The Great Leap Forward
Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward came in the wake of The Hundred Flowers campaign, and would prove disastrous to an already struggling people. After Mao had “rightists”(people who would put their own financial security over that of China) imprisoned and executed, the cadres were intimidated into over exaggerating their harvest numbers, lest they be accused of being capitalist. Only Peng Dehuai attempted to warn Mao of the inaccuracy of the agricultural numbers, but he was accused of forming a rightist clique, and was removed from office. Mao treated Peng Dehuai’s letter as if it were a personal attack on his reign. Mao believed that revolutionary spirit and human perseverance would be sufficient to thoroughly and completely develop his agricultural and industrial sects. He praised the people for being poor and blank, believing them to be the most efficient vessel for pure revolutionary passion. He believed the only way to prevent his people from becoming lazy and contempt was to continually identify new and pressing concerns for the people to conform. He claimed that “Our revolutions are like battles. After a victory, we must at once put forward a new task.” Unfortunately, due to the false information given by the cadres, China suffered a devastating famine. The life expectancy went from 17.6 years in 1957 to 9.7 years in 1963. Mao made excuses for his mistakes, and claimed that if everyone emphasized the negative, he would “go to the countryside to lead the peasants to overthrow the government. If those of you in the Liberation Army won’t follow me, then I will go and find a Red Army, and organize another Liberation Army.”
The Sino-Soviet Rip
At the same time, relations between china and russia declined. Russia and china had had opposite approaches on the mobilization of the people, but both found a common enemy in the United States and western ideologies. Russia had helped advance china’s military and industrial technology, and had protected them from the United States’ nuclear threat. China began working on replicating the Russian nuclear bombs when Khrushchev, stalin’s successor, surprised the Chinese and Mao by criticizing Stalin and suggesting that revolutions may not be the necessary transition from capitalist to communist, but could instead be peaceful. Laos and Tibet both were encouraged by the United States to rebel against their communist leaders, resulting in armed confrontations and military coups. China accidentally encroached on Indian land, leading to fighting between India and China, in which Khrushchev financially aided India exclusively. Khrushchev met with President Eisenhower to discuss peaceful negotiations, and afterwords flew to Peking to discuss and criticize the overly aggressive Chinese approach to the United States. Eventually the Russians called for the return of all Russian experts in China, who tore to shreds all the documents they could not bring home, and refused to divulge any further information on nuclear bombs. Despite this, the Chinese reconstructed the torn up papers and collected what information they could gather. They refused to attend the 1960’s meeting of communist parties, and in the 1961st meeting Zhou Enlai, China’s representative, walked out.
Political Investigation and “Socialist Education”
In the wake of mao’s retirement in 1960, Chinese leadership struggled for control of various positions. When Chen Yun and other Communist leaders visited rural peasant areas across the countryside, they found a lack of motivation for collective farming, and an overall shortage of food. Chen came to the conclusion that the farmers know the best ways to farm, and thus came up with 5 recommendations. Peasants who had been moved to the cities should be returned to their homes and farms, as well as unemployed youth. Inefficient Great Leap industrial enterprises would be disbanded. 6% of rural land should be set aside for private land, and private markets should be reopened. Quotas should be put on individual households instead of communities. Cadres became corrupt during the famine and remained that way, participating in illegal trade and gambling. The “Three Three’s” was a system where a person should support collectivism, patriotism, and socialism; should oppose the capitalist, feudal, and the extravagant; and should build socialism, love the collective, and operate a democratic and frugal commune. Various officials adopted secret identities and spied on communes, compiling a list of people practicing incipient capitalism and had them removed from office.
(Au: Jsaeger)
