The second five year plan 1958-62 Flashcards
Why did Mao launch the second five year plan?
Mao wanted to industrialise China and in order to feed this workforce he needed to optimise the agriculture industry. This would also free up peasants who would become able to work more industrial jobs.
The speed at which farming had become collectivised made Mao very confident that things were going his way.
Greater degree of decentralisation gave the peasants more independence which would increase productivity in Mao’s eyes.
How did the second five year plan work?
While the Chinese government stay very much in control the economy would become more decentralised.
Backyard furnaces - Mao announced that steel production would increase 4 times and reach 20 million tons per annum. Due to the success of the water conservation plan in which 100 million peasants too part in everyone thought they could do the same for steel production.
How successful was the second five year plan?
By September 1958 14% of China’s steel came from local furnaces and by October it was 49%. about a quarter of the population abandoned normal activities to produce steel.
The focus on steel put strain on the food industry meaning schools had to be closed and extra policing was necessary. Leadership thought there would be a good harvest and the steel they were producing was usable, they were wrong.
1959, the only good quality steel being produced was from large smelting plants, all of the bad quality steel was buried.
Lead to large amounts of deforestation and this led to faster soil erosion and less crop yields.
There were some increases in the productivity of raw materials.
The construction of Tienanmen Square and nuclear weapons
Khrushchev came into power which meant the withdrawal of the soviet union from giving China resources.
50 million died of starvation from the famine.
What was discusses at the 1958 central committee meeting?
Mao declared that the country had harvested 430 million tons of grain but this was false so the party revised it down to 365 million but in reality it was 200 million.
Mao declared he was stepping down as chairman of the PRC and would hand the formal duties over to Liu Shaoqi but would remain chairman of the CCP.
The call for the Lushan conference was made.
How bad was the 1958-62 famine?
Worst famine of the twentieth century
Estimates of 30-50 million deaths
1 million out of 4 million died of starvation in Tibet. The government deliberately sabotaged the Tibetans to destroy their cultural identity
Banditry and prostitution reappeared as a means to survive.
What caused the great famine and why was it so bad?
Mao overworked his populations with producing food, supervising backyard furnaces and water conservation programmes.
Lysenkoism
Mao was dismissive of experts
Demotivated peasants
Mao’s wrong perspective of China’s needs.
