The Great Leap Forward
1958-1961
Background
 The Great Leap Forward was Mao’s name for the Second Five Year Plan
o Aim: turn China into a modern industrial state in the shortest time possible in order to catch
up and then overtake everyone else
 Move from the Soviet model to the Chinese model
o Introduced in 1958
o Quotas based on faith in the communist state
o “General Grain” and “General Steel” would lead the nation to economic victory
 Mao believed in the revolutionary spirit of the peasants but felt that the future of China rested with
the workers and industrialization
o Would ‘leap’ from rural to urban and from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy
bypassing the stages in between
o The population of China was its greatest natural resource- harness their power
 By sheer manpower would transform China
 Mao = “The Emperor of the Blue Ants”
o Part of the “permanent revolution”
Reform of Agriculture
 Mao believed the peasants were inherently capitalistic and need to be controlled- the state would
become the ultimate landlord
 Was further collectivized- the collectives were merged into larger communes- by the end of 1958
about 98% of the peasant population were living on communes
o A total of 70,000 communes were created, each made up of 750,000 worker brigades (each
brigade was about 200 households)
 Integrated all aspects of daily life- supervised agriculture, provided banking, ran small
factories and machine shops, provided social services (police, schools, day care,
mess halls, nursing homes, and entertainment)
o Under direction of the central government
o All private farming was banned- land, equipment, and livestock the property of the commune
o Internal passports were needed to leave the commune
 Influenced heavily by Lysenkoism- made official policy in 1958
o Pest control a major component- Mao launched “Sparrowcide”
o Exhausted the soil
o Peasants lost morale and initiative
Reform of Industry
 Created State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs)- bring all industry under government control
o Prices, output targets, and wages determined by the state
 Creation of the “iron rice bowls”
 Small factories built in the countryside
o Quantity, not quality- Example: “Backyard Furnaces” and learning by doing
 Attempted to create communes in the cities- merged neighborhood associations
Document Analysis
Source 1: Song composed by workers in Hsinhua County in 1958
The Communist Party is really wonderful.
In three days more than a thousand furnaces were built.
The American imperialists will run off, tail between legs.
The Chinese people will now surpass Britain.
The East wind will always prevail over the West wind.
Source 2: Chinese Backyard Furnaces
Source 3: Statistical Analysis of China 1957-1961
Grain Output (million metric tons)
Total Grain
1957
185
1958
200
1959
170
1960
143.3
1961
147.5
Other Crops/Agricultural Production (million metric tons)
1958
Sugar Cane
12.5
Beets
3.00
Oil-Bearing Plants
4.77
Cotton
1.97
Meat Production
4.3
Rice
86.8
20.8
69.3
59.7
53.6
Wheat
23.6
22.6
22.2
22.2
14.25
1961
4.27
0.80
1.80
0.80
1.2
Livestock (in millions)
Pigs
Draught Animals
1958
138.29
53.60
Industrial Output (billions yuan)
1958
1959
121
163
1960
183
1961
75.50
38.10
Production of Manufactured Goods (to an index of 100)
1959
1960
Light Industrial
100
91.2
Heavy Industrial
100
90.0
Steel, Coal, and Cement (million metric tons)
1958
1959
Steel
8.8
13.87
Coal
270.00
396.00
Cement
9.3
12.27
1960
18.66
397.00
15.65
Source 4: Poem written by Peng Dehuai, 1959.
Millet is scattered all over the ground.
The leaves of the sweet potatoes are withered.
The young and the strong have gone to smelt iron.
To harvest the grain there are children and old women.
How shall we get through next year?
I shall agitate and speak out on behalf of the people.
Source 5: Photos of the Great Leap Forward and its impact on agriculture
1961
113
1962
94
1961
78.4
66.4
1962
70.0
44.2
1961
8.70
278.00
6.21
1962
6.67
220.00
6.00
1. What is the purpose of Source 1?
2. Describe what you see in Source 2.
3. What evidence is there in Source 3 that the Great Leap Forward was a failure?
4. Compare and contrast Source 1 and Source 4. How do you account for such radically different
views?
5. Compare and contrast the message of the photos in Source 5.
Why did the Great Leap Forward Fail?
 Mao’s weakness as an economic planner and refusal to take any responsibility
 Quality of goods was poor
 Economic targets were political, not economic, in nature
 There were threats, but no plans on how to succeed
 Too much local control- not truly a centralized plan
 USSR withdrew technical advisors in 1960
The Effects of the Great Leap Forward
 Famine in Central China and Tibet
o Estimated 30 million were killed
 Lushan Conference of July 1959
 Withdrawal of Mao from the political ‘frontline’ in 1962- President Liu Shaoqui, Premier Zhou Enlai,
and CCP General Secretary Deng Xiaoping attempted to deal with the famine and industrial
stagnation
o Terminated the Great Leap Forward in January 1961