian border became the scene
of bombardments and reprisal raids, and Nasser pledged his support to
Syria in the event of an Israeli invasion. Nasser called for the withdrawal
of the UN Emergency Force , received promises of support from Saudi
Arabia, Algeria and Iraq, and made a treaty with King Hussein of Jordan.
He also closed the Straits of Tiran. The Arab world followed Nasser’s
lead, expecting to arrive at the end of Arab -Israeli conflict by means of the
eradication of the Jewish homeland. Following these developments, Arab
troops gathered on the frontiers of Israel.
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111 The Six -Day War of 1967 :
The Arab states joined together again in a determined attempt to destroy
Israel. The lead was taken by Iraq, Syria and Egypt. Levi Eshkol, the
Prime Minister of Israel appointed General Moshe Dayan, hero of the
1956 Sinai campaign, as Minister of Defense in 1967. Preferring attack to
defense, Moshe Dayan ordered a surprise attack on the Egyptian Air Force
while i t was on the ground, followed by an immediate assault on all fronts.
Deprived of air cover, the Arab forces were rolled back on all fronts. In six
days, the Israelis occupied the Gaza Strip and the whole of Sinai Peninsula
up to the east bank of the Suez C anal, the rest of Jerusalem and the West
Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. By the time that the
UN Security Council could arrange a cease -fire, the Arabs had suffered a
major psychological and military defeat, and the Israelis were in a p osition
from which they would not retreat without a guarantee of permanent
recognition and security For the Israelis the Six Day War was a great
success. This time they had ignored a UN order to return the captured
territory from the neighbouring Arab stat es. This acted as a series of buffer
zones between Israel and the Arab states, and meant that it would be much
easier to defend Israel. However, it did bring a new problem of dealing
about a million extra Arabs who now found themselves under Israeli rule.
Many of them were living in the refugee camps set up in 1948 on the West
Bank and in the Gaza Strip.
The War of Attrition (1970) :
Even when the war was not fought between two countries , a war of
attrition, of air raids, outrages and terrorism continued. Pr essure was
brought to bear on the Arab states by the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) under its leader Yasir Arafat, for some further action.
When very little happened, a more extreme group within the PLO, called
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, embarked on a series of
terrorist attacks to draw world attention to the grave injustice being done
to the Arabs of Palestine. They hi -jacked airliners and flew three of them
to Amman, the capital of Jordan, where they were blown up (1970). This
was embarrassing for King Hussein of Jordan, who now favoured a
negotiated peace, and in September 1970 he expelled all PLO members
based in Jordan. In 1972 innocent passengers were gunned down at Tel
Aviv airport. Terrorist attacks reached a horrifyi ng climax when some
members of the Israeli team were murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics
by the Palestinian terrorists.
The Yom Kippur War of 1973 :
Anwar Sadat, the President of Egypt was prepared to work either with the
United States or the Soviet Union, but he hoped to win American support
for the Arabs, so that the Americans would persuade the Israelis to agree
to a peace settlement. However, the Americans refused to get involved.
Having failed to get the American support to his peace initiative, Sadat,
together with Syria, decided to attack Israel again, hoping that this would
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112 confident because they now had modem Russian weapons and Russian
experts had trained their army. In 1973, Egypt and Syria launched a new
attack on Israel on 6 October, Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish
calendar, hoping to catch the Israelis off guard. After some early Arab
successes, the Israelis, using mainly American weapons, were able to turn
the ta bles. USA and the USSR decided it was time to intervene to try to
bring about a peace settlement. Acting with UN co -operation, they
organized a ceasefire, which both sides accepted. An important
development during the war was that the Arab oil -producing st ates tried to
bring pressure to bear on the United States and on Western European
states which were friendly to Israel, by reducing oil supplies.
10.4 EGYPT -ISRAEL PEACE EFFOR TS
The Arab -Israeli conflicts and periodical wars had added to the number of
refuges and found no new home for the Palestinians. President Sadat had
become convinced that Israel could not be destroyed by force, and that it
was foolish to keep on wasting Eg ypt's resources in fruitless wars.
President Nixon visited West Asia and in return Sadat visited Washington.
In November 1977, Sadat paid a visit to Israel and addressed the Knesset,
the Israeli parliament. The Israeli Prime Minister paid a return visit t o
Egypt the following month.
The Intifada :
A large -scale uprising by the Palestinians in the occupied territories began
in December 1987. It was known as Intifada.This ‘shaking’ (intifada in
Arabic) came after 20 years of Israeli occupation but was sparked by an
increase in unemployment among Palestinian Arabs. The intifada took a
number of different forms: boycott of Israeli goods, attacks against Israeli
civilians and settlers, demonstrations to show public support for
Palestinian nationhood, and stone th rowing by youths against Israeli
soldiers. Israel's reaction was one of armed suppression of the revolt,
including the use of rigorous tactics by the Israeli military, whose severity
was condemned not only by the Palestinians but also by many Israelis.
Peace Initiative between Israel and the PLO :
The election of a less aggressive Labour government in Israel in June 1992
raised hopes for better relations with the Palestinians. Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres both believed in
negotiation, and were prepared to make concessions in order to achieve a
lasting peace. Yasir Arafat, the PLO leader, responded and talks opened
between Israel and the PLO. But there was so much mutual suspicion and
distrust after all the years of hostility that progress was difficult. However,
both sides persevered and by early 1996, remarkable changes had taken
place.
Formal Recognition of the PLO by Israel :
Events in the Middle East took a surprising turn in 1993. After secret
negotiations, Prime Minister Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat flew munotes.in

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113 to Washington, DC, and agreed to the signing of a historic peace
agreement. This was the first major breakthrough. By this peace accord
Israel formally recognized the PLO; the PLO recognized Israel's right to
exist and promised to give up terrorism; Israel agreed to allow Palestinian
self-rule, first in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho, and
later in other areas of the West Bank not settled by Jews. Extremist groups
on both sides opposed the agreement. The Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine still wanted a completely independent Palestinian state. Israeli
settlers on the West Bank were against all concessions to the PLO.
However, the moderate leaders on both sides showed great courage and
determination, and two years later they took an even more momentous
step forward.
The Taba Agreement :
In September 1995, Rabin and Arafat signed the Taba Agreement on the
lawns of the White House in Washington. This agreement promised self -
rule for the Palesti nians. As part of this peace package, Israel agreed to
withdraw its troops from most of the West Bank in stages over several
years, handing over both civil and security powers to the PLO. This would
end Israeli control of the areas, which they had held sin ce 1967. The areas
would be ruled by a parliament or Palestinian Council of 88 members to
be elected early in 1996 by all West Bankers and Arab residents of
Jerusalem aged over 18. All Palestinian prisoners held by Israel (about
6000) would be released, in three phases.
Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin :
Most of the world's leaders welcomed this brave attempt to bring peace to
the troubled region. But once again extremists on both sides claimed that
their leaders were guilty of 'shameful surrender'. Yigal Amir , a Jewish
student hostile to the peace process, and particularly to the handover of
land to the Palestinians assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shortly
after addressing a peace rally on 4 November 1995 as he left a peace rally
in Tel Aviv. Deputy P rime Minister and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
succeeded Rabin.
The Wye Accord :
By February 1998 the United States was growing impatient with Israel’s
hardening policy. After heavy American lobbying, Israel signed a new
peace accord with the Palestinians, the so -called Wye Accord, in October
1998. Under its terms, Israel began further troop withdrawals from the
West Bank, and the first Palestinian airport was opened in the Gaza Strip
in November. However, Netanyahu then suspended its terms, claiming
Palest inian noncompliance.
The Sharm el -Sheikh Agreement :
Already a successful politician and renowned for his courage and bravery,
US president Barak Obama seemed the right man to boost the Arab -Israeli
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114 the Wye Accord in a revised version. After several weeks of negotiations,
the Israeli government and the Palestinian authorities signed a revised
version of the Wye Accord, the so -called Sharm el -Sheikh Agreement, in
Egypt, in September 1999. The document was intended to project the way
toward the final peace agreement, to be concluded by September 2000,
and was accepted by the Israeli Cabinet.
Violence in West Bank and Gaza Strip :
Intensive negotiations, the so -called final status or ‘permanent status talks
were begun between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank town of
Ramallah in November, but were soon suspended. Days after the talks
broke down again in May 2000, Barak annou nced his cabinet’s approval
to hand over three villages on the outskirts of East Jerusalem. The transfer
was immediately postponed when the bloodiest violence for four years
erupted in the Israeli -occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
10.5 SUMMARY
The Jews we re persecuted by western European countries and Russia
because of their separate identity based on religion, race an language.
1897 some Jews living in Europe established the World Zionist
Organization at Basel in Switzerland. In 1945 the United States
pressurized Britain to allow 100,000 Jews into Palestine. The formidable
coalition of the Arab states declared war on the newly born state of Israel
in 1948. The most tragic consequence of the war was that the Palestinian
Arabs became the innocent victims who found themselves without a state
or a homeland. Even when the war was not fought between two countries ,
a war of attrition, of air raids, outrages and terrorism continued. The peace
between two countries is not yet established but the efforts in that
direction are in progress.
10.6 QUESTIONS
1) Trace the factors responsible for Arab -Israeli conflict.
2) Give an account of the Arab -Israeli wars from 1948 to 1973. What
were their impact on both the Arabs and Israelis?
3) Examine the peace process between Egypt an d Israel.
4) Discuss the various attempts made to end Arab Israel conflict. What
was their outcome?
10.7 REFERENCES
1) Hayes C.J. H. Contemporary Europe Since 1870 -1955, New York,
Macmillan.
2) Story Richard, Japan and the Decline of the West in Asia 1894 - 1943,
1979New York City,
3) Hazen Charles, Modern Europe since 1789, S. Chand, 1992. munotes.in

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(1948 - 2000)
115 4) David M.D., Landmarks in World History, Himalaya Publishing
House, Mumbai, 1999.
5) Lipson E., Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries – 1916, London. A.H.
Black.
6) Taylor A.J.P. Th e struggle for Mastery in Europe (1848 -1918) , Oxford
1954
7) Dr. Eugene D’Souza, History of Asia, Manan Prakashan, 2018.


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116 11
IRANIAN REVOLUTION OF 1979
Unit structure :
11.0 Objectives
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Factors Responsible for Revolution in Iran
11.3 Course of the Revolution
11.4 Suppression of Liberalism
11.5 Summary
11.6 Questions
11.7 References
11.0 OBJECTI VES
After going through this unit the student wilt be able to
1) Understand factors responsible for revolution in Iran
2) Comprehend important events in Iranian revolution
3) Graspe the impacts of Iranian revolution
11.1 INTRODUCTION
The revolution in Iran that sw ept away the Pahlavi monarchy in January
1979. This revolution was religious and political in nature. The revolution
was led by the religious leader of the Muslims cleric Ayatollah Khomeini
from his exile in Paris. The revolution brought the Muslim clergy in the
forefront of the Iranian politics. Ayatollah Khomeni controlled both
politics and religion decided to organize the Iranian society strictly
according to the Shiite Islamic principles. Accordingly, the regime of the
Ayatollah became much more autocr atic and repressive than that of the
Shah.
11.2 FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR REVOLUTION IN
IRAN
Absolute Monarchy in Iran :
The Muhhamad RezaShah promoted absolute monarchy in Iran. Five
palaces maintained for the royal family exemplified the luxurious living o f
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117 glorified the monarchy in 1971 to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary of
Persian monarchy. While rooting the monarchy in the past, the Shah
hoped to modernize the nation.
Huge Milit ary Expenditure:
The Shah built up modern and sophisticated military machinery in Iran.
Additional income from oil led to increased 140 spending especially on
defense. By 1975 Iran was spending on defense a larger proportion of
national income than any cou ntry in the world except Israel. The results of
this spending were reflected in the deficit in the balance of payments of
nearly one billion dollars in 1975. Seemingly equating modernization with
militarization, between 1959 and 1978 the Shah spent thirty six billion
dollars on arms, about half of them purchased from the United States. In
order to pay for the sophisticated planes, missiles, and supporting
equipment, he raised the price of oil in 1974. Expansion of land, air and
naval forces made Iran the st rongest military power in the Persian Gulf
area.
Widespread Poverty in Iran :
Shah’s much advertised reform programme did little to alleviate the
poverty of the majority of his subjects. In 1979 one -tenth of the population
controlled half of the wealth in I ran. Social services were inadequate and
inferior. Sixty per cent of the adult population was illiterate. Wasteful
expenditure and corruption flourished and inflation rose to new heights.
This resulted in the usual cyclic nightmare: demand for goods, inade quate
supply, rising prices and further wage demands. The Shah, who had dealt
sternly with the landed aristocracy in the early 1960’s, showed signs of his
displeasure with the new, ostentatious and corrupt rich. He came up with
schemes for handing over hal f the ownership and profits of industry to the
workers. Nonetheless, wages remained unsatisfactory and Teheran became
a crowed town of five million for whom housing was shamefully
inadequate.
Downfall of Muhammad Musaddiq :
Prime Minister Muhammad Musaddiq, a nationalist leader, precipitated an
international crisis in 1951 when he secured authorization from parliament
to nationalize the petroleum industry. Western opposition to any assertion
of economic independence was complicated by Anglo -American rivalry.
Averse to prolonged negotiations, the United States government cut off
aid to Tehran and persuaded the British in effecting a boycott, which
denied Iran access to oil tankers and oil markets. The consequent
shutdown of the huge Anglo -Iranian refinery at A badan brought the
Iranian government to the point of bankruptcy. In August 1953 a CIA
directed coup overthrew the government, replacing Musaddiq with a
former Nazi collaborator and restoring the Shah to his throne. Under a
new agreement, forty per cent of Iran’s petroleum industry was allotted to
five American companies.
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118 Autocratic Rule of the Shah :
The fall of Musaddiq was a victory for the Shah. Musaddiq's left -wing
supporters were persecuted and the Shah gradually asserted the
paramountcy of the throne, first through military rule, which lasted until
1957, and then through a series of prime ministers who were either
submissive or dismissed. The death of the Shah's only brother in 1954
jeopardized the Pahlavi dynasty. This prompted the heirless Shah to
divorce his second wife and marry a third, who bore him a son a year later.
Thus, being strengthened, the Shah began to implement a policy of land
distribution and reform which proved so unpopular with the landowning
classes and the Majlis, in which they wer e well represented, that the Shah
dispensed with parliament for the two years from 1961 to 1963. In 1963 he
felt strong enough to hold a plebiscite, which confirmed his personal
ascendancy and the decline of the power of the provincial notables. The
person al rule and policies of the Shah led to a lot of discontent among the
urban politicians, the tribal chiefs and the educated young. However, oil
revenues increased and Iran's gross national product began to register
annual increases to the extent of seven p er cent.
Opposition from conservatives :
The weakness of the regime of the Shah was the uncertainty that
surrounded an autocracy with an infant heir. The Shah began to face
opposition from the conservative mullahs, the anger of radical students
and other pr otesters, which even one of the world's most ferocious secret
police apparatuses could not silence. He was obsessively concerned with
left-wing conspiracies. However, he could not visualize the threat from
clerical radicalism that was growing in Iran. More over, the Shah became
dangerously ignorant of the state of affair of his own country. He was
unaware of the savagery of his secret police, SAVAK, and blatant
economic and social inequality that existed in his country.
11.3 COURSE OF THE REVOLUTION
Discontent spread throughout the Iranian population in the late 1970’s
when an economic slump halted industrial projects and rising
unemployment was accompanied by a fifty per cent rate of inflation.
January 1978 inaugurated a year of riots and bloody clashes. Crowds of
millions demonstrated in the streets. More than eight thousand people
were killed as the police cracked do wn on protesters. In September 1978,
the Shah imposed martial law and appointed a military governor,
confident that, with the army behind him, he could overcome the storm of
protest. But strike in the oilfields and violent eruptions led by university
stude nts paralyzed the government and brought the economy to a
standstill. When it became evident that the army was not without
sympathy for the revolutionaries, the Shah was forced to vacate his throne.
When in January 1979 the Shah asked Dr Shahpur Bakhtiar t o assume the
premiership, Bakhtiar consented only upon condition that the Shah leave
the country. On 16 January 1979, the Shah left Iran by plane ‘on a
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119 The ‘Islamic World Order’ of Iran :
The chief revolutionary figure in Iran was a seventy -eight year old Islamic
theologian, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He was a life -long enemy
of the Pahlavi dynasty and its material values. He became a leader of those
who opposed secular government and the modernization of Iran. After
harshly suppressed riots in the early 1960’s Khomeini had fled in 1964 to
Turkey and thence to Iraq and finally to France, from where he continued
to foster opposition to the Shah. He entertained a personal bitterness
against the Shah as he had refused permission to the Ayatollah to return to
Iran for the funeral of one of his sons. After a month following the flight
of the Shah, Bakhtiar also fled from Iran. Following these events,
Khomeini, now an ageing and obdurate mora list and nationalist returned
to Iran to tumultuous welcome. On his re -entry into Iran, Khomeini
inaugurated an autocratic rule, which lasted unchallenged until his death
ten years later.
Khomeini proclaimed an Islamic republic and instituted a regime even
more intolerant than the Shah's, although possibly less murderous. With
the assistance of Revolutionary Council, Khomeini issued decrees for the
nation. Before long, every secular or moderate leader was eliminated, and
Khomeini drafted a new constitution designed to remake society in rigid
conformity with Islamic law and Shiite tradition. The constitution
provided for a popularly elected president but made all officials subject to
supervision and removal by the religious authorities. Although SAVAK
was abo lished, a special police force was created to eliminate any
opposition and enforce behavioural codes. Women lost what few rights
they had ever possessed. Reduced in the eyes of the law to possessions of
their husbands. They were forbidden to appear in publ ic unless concealed
by the veil and tent like chador. Khomeini suppressed dissidents as
ruthlessly as had the Shah. It appeared that a secular tyranny had been
replaced by religious fanaticism. He rejected both the concept of the
nation state and the prese nt international system, which he viewed with
stark simplicity as a dualistic struggle between good and evil forces. To
him the United States represented ‘Great Satan’, the Soviet Union ‘Lesser
Satan’, which together oppressed the world’s peoples and must be
opposed with physical and moral force.
11.4 SUPPRESSION OF LIBERALISM
Khomeini appointed as Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, a liberal Muslim
intellectual with a scientific education who had been imprisoned by the
Shah, but there was in fact no central g overnment. Bazargan was harassed
from left and right, by Kurdish and Arab minorities. Ayatollah, who
retired to the holy city of Qum dominated the political scene by conflicting
pronouncements. He also allowed a kind of religious hooliganism to
prevail. Lo cal Islamic committees spent their time rounding up and
executing those who were considered to be opposed to the Islamic
revolution. The Shah's authority and partisans had evaporated with his
flight, which turned him into a figure of suspicion. The memory of the
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120 the Islamic revolutionaries when the Shah went to the United States from
Egypt via Mexico in search of the best medical treatment for the cancer,
which would soon kill him. Man y in Iran feared that his arrival in New
York forebode another American attempt to put him back on his throne.
The Hostage Crisis :
In November 1979, a group of Islamic militants seized the United States
embassy in Teheran and took fifty -two hostages. This coup was partly
directed against Bazargan, but more overtly against the United States. This
incident alarmed Russians who feared retaliatory American action in Iran
at a time when their own hold over their puppets in neighbouring
Afghanistan was becoming i nsecure. It was also useful to Khomeini in
rallying the splintered fragments of Iranian society behind himself.
Throughout the hostage crisis Ayatollah supported the hostage -takers, who
were keen to lay hands on the Shah and humiliate the United States.
Bazargan, and after him, Abolhasan Bani -Sadr, who was appointed
president in 1980, were in favour of settling the hostage crisis amicably
and restoring normal relations with the United States in order to unfreeze
Iranian assets in American banks and get spar e parts for weapons. Bani -
Sadr was forced into exile by a fresh wave of terror in 1981. After 444
days, the release of the American hostages was obtained only after long,
repeatedly stalemated, and humiliating negotiations.
Anti -US Stand :
In external affai rs Iran was extremely critical of the United States. It
declared open support for the Hizbollah in Lebanon but denied wider
charges of subversion and terrorism, for which the Americans could not
produce evidence. Clinton branded Iran a threat to the Middle East and the
world and imposed sanctions on companies, which traded with or in Iran.
Iran aimed to assert its regional power by rebuilding its armaments after
the war with Iraq and pressing its interests in Central Asia as well as in
traditional areas in the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf. It barely concealed
its intention to develop a nuclear armoury, thus challenging Israel's
monopoly in the Middle East.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei :
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, lacked Khomeini's personal magic, his religious
credentials and his reputation for learning. He was neither referred to as
the Imam nor accorded the supreme rank marja until after his promotion to
Ayatollah. He was the keeper of the true Islamic flame in succession to
Khomeini, the senior figure in a land where the spiritual crown vied with
the constitutional head of the state.
Ali Akbar Rafsanjani :
Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, consolidated his relation s with the military and won
a comfortable victory in elections for the Majlis in 1992. He pacified
Western governments by helping in the release of hostages in Lebanon
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Iranian Revolution o f 1979
121 Muhammad Khatami :
When Rafsanj ani's term ended in 1997 Muhammad Khatami succeeded
him as the president of Iran. He surprisingly defeated Khamenei's
favoured candidate by a large margin. Khatami was known to be a
moderate and was evidently disposed to relax internal tensions rather than
impose on all the rigorous conservatism of a dogmatic and intolerant
minority. He had strong support from the rising generations and the
unemployed, who numbered a quarter or more of the workforce. However,
his clerical opponents were entrenched in the Ma jlis and the judiciary, the
National Security Council and the Council of Guardians. Khatami
improved relations with the Arab world and Europeans and even made
approving remarks about some aspects of American culture, but he
remained constrained by the reli gious right and by the slump in the price
of oil, which provided ninety per cent of Iran's export earnings.
Mahmud Ahmadinejad :
Ahmadinejad generally held a more conservative view at the domestic
level than his reformist predecessor Mohammad Khatami. Domes tically,
Ahmadinejad's economic policies also contributed to the growing
polarization. Cheap loans and large -scale spending on infrastructure and
other projects as well as subsidies on fuel, food, and other commodities.
11.5 SUMMARY
The political movement in Iran took nationwide from and many strikes
and demonstrations brought instability. Khomeini the hardliner Islamic
cleric became the ultimate ruler of Iran. The sharia law was accepted by
new regime against western democratic and western cultural influen ce.
Ayatollah, who retired to the holy city of Qum dominated the political
scene by conflicting pronouncements. He also allowed a kind of religious
hooliganism to prevail. Local Islamic committees spent their time
rounding up and executing those who were c onsidered to be opposed to
the Islamic revolution. In external affairs Iran was extremely critical and
abusive of the United States.
11.6 QUESTIONS
1) Explain the factors responsible for Revolution of 1979 in Iran.
2) Give an account of the role played by Ay atollah Khomeini in the
Revolution of 1979 in Iran.
3) Narrate the political developments in Iran after the Revolution of 1979.
4) What was the impact of the Iranian revolution on her society and
economy?

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122 11.7 REFERENCES
1) Daniel Elton. L., The History of Iran , Westport, Greenwood Press,
2000.
2) Hazen Charles, Modern Europe since 1789, S. Chand, 1992.
3) Barthel Gunter, Iran: From Monarchy to Republic, Berlin, 1983.
4) Cornell R.D. World History in the Twentieth Century - Longman,
Essex 1999.
5) Lowe Norman, Mastering Modern World History -4th Ed. 2005,
Palgrane Macmillan.
6) Dr. Eugene D’Souza, History of Asia, Manan Prakashan, 2018.



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123 12
OIL POLITICS AND OPEC
Unit Structure :
12.0 Objectives
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Background of oil politics
12.3 America’s Involvement Iran and Iraq
12.4 OPEC
12.5 OPEC’s retaliation against West for their support to Israel
12.6 Summary
12.7 Questi ons
12.8 References
12.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit the student wilt be able to
1) Understand factors responsible for revolution in Iran
2) Comprehend important events in Oil Politics and establishment of
OPEC
3) Grasp the impacts of establishment of OPEC
12.1 INTRODUCTION
The US and other Western countries have used a lot of Gulf oil resources
in twentieth century. Oil was first discovered in the United States in 1859.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, it supplied only 4% of the world
energy, but after several decades it became the most important energy
source. Today, oil suppl ies abou t 40% of the world energy and 96% of the
world transportation energy.
In the second half of the twentieth century, Arab oil -producing countrie s
tried to put pressure on the United States and the Western European states
that favored Israel by reducing oil supplies. This led to a severe shortage
of oil, especially in Europe. At the same time, the oil producing countries
were aware that the supply of oil was not unlimited. As a way to conserve
these natural resources, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) began to increase oil prices by controlling oil
production. This led to a spike in inflation and an energy supply crisis in
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124 12.2 BACKGROUND OF OIL POLITICS
The era of oil politics began in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Brittan had established Anglo Persian Oil Company in 1909 to exploit oil
resources in Iran. America was also hopefu l to utilize this resource hence
an agreement was signed between the Persian government and standard oil
company in 1921. Britain had also landed troops in Basra (now Iraq) in
1914 to strengthen its foothold in the oil -rich Gulf. Britain occupied Iraq
in 1918. Along with England America and Russia has also played an
important role in oil politics in the Gulf. America and Britain had to
depend on the Gulf for oil then. But Russia itself has oil reserves.
Nevertheless, during the Cold War, Russia made many in terventions to
challenge the US in the Gulf. The Gulf has turned into a battlefield in the
clash between the two superpowers. Standard Oil of California formed a
company called California Arabian Standard Oil. West Asia's oil
reserves have fascinated g lobal power and capital since the early twentieth
century. In 1938 America discovered oil at Dammam in Saudi Arabia. On
March 3, 1938, the first oil well was finally discovered in gulf region by
American company. Since then, the US has been trying to gain control
over the oil in the Gulf, especially in Saudi Arabia. In turn, the US and
Saudi Arabia established a strong oil relationship. These were the most
important relations of the twentieth century, which dominated the post -
Cold War period. This is where the era of oil politics started. Maintaining
the security of not only Saudi Arabia but also the entire Gulf and how the
oil can flow freely to the United States remained a key issue for the United
States. Of course, these attempts to maintain American domi nance in the
Gulf were met with bloody opposition. Since the 1970s, the Gulf has been
a permanent battlefield and has brought to the world the horrors of
bloodshed, violence, kidnapping and terrorism. From here, for the next 60 -
70 years, world wars for oi l would take place in this theater. The
monstrous faces of superpowers like America, Britain, and Russia would
come to the fore. The blood of millions of innocent citizens were going to
rot on this land. Terrible moves were to be made to gain control of th ese
oil reserves and many weak countries were also to be sacrificed. The first
chapter of Oil Politics was launched.
Gulf countries did not have the technology to extract oil. American
companies took advantage of it. At that time, politics was heated over how
to keep oil prices as high as possible. Manipulation of oil prices was done
by increasing or decreasing oil production. This would hit the world in an
instant. Even till now i.e. till 2014 when oil prices were as high as $115
per barrel. Now the hands of the clock have turned upside down. Today,
oil prices have collapsed and tactics are on how to keep them lower. The
purpose is the same.
12.3 AMERICA’S INVOLVEMENT IRAN AND IRAQ
Prime Minister of Iran, Muhammad Musaddiq, a nationalist leader,
precipitate d an international crisis in 1951 when he secured authorization
from parliament to nationalize the petroleum industry. Western opposition munotes.in

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Oil Politics a nd OPEC
125 to any assertion of economic independence was complicated by Anglo -
American rivalry. Averse to prolonged negotiations, the United States
government cut off aid to Tehran and persuaded the British in effecting a
boycott, which denied Iran access to oil tankers and oil markets. The
consequent shutdown of the huge Anglo -Iranian refinery at Abadan
brought the Iranian governme nt to the point of bankruptcy. In August
1953 a CIA -directed coup overthrew the government, replacing Musaddiq
with a former Nazi collaborator and restoring the Shah to his throne.
Under a new agreement, forty percent of Iran’s petroleum industry was
allotted to five American companies.
The Iran -Iraq war
With the heavy dependence of the western industrialized nations on
Middle Eastern oil, naturally, western governments have maintained a
strategic military presence in the region. Before the Iraqi invasion, Kuwait
and Saudi Arabia were hosting nearly 45,000 United States troops, the US
military has always maintained an aircraft carrier in the region to enable it
respond to breaking events with speed. The resentment over the presence
of American troops in the region has helped spawn anti -American
sentiments. The Iran -Iraq war, which lasted eight years from 1980 to 1988,
was based on gaining control over oil. It was the world's longest -
running war and, ostensibly sparked by Iraq's invasion of Iran, its
primary motivation was to gain control of Iran's oil reserves. It was
America that called for this war. Both sides suffered heavy losses in that
war. Still no result.
Maintaining the security of not only Saudi Arabia but also the entire Gulf
and how th e oil can flow freely to the United States remained a key issue
for the United States. Of course, these attempts to maintain American
dominance in the Gulf were met with bloody opposition. Even after oil
was discovered in 1908 at Masjid e Suleiman in north west Persia (now
Iran), geologists were unanimous that there was no oil in the Gulf. Oil was
in great demand during World War II. More recently, the US invasion of
Iraq in 2004 and the presence of US troops there is the last phase of US
militarism in West Asia. Although the invasion was the longest, most
destructive, and most destructive of any previous military incursion, its
real purpose was to hold America's grip on Iraq's oil. For forty
years, the oil in this land has played a major role in the wars. Oil and war
are integrated in the Gulf. Wars have to be seen as the only inevitability of
politics.
It is obvious as the world is dependent on only two fuels, petrol and diesel.
Hardly anyone has created the kind of upheaval that oil prices have caus ed
around the world. Major oil -producing countries are Saudi Arabia, Iran,
Russia and USA. These countries took the world by storm with their
decisions on oil production and oil prices. The history of oil politics over
the past five decades is a terrifying yet fascinating one. Each country has
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126 Before the mid -twentieth century, oil was discovered in the Gulf countries.
From there, an oil politics began. Sometimes wars were fought, strategies
were devised and regimes of w eak countries were overthrown. Many
intelligence agencies like CIA in America, KGB in Russia have hatched
conspiracies as cleverly as they are terrifying and have done things like
hijacking airplanes.
Underlying the politics of oil is the undeclared war be ing played out over
oil prices. Saudi Arabia is the country with the largest oil reserves in the
world. Of course, the role of Saudi Arabia in determining oil prices has
always been important. Major oil producing countries made repeated
moves to establish control over the oil market.
12.4 OPEC
On September 14, 1960, five major oil -producing countries of the world
establ ished the OPEC organization. Those five countries were Iran, Iraq,
Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait. Very soon, other countries also became
members of this organization and the number of members reached 13.
OPEC countries account for 44 percent of the world 's mineral oil
reserves and 80 percent of total production. Apart from this, Russia, the
world's second largest producer of petroleum, became a member of
this organization in 2016 and OPEC Plus was formed. In the beginning,
the purpose behind the e stablishment of this organization was to stabilize
the price of mineral oil in the world market, to achieve the interests of oil
producers and consumers, but later on, this organization dominated the
world market by doing politics only for its own interest s and continued to
arbitrarily control the production and prices of mineral oil. The principal
aim of the organization, according to its Statute, is the determination of the
best means for safeguarding their interests, individually and collectively;
devisi ng ways and means of ensuring the stabilization of prices in
international oil markets to eliminate harmful and unnecessary
fluctuations; giving due regard at all times to the interests of the producing
nations and to the necessity of securing a steady inc ome to the producing
countries; an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to
consuming nations, and a fair return on their capital to those investing in
the petroleum industry.
12.5 OPEC’S RETALIATION AGAINST WEST FOR
THEIR SUPPORT TO ISRAEL
The United States has taken many actions to keep the OPEC organization
dominated by the Gulf countries under its reins and has started to
destabilize the countries by fueling the internal politics of these Gulf
countries. However, this organization was abl e to retain its importance.
After the involvement of Russia, the situation changed further. The
persistent Arab -Israeli conflict finally prompted a response that
transformed OPEC from a mere cartel into a formidable political force.
After the Six Day War o f 1967, the Arab members of OPEC formed a
separate, overlapping group, the Organization of Arab Petroleum
Exporting Countries, for the purpose of centering policy and exerting
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127 not maj or oil -exporting countries, joined the latter group to help achive its
objectives.
First Oil Shock 1973
In October 1973, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) suddenly announced an oil embargo. The world was
shocked. Over night, petrol prices rose by $3 to $12 per barrel. The world
economy and world politics had many radical consequences. This event
was later described as the first oil shock. Since then, the world has realized
how the existence of the world revolves around petrol and diesel. OPEC
decisions have had considerable effect on international oil prices. OPEC
refused to supply oil to western countries that had supported Israel in the
Yom Kippur War in 1973 against Egypt and Syria. which they fought.
This refusal cau sed a huge increase in the price of oil, which lasted five
months, starting on October 17, 1973, and ending on March 18, 1974.
OPEC nations then agreed, on January 7, 1975, to raise crude oil prices by
10 %. At that time, OPEC nations including many who ha d recently
nationalized their oil industries joined the call for a new international
economic order to be started by coalitions of primary producers. After the
1973 oil embargo put by OPEC, Western Europe and Japan began
changed their policy of supporting Israel and began to follow more pro -
Arab policies. This change further strained the Western alliance system as
in comparison of Europe the United States was self -reliant in oil. US
imported only 12% of its oil from the Middle East (compared with 80%
for th e Europeans and over 90% for Japan), remained staunchly
committed to its backing of Israel.
The second oil shock 1979
The second oil shock of the 1970s was connected with political actions in
the Middle East. The Iranian Revolution began in early 1978 and ended a
year later. The reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi collapsed and
Ayatollah Khomeini took control the Islamic republic. In conjunction with
the revolution, Iranian oil output declined by 4.8 million barrels per day (7
percent of world production at the time) by January 1979. However, this
supply interruption may not have been the most important factor pushing
oil prices higher. Rather, the Iranian disruption may have prompted a fear
of further disruptions and spurred widespread speculative hoarding. Oil
prices increased rapidly around 1979, more than doubling between April
1979 and April 1980. According to one estimation, surge in oil demand
coming both from a flourishing global economy and a sharp increase in
precautionary demand was responsible for much of the increase in the cost
of oil during the crisis. Through early 1978, the Federal Reserve System, a
central banking system in America had maintained a highly
accommodative stand of monetary policy, hoping to tackle rising
unemployment. Eventually , though, the policies showed little success in
stifling the fall in the unemployment rate and likely promoted an
environment that allowed the rising energy prices to be transmitted into
more general inflation. Consumer inflation, which had already begun t o
accelerate in the United States, continued to rise from below 5 percent in
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128 Despite increasing concern among the public and members of the FOMC
about the declining value of the dollar and rising pace of inflat ion, the
committee remained hesitant to raise interest rates too aggressively, fearful
of stifling fragile economic growth. The Fed raised the federal funds rate
from 6.9 percent in April 1978 to 10 percent by the end of the year. The
increase was a clear move to try to curb rising inflation. However, modern
economic historians now see the increases as timid and insufficient to
stem a surge in inflationary pressure, which had already become
entrenched in the American psyche and economy. Twelve -month
consume r price indexinflation rose to 9 percent by the end of 1979.
The Carter administration’s decision to appoint Paul Volker as Federal
Reserve chairman in August 1979 was a strong endorsement of using
more aggressive monetary policy to try to break inflation’ s stranglehold on
the US economy. Volcker and the policy -setting FOMC made taming
inflation their top priority, even if it came at the detriment of short -term
employment. The policies ultimately proved successful in breaking the
cycle of stagflation in the United States. Volcker guided the Fed in raising
the federal funds rate from 11 percent at the time he took office to a peak
of 19 percent in 1981, and the policy moves successfully lowered the rate
of twelve -month inflation from a peak of nearly 15 perce nt to 4 percent by
the end of 1982. Though the Fed’s resolve under Volcker was effective in
reducing inflation, the monetary contraction combined with the impact
from the oil price shock pushed the economy into the most severe
recession since the Great Dep ression.
Invasion of Iraq and Libya Until the nationalized the US oil companies in
Iraq, Saddam was America's favourite. In 1981, Donald Rumsfeld
himself provided him with toys of biological weapons. He later took the
lives of millions with these weapo ns. Inhuman torture done. But nobody
said anything. Further, if he had not nationalized the American oil
companies, his human rights violations would not have been reported.
There is no doubt that Gaddafi was brutal. He was rampantly violating
human rights , no one will disagree with that. But as long as it was
profitable for the oil companies his inhumanity was overlooked. Thus, oil
politics played instrumental role in spreading new colonialism in form of
western countries intervention in gulf region.
12.6 SUMMARY
The politics of oil emerged in the twentieth century as one of the most
critical dimensionsshaping domestic and global life. Arab oil -producing
countries tri ed to put pressure on the United States and the Western
European states that favored Israel by reducing oil supplies. This led to a
severe shortage of oil, especially in Europe. The United States has taken
many actions to keep the OPEC organization dominat ed by the Gulf
countries under its reins and has started to destabilize the countries by
fueling the internal politics of these Gulf countries. However, this
organization was able to retain its importance. After the involvement of
Russia, the situation changed further. munotes.in

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Oil Politics a nd OPEC
129 12.7 QUESTIONS
1) Explain the factors responsible for oil politics in modern era.
2) Describe the role of America in oil politic.
3) Narrate the developments leading to the foundation of OPEC.
4) How oil politics influenced the politic in the world?
12.8 REFERENCES
1) Bamberg, J.H. (1994). The History of the British Petroleum Company,
Volume 2: The Anglo - Iranian Years, 1928 -1954. Cambridge
University Press.
2) Dr. Eugene D’Souza, History of Asia, Manan Prakashan, 2018.
3) Cornell R.D. World History in the Twentie th Century - Longman,
Essex 1999.
4) Lowe Norman, Mastering Modern World History -4th Ed. 2005,
Palgrane Macmillan.
5) http:/www.opec.org
6) https://www.britannica.com/topic/OPEC
7) https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/25.htm


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