1. POLI 324: Asian Politics
Dr. Kevin Lasher

2. GREAT LEAP
FORWARD,

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

4. Hundred Flowers Movement

5. 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

6. .

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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 ???

12. Great Leap Forward,
Great Leap Forward = voluntarism “on steroids”
Next wave of “permanent revolution” in countryside

13. Great Leap Forward,
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

14. Great Leap Forward,
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

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

16. 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

17. 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”

18. 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

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

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

21. 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

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

23. People’s Communes
They did not work

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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. Great Leap Forward
Estimated 30 million people died from starvation from

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

31. The End