How far were Maos agricultural policies responsible for the scale of the great famine between 1958-62?
by
notnimdab (student)
Rebecca Badminton
How far were Mao’s agricultural policies responsible for the scale of the great famine between 1958-62
From 1958-62 the PRC experienced the greatest famine in the 20th century, with an estimated 45 million dying of starvation. The famine especially hit rural area’s as there lives were dependent on agriculture, and the ones who suffered from unattainable targets. Tibet also suffered with a 1/4 of the population dying as a direct result of the famine. This essay will discuss why their was a famine on such a devastating scale , who is responsible and what factors made the famine so sever. The famine was due to a combination of factors, Mao’s agricultural policies completely changed the way in which chinese people farmed. Under the PRC peasants were collectivized, land which had been seized from the landlords were joined together and large communes were created. In these communes Mao forced peasants to adopt farming methods such a lysenkoism, sparrow-cide and gave communes unachievable targets. The famine was also impacted by the inefficiency of the local government, with government officials simply looking after themselves with no thought for the people at large, setting unattainable targets for personal gain. Mao himself refused to accept or acknowledge failure which subsequently led the the scale of the famine becoming so large as by refusing to acknowledge the disaster was, as a result of his policies. There was also suppression from criticism by the Communist Party as Mao had told peasant that to talk of famine was treason against him and the communist party. Although Party members had doubts they dropped serious opposition with the hundred flower campaign fresh in the minds of many party officials.
The Great Leap Forward of 1958-62 was a term used to describe Mao’s second five-year plan. Mao believed that in this second year plan he could revolutionize agriculture to build PRC a forward economy. Collectivization was the land policy adopted by Mao to complement his industrialization plans. Mao believed that peasants were producing more food than that was being seen to urban workers and therefore collectivization was adopted to bring peasants under strict central control. The land that had been seized by peasant from landlord during the struggle was collected together and large communes were formed pooling resources together. The whole system was under the direct control of the central government therefore farming methods, sale and distribution of produce and setting of prices were dictated from government, bringing an end to private farming. This policy was disastrous for the peasants as the term ‘iron rice bowl’ became common in describing the no incentive for working, therefore leading to a decrease in crop standards and amount. Other agricultural policies such as Lysenkoism were implemented , this was a theory of producing super-crops, however later was realized these idea’s were worthless and fraudulent as farming was dictated by government peasants were under strict control to use these methods although they didn’t work, allowing for a decrease in efficiency of farming. The whole chinese population were also told to kill all sparrows and wild birds who were eating crops, the outcome was catastrophic as small creatures ate all the crops and multiplied, however due to suppression of criticism by the PRC no one dared to criticize. These agricultural policies in an attempt to revolutionize agriculture had set it two sets back , however nothing was done as suppression of any criticism mean’t nothing was done to implement change. There was also conspiracy of silence about the true situation in china, social advances were on a decline with the position of women, slave trade and even cases of cannibalism.
