By Luca

Great Leap forward Communes Backyard furnaces 1 st /2 nd 5 year plan Brigades What was life like for peasants during the great leap forward? Were the policies implemented by Mao successful? Why?

- Agriculture was very backwards. - Mao had toured China and concluded that the Chinese people were capable of anything. - Mao was over confident seen the success of the first five year plan.

In 1958 Mao had toured China and concluded that the Chinese people were capable of anything. 2 aims: -Industrialize china -Develop the agriculture

This was a 5 year plan designed to improve the agriculture so that enough food could be provided to the workers for industrialization

A Commune 5000 families. 12 families = 1 work team 12 work teams = 1 brigade a group of bregades

Similar to a russian Kolkhoz Farmers gave up ownership of tools, animals, land etc. Everyone worked for the commune who owned everything.

Health care was provided Elderly were moved to “houses of happiness” School and nurseries were provided

In return: - All the men had to work in the fields - All the grain had to be given to the commune - When quotas were met, the remaining grain was redistributed amongst the peasants. - Prizes were given to people who exceeded quotas

By the end of 1958, 700 million people were put into communes. The government used propaganda and awards to keep the enthusiasm of the peasants high.

The great leap forward encouraged backyard power plants for peasants. Ex: 600,000 backyard furnaces produced a considerable amount of steel that added up to the annual total.

The great leap forward introduced Massive Projects that would help make agriculture more efficient. Huge irrigation systems were built throughout all of china.

Quotas were too high and often couldn’t be met. This was also because of the quickly produced machinery which would break apart easily.

The Backyard Furnaces did help with the production of steel and other materials but they took a lot of farmers away from the fields. They also consumed too much coal that was needed for China’s rail system.

The weather in 1958 was perfect for growing crops but the following 4 years were the opposite. Floods destroyed most of the irrigation systems and decreased the food production. It is estimated that 9 million people starved in 1960 and 20 million died in the next three years.

"The chaos caused was on a grand scale, and I take responsibility. Comrades, you must all analyse your own responsibility. If you have to fart, fart. You will feel much better for it.” Mao Zedong The great leap forward was a huge failure from most aspects.

Mao was forced to resign in but he was still very popular amongst the chinese population. He was later able to use this at his advantage during the culture revolution.

The leaders following Mao abandoned the Great Leap forward, reinstalled private ownership and kept Communes to a minimum. During these years China was forced to import grain from foreign countries to make industrialization possible.

ard.htm ard.htm History book Jung chang and John Halliday Mao the Unknown story forward.php forward.php Jonathan Spense The search for modern china, 1990 Frank dikotter, Mao’s Great Famine