Causes for the failure of the Great Leap Forward

Question 1

How did following the methods of Lynsenko contribute to the failure of the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 1

• Lysenko’s theories were wholly fraudulent
• He had manipulated his research in order to gain political influence in the Soviet Union and encouraged the purging of any scientist that disagreed with them.
• The slavish adherence to his theories, combined with the massive waste of time and labour led to a drop in agricultural production.
• The cadres refused to report this failure and claimed that they had exceeded their production quotas.

Question 2

How did Mao’s overambitious methods at approaching the plan contribute to the failure of the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 2

• Mao was expecting too much too soon. Peasants could not be producing, supervising backyard furnaces and working on other projects.
• It was not possible to allocate manpower efficiently enough to increase food production levels.
• Mao was suddenly expecting peasants who had always been substance farmers to suddenly produce a surplus.
• However, the transport and communication systems were too poorly developed to move food to where it was needed.

Question 3

How did The Anti-Rightist Campaign 1957 contribute to the failure of the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 3

• When Mao rounded up all his critics and branded them as ‘rightists’, he had managed to purge highly skilled intellectuals who could have could have analysed production figures more accurately
• Mao’s administration was full of uneducated peasants who knew nothing of nationwide organisation knowledge in the key sectors.
• Many bourgeois intellectuals who had been specially educated in key sectors like the legal and economical sectors had been purged in the campaign.
• The climate of fear caused by this also made it impossible for any criticism or opposition to Mao’s ideas.

Question 4

How did Decline in Sino-Soviet relations contribute to the failure of the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 4

• After the Korean War ended, China became isolated from the rest of the world who did not seek out trading relations with their opponent.
• This made China entirely reliant on the USSR for trading,loans and experts.
• However, relations began souring when Mao ignored the worries and criticisms of the Communes.
• In the summertime of 1960, Nikita Khruschev ordered every advisor back - numbers drastically dropping from 1400 to 0 by september.

Question 5

How did Natural Disasters in China relations contribute to the failure of the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 5

• Typhoons caused flooding in South China, while drought reduced the flow of the Yellow River by two-thirds.
• Eight of the twelve main rivers in Shandong dried up. More than 60% of cultivated land was affected by either flood or drought and 2 million died through drowning or by starvation when their crops were destroyed.

Question 6

How did the Greed and apathy of other party leaders contribute to the failure of the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 6

• As the people of Henan starved, the local Party leader built seven luxurious villas for high-ranking officials.
• In Sichuan, the population fell by 6 million between 1957 and 1961. The local party secretary, an enthusiastic supporter of Mao, was dismissive.
• Local officials concealed the ture plight of the peasantry. As a result, aid that could have helped the famine-stricken areas were not sent.

Question 7

How did the exit of Soviet advisors contribute to the failure of the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 7

The Soviet support was extensive and essential. It included:
- Industrial experts to supply the technical knowledge and experience of organising a centrally planned economy that the Chinese lacked; 11,000 Soviet and Eastern European industrial experts were sent to China, helping to design the plants, construct them and train the workers.
- Inviting 28,000 Chinese technicians to study in Russia, ir order to learn from ‘elder brother’
- A loan of $300 million US dollars over the next few years.