POLI 324: Asian Politics Dr. Kevin Lasher

GREAT LEAP FORWARD, 1958-61

Next Step ??? Regime Building, 1949-57 Establishment of communist regime with political control and moderately successful economic policies Next Step ???

Hundred Flowers Movement

Hundred Flowers Movement In 1957 Mao feels confident enough to allow some criticism of the CCP Concerned about communist unrest in Eastern Europe in 1956 Attempt to win back intellectuals Mao’s concern about bureaucratization and problem of non-antagonistic contradictions

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Hundred Flowers Movement Scientists criticize cadre-led research Economists question basics of Marxism-Leninism Student demonstrations and wall posters Magazines call for overthrow of CCP, for civil liberties and democracy One scholar called for death of thousands of communists for the good of the people

Hundred Flowers Movement Lasts from February 1957 to June 1957 “Gentle rain of criticism” had turned into “poisonous weeds” Mao “shocked” by level of criticism 100 Flowers movement quickly abandoned

Hundred Flowers Movement People who criticized the party (as called for by Mao) were now labeled “rightists” and sent to the countryside for re-education or jailed Perhaps 500,000 rightists were punished

Hundred Flowers Movement Later Mao argues that he never believed in “100 Flowers” and it was all a plan to out “rightists” Seems unlikely although some in CCP opposed the idea Mao miscalculates the level of discontent within PRC Mao’s first major failure Now what ???

Great Leap Forward, 1958-61 Great Leap Forward = voluntarism “on steroids” Next wave of “permanent revolution” in countryside

Great Leap Forward, 1958-61 An effort to advance Chinese economic development by super-charging agricultural production and bringing industrial development to the countryside Goals not necessarily bad and some aspects of GLF were plausible; however, implementation was horribly flawed Note: capitalist reforms of 1980s begin in rural areas

Great Leap Forward, 1958-61 Mao wanted to move beyond Soviet-style industrialization Competition with USSR for leadership of communist world Go beyond modest development and advance to communism Go beyond bureaucratization and elitism of party planning

Great Leap Forward, 1958-61 Chinese people with help of CCP could “will themselves” into communism Economic achievement through ideological enthusiasm Super mass campaign

Mao and GLF Voluntarism “Apart from their other characteristics, China’s 6oo million people have two remarkable peculiarities: they are, first of all, poor and secondly blank. That may seem like a bad thing, but it is really a good thing. Poor people want change, want to do things, want revolution. A clean sheet of paper has no blotches, and so the newest and most beautiful words can be written upon it, the newest and most beautiful pictures can be painted on it.” China was the canvas and Mao was genius-artist who would paint his masterpiece of communism

Mao and GLF Voluntarism “Our nation is like an atom. When the atom’s nucleus is smashed, the thermal energy released will have really tremendous power. We will be able to do things we could not do before.” Chinese people (led by CCP) will create an “economic miracle”

GLF: Four Key Elements Manpower over capital (self-financing rural projects) High goals and low level innovation to meet goals Modern and traditional methods in industry Red > Expert: enthusiasm beats technical expertise

GLF Policies Super-collectives to enhance production in countryside Industrialization in countryside Intensification of urban industrial activities

People’s Communes 750,000 collective farms turned into 26,000 giant communes (10,000-100,000 people); end any remaining private property Communal living, women workers, communal nurseries, elderly happiness homes (elimination of family)

People’s Communes Figures for grain and other agricultural production were wildly inflated; government seized almost everything and left nothing Result was famine and starvation

People’s Communes Back-yard furnaces to make steel in the countryside

People’s Communes They did not work

People’s Communes Some projects for roads, canals, dams, and other rural infrastructure were useful

Great Leap Disaster Food production actually decreased Unscientific agricultural methods were used Too few peasants were growing food because they were working on countryside industrial projects Peasants were exhausted from propaganda and work Peasants did not like communal system and loss of private plots Droughts and floods made a very bad situation even worse

Lushan Conference, 1959 Defense Minister Peng Dehuai writes letter to Mao criticizing Great Leap policies Mao is prepared to scale back but sees Peng’s letter as a challenge to his leadership

Lushan Conference, 1959 Mao attacks and purges Peng Mao pushes forward with “Renewed Leap” and makes a bad situation even worse Policy failure becomes policy disaster

Great Leap Forward Estimated 30 million people died from starvation from 1959-61

Great Leap Forward Pragmatists take-over in 1961-66 and bring economic recovery Mao agrees to go into “semi-retirement”

The End