The Great Leap Forward Flashcards
When was the Great Leap Forward launched?
5-23rd May 1958
Why was the GLF introduced?
Russia had launched Sputnik in 1957- the first major space exploration step- America “had not even launched a potato”
This prompted euphoria among socialist countries of the world
Lead Mao to promise China would surpass Great Britain in 15 years with their steel production at the Conference of World Communist Parties
What did Mao do for four months in 1957?
‘Seek the truth from facts’ by touring China, resulting in him believing that the people were capable of amazing feats with their bare hands (e.g. expansion of Tiananmen Square)
What were the aims of the GLF?
- Heavy industry continues to receive capital investment
- Rural areas acquire small-scale industries to generate their own capital
- Labour-intensive projects for peasants to further productivity and produce goods
- Improve infrastructure
- Encourage collective values
Why could funding to agriculture remain low?
Peasants could use lower-grade, raw materials to create products and generate their own capital
When did the movement to establish people’s communes begin?
August 1958
How many people’s communes were there by the end of 1958?
26,000
How many households were in a commune on average?
5,000
How were wages paid in communes?
Work points which could be exchanged for goods
What are some characteristics of a commune? (5 pt)
- Communes were organised into military lines with brigades containing work units
- Communes trained and armed their own militia
- Large nurseries allowed all parents to work
- Communal Kitchens and dining halls
- ‘Happiness Homes’ for the elderly
How did China meet its steel production targets?
Backyard Steel Campaign
Why was the backyard steel campaign unsuccessful and really stupid?
- It made brittle, unusable steel
- Woodlands were cut down for fuel
- Iron products in the country ceased to exist because they were all melted for steel
Why was the abundance of food at the beginning of the GLF a bad thing?
People were eating the food reserves yet to be replenished- the people were paying too much attention to steel production to do farm work
What did Lysenkoism entail?
Close planting
Deep ploughing
Why did Lysenkoism fail?
topsoil was made barren by being mixed with clay and sand from the depths
close rice planting prevented wind going through the crops resulting in poor quality rice
What were the four pests?
Flies
Mosquitos
Rats
Sparrows
Why was killing sparrows so stupid?
They ate the locusts- which were now damaging crops
Why did the government have a false sense of the harvests? (4 pt)
- Communes set out to achieve impossible results to beat each other
- Authorities only informed of successful harvests
- Show fields gave the impression of high yield per acre
- Commune officials falsified figures to meet high quotas
What was the reported harvest in 1959? What was it really?
500 million tonnes
170 million tonnes
What did the government do with ‘surplus’ grain?
Exported it to fund heavy industry
Government took 90% of grain
When was the Wuhan Plenum?
December 1958
Why was the Wuhan Plenum held?
People in the country were starving
What was the result of the Wuhan Plenum?
- Grain targets decreased by almost 1 million tonnes
- Inflated production quotas scaled down
- Communes brought under greater degree of centralised accountability
- Some markets could reopen
- Communal kitchens closed
When was the Lushan Plenum?
July 1959
Why was the Lushan Plenum held?
CCP leaders had travelled to discover why the GLF was not working as planned
What was discovered when Mao and CCP leaders travelled to understand the failure of the GLF?
Mao- positive feedback in Shaoshan
Peng Dehuai- Niaoshi peasants were suffering
What did Peng do to stop the GLF?
He criticised it to Mao
What did Mao call Peng’s attitude to the GLF?
Petty-bourgeois fanaticism
What happened when it appeared many party members agreed with Peng and wanted to abandon the GLF in 1959?
Mao launched a scathing attack on those who disagreed with him in July 1959- he then threatened to create a new army to overthrow the government
What was the party’s response to Mao’s threat?
Sided with Mao and did not back Peng any more- 16th August a document was released condemning Peng as an “anti-party element” and Lin Biao took his job as Defence Minister
What was the outcome of the GLF in terms of Mao’s leadership?
It was clear that Mao’s authority was paramount- his power was absolute
Why did Mao encourage the peasants to work without machinery or experts?
It was more noble to work with hands
Mao detested experts because they made regulations which inhibited the productive force of the masses- Mao hoped that in learning by doing, the peasants would not need elite experts
What were the Three Great Divisions?
City vs Country
Worker vs Peasant
Mental vs Manual labour
The People’s Communes allowed a more strict control of the people. True or false?
True. People were more concentrated to one area
What was Mao’s attitude to numbers said to be?
Philosophical, rather than practical
What were the positive outcomes of the GLF?
- People had plenty of food
- Harvest initially grew by 5 million tonnes between 1957-1958
- Removal of classist divisions as everyone worked the same jobs
What was the negative result of work points?
Lack of motivation due to lack of incentive
What was a quote that indicate Mao’s determination to advance communism?
“The east wind prevails over the west wind”
What was Mao’s metaphorical ideology of the GLF?
“to get to heaven in a single leap”
What was Mao’s view of the peasants?
“they are… poor and… blank… it is really a good thing. Poor people want change, want to do things, want revolution”
What did Mao want the Chinese economy to do?
“walk on two legs”
What was Mao’s opinion of the People’s Communes?
“The people’s commune is great!”
What did the People’s Daily say of the Socialist nature of the communes?
“bigger and more socialist”
What was Zhao Tongmin’s view of the unity of the commune?
“No line divided village from village… Those were great days, great days!”
What did Wang Wende have to say about the food abundance?
“We all ate well during the smelting drive… we ate a lot of meat”
What did Kang Sheng say about the nature of Marxism?
“We should be like Marx, entitled to talk nonsense… just act recklessly and it will be alright”
Mao showing his ‘optimistic’ attitude to numbers:
“Let’s just double it! Why dilly-dally? Let’s make it eleven million tonnes!”
Tian Jiaying on the atrocity of false statistics:
“In the past, our past has always sought truth from facts, but this isn’t what we are doing now… This is ridiculous, it is shameful”
Jung Chang on false statistics:
“Telling fantasies to oneself and others, and believing them, was practised to an incredible degree”
Li Zhisui on the false statistic hysteria:
“everyone was caught in the grip of this utopian hysteria… the excitement was contagious”
What did Peng say about Mao in his statement of opinions?
“bewitched by the achievements of the GLF and the passion of the mass movement”
What did Mao so optimistically say at the Lushan Plenum about the GLF success?
“The achievements are tremendous, the problems are numerous, the experience is rich and the future is bright”
Mao on who is to blame for the GLF:
“Everybody has shortcomings… I devoted myself mainly to revolution. I am absolutely no good at construction… I should take the primary responsibility”
“you must all analyse your responsibility”
“The majority of comrades need to strengthen their backbones”
Mao casually brushing off the economic crisis:
“Just because for a time there [was]… a lack of balance in the economy and tension in the market, everyone became tense”
Peng telling Mao the truth:
“Do you hear the people outside? They are not crying long live chairman Mao, but, we’re hungry. We want food.”
Wang Bingnan on the effect of Lushan on the party:
“…the whole party shut up. We were afraid to speak out. It stifled democracy… It led straight to the terrible times of the cultural revolution”
How did Philip Short describe Mao’s rationale behind his decisions?
“on an adrenaline high pumped up by the limitless vista of a bright communist future in which nothing would be able to withstand the concerted efforts of 600 million people”
What did John King Fairbank say about the People’s Communes?
“the state had become the ultimate landlord”
Jung Chang and Jon Halliday on the communes:
“The aim was to make slave driving more efficient”
Harrison Salisbury on the Backyard Steel drive:
“The country looked as though it had been picked clean by iron-eating ants”
Salisbury on the effect of Lushan:
“Mao had turned his band of brothers into a claque, clapping hands and nodding heads like mechanical dolls”
Jung Chang’s view of Mao’s approach to economics:
“an almost metaphysical disregard for reality which… in a political leader with absolute power, was quite another thing”
Maurice Meisner on the outcome of the GLF:
“Since the GL was utopian in nature from the beginning, it is generally assumed that the end was inevitable… [one must consider] the vast incongruities between what was intended and what was done”
Li Zhisui on Mao as an economist:
“Mao was a great philosopher, a great soldier, a great politician, but he was a terrible economist. He had a penchant for grandiose schemes… This was the source of the country’s economic problems… Mao was a complex and often contradictory man”
