In 1949 the Communist Party of China had emerged victorious after a brutal and bitter Civil War. Their leader, Mao Zedong, Said about radically transforming China, which despite being a vast and highly populated country, was politically weak, very traditional and lacking in industry. The communists began to modernize China.
Drwing up the first five-year plan in 1952, emulating the soviet model of Industrialization. This saw extensive investment in heavy industry within the cities, in the attempt to increase production. The problem was that in a nation where four fifths of the populaton lived in rural areas, there simply wasn't enough people working in heavy industry to allow it to grow to the desired levels.
As well as this, the rate of agricultural food production wasn't high enough to allow the industrial workforce to expand further and keep the workers fed. Mao, therefore turned his attention to the countryside. Rural China was deeply traditional.
With society based on the family and deference to the elderly. Peasants would work the land in small family groups keeping most of their harvest and selling on small amounts. For Mao, seeking to build a communist society, in which everyone worked for the state, and a nation which could rival the USA and USSR; this needed to change.
Land reform, where estates had been taken from rich landowners and redistributed to the peasants had taken place shortly after the communists had come to power. Collectivization, where peasants lost their own pieces of land, and instead worked for wages on land owned by the state, had also begun to take place. Mao believed this wasn't enough to expand both agricultural and industrial production, and instead introduced the second five-year plan, in 1958 This would become known as the Great Leap Forward.
The Soviet model of development was now rejected. Agricultural and political decisions were decentralized. Technical expertise within the state bureaucracy were now distrusted with political ideology emphasized.
The plan was designed to get laborers in the countryside working at full capacity. This would allow an agricultural surplus. Part of which could be forcibly purchased by the government in order to feed industrial workers and expand production in the cities.
The plan also sought to find a method to organize rural workers to directly contribute to industrial production. To achieve all of these objectives, the establishment of communes was ordered on a vast scale. In a matter of months, millions of peasants were forcibly banded together in large scale communes numbering 20,000 or more people.
These communes meant the complete end to individual small holdings. As now, all farmers in the commune were responsible for the collective performance of their land It was hoped that labour would be more efficient and food production would grow rapidly. Therefore helping agriculture and industry to grow together.
And prevent the food shortages that had held back industry before. The organization of the communes also provided childcare facilities for the very young. And houses of happiness for the elderly.
Freeing up workers to do their jobs Backing was received for the collectivization policy by a wide-ranging programme of propaganda. People were encouraged to contribute however they could, such as banging pots to deter sparrows from eating the crops. Or shooting them down.
Millions supported the Great Leap Forward enthusiastically at first. Especially as it meant readily available food in the commune kitchens regardless of how much work an individual had done. The policy also gave great power away, and to influence to local officials in the countryside, who had the role of managing their communes.
Mao also wanted agricultural workers to contribute to industry, under the slogan "Walking on Two Legs". Agricultural workers were drafted from their jobs as farmers to work in the countryside factories. Backyard furnaces were also established where farmers with little to no experience would produce iron and steel.
Everything from cooking pots to radiators were to be melted down, while wooden furniture and trees became fuel. The plan was to increase Chinese steel production from five million tons a year in 1957, to a massive 100 million tons annually by 1962. Towards the autumn of 1958 it seemed to many as though things were going well.
However, the reality was hidden by the uncommonly good weather of that year, which had led high levels of agricultural production. By the end of the year some officials were beginning to worry in the knowledge that over-optimism had led rural workers to eating too much of the harvest. Leaving stockpiles for the winter and spring of the following year dangerously low.
Many also recognised the fact that a large proportion of laborers lacked the Incentive to work in such large communes. Or that transport and supply problems were causing issues. The steel, which was being produced by rural laborers, was also found to be unusable.
And much of it was left to rust. Drfting so many agricultural workers into the factories had caused a shortage of labor on the farms. Scaring or shooting sparrows till they dropped causes severe ecological imbalance.
It resulted in an explosion in the vermin population. Including crop eating insects, now with no predators. Deep plowing was another policy that caused great harm to crops.
Instead of planting seeds in the normal shallow depths, they were to be planted 5 feet or 1. 5 meters deep into the soil. And extremely close together.
The result was that this severely stunted the growth of the seeds due to overcrowding. Mao soon began to talk of scaling back the Great Leap Forward. However, political rivalry and suspicions soon intervened.
With Mao ordering purges carried out against those who criticized his policy. This had the effect of encouraging local officials, desperate to protect their positions, to continue to support the Great Leap Foward. At times, even more keenly than they had done before.
Therefore, despite the fact that agricultural production had not expanded, these officials did not dare question orders, requiring them to send a large proportion of the grain that did remain to the cities. This had the effect of terrible starvation in the countryside. Which became even worse with bad droughts and floods in the harvests of 1959 in 1960 The communal kitchens, where rice have been freely given in 1958, was now severely rationed in what people received.
And in the worst cases there was nothing available at all Laborers who didn't meet their quotas would not receive their food rations. So those who were unable to work, starved to death. There were accounts of people eating everything living or growing that was left.
Goose, cats, dogs. Lime plaster of walls, and the leaves and bark off trees were consumed. After these were gone people even resorted to cannibalism and murder to feed their extreme hunger.
Despite the famine in the countryside, Mao continued to export grain worldwide, and refused any foreign aid to maintain face and convince people that his plans were working. As the food supply going to the cities began to dwindle, famine also had urban areas. The death toll for the Great Leap Forward at the lower end estimate, is said to be 18 million.
While upper estimates find that some 45 million people died. Mao was held responsible for this catastrophe by many people within the Chinese Communist Party. He remained as party chairman, but by 1962, many decisions to do with policy and the economy were taken over by other people.
The communes were scaled back. Individual farming was once again permitted. And industrial workers were given greater incentives to work hard.
Mao, though, remained a powerful figure. Able to launch the Cultural Revolution in 1966.
