Land Reform as Regime consolidation: State, Landlords, and Peasantry in Post-war Taiwan's Land policy Transformation, 1945-1953
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Chen, Zhao-Yong
Abstract
The dissertation explores the interactions among the state, landlords and peasantry in the process of Taiwan’s post-war land reform. The actors’ choice of action is constrained by their power and the existing socio-historical conditions, and their interest and power are closely related to their positions in social structure; meanwhile the state is the most powerful actor, and plays the critical role in the development of land policy making. The dissertation shows that the KMT regime used land reform as a strategic tool to solve problems of governance during the period between 1945 and 1953. In addition, the history can be divided into two periods, of which the KTM government faced different core difficulties.
In the former period between 1945 and 1949, the main issue for the KMT regime was to procure rice from Taiwan to provide public grain, especially for the army. Three main land reform measures of this period were more or less affected by the grain procurement policy. The Lease of Public Farm Lands implemented by the Administrative Official Public Ministry in 1946 was for fiscal revenue initially, but soon changed as a tool for grain procurement. In 1948, the Wei Dao-Ming Provincial Government executed the Reclamation of Waste Land and the Sale of Public Land to relieve unemployment. However, in order to avoid lowering the volume of grain procurement, the area of the public land for sale was limited by the government. In 1949, the Rent Reduction of Private Farm Land implemented by the Provincial Government under the Chen Cheng administration was to stop the deterioration of tenancy conditions, caused by the grain procurement measures, and the turbulence in the rural area. The rent reduction was also aimed to stimulate food productivity to cope with increasing demand of the grain. In the meantime, the rice-fertilizer barter system assisted the Provincial Government in achieving the goals of food production growth and grain procurement as well.
In the later period between 1950 and 1953, the most important task for the KMT regime was to win the election. After retreating to Taiwan in 1949, Chiang Kai-Shek appointed Wu Guo-Zhen, his trusted follower, as the provincial governor under recommendation from the U.S. military. However, Wu went against the will of the KMT headquarters and actively implemented The Sale of Public Farm Lands and local elections. Subsequently, the KMT regime faced the threats from the rising local landlords after the county-level election of July, 1950. In the beginning, the KMT state attempted to follow the worker-peasant mass line, and seek direct support and votes from the peasants, adopted the class ‘divide-and-rule’ strategy to attract the peasants and bash the landlords, and legislated the 37.5% Farm Rent Limitation Program which favored the tenants and suppressed the landlords. But, the local voting culture was based on the interpersonal network. Under certain circumstances, the KMT regime gradually realized that it was difficult for the alien regime to control and win the local elections The KMT still needed to rely on local forces to govern Taiwan indirectly, at least within a short period of time.
Accordingly, the KMT headquarters adjusted its alliance strategy and combined it with the land reform policy in the end of 1952. Three objectives were achieved by implementing the Land-to-the-Tiller Program: 1). taming existing elites; 2). fostering new forces; 3). neutralizing small landlords. Massive amount of land from landlord elites was compulsorily purchased, which effectively weakened their economic and social power. It enhanced the KMT regime’s ability to control the local elites, and enabled her to select obedient elites as collaborators. Furthermore, the KMT state no longer limited the size of purchased and rented land per tenant. It offered substantial benefits to large tenants in order to foster them as the new local forces.
Beginning in the end of 1950, the KMT correspondingly adjusted their strategies of member recruitment and organization development. The land reform policy in the latter phase was deeply impacted by the political situations posterior to the start of local elections, while the land reform policies also affected the subsequent development of local politics in Taiwan as well.
Subjects
land reform
the land-to-the-tiller program
rent reduction
the sale of public farm lands
grain procurement policy
state-society relations
class
Type
thesis
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
ntu-100-D91325003-1.pdf
Size
23.54 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):55423b250e301bf130da7e5ea2fa2424