Liu Shaogi, Deng Xlaoping and economic reform, 1962-65 (the Third Five-Year Plan) Flashcards
The retreat from the Great Leap Forward, which had begun in late 1960, speeded up in 1962, when
Liu and Deng were put in charge, what did they do
As well as allowing the communes to be broke up, they also closed down thousands of inefficient projects that had been set up in the Great Leap and announced
more realistic coal and steel targets.
To help with this,
there was a relaxation of the persecution of
scientists and intellectuals, previously attacked as ‘rightists, but whose contribution was now regarded
as desirable.
Much of this more pragmatic approach to economic planning came from
Chen Yun, who was mainly
responsible for drawing up the Third Five-Year Plan in 1962.
The third plan marked a decisive shift back to
centralised control, with production targets being
reviewed annually and made more realistic Experts were back in favour and financial incentives
were restored to encourage workers to greater efforts
The results were positive across all sectors
of the economy:
agricultural production recovered to 1957 levels, oil and natural gas production
rocketed, and manufactured goods were produced in much greater quantities.
It was during this period (1964) that
Chinese scientots succeeded in exploding China’s own atom
bomb having pieced together the documente that the Suct adviser had hurriedly shredded when
they were withdrawn in 1959
Although Moo selcomed the economic inprovements of the early 1960s. he vas reluctant to
attribute them to the retreat from the Great leap Forward wrich he described as
Dangerous revisionism
In an attempt to present any further drift away from strict communist principles,
However, the result had not been as he had hoped.
because Liu Shaoqi, while praising Mao for his correct leadership had gone on to imply that Mao
should share some of the blame with the other leaders at the centre of government for China’s
past mistakes,
Why was Liu thing significant
After Lushan, this was a risky tone to take, but Liu knew he had the approval of the
conference and Mao accepted responsibility as chairman of the Party, though he stopped short of
admitting any personal mistakes. This was significant, because it was the first time that Mao’s aura of
infallibility had been damaged, and for the next few months, he withdrew from public life, leaving Liu,
Deng and Zhou in charge.
A clear difference of views over how the economy should be run was now becoming apparent. On
the right of the Party were
Liu, Deng and Chen Yun, who took the pragmatic view that ideological
concessions would be necessary to restore the economy: mass mobilisation was no substitute for
expertise and planning, and private trade was justified if it motivated people to work harder
On the left
Mao was arguing that continuing revolution should be the key: without mass mobilisation.
there would always be the danger of a new bourgeoisie emerging inside the Party and destroying the
gains of the revolution.
When did Mao return to the political fray
the summer of 1962 at the annual Party
conference, when; he went on the attack, demanding to know whether China was going to take ‘the
socialist road or he capitalist road, and condemning the revisionism of Liu and Deng
The result was
an uneasy compromise, whereby
Liu and Deng outwardly agreed with Mao’s analysis of the situation,
while continuing to do things their own way They criticised rural capitalism, but did nothing to stop
farmers owning their own private plots and selling their produce for profit.
Liu and Deng’s pragmatic economic approach continued for the time being, but a political power
struggle inside the Party was building up, which would explode in the Cultural Revolution from 1966.
