In 1949, Chiang Kai-shek was defeated in the mainland, and the Kuomintang transferred to Taiwan, and immediately launched the "375 Rent Reduction" in Taiwan, limiting the upper limit of land rent for Taiwanese landlords to 37.5% of the annual harvest; Two years later, the Kuomintang launched the "public land release" campaign in Taiwan, giving directly to farmers the publicly owned cultivated land originally leased by the government, and the peasants who received the land only needed to pay 2.5 times the annual output in ten-year installments to obtain the property rights of the land. In 1953, Chiang Lao took the initiative directly against the land, implementing the regulations on the cultivator's own land, allowing the landlord to directly distribute the land to the peasants, and redeemed the land of the Taiwan landlord with 70% of the physical land bonds (2.5 times the yield of rice and sweet potatoes on the land for ten years) plus 30% of the shares of public institutions (Taiwan cement, Taiwan paper, Taiwan industry and mining, and Taiwan agriculture and forestry four major companies).
But......
Many people know that the Kuomintang began to promote rent reduction movements in China since the 20s, and during this period, the issue of land reform was raised several times within the Kuomintang, but the voice of opposition was also so high that Lao Jiang never successfully implemented the land reform policy when he was on the mainland!
So why didn't Lao Jiang carry out land reform on the mainland? Instead, ran to Taiwan for land reform?
Of course, one of the simplest explanations for this problem is that "cutting your own flesh hurts, cutting someone else's flesh doesn't hurt" - but in fact, this explanation is... Wrong.
Because whether it is the land in Taiwan or the land in the mainland, strictly speaking, it is not the meat of Lao Chiang's own body.
In November 1928, the Nanjing National Government issued the "Standard Case for Dividing National Revenue into Local Revenues", which transferred all taxes such as agricultural tax and business tax to the local level, and the central government only retained large taxes such as customs duties, salt tax, unified tax, and centigold.
That is to say, Lao Jiang threw all the taxes that were difficult to collect and difficult to manage to the localities, and pinched all the taxes that were easy to collect and had relatively high incomes into his own hands. In addition, as a financial genius, President Jiang Gong could sacrifice the big killer of "hyperinflation" at any time to cut leeks directly; in addition, during the civil war, the secret income from the opium business could go directly to the account of the "China Peasant Bank" -- this bank saw Lao Jiang's slip to lend money and was completely unsupervised. So excuse me...
Since I have money that comes quickly and spends pleasantly, then why should I go to the trouble of thanklessly carrying out land reform?
To liberate productivity? But the business tax belongs to ™ the locality, and I control Jiangsu and Zhejiang as a comprador and don't care whether your local productive forces are liberated or not - or in other words, it is more beneficial to me if you can't develop locally.
To earn more revenue? But agricultural taxes also ™ go to the local government.
This is the most important part: we all know that land reform is a huge reform that tests the ability of a regime to manage. But the dividends of this reform will not be eaten in Lao Jiang's mouth in the short term. So Lao Jiang has always been not very concerned about the matter of land reform on the mainland, but...
But the Americans are different, in the 50s of the 20th century, the United States actively assisted Asian countries to promote land reform, the logic behind this is very simple, the Americans believe that land reform is "a powerful means to prevent red infiltration" - don't you communism liberate the productive forces to carry out land reform? I did this ahead of time! Haha, I play your communist card, so that you have no cards to play!
In order to solve the problem of potential peasant resistance in the front-line countries and regions of the Cold War, the United States took land reform as a key task in the early days of the Cold War, and in 1951, the United States Department of Agriculture established an interdepartmental committee on land reform to promote the land reform movement overseas. U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Justice Douglas personally advocated the need to solve the land problem of the Asian peasants as a necessary means of fighting communism.
So the policy of the Americans at that time was "binding": does the baby need American aid? I'll give it to you if you need it, and we have the money - but you have to give me land reform, and I'll allocate money when it's done.
In its foreign aid plans, the United States generally includes content to help recipient countries implement land reform, and for Asian countries and regions including Taiwan, the United States regards promoting land reform as one of the most important and priority projects of US aid. [1]
In the 1950s, the United States actively assisted Asian countries in promoting land reform, and in Taiwan provided technical and financial assistance through the "China Rural Rehabilitation and Joint Commission". [2]
For Chiang Kai-shek, the importance of U.S. aid was unquestionable. But here, there is a small problem, that is...
By 1949, Americans had completely distrusted Chiang Kai-shek.
The Americans did not believe in Chiang Lao, not because he was incapable - was Syngman Rhee in South Korea capable? Is Diệm Diệm in South Vietnam capable? When the Americans support the puppets, they don't care at all whether they are capable or not, but ...
Lao Chiang played with the Americans, which made the Americans quite unhappy.
During the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the Sino-US agricultural technical cooperation delegation proposed that land reform should be carried out in the Kuomintang region to win the support of peasants and play against the Communist Party. In '47, Widemeyer was tasked with surveying China to help the U.S. government decide whether it should provide aid to Chiang Kai-shek's government—an old friend of the Republic of China and the initiator of the Golden Decade—and finally he circled around China and submitted a report to the State Department stating that the Kuomintang should carry out land reform to ease the burden on the peasants and win the hearts and minds of the people. In order to fight for the U.S Dollar, the Kuomintang patted its chest and said that this matter was fine, brother I agreed!
Then the dollar arrived, Lao Jiang took the money and went to the war happily, and the Americans turned around and asked him about the land reform, and he was frightened.
After the passage of the "China Aid Act" in early 1948, the Agricultural Revival Association established under the bill did not move. American public opinion was outraged by the Kuomintang government's delay in land reform. In his speech at Ta Kung Pao in May, Jiang Tingyi claimed that the Chinese government was taking concrete steps and that the United States should not be impatient with its slowness. In July, Tang Huisun, then in the Lands Office, went north to inspect the land reform. In Hebei, Fu Zuoyi is experimenting with land reform, and Yan Xishan in Shanxi is also experimenting with the so-called "integration of soldiers and farmers." In fact, land reform in both places has not achieved substantial results. However, Tang Huisun, presumably in order to reach an early agreement on the assistance of the Agricultural Rehabilitation Association, touted the achievements of land reform in North China in newspapers, claiming that the implementation in various parts of North China had achieved results. [3]
This is a complete play on Americans as a kaizi. So later Chiang Kai-shek transferred to Taiwan, and the Americans said that they would not continue to give him assistance - the first time you were fooled, the second time I was fooled, I was stupid. So by mid-1950, Chiang Kai-shek was on the verge of collapse on the island of Taiwan:
(Chiang Kai-shek said) It is necessary to prepare that the United States will not come to the aid, and eventually the whole island will be blockaded by Soviet submarines. The United States could not help, as in the Soviet Union and Turkey in the past, but was able to resist aggression and strive for final victory, and pointed out the importance and possibility of distributing in-kind goods. [4]
At the critical moment, the Korean War broke out! The United States reassessed the situation in East Asia and decided to send the Seventh Fleet to the Taiwan Strait! To "stabilize the southern flank of the UN operation in Korea and limit the confrontation in North Korea", and then announce the need to provide assistance to Taiwan!
Dao Le, it's here!
In the nearly ten years since, how to win US aid has always been the top priority of the Kuomintang's work - because if US aid is gone, or it is cut, then Taiwan's economy will soon have a big problem - so now the problem is, there is a financial owner willing to support you, but he wants you to wear black silk every time we meet, do you wear it?
Lao Jiang said don't say black silk, JK do you like it? I'll wear it together to show you. Since the 50s, Chiang Lao has implemented a series of very interesting policies, including reusing liberal intellectuals represented by Hu Shi and Lei Zhen, signing peace agreements with Japan under the leadership of the United States, and actively embracing various economic policies led by the United States. As a key task that Americans are concerned about, land reform has naturally become a major matter that Lao Jiang attaches great importance to. For Taiwan at the time, whether or not to carry out land reform was a very serious political issue, and you can see that Kuomintang officials repeatedly mentioned this matter in their communication with American officials and used it as an important bargaining chip to win American aid.
Regarding economic reform Governor Wu spoke of the need for more production, free enterprise and land reform. In regard to the latter he has written General MacArthur to ask for guidance in putting into effect a land reform program based on that used in Japan. Dr. Wu spoke of the desirability of putting a social security plan into effect. [5]
Therefore, beginning in 1949, the rent reduction movement on the island of Taiwan rose sharply, and at the same time, land reform began to be brewed within the Kuomintang. And don't think that the party-state members did not oppose this policy: in 1951, Taiwan began to implement the release of public land - that is, the leased public arable land directly to the peasants, and then you pay it in 10 years at 2.5 times the yield, and after ten years the land will be yours - many officials strongly oppose this. Kuomintang officials said that this ™ is not possible, so we have not become a Communist Party? Husband...... Ah, president, president, you have a word!
You know, in 1951, American agricultural experts already came to Taiwan to directly guide agricultural work. In order to prevent the Kuomintang bureaucracy from repeating the old incident, the United States specially established a "peasant revival association" with the Taiwan side, and this peasant revival committee directly controlled nearly 1/3 of the US aid, so Lao Jiang gritted his teeth: Change!
Don't tell me about any resistance, my old Jiang only has one thing in his mind today, that is, land reform!
In fact, at that time, Taiwanese and provincial landlords in the government were opposed to land reform. The key to Chiang Kai-shek's resistance to internal opposition lay in the Kuomintang's dependence on the United States and its attitude toward the latter. ...... After World War II, the Cold War pattern was formed, and in the US containment strategy, promoting land reform on the periphery of the red zone was an important anti-infiltration tactic. ...... In the economic aid agreement with Taiwan, the United States directly stipulates that the implementation of land reform is a necessary operation of aid. [6]
Therefore, Lao Jiang was able to implement land reform in Taiwan, not because he suddenly changed his sex, but purely because the gold lord had an order.
In fact, if you think about it, for Chiang Kai-shek, who is exercising extreme high-pressure rule on the island, is land reform his most urgent work? Economically, there is US aid to continue life, and politically there is an anti-communist banner, as for the hearts of the people on the island, is it that your Taiwanese peasants are floating or my old Jiang Ti can't move the knife? 228 is missing, isn't it?
It is difficult for normal people to understand what kind of reign of terror Chiang Kai-shek established in Taiwan after 228, and it is better to use the schematic diagram of Taiwan's currency issuance and rice prices from 1944 to 1952 to understand this matter:
The 228 Incident broke out in the spring of 1947, and one of the direct triggers was severe inflation, soaring rice prices, and soaring unemployment. But compared with the terrible hyperinflation of 1948 and 1949, the inflation of 1947 can only be said to be a small witch. Eat a fart! If the purpose of land reform is to win the hearts and minds of the people and ease social contradictions, then when the contradictions are intense, they are not implemented, and when the contradictions are eased, they are vigorously promoted, and this is very spiritual.
In fact, in the early 50s, Taiwan's land reform had favorable conditions that could not be compared later. One is that Lao Jiang did the land reform without paying any real money - the public land was released without spending money; Later, in 1953, Lao Chiang implemented the Cultivator's Own Land Ordinance, allowing landlords to directly distribute land to peasants with 70% physical land bonds (2.5 times the yield of rice and sweet potatoes on the land to be shared for ten years) and 30% of public enterprises (Taiwan Cement, Taiwan Paper, Taiwan Industry and Mining, and Taiwan Agriculture and Forestry Four Major Companies). Then in 1964, the stock market plummeted, the stock price plummeted, and after the mass petition, the government reluctantly reluctantly repurchased a large number of public sector shares...
So what is the second advantage? It was 228 and the White Terror that caused the landlords on the island to dare not express their opinions at all, and could only welcome the land reform. After the party-state took over Taiwan, it mastered a large number of means of production, especially fertilizer, and it was like playing to clean up disobedient landlords, so Taiwan's land reform met with little resistance.
Therefore, Taiwan's land reform can be called a model of land reform during the Cold War, and its process is so smooth that later Taiwan built a special land reform memorial hall, and was taken out by the Americans as an advanced model to educate other countries. And Lao Jiang also gained a lot of goodwill from Americans in this process, and got a huge amount of American aid, a win-win situation, it was simply a win.