Chapter 6: Great Leap Forward

Question 0

What was the Great Leap Forward also known as?

Answer 0

The second 5 year plan

Question 1

When was the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 1

1958-1962

Question 2

What were Mao’s aims in the Great Leap Forward? (4)

Answer 2

• Wanted China to become an economic superpower
• Wanted show that they could do things without USSR’s help
• wanted to Have rapid economic growth
• wanted to take china to stage of fully developed communism rapidly

Question 3

Two slogans for the Great Leap Forward

Answer 3

“Walking On Two Legs”

“Catch Up With Britain in 15 Years”

Question 4

Why did Mao keep inflating his targets?

Answer 4

He kept becoming increasingly euphoric with the thought of china’s vast potential

Question 5

Example of Mao inflating his target

Answer 5

In 1957 he declared china would be produced 40million tonnes of steel in the 1970s (this is 8x as high as they were producing at end of 1st 5 year plan)
In 1958 he predicated a steel output of 100 million tonnes by 1962

Question 6

How did Mao intend to accomplish these targets? (4)

Answer 6

• grouping people into large communes (20,000 people each)
• abolish family life, children/babies kept in nurserys and educated by a few, meant women were free to work on the fields.
• Backyard furnaces whereby everything metal thing people owned was melted down into pig iron
• mass mobilization, e.g large scale engineering projects didn’t use machines, they used lots of people who would dig with their bare hands

Question 7

Who was Lysenko and what was his policy?

Answer 7

He was a soviet scientist whose theories (now discredited) were followed by Chinese peasants and had disastrous results for agriculture. E.g
Planting crops very close together
And ploughing the soil much deeper than usual

Question 8

What was the four Noes campaign?

Answer 8

A campaign to eradicate pests -Mosquitos, rats, flies and sparrows

Question 9

Effect of four noes campaign

Answer 9

They believed sparrows were consuming large quantities of seed and grain. So they killed loads of them. This upset the ecological balance and caterpillars bred loads. Because there were hardly any sparrows the caterpillars flourished and consumed large areas of crops.

Question 10

Factors that influenced Mao’s thinking: Economic context

Answer 10

To advance they needed to buy industry. The plan was to produce a large surplus of food which could then be sold and machines bought with the money
However, couldn’t carry on with current size collectives as agricultural production only increased by 3.8% during 1st 5YP

Question 11

Factors that influenced Mao’s thinking:Political context:

Answer 11

-No one dared to challenge Mao that it wouldn’t work, no checks and balances

Question 12

Factors that influenced Mao’s thinking: international context (2)

Answer 12

• Wanted to become independent from USSR
• Soviet’s launch of the first satellite “Sputnik” demonstrated the superiority of the social system of USSR and helped his growing optimism

Question 13

Factors that influenced Mao’s thinking: Ideological context (2)

Answer 13

• Wanted to keep china communist e.g experts were replaced by local party cadres in the communes because “it was more important to be red than to be an expert”
• was another stage in continuing revolution

Question 14

Why did the Great Leap Forward fail: ‘Sparrowcide’

Answer 14

As part of the 4 noes campaign, led to caterpillars and rats destroying large quantities of grain. Stocks depleted as a result

Question 15

Why did the Great Leap Forward fail: Lysenkosim

Answer 15

Lysenko’s farming techniques proved disastrous for grain yields. Farmers were forced to follow his policies and as a result the yields was nowhere near as high as it should of been.

Question 16

Why did the Great Leap Forward fail: starvation

Answer 16

Many peasants, while starving, decided to steal food/farm with their old methods (individually). These peasants who were ignoring the new regulations were labelled rightists and sent to the labour camps. The labour camps had to be expanded because there were so many. Not only did this mean millions died, but china’s effective workforce was reduced.

Question 17

Why did the Great Leap Forward fail:

“Conspiracy of Silence”

Answer 17

Many government advisers knew of the tragedies occurring. But they did not speak out for fear of Mao’s reaction.
Party cadres actually reported back to Beijing saying that the Great Leap Forward was on course.

Question 18

Why did the Great Leap Forward fail:

Lushan conference of 1959

Answer 18

Peng Duhuai fearlessly recounts some deaths he witnessed in his home province, Anhui. But no one backed him up.
Lush an conference had been specifically called in order to discuss progress of Great Leap Forward.
No one wanted to offend Mao, so they turned on Peng and dismissed his account (even though they knew it was all true)

Question 19

Why did the Great Leap Forward fail: experts

Answer 19

Hundred flowers had decimated the Chinas supply of experts.

Also break with USSR in 1960 had led them to withdraw their 10,000 experts

Question 20

Why did the Great Leap Forward fail: weather

Answer 20

1959 there were floods in the south and droughts in the north. Mao initially blamed the failure of GLF on this.

Question 21

Why did the Great Leap Forward fail: exporting to USSR

Answer 21

Despite the fallout between PRC and USSR, china still had to pay back all the loans and technical expertise USSR had provided. They continued to export millions of tonnes of grain to USSR to repay these loans.

Question 22

Why did the Great Leap Forward fail: Mao’s overestimation

Answer 22

Mao had overestimated the revolutionary zeal of the Chinese people. Many of them weren’t prepared to give up their animals and pool resources. Mao had also forced the pace of change far too quickly, many communes were planned and set up awfully.
Mao blamed the over zealous cadres for this failure.