Great Leap Forward

The Great Leap Forward was a big plan in China from 1958 to 1962. It was led by the Chinese Communist Party and their leader, Mao Zedong. The goal was to quickly change China from a farming-based country into a modern industrial one. They wanted to do this by creating large groups of people called people's communes to work together.

Mao Zedong believed China needed to develop very fast, even if it meant using unusual methods. Many people were asked to work very hard without enough support or proper planning. This led to a huge problem with not enough food, called the Great Chinese Famine, which caused many deaths across the country.

The ideas from the Great Leap Forward caused a lot of hardship. Even though leaders later tried to fix things, the damage had already been done. The effects of this time were felt for many years in China.

Background

See also: Agriculture in China and History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)

The Great Leap Forward aimed to quickly grow China's farms and factories. Leaders believed that by working together and putting in more effort, China could become stronger without needing many tools or money. They wanted to close the gap between rich and poor areas in the country.

Before this time, China was very poor and had fewer factories than other countries. Mao Zedong, the leader of China, wanted China to catch up with richer nations in just a few decades. He announced plans to build a strong socialist country in just 15 years. To achieve this, he pushed for rapid changes in farming and industry, hoping to use the hard work of many people to make China stronger. However, these changes sometimes caused problems and made traditional farming methods less effective.

Initial phase and resistance

Initial goals

Main articles: Exceeding the UK, catching the USA and Launching satellites

The Chinese government wanted to help its growing population by using more people to work in farming. In 1957, leaders from communist countries met in Moscow. One leader, Nikita Khrushchev, said they could catch up with the United States in industry. Mao Zedong, the leader of China, wanted China to catch up with the United Kingdom in 15 years. To do this, China used lots of people to work instead of spending money.

During this time, China built many things like bridges, railroads, and reservoirs. Some of these projects helped China for many years. But some were done too fast, which caused problems.

Lushan Conference and the Anti-Right Deviation Struggle

Main articles: Lushan Conference and Anti-Right Deviation Struggle

In 1959, leaders met to talk about how the Great Leap Forward was going. One leader, Peng Dehuai, spoke up with concerns. Mao Zedong did not like this and removed Peng from his job. Mao then started a big campaign against people who disagreed, called the "Anti-Right Deviation Struggle." Many people were punished during this time.

Organizational and operational factors

The Great Leap Forward began during the Second Five Year Plan from 1958 to 1963, but the campaign stopped in 1961. Mao Zedong introduced it in January 1958 in Nanjing.

The Great Leap Forward aimed to quickly change China from a farming-based country into an industrial one. The idea was to develop both heavy and light industry, and both city and countryside areas, using lots of people working together instead of expensive machines. The government wanted to avoid problems by finding solutions that were not based on technical skills. They trusted people to work hard and organize themselves better.

People's communes

Main article: People's commune

An experimental commune started at Chayashan in Henan in April 1958. There, people could not keep private gardens, and everyone shared kitchens. By the end of 1958, about 25,000 communes were created, each with around 5,000 families. These communes were self-sufficient groups where people earned work points instead of money.

The communes aimed to produce more to support cities and build offices, factories, schools, and systems for city workers. People in the countryside who spoke against this were called “dangerous.” As more families joined communes, people lost their individual identities because they came from different places with different views. Some wealthier families who refused to join were called rightists. Escaping was very hard, and those who tried were punished publicly. Besides farming, communes also did some small industries and building projects. Although harvests were good in 1958, this was because of good weather, not because of the hard work of the people. Officials thought the hard work caused the good harvests and set higher goals for food, which led to not enough food for people.

Industrialization

Mao wanted grain and steel to be the main focus for building the economy. He believed that in 15 years, China could produce more steel than the UK. In 1958, it was decided to double steel production quickly, mainly by building many small furnaces in backyards. The government started many big projects in 1958, 1959, and 1960—more than in the first Five Year Plan.

Millions of Chinese people became state workers because of these industrial projects. In 1958, 21 million more people joined state jobs, and by 1960, there were 50.44 million state workers—more than double the number in 1957. The number of people moving to cities grew by 31.24 million. These new workers put pressure on China’s food system, leading to higher demands on food from the countryside. People aged sixteen to thirty were seen as good candidates for the militia. Peasants worked long hours all year and even used their own cooking tools to help make steel. Officials reported falsely high production numbers, which misled leaders and led to unrealistic demands.

The Great Leap Forward caused very serious problems, leading to one of the worst famines in history. Changing work from farming to making steel greatly reduced food production, causing widespread hunger. Studies show that the famine caused many deaths, especially in rural areas.

During this time, there were problems with organizing and not enough materials, leading to high costs for workers but not enough goods made. The government had to cut spending on industry sharply from 1960 to 1962.

Backyard furnaces

Main article: Backyard furnace

The Great Leap Forward encouraged using local methods to make steel. By mid-1958, China started promoting small furnaces to make more steel without spending a lot of money.

Although the effort to make steel in 1958 reached its goal of 10.7 million tons, more than 3 million tons could not be used.

Crop production experiments

See also: Lysenkoism

On the communes, many new and untested farming methods were tried. These methods were based on ideas from a Soviet scientist and often did not work well. For example, planting seeds too close together reduced yields because the plants competed for nutrients. Deep plowing was encouraged, but it did not help as believed. Leaving some land empty to focus on the best land also did not work well. These changes usually reduced grain production instead of increasing it.

Local leaders were pressured to report falsely high grain numbers to impress their superiors. Some reported numbers ten times higher than the actual amount. The government then took more grain than people could spare based on these false numbers.

Treatment of villagers

The ban on private land made life very hard for villagers. They could not rent, sell, or use their land for loans, leaving them without enough food. In some places, leaders forced villagers to work and sleep in fields with little food.

Some writers described how the government treated villagers harshly, removing traditions that were important to them, such as funerals, weddings, markets, and festivals. Not joining government campaigns could lead to serious trouble for people and their families.

Public meetings were used to scare people into following rules, which increased deaths during the famine. In some cases, people who stole food were criticized publicly and later became very ill. Others were sent to work camps.

About 7% of those who died during the Great Leap Forward were treated very harshly or killed quickly. Some writers note that it was difficult to describe all of rural China the same way, as different places had different experiences. Some people remember positive changes, while others recall famine and death.

Direct consequences

The Great Leap Forward was a campaign in China from 1958 to 1962 led by the Chinese Communist Party. The goal was to quickly change China from a farming-based country into an industrial one. This change caused big problems for farming and food supply.

Because many farmers were moved to work in factories, there wasn’t enough food grown. The weather also caused problems, and not all the food that was grown could be collected. This led to a big shortage of food. Many people, especially in the countryside, didn’t get enough to eat and suffered greatly. The government faced many challenges during this time, and some leaders lost their positions or influence.

Other impacts

Failures of the food supply

The Great Leap Forward had problems with food supply. Over time, changes were made to improve how food was managed. Some leaders pointed out mistakes in the way the government handled food and farming.

There was a big drop in how much grain was produced, partly because of bad weather and partly because of government decisions.

Industrialization

The plan to quickly build up industry did not fully work as hoped. Still, important building projects helped China grow later on. New factories for making iron, steel, and other goods were built.

Women's labor advancement

The Great Leap Forward gave women more chances to work outside the home. Women took on jobs usually done by men and were praised for working hard.

Education

More schools and universities opened up during this time. New schools were sometimes set up in villages, using local teachers.

Resistance

In some places, people disagreed with the government's rules and showed their unhappiness in different ways.

Impact on the government

After seeing the problems, leaders changed some policies. Mao Zedong stepped back from some roles, and others took charge of fixing the economy.

Ecological impact

The push for more farming and building led to cutting down too many trees and farming in places that were not suitable.

Health impacts

People who were children during the hard times had health effects later in life.

Family planning

The hard times may have led leaders to think about controlling how many children families had.

Cultural impact

New art and music were encouraged, with many new songs and paintings made to show the changes happening in the country.