- ‘The energy of the masses’.
How did Mao and the CCP mobilize the masses during the Great Leap Forward?
By using communes, Mao mobilized the masses of Chinese by bringing them into the mind-frame of helping in any way they could.
Why did Mao put so much emphasis on the masses?
Mao understood that the masses gave him power because when the other leaders wanted his resignation, the masses supported him, so he stayed in power.
What evidence is there that the masses were mobilized successfully?
Because they helped to increase production and experts, they were a great asset to the Chinese industry.
- Backyard Steel Furnaces.
What were these?
Small furnaces at the back of communes, which encouraged villagers to melt iron and steel for industrial production. It was a big mistake where the state party forced peasants to work too far away from away from their crops.
What was their purpose?
To encourage villagers to melt iron and steel for the industry.
What evidence is there that they were a success?
65% more than a total for 1957 was produced. (11 million tonnes)
What evidence is there that they were not?
Yes, the steel was impure and of poor quality, so it cracked easily.
Which argument is the more persuasive?
That the steel was impure and cracked easily.
- ‘Chaos on a grand scale’.
How did the ‘backyard steel furnace campaign’ affect agricultural production?
3/11 million tonnes of steel were too impure. 1/10 of villagers made steel, not enough farmers. Too much steel was made.
What other policies of the Great Leap Forward damaged agricultural production and future supply of food?
No peasants on farms, party officials igored this fact and falsely claimed more than the peasants produced for the state and
What else damaged agriculture during these years?
Droughts, floods, saturation and famine. (Three Bitter Years)
What was the result of this for the people?
9 million deaths in 1960
20 million deaths from 1959-62 from starvation.
- Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.
Why did the Great Leap Forward lead to Mao giving up power to Liu and Deng?
Some party leaders blamed Mao for the ‘three bitter years’ and demanded his resignation. Mao was too popular among the masses of Chinese so the party leaders persuaded him to hand over the post of Head of State to Liu Shaoqi but remained as the CCP leader.
What policies did Liu and Deng pursue?
They introduced more realistic economic policies and abandoned the Great Leap Forward, communes were reduced in size to make them m0re manageable and town workers wages were increased.
How do you think Mao might have reacted to these developments?
Which of the following was a key feature of the Great Leap Forward and which were reasons for failure? Write feature or failure in the right hand column?
Exam Practice!
Answer this question:
‘What were the key features of the Great Leap Forward?’ (7 marks)
In 1958 Mao Zedong announced the Great Leap Forward. This was to be the Second Five Year Plan and it was intended to continue the modernisation of Chinese industry, which had begun during the First Five Year Plan. Mao wanted to mobilise the whole Chinese population in an attempt to catch up the economies of the West.
From a speech by Mao at the Supreme State Conference in January 1958.
“Now our enthusiasm has been aroused. Our nation will be able to do things which we could not do before. Now that we have this great energy we shall catch up with Britain in fifteen years; we shall produce 40,000,000 tons of steel annually - now we produce just over 5,000,000 - we must summon up our strength and swim vigorously upstream.”
A Soviet scientist, who was working in China during the Great Leap Forward, describes what he saw; this book was published in 1964.
“The peasants were not in the fields during the spring planting season. They were carrying out the orders of the Party, working day and night at the mines and home-made blast furnaces to fulfil the “Drive to Produce Metals Locally”. And we all know the results: they did not obtain any more iron than before, and there was much less bread and rice to go round.
According to the official figure, 4,000,000 tons of iron were processed in 1957, but of this amount hardly more than 1% was usable, the remaining 99% being slag, unwashed ore, or, even more often, a pure invention of the government.”
A factory worker describes events in China in 1958.
“We were told that China would get rich quick if everyone concentrated on iron and steel. So we dropped everything else and built brick chimneys in the factory yards. Radiators, pots and pans went into ovens and peasants poured in from the countryside to help.”
