Transcript What were the causes and consequences of the ‘Great Leap

What were the causes and consequences of
the ‘Great Leap Forward’?
L/O – To be able to recall the reasons for, key features and effects of
the Great Leap Forward: 1958
What was the The Great Leap Forward?
• In 1958 Mao introduced a second five year
plan which became known as the ‘Great Leap
Forward’ (GLF).
• He believed it was possible for China to
overtake Britain as a leading industrial power
within seven years and the USA soon after.
• It was to be achieved through mass
mobilisation but was really a gigantic
experiment that ended with the death of over
20 million Chinese.
Why was a new plan needed?
• Mao believed the first Five Year Plan was too
slow and resulted in too much bureaucracy.
• Mao envisaged a decentralisation of control
to local Party cadres who would mobilise the
masses across China. Why decentralise?
• China could then achieve rapid and sustained
economic growth that would take China from
the stage of Socialism to the stage of
Communism.
Reasons for the Great Leap Forward
1. Political - Mao wanted another revolution to take
control of industry & agricultural away from
middle class ‘experts’.
2. Social - Still a lot of unemployment and Mao
believed he could mobilise the masses in a
continuing revolution to boost growth. Private
family life would prevent this so had to abolished.
3. Economic - Was determined to turn China into a
powerful industrial nation as quickly as possible.
Greater factory and agricultural production was
needed.
Key Features: Communes
• Mass mobilisation was achieved by a new method
of organising peasant life – the commune. He
wanted to abolish the private, family sphere of
peasant life.
• Collective and Co-operative farms were joined
into 24,000 communes with a population of
30,000 people each.
• People in communes were organised into
brigades of workers between 1000-2000 and then
teams of workers of 50-200.
Key Features: Communes
• The government tried to persuade people to
join communes by using propaganda. By 1958,
the whole of China was organised into
communes with about 700 million people.
• They seemed the ideal way to organise China’s
peasant labour force:
• They were large enough to tackle large projects like irrigation
and could run their own local schools and clinics.
• They also set up their own local industries to mine coal and
iron and make steel in blast furnaces.
• Life in the commune was lived communally. Peasants
ate in mess halls and nurseries looked after children.
Key Features: Party Propaganda
• A key element in the GLF was Party propaganda.
Posters, slogans and newspaper articles were all
used to encourage mass enthusiasm and long
hours of work.
• Loudspeakers played revolutionary music and
stirring speeches encouraging workers to go
beyond targets.
• As a result of Party propaganda, many projects
were finished on time.
Key Features: Industry
• New industries were set-up in cities to solve
unemployment. Increasingly Higher targets for
production were set.
• Central, rational planning was abandoned in
favour of local organisation. Small commune
factories were set up to make all kinds of
products like cement, ball-bearing and fertiliser.
• Great emphasis was placed on the production of
steel and the establishment of 600,000 ‘backyard’
steel furnaces in towns and villages.
Key Features: Industry
• In Autumn 1957, he declared that China would
produce 40 million tonnes of steel by 1970.
• In Autumn 1958, he predicted 700 million tonnes
of steel by 1970!
• As Mao’s confidence grew, his expectations were
raised even higher. Mao just kept setting even
higher targets. Critics didn’t want to labelled as
‘rightists’ so no one questioned Mao.
Results of the GLF - Industry
1. Thousands of small factories was just wasteful
and inefficient. Most of the steel produced in
‘backyard’ furnaces was rubbish.
2. Furnaces took too much of the countries coal
supply and trains could not operate!
3. Party workers urged people to work faster and
produce more steel to make themselves look
good – this meant machines broke down and
workers fell asleep at machines.
Results of the GLF - Agriculture
1. Food production slumped because too many
peasants had moved into industry.
2. By 1961, China was having to import grain and
impose rationing. Bad farming methods, floods
and droughts caused bad harvests for three
years.
3. The harvest of 1960 was reduced by 144 million
tonnes due to the GLF. Between 1959-1962,
over 20 million Chinese starved to death.
Results of the GLF - Communes
1. Most proved too large to be run efficiently as
they were hurriedly constructed by Party cadres
keen to impress.
2. Peasants resented the loss of private plots and
the attack on family life.
3. Members could not own private property, all
received the same wages and families were
broken up. This meant that members had no
incentive to work hard and production actually
fell!
Why did it fail?
1. Natural disasters affected the harvests. In 1960
northern China had a drought whilst there was
serious flooding the south of the country.
2. Mao fell out with Khrushchev and in 1960 ordered
all Soviet economic and scientific advisors back to
the USSR. China was short of educated technicians.
3. Mainly Mao’s fault - He was in too much of a hurry
and did not think about practical problems.
4. It was stupid! Mao rejected capital investment,
technology and planning as revisionist and wrong!
He was afraid of losing control of the revolution to
experts.
Consequences of the GLF
1. Famine caused by the bad planning of the GLF
and bad harvests resulted in over 20 million
deaths and widespread Cannibalism!
2. China had to import food which undermined
Mao’s aim of ‘self-reliance’ that the GLF was
supposed to achieve.
3. Mao took part of the blame for the failure of
the GLF, and in late 1958, resigned as head of
state.
Consequences of the GLF
• China was now controlled by three leading
communists:
• President, Liu Shao-chi
• Prime Minister, Chou En-lai
• The CCP General Secretary, Deng Xiaoping
• They all tried to abandon the GLF by closing down
‘backyard’ factories, returning workers to farming,
giving private land back to farmers and reducing
communes to one-third of original size.
Homework
1. Finish your grids.
2. Complete questions on hand-out.
3. Complete hand-out question on the Hundred
Flowers Campaign.
4. Revise for exam question on Hundred Flowers
Campaign and the Great Leap Forward. Revise:
• THE REASONS FOR…
• KEY FEATURES AND…
• EFFECTS OF EACH EVENT
Exam Question
• “Describe the key features of the Great Leap
Forward or the Hundred Flowers Campaign.” (7
marks)
• Question (b) will always give you a choice of two
factors. You have to choose one of these and
describe its key features. Spend 10 minutes.
• You need to describe at least two key features. Try
to write a paragraph on each.
• A key feature can be a cause, event or result.
“Describe the key
features of the
• Make a link or links between the key features.
Great Leap Forward
or the Hundred
• Use connective words: this led to, as a result, Flowers Campaign.”
moreover, furthermore, as a consequence, in
(7 marks)
addition.
Exam Question
First Reason
Give the feature.
Fully explain it.
Link
Make a link with the second feature. this led to, as a result, moreover, in addition…
Second Reason
Give the feature.
Fully explain it.
Conclusion
Sum up the two features stressing the links between them.
Question B – Mark Scheme
Level
Level 1
Descriptor
Mark
Simple or generalised statements or key features
Statements lack any supporting contextual knowledge or makes generalisations
1-2
e.g. Tried to introduced free speech
Developed Statements of key features
Supports their statement with relevant contextual knowledge
Level 2
e.g. Mao tried to introduce free speech in order to direct criticism at the government and his
rivals who he disagreed with. He worried about a growing middle class.
Developed exposition of key features
An exposition of more than one factor supported by selected knowledge.
Level 3
e.g. Mao tried to introduce free speech as a way of directing criticism at his rivals in
government like Zhou Enlai who he disagreed with about the future of economic development
after the 1st Five Year Plan. Zhou favoured planned growth led by government whilst Mao
wanted growth to come from the mass mobilisation of the peasants because…
1 mark for one simple
statement
2 marks for two or more
3-5
3 marks for one
developed statement
4-5 marks for two or
more
6-7
6 marks for two or more
factors
7 marks for answers
which show links
between factors
“Describe the key
features of the
• Make a link or links between the key features.
Great Leap Forward
or the Hundred
• Use connective words: this led to, as a result, Flowers Campaign.”
moreover, furthermore, as a consequence, in
(7 marks)
addition.
Exam Question
First Reason
Give the feature.
Fully explain it.
Link
Make a link with the second feature. this led to, as a result, moreover, in addition…
Second Reason
Give the feature.
Fully explain it.
Conclusion
Sum up the two features stressing the links between them.
Possible Answer
• The first key feature of the Hundred Flowers Campaign was Mao’s motives for starting
the campaign. Some believe he genuinely encouraged free speech and criticism. Mao
had travelled widely throughout China during the early 1950s and had always been
received very warmly. He appears to have believed that it was now possible to allow
greater freedom of expression in China. Others believe that the Campaign was a
deliberate plan by Mao to flush out critics of the government and the CCP and reestablish full control.
• As a consequence of the Campaign there was a rush to respond and criticism of Mao,
the government and the CCP gathered momentum. Many people openly criticised the
Plan, especially university lecturers, artists, writers and teachers. Party individuals and
policies were attacked as being corrupt, inefficient or unrealistic. Even Mao himself was
included. Leading figures in government, education and the arts were attacked for their
failures.
• Have a go at the other key feature, the first Five Year Plan.