Learning inference through history

By

Jit Sharma

© 2007
The idea behind this self-study guide is to prompt the student to infer from snippets of news
or historical fact and subsequently answer the questions. Any aspiring General Paper student
should appreciate current affairs from a historical perspective – hence the use of historical
references here. For greater appreciation, the student should research the specific topical area
in depth to develop a greater understanding. Teacher or tutor guidance would make the task
and assimilation of knowledge much easier.

This work is copyrighted under the laws of Singapore. All rights are reserved. Enquiries
should be directed to general.paper.tutor@gmail.com.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Learning Inference ........................................................................................................ 2

The causes of the Cold War .......................................................................................... 4

The beginnings of the Cold War................................................................................... 5

The Vietnam War 1961-75 ........................................................................................... 7

The United Nations Organization - Success or Failure?............................................... 8

Palestine and the creation of Israel ............................................................................... 9

Russia under Lenin and the Bolsheviks ...................................................................... 11

The communist victory in China................................................................................. 13

The Cultural Revolution ............................................................................................. 15

The Crisis in Cyprus 1955-6 ....................................................................................... 17

Apartheid in South Africa........................................................................................... 19

Problems of world pollution ....................................................................................... 21

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Learning Inference
One of the most important skills students of General Paper need to learn is inference. Most
authors often tell the reader more than just directly what they write. They provide hints and clues
about the story that let the reader “read between the lines.” When one uses these clues to learn
more about the story, one is inferring. When one infers, one is going beyond the surface
information to discover meanings and ideas that the author has implied, rather than explicitly
stating them.

“Inference” is a conclusion or judgment that one makes.

The reader must choose a likely inference based on the facts she/he is given and knowledge
she/he has. Although they are related, inferring is often confused with making predictions.
Predictions made about outcomes, events, or actions are confirmed or contradicted by the end of
a story. Inferences, on the other hand, are more open-ended and may not be resolved at the
conclusion of a story. Readers will often use other aspects of a piece of writing to make
inferences. Emergent readers, for example, often use pictures to infer meaning in a story,
especially when they are unsure of the meaning of a word. Illustrations can greatly affect the
inferences a reader makes. Analyzing pictures and text together can help create insightful and
meaningful inferences.

Making inferences is
important to reading for
many reasons. One
reason is that inferring
helps readers to
comprehend words and
text that they are unsure
of. Secondly, making
inferences allows the
reader to get to the heart
of things—the deeper
meanings and value of
the writing. Through
inferences the reader
discovers what is
important, why it is
important, how events
and characters can
influence one another,
and how one incident
can lead to another.
Making inferences
allows the reader to
connect to the writing
and figure out how the text relates to them or what the text means to the reader personally. When
readers make an inference, it plants intrinsic motivation in them by involving them in the story
and relating them to the happenings and meaning behind the text.

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 The “ladder of inference” can help people to recognise the claims they make that they
believe to be true and expect others to accept. Working up from the bottom, the ladder of
inference proceeds as follows:

Pool of available information: This is all the information relevant to the situation.
The further people climb up the ladder, the more they are making an inference on
the basis of this information and the greater the potential for disagreement.

Select: People notice and select information from the pool. Different people will
select different information.

Describe: People name or describe what is happening.

Interpret and evaluate: People interpret and evaluate what they have noticed and
described in ways that reflect their prior assumptions.

Theorise: People weave together their interpretations and experiences into a

coherent theory of action that may or may not be true.

Conclude: On the basis of their theories, people draw conclusions about the
situation and what to do.

These conclusions inform people’s actions; they can also reinforce people’s
assumptions and values, which (as indicated by the downward arrows) have already
shaped the way those conclusions have been reached through the process of selection
and interpretation of evidence.

Guidelines for getting on the same ladder and climbing it together are as follows:

1. As soon as you recognise you are on a different ladder from others, do not
climb any more rungs.

2. Slow down and stop advocating your own position.

3. Use your inquiry skills to identify the lowest point on your ladder at which the
the situation is seen differently.

4. Inquire into the disagreement until you have correctly understood their point
of view.

5. Check that your point of view is the accepted norm.

6. If the difference remains, work out a way of checking out your differing
claims that is acceptable. When you have checked out and revised your
claims, climb the next rung of the ladder.

7. Continue the process and see what you now conclude

The following exercises will engage your inference gears and start the process for purposeful
writing. Effective writing comes from practice, so keep practicing.

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 The causes of the Cold War
Here are some extracts from the different western interpretations of the causes of the Cold War (Sources A-
C). Study them carefully and then answer the questions which follow.

Source A
George Kennan, American diplomat and historian, puts the conventional view in a telegram sent from the
US embassy in Moscow to Washington in 1946

Russian rulers have always feared direct contact between the western world and their own, feared what
would happen if Russians learned the truth about the outside world. They have learned to seek security only
in a deadly struggle for total destruction of any rival power ... Soviet leaders picture the outside world as
evil, hostile and menacing. This provides justification for the increase of Russian military power. This is
only the steady advance of Russian nationalism, a centuries-old movement. But in its new guise of
international communism, it is more dangerous than ever before. Source: G.F. Kennan, Memoirs 1950-63
(Bantam, New York, 1969)

Source B
William Appleman Williams puts the American revisionist view in 1962

The popular idea that soviet leaders emerged from the war ready to do aggressive battle against the USA is
simply not borne out by the evidence. American leaders had come to believe in the theory of the open-door
policy [to force their way into overseas markets in order to avoid a repetition of the depression of the
1930s]. It was the decision of the USA to use its new and awesome power in keeping with traditional open-
door policy that crystallised the Cold War. Their determination to apply this policy to eastern Europe
evolved at the same time as George Kennan’s theory, which was that continued outside pressure could and
would accelerate a collapse of the Soviet system. Most Americans agreed with Secretary of State James
Byrnes, who remarked in July 1945 that the problem was not to make the world safe for democracy, but to
make the world safe for the United States. It was simply assumed that the two things were the same. Source:
W.A. Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (Delta Books, New York, 1962)

Source C
British historian Martin McCauley puts the post-revisionist view in 1983

The Cold War was not inevitable: it became a reality because of the needs of both the Soviet Union and the
United States. The USSR placed security above all other considerations, and this was not sufficiently
appreciated in the United States. Washington never tried to see the problem from Moscow’s point of view.
Stalin had an acute awareness of Soviet economic weakness and American strength, and this led him to
adopt a safety-first policy. The longer Washington delayed allowing credits to Russia, the more suspicious
Moscow became that the Americans were not really interested in helping the Soviet Union. It forced
Moscow to decide between security and credits. American influence might replace that of the Soviets in
eastern Europe. It chose security, for its fear of hostile powers on its frontiers was greater than its desire for
rapid economic recovery aided by US technology. Source: M. McCauley, Origins of the Cold War
(Longman, 1983)

(a) Using the sources, make a list of the causes which have been suggested for the Cold War. Explain the
different types of cause and how they are connected; for example, long-term, short-term, political and
economic causes.

(b) How do these three interpretations of the causes of the Cold War differ?

(c) What explanations can you suggest for these differences?

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 The beginnings of the Cold War

Study Sources A-E and then answer the questions which follow.

Source A
March 1946 cartoon showing Winston Churchill trying to peer under Joseph Stalin's 'iron curtain'

Source B
A speech by Winston Churchill at Fulton, Missouri, March 1946

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the
continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe -
Warsaw, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia. All these lie in the Soviet
sphere and all are subject to a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow. Source:
quoted in M. Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill (Heinemann, 1986)

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Source C
A speech by President Truman of the USA in March 1947

One way of life is based upon the will of the majority with free institutions, elected government,
free elections, guarantees of individual liberty ...

The second way of life is based upon the will of the minority forced upon the majority. It relies
upon terror and repression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections ...

I believe that it must be the policy of the USA to support free peoples who are resisting the attempt
by armed minorities or by outside pressure to control them. Source: quoted in H.S. Truman,
Memoirs (Hodder & Stoughton, 1955)

Source D
The Russian view put forward at a conference held in Poland, September 1947

All communist parties must take the lead in resisting the plans of American imperialist expansion
and aggression in all spheres. The western camp has as its basic aim the establishment of the world
domination of American imperialism and the smashing of our democracy. Source: quoted in A.
Bullock, Hitler and Stalin (HarperCollins, 1991)

Source E
Comments from an American historian, Howard Zinn

Truman presented the USSR as not just a rival but as an immediate threat. He established a climate
of hysteria about Communism which would steeply escalate the military budget and stimulate the
economy with orders for war materials. This would permit more aggressive actions abroad.
Source: Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States (Longman, 1980)

(a) Does the cartoon in Source A give a good impression of the west's attitude towards Stalin and
his policies?

(b) In what ways does Source D seem to disagree with Sources B and C?

(c) Do you think Source E supports Source C or Source D? Explain your answer.

(d) How useful is Source E as evidence about the causes of the Cold War?

(e) Take Sources B, C and D in turn and explain:

(i) how reliable you think each source is;

(ii) how useful each one is for the historian trying to discover the causes of the Cold
War.

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 The Vietnam War 1961-75

Read Sources A and B and then answer the questions which follow.

Source A
Statement by General Harkins, Head of US Operations in South Vietnam, June 1963

The NLF (National Liberation Front) guerrillas are obviously not being reinforced or supplied
systematically from North Vietnam, China, or any other place. They depend primarily on what
they can capture.

Source B
Speech by President Johnson of the USA, April 1965

North Vietnam is helping the rebels and is being helped by China, a regime which has destroyed
freedom in Tibet and which is helping the forces of violence in nearly every continent. The contest
in Vietnam is part of a world-wide pattern of aggressive purpose. South Vietnam must remain non-
communist, otherwise all of South-East Asia will fall under communist dominance. Sources: both
are quoted in C. Bown and P.J. Mooney, Cold War to Detente,1945-83 (Heinemann, 1984)

(a) In what ways do these two sources contradict each other?

(b) What reasons can you suggest to explain why these sources, both by Americans, seem to
disagree?

(c) Using the information from the sources, explain the causes of the war in Vietnam. Show what
types of causes were involved, how they were connected, and which you think were the most
important.

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 The United Nations Organization - Success or Failure?

Study Sources A and B and then answer the questions which follow.

Source A
The UN is an improved League of Nations. However, things did not turn out as planned. The
power of veto still paralysed the UN. The five countries - USA, USSR, Britain, China and France -
have used the veto to stop any resolutions with which any one of them did not agree. Source: R.J.
and J. Owen, The United Nations and its Agencies (Pergamon Press, 1985)

Source B
British cartoon of 1945 comparing the United Nations with the League of Nations. The man in the
cartoon is president Truman of the USA

Source: Evening Standard.

(a) Does the cartoon (Source B) suggest that the United Nations Organisation was likely to be
more successful than the League of Nations? Explain your answer fully.

(b) Source A says that the UN ‘is an improved League of Nations’. How did the founders of the
UN try to make sure that it was different from the League?

(c) Source A tells us that ‘things did not turn out as planned’. Does this mean that the cartoonist in
Source B was wrong in his idea of what the UN would be like? Use information from this chapter
to help you with your answer.

(d) Source A mentions one weakness of the UN. What other weaknesses in the way the UN is run
have made its work more difficult? Give some examples. Which do you think is the most serious
of its weaknesses?

(e) During the 1960s, the membership of the UN increased. What consequences did this have for
the UN and its work?

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Palestine and the creation of Israel 1946-9
Study Sources A to F and then answer the questions which follow.

Source A
A statement to the House of Commons by Ernest Bevin, the British Foreign Minister, 25 February 1947

It has been the objective of the British government to lay the foundations for an independent Palestinian
state in which Arabs and Jews would enjoy equal rights. But for the Jews the essential point is the
creation of a Jewish state; for the Arabs the essential point is to resist a Jewish state. So what the UN
now has to decide is this:

(1) Shall the claims of the Jews be allowed that Palestine is to be a Jewish state?
(2) Shall the claims of the Arabs be allowed that it is to be an Arab state with safeguards for the Jews?
(3) Shall it be a Palestinian state in which the interests of both communities are as carefully balanced
and protected as possible?

Source B
Telegram from President Truman of the USA to Clement Attlee, the British Prime Minister, 4 October
1946

I cannot give my support to your Morrison Plan for provincial self-government in Palestine. I believe the
best solution is the creation of a viable Jewish state. I urge that steps be taken at the earliest possible
moment to admit 100 000 Jewish refugees to Palestine.

Source C
A statement from the Arab Higher Council in Jerusalem, 5 October 1946
Increasing American interests in all Arab and Muslim countries will be jeopardised by the President’s
ill-considered statements on Jewish immigration and a Jewish state in Palestine. His real motive is his
need of Jewish votes in the USA. The Arabs of Palestine and their neighbours are resolved to oppose
President Truman’s hostile policy by all means at their disposal.

Source D

Palestine during the period 1946-9

Source: D. Heater, Our World This Century
(Oxford, 1987)
.

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Source E
Announcement by Faris el-Khoury Bey, leader of the Syrian delegation to the Conference on Palestine,
4 February 1947

Speaking on behalf of all the Arab states and the Arabs of Palestine, I have to tell you that we can enter
no discussions involving any scheme for the partitioning of Palestine or providing for the setting up in
that country of a Jewish state. Sources A, B, C and E are all taken from Keesing’s Contemporary
Archives for 1946 and 1947

Source F
The view of two British historians
Bevin had done his best, in his opinion, to sort the situation out, and if his efforts had ended in failure,
the fault was certainly not his and the British government’s. The only policy left to Britain was to get
out. He expected the Arabs to win the war which everyone knew was close, but his main concern was
that Britain should not become involved. Source: A. Sked and C. Cook, Post-War Britain (Penguin,
1979)

(a) In Source A, Bevin gives three possible alternatives which the UN could choose for the future of
Palestine. From the evidence in the source, which alternative do you think Bevin and the British
government wanted? Explain your answer.

(b) Source B shows that Truman wanted a Jewish state in Palestine. Do Sources C and E prove that he
was wrong to want a Jewish state?

(c) ‘Sources A, B, C and E were all written during the crisis over the future of Palestine; therefore
they are all very reliable and useful as evidence’. Explain whether you agree or disagree with this
statement.

(d) Source D tells us that ‘Bevin expected the Arabs to win the war’. Does Source D (the map) show
that Bevin was right in his expectations?

(e) Source F says that Bevin thought that it was not his fault or the fault of the British government if
he had failed to sort out the problems of Palestine. Does the evidence of the other Sources support
Bevin’s claim or not?

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Russia under Lenin and the Bolsheviks

Study Sources A to G and then answer the questions which follow.

Source A
From Lenin's instructions for Harvesting Grain and for Grain Requisitioning Detachments (War
Communism), August 1918

1. All Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies, all committees of the poor and trade unions are
to form detachments.

2. The tasks of the detachments are:

(a) Harvest winter grain in former landlord-owned estates.

(b) Harvest grain in front line areas.

(c) Harvest grain on the land of kulaks or rich people.

(d) Help in harvest everywhere.

3. Grain for the poor must be stored locally, the rest must be sent to grain collection centres.

4. Every food requisition detachment is to consist of not fewer than 75 men and two or three machine
guns.

Source B
From an article by Lenin in The Red Sword, a weekly magazine of the Cheka (secret police), 1919

For us there do not, and cannot, exist the old systems of morality and 'humanity' invented by the
bourgeoisie for the purpose of exploiting and oppressing the 'lower classes'. Our morality is new,
for it rests on the bright idea of destroying all oppression and coercion. To us, everything is
permitted, for we are the first in the world to raise the sword in the name of freeing everybody
from bondage. Blood? Let there be blood if it alone will save us from the return of the old jackals.

Source C
Reports from British refugees on conditions in Russia, October 1918

These people are unanimous in describing conditions as unbearable, owing to the rule of the
Bolsheviks, as well as to the appalling economic conditions brought about by Lenin's regime.

The Russian nation is groaning under the tyranny of the Bolsheviks. Workers and peasants are
compelled to work under threat of death. Since only the Red Guards have weapons, a rising of the
people is not possible.

Famine is widespread. The peasants refuse to sell food but will only barter it. Unless people have
about 1000 roubles (£100) a month, they have to starve. It is possible to buy food from the Red
Guards who are well fed. Lenin and his colleagues are living in luxury.

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Source D
From the decree introducing Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP), March 1921

In order to ensure an efficient and untroubled economic life on the basis of a freer use by the farmer of the
products of his labour, in order to strengthen the peasant economy and raise its productivity, requisitioning
as a means of state collection of food supplies and raw material, is to be replaced by a tax in kind. It will be
in the form of a percentage or partial deduction from the products raised by the peasant. All the reserves of
food, raw material and fodder which remain with the peasants after the tax has been paid may be used by
them as they wish - for improving their holdings, for increasing personal consumption and for exchange for
products of factory and hand-industry. Source: quoted in W.H. Chamberlin, The Russian Revolution 1917-
1921 (Macmillan, 1935)

Source E
Maxim Gorky, Russian writer and friend of Lenin, writing about Lenin soon after his death

I have never met anyone in Russia, nor do I know of anyone, who hated, loathed and despised all
unhappiness, grief and suffering as Lenin did. [Lenin had once said to him] 'our ideal is not to use force
against anyone'.

Source F
Statements made by Lenin

(i) November 1917, a few days after the revolution

We do not use the sort of terror as was used by the French revolutionaries who guillotined unarmed people,
and I hope we shall not have to use it. When we have made arrests we have said 'We will let you go if you
sign a piece of paper promising not to commit acts of sabotage'. And such signatures are given.

(ii) April 1918

There will be no famine in Russia if stocks are controlled, and any breach of the rules laid down is followed
by the harshest punishment - the arrest and shooting of takers of bribes and swindlers.

(iii) November 1918

Is it possible to act humanely in a struggle of such unprecedented ferocity? We are being blockaded by
Europe, we are deprived of the help of the European proletariat, counter-revolution is creeping like a bear
on us from every side. Are we not to fight? Ought we not to struggle and resist ... There is only one way to
free the masses and that is to crush the exploiters. This is the task of the Cheka, and for this it deserves the
gratitude of the proletariat.

(a) Using the sources, explain the reasons why the Russian economy was in such a poor state in
1921 compared with 1913.

(b) Using Sources A, C and D, make a list of the differences that you can find between war
communism and the New Economic Policy (NEP). Why were some people not happy about NEP?

(c) What similarities and contradictions can you find in the various statements by Lenin in Sources
B, F and G? What reasons can you suggest for what seem to be contradictions in Lenin's ideas?

(e) What uses and limitations do Sources C, E and F have for the historian?

(f) A.J.P. Taylor wrote that Lenin was 'a very great man and even, despite his faults, a very good
man'. How far does the evidence of the sources support this verdict on Lenin?

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 The communist victory in China

Study Sources A to E and then answer the questions which follow.

Source A

Extracts from the writings of Edgar Snow, an American journalist who lived in China for many
years from 1928 onwards. He got to know all the leading figures during this period, and his book
Red Star Over China, describing his experiences, was published in 1937

I had to admit that most of the peasants to whom I talked seemed to support the communists and
the Red Army. Many of them were very free with their criticisms and complaints, but when asked
whether they preferred it to the old days, the answer was nearly always an emphatic yes. I noticed
also that most of them talked about the soviets as 'our government'. To understand peasant support
for the communist movement, it is necessary to keep in mind the burden borne by the peasantry
under the former regime [the Kuomintang]. Now, wherever the Reds went, there was no doubt that
they radically changed the situation for the tenant farmer, the poor farmer, and all the 'have-not'
elements. All forms of taxation were abolished in the new districts for the first year, to give the
farmers a breathing-space. Second, the Reds gave land to the land-hungry peasants, and began a
reclamation of great areas of 'wasteland' - mostly the land of absentee or fleeing landlords. Thirdly,
they took land and livestock from the wealthy classes and redistributed them among the poor ...
However, both the landlord and the rich peasant were allowed as much land as they could till with
their own labour.

Source B

The eight rules of the Red Army (1928), quoted by Edgar Snow

1. Return and roll up the straw matting on which you sleep.

2. Be courteous and polite to the people and help them when you can.

3. Return all borrowed articles.

4. Replace all damaged articles.

5. Be honest in all transactions with the peasants.

6. Pay for all articles purchased.

7. Don't take liberties with women.

8. Be sanitary, and, especially, establish latrines a safe distance from people's houses.

Edgar Snow adds: These eight points were enforced with better and better success, and today
[1937] are still the code of the Red Soldier, memorised and frequently repeated by him.

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Source C
Statement by a Red general, Peng Dehuai, in 1936

I remember the winter of 1928 when my forces in Hunan were encircled. The KMT troops burned down all
the houses in the surrounding area, seized all the food there and then blockaded us. We had no cloth, we
used bark to make short tunics, we had no quarters, no lights, no salt. We were sick and half-starved. The
peasants were no better off, and we would not touch what little they had. But the peasants encouraged us.
They dug up from the ground the grain which they had hidden from the KMT troops and gave it to us, and
they ate potatoes and wild roots. Even before we arrived they had fought the landlords and tax-collectors, so
they welcomed us. Many joined us, and nearly all helped us in some way. They wanted us to win. Tactics
are important, but we could not exist if the majority of the people did not support us. We are nothing but the
fist of the people beating their oppressors. Sources: Sources A, B and C are from Edgar Snow, Red Star
Over China (Penguin, 1938 edition)

Source D
Report by an American official to the US State Department, November 1944

Relying on his dispirited troops, on his decadent and corrupt bureaucracy, and whatever nervous foreign
support he can muster, Chiang Kai-shek may plunge China into civil war. He cannot succeed. The
Communists are already too strong for him. Chiang's feudal China cannot long exist alongside a dynamic
popular government in North China. The Communists are in China to stay. And China's destiny is not
Chiang's but theirs.

Source E
Extracts from a speech by John F Kennedy to Congress on the Communist capture of Peking
(Beijing), January 1949

Over this weekend we have learned the extent of the disaster that has befallen China and the United States.
The responsibility for the failure of our foreign policy in the Far East rests squarely with the White House ...
So concerned were our diplomats and their advisers with the imperfection of the democratic system in
China after 20 years of war and the tales of corruption in high places, that they lost sight of our tremendous
stake in a non-Communist China. This house must now take up the responsibility of preventing the
onrushing tide of Communism from engulfing all of Asia. Sources: Sources D and E are quoted in Howard
Zinn, A People's History of the United States (Longman, 1980)

(a) According to Source A, how did things change in the areas controlled by the communists?
Were these changes thought to be progress or not?

(b) Sources A, D and E were all written by Americans.

(i) What similarities and differences can you find in the attitudes of these three Americans towards
the Chinese communists?

(ii) What reasons can you suggest to explain the differences of opinion among the three
Americans?

(c) What are the strengths and weaknesses of these five sources for the historian?

(d) Using the evidence from the sources, make a list of reasons for the communist victory in China,
placing what you-think are the most important reasons at the top.

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 The Cultural Revolution

Study Sources A to E and then answer the questions which follow.

Source A
The view of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party about the Cultural Revolution

Although the bourgeoisie has been overthrown, it is still trying to use the old ideas, culture,
customs and habits of the exploiting class to corrupt the masses, capture their minds and endeavour
to stage a come-back. The Proletariat must be the exact opposite: it must meet head-on every
challenge of the bourgeoisie in the ideological field and use new ideas, culture, customs and habits
of the proletariat to change the mental outlook of the whole of society. Since the Cultural
Revolution is a revolution, it inevitably meets with resistance. This resistance comes chiefly from
those in authority who have wormed their way into the Party and are taking the Capitalist road. It
also comes from the force of habits from the old society. What the Central Committee demands of
the Party Committee at all levels is to boldly arouse the masses, encourage these comrades who
have made mistakes but are willing to correct them, to cast off their burdens and join in the
struggle. A most important task is to transform the old education system.

Source B
The experiences of a young girl, Jung Chang, who was a teenager during the Cultural Revolution

When Lin Biao called for everything that represented the old culture to be destroyed, some pupils
in my school started to smash things up. Being more than 2000 years old, the school had a lot of
antiques ... the school gateway had an old tiled roof with carved eaves. These were hammered to
pieces ... All the things I loved were disappearing. The saddest thing of all for me was the
ransacking of the library ... Books were major targets of Mao's order to destroy ... books were
burning all across China ... Like everyone else, I was supposed to join in the 'revolutionary
actions'. But I, like most pupils, was able to avoid them, because no-one made sure we took part. I
could see that many pupils hated the whole thing, but nobody tried to stop it... 'denunciation
meetings' were becoming a major feature of the Cultural Revolution. They involved a hysterical
crowd and were seldom without physical brutality. Peking University had taken the lead, under the
personal supervision of Mao. At its first denunciation meeting over 60 professors were beaten,
kicked and forced to kneel for hours. Source: Jung Chang, Wild Swans (HarperCollins, 1991)

Source C
Chinese embassy statement following the news of the death of Lin Biao in an air crash in 1971

Lin Biao repeatedly committed errors; and Mao Zedong had waged many struggles against him.
Sometimes Lin Biao was obliged to quell his arrogance and then was able to accomplish some
useful work. But he was not able to give up his underhand nature and during the Cultural
Revolution he appeared to support the thought of Mao Zedong. He was thus able to hoodwink the
masses to become in their eyes the successor to Mao Zedong. But he was a double-faced man who
was in reality opposed to the revolutionary line of Mao Zedong. He undertook antiparty activities
in a planned way with the aim of taking over power. Mao Zedong unmasked his plot and made
efforts to recover him but Lin Biao attempted a coup d'etat and tried to assassinate Mao Zedong.
Source: quoted in China Now, March 1973.

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Source D
Comments by a British reporter based in Singapore

The power game in China is being played out between not only the moderates and the Maoists, the
army and the leftists, but also between Peking [Beijing] and the provinces.

And the military commander is very much master of the provinces. In almost all the provincial
revolutionary committees that now run China, the soldiers take the decisions.

Broadly speaking it can be said that seven military regions out of eleven are in the hands of men
who disapproved of the Cultural Revolution and distrusted Mao's impatience for a classless
Communist Utopia. Source: Dennis Bloodworth, Observer Foreign News Service, November 1971

(a) From the evidence of Sources A and B, what changes took place in China during the Cultural
Revolution?

(b) (i) What different attitudes towards the Cultural Revolution can you find in Sources A and B?

(b) (ii) What reasons can you suggest for these different attitudes?

(c) (i) From the evidence of Sources C and D, what part did Lin Biao play in the Cultural
Revolution?

(c ) (ii) What problems does the historian come across when investigating the role of Lin Biao in
the Cultural Revolution?

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 The Crisis in Cyprus 1955-6
The crisis in Cyprus was difficult for the British government to deal with. It was also a complex
one for historians to interpret, as the following sources show. Study Sources A to I carefully and
then answer the questions which follow.

Source A
Dr Kutchuk, leader of the Turkish community in Cyprus statement to the press on 6 August, 1955

A handful of ambitious adventurers using Hitlerite methods of propaganda have concocted a so-
called 'Cyprus question'. Unless Greek ambitions are stopped, they could bring about a Third
World War. Cyprus was never Greek: historically it is Turkish, and geographically it is part of
Turkey. Britain has neither the legal nor moral right to hand over Cyprus to any other nation
except Turkey, should she decide to leave the island. The terrorist activities in Cyprus are carried
out by a handful of people egged on by Greece. It is the duty of Britain to stamp out this terrorism.

Source B
Statement by the Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Adnam Menderes, in Istanbul, 24 August, 1955

If a change occurs in the status of the island, it should revert to Turkey. [It had been given to
Britain by Turkey in 1878.] The pressure exerted by the irresponsible people in the Greek
government has been going on for months, but there are limits. We cannot understand how a
government can treat a provincial cleric [Archbishop Makarios] like an independent state and bow
to his wishes.

Source C
Statement by the British government, 9 March 1956

He [Makarios] has remained silent while policemen and soldiers have been murdered in cold
blood, while women and children have been maimed by bombs. He has referred in sermons to
convicted terrorists as patriots, and he has urged his fellow-countrymen to take the law into their
own hands. This has been accepted as not merely condoning, but approving assassination and
bomb-throwing.

Source D
News report in Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 17 March 1956

On the orders of Sir John Harding [Governor of Cyprus], Archbishop Makarios and three other
leaders of the enosis movement were arrested on March 9th and deported on the same day to the
Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. This was regarded by the Turkish press and by Turkish public
opinion generally as fully justified in view of the Archbishop's proved involvement in terrorist
activities. Articles welcoming the British government's action and expressing full support for it
were published in nearly all Turkish newspapers.

Source E
Lord Hailsham, a Conservative peer, speaking in the House of Lords, 14 March 1956

Our duty to world peace is to remain in Cyprus at the present moment. Are we for that to be
accused of being oppressors and tyrants and to have our soldiers and policemen murdered?

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Source F
Statement on the radio by King Paul of Greece, 20 December 1954

Our Cypriot brethren demand their freedom through the right of self-determination for which two
great wars have been fought. Greece, faced with the British refusal to discuss the case directly, was
bound to bring the issue before the UN. As long as the Cypriots proclaim their indomitable will to
decide their own destiny, no power on earth can prevent the natural evolution of that desire.

Source G
Statement by Sir Paul Pavlides, 19 September 1955

Sir Paul Pavlides, a prominent merchant of Limassol, said that he had resigned from the Cyprus
executive council in view of Britain's failure to recognize the rights of the Cypriot people to
determine their future.

Source H
Speech by Aneurin Bevan, a Labour MP, in the House of Commons, 14 March 1956

It is hard to discover whether the government wants Cyprus as a base, or whether they want a base
in Cyprus. If the former is the case, then the discussions with Archbishop Makarios have been
dishonest from the beginning. I can see no real conflict between Britain's strategic interests and the
Cypriot desire for self-government. There is no justification for the Archbishop's deportation; it is
essential to remember that persons whom we look on here as terrorists are looked on by their
fellow nationals as patriots. Why does the Tory party keep deceiving itself? It is no use refusing to
negotiate because they have been associated with violence - it is absurd when we consider the
history of Ireland, Gold Coast and India.

Source I
Speech by Dr Bell, Bishop of Chichester, and a member of the World Council of Churches, in the
House of Lords, 14 March 1956

I believe that the Archbishop's deportation is a blunder which strikes a blow at British prestige and
reduces Britain's capacity for world leadership. The British government has offered Cyprus neither
self-government nor self-determination, but a limited form of self-government with large areas
reserved to British rule. There is no democratic constitution and it is artificial, no solution at all.

Sources: All these sources are taken from Keesing's Contemporary Archives for 1956

(a) Show how a historian could present two completely different interpretations of the crisis in
Cyprus, depending on which of the nine sources he chose.

(b) Explain how such widely differing sources could have been written. Comment on each source.

(c) Comment on the reliability and value of each source

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Apartheid in South Africa
These sources are about some of the things that happened in South Africa during the time
apartheid was in operation. Sources B, C and D are about the demonstration at Sharpeville in 1960,
when police opened fire on the crowd. Study the sources carefully and then answer the questions
which follow.

Source A
An eye-witness account by Trevor Huddleston, a white British missionary, of what happened when
the black township of Sophiatown, where he had been working, was removed - February 1955

On the broad belt of grass between the European suburb of Westdene (in Johannesburg) and
Sophiatown, a whole fleet of army lorries was drawn up: a grim sight against the grey, watery sky.
Lining the whole street were thousands of police, both white and black, the former armed with
both rifles and revolvers, the latter with clubs. A few Sten guns were in position at various points.
Military lorries were drawn up, already piled high with the pathetic possessions which had come
from the row of rooms in the background. The first lorries began to move off to Meadowlands
eight miles to the west. Source: Trevor Huddleston, Naught for your Comfort (Collins, 1956);
quoted in Trevor Huddleston, Return to Africa (HarperCollins, 1991)

Source B
The police report of what happened at Sharpeville

The crowd at Sharpeville police station was between 15 000 and 20 000. In view of the
provocative attitude of the crowd who were armed with sticks, stones and pieces of iron, it was
feared that they would burst through the fence. Stones were thrown and two shots were fired from
the crowd. The police opened fire; the officers emphasised that they had been with their backs to
the wall facing a frenzied mob of 20 000 natives. If they had not fired they would have been
overwhelmed.

Source C
Evidence taken from 100 wounded Africans in hospital; they all agreed that ...

There were not more than 5000 Africans present; they were not carrying sticks or other arms and
they had no violent intentions. The leader of the crowd said in English several times: 'We have
come here to talk, not to fight'. He was arrested by police. Then without giving any warning or
order to disperse, the white police opened fire.

Source D
Report from a senior Johannesburg surgeon

The post-mortem examinations which I made on 52 of the Africans showed that 70 per cent of the
bullets had entered from the back.

Sources: Sources B, C and D are taken from Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 1960

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Source E
Speech by Nelson Mandela in 1964 during his trial for sabotage

We of the ANC had always stood for a non-racial democracy, and we shrank from any policy
which might drive the races further apart. But the hard facts were that 50 years of non-violence had
brought the African people nothing but more and more repressive laws, and fewer and fewer
rights. It would be unrealistic and wrong for African leaders to continue preaching non-violence at
a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force. Source: quoted in L.
Thompson, A History of South Africa (Yale University Press, 1990)

(a) From the evidence of Source A, why were the Africans being moved from Sophiatown?

(b) What differences can you find in the two accounts of the Sharpeville shootings given in
Sources B and C?

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM

 Problems of world pollution
Study Sources A and Band then answer the questions which follow.

Source A
Description of some of the pollution in East Germany in March 1990

An environmentalist stood in an open field and pointed to an evil green liquid bubbling up in the
middle of a brackish pool of water. It was the chemical outflow from a fertilizer plant which had
sprung a leak and was poisoning the entire area. In the Harz Mountains the trees had been so
damaged by acid rain and other forms of pollution that the bird population had fallen drastically.
The field-mice who were the natural prey of hawks, owls and eagles were living and breeding
almost without hindrance. Now they were beginning to constitute a plague of biblical proportions.
A gynaecologist explained why she had been unable to set up in private practice ... the water
supply in the town contained so much nitrate that it wasn't safe to treat patients there. The area
around the town of Bitterfeld is perhaps the dirtiest in Europe ... Five employees of the pesticide
factory have died of cancer within four years. Carbon disulphide escaping from the machinery in a
plant that spins cellulose fibres has been measured at concentrations 90 times the danger limit. It
can cause brain damage. Farmers outside Bitterfeld find it difficult to get their animals to breed.
Children in the town are more than twice as likely as children elsewhere to contract respiratory
diseases. Their bone growth is retarded. Source: John Simpson, Despatches from the Barricades
(Hutchinson, 1990)

Source B
Some information about nuclear power

There were doubts about the safety of nuclear power stations. High levels of leukaemia were found
around plants such as Sellafield in England, and there were reports about leaks of radioactivity into
the sea. The disposal of nuclear waste was also a problem. The Swedes held a referendum in 1980
which decided to phase out nuclear power by 2005. But other countries pressed on enthusiastically
- Belgium in 1984 produced more than half its energy from nuclear fuel. Other countries carried
out experiments with wind, solar and wave power. Source: Jack B. Watson, Success in World
History Since 1945 (John Murray, 1989)

(a) According to the sources, what are the main dangers threatening the world from pollution?

(b) Source B says that 'other countries pressed on enthusiastically' with nuclear power. Do you
think this means that the writer of Source B was wrong to be concerned about the dangers of
nuclear power?

(c) Since the 1970s, scientists have been aware of the damage being done to the world by
pollution. Why therefore do you think so little has been done to control the damage?

© Jit Sharma 2007 THEGPTUTOR.COM