The beginnings of Mao’s leadership lent great promise but his actions after the revolution in regards to the “Great Leap Forwards” resulted in seeing millions of his countrymen die, than a change for the better. During Chairman Mao’s Great Leap Forward campaign, it seemed to be his genuine intention to bring China into a new age and “walk on two legs”, as he like to refer to it. The analogy was the understanding that one leg cannot propel a man forward, and it takes two entities working together for the need of the body as a whole. Mao simultaneously wanted to boost farm production and modernize industry like others had done. However, his hasty idea of turning farmers into an industrial working class of people to advance China was an utter disaster. In historian, Frank Dikötter’s work, “Mao’s Great Famine: The History of China’s most devastating catastrophe, 1958-62” we learn in detail about the effects of Mao’s Great Leap Forward campaign. We read in part,
Signs of famine had appeared in 1958. In the first half of 1959 starvation became widespread, as villagers were hit by increased procurements ordered by the state. Evan a zealot like Tan Zhenlin estimated that as early as January some 5 million people were suffering from famine oedema, 750,000 having starved to death. Zhou Enlai put the letter figure at 120,000. Both men were far below the mark, but had little incentive to investigate further. Mao was aware of the famine but downplayed it by circulating reports showing that villages in distressed regions were getting enough food, up to half a kilo per day in model province Henan. On the ground, local cadres were unsure how to respond, bewildered by the shifting and contradictory signals emerging from Beijing. At the top of the leadership was taken aback by Mao’s outburst in Shanghai; it was an omen of things to come (Dikötter, P. 89).
It has been stated that when Mao died after his 30-year reign, his only legacy was the political and economic devastation of China. In my research I will attempt to explain why the policies of Mao propelled China into a regressed state rather than a progressive one. I will explain why Mao’s policies failed along with comparing them, to a lesser degree, to his successful field campaigns before his role as Chairman.
Sources on Mao Tse Tung:
Brown, Zora Anderson (1977). The Russification of Wang Ming: a study of the comintern career of Chen Shao-Yu, 1925-1937. Mississippi State University Press.
Van De Ven, Hans J (1996). "Mao Tse-tung." The Reader's Companion to Military History. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. P. 282
Jebson, Hugh (2010). "Was Mao a ruthless dictator?" Hindsight Sept. 2010: 5+. General OneFile. Web. 3 Apr. 2012.
"China: World's Biggest Auto Producer, Consumer." (12 Jan 2010). China Daily. available at
Terrill, Ross (1 Apr 2012). "Mao's battle with freedom." Quadrant Oct. 2006
Schwartz, Benjamin Isadore (1951). Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao. Harvard University Press.
Short, Phillip. (2001) “Mao: A life” McMillian Publishers. p. 19
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johntyler (student)
