Eight Stages Of Genocide: The Great Leap Forward

Genocide is a process of eight stages. Each step is predictable, but not inevitable. In each stage, to stop it from going to the next, measures should be made. After one stage comes the next, but the one before the following step continues to function throughout the process. This particular genocide, the “Great Leap Forward,” was led by a Chinese Communist called Mao Zedong. The Great Leap Forward was a plan to modernize China, especially its economy. This attempt at modernization lasted for five years, from 1958 to 1963. To explain the Great Leap Forward, one need to define a genocide. Genocide is a deliberate killing of a large group of people, due to differences of ethnicity or nation. The eight stages of genocide are chains of steps that
Classification is the categorizing of people into groups. The leader of the country classifies the group according to by race, religion, and nationality. During Mao’s time, he set up a party called the “Chinese Communist Party” or the CCP. Anyone not part of this party were called traitors and were humiliated and criticized ("The 8 Stages Of Genocide". prezi.com. N. p., 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017). The 2nd stage, symbolization, is the giving names or other symbols to the classifications. For example, the Nazi Germans called people "Jews" or "Gypsies," or they distinguished them by colors or dress, for the Jews, they wore a yellow star: the star of David. In Mao’s China, either you were part of the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party, or they treated you like a slave (Genocidewatch.org. N. p., 2017. Web. 22 Mar.
After the Great Leap Forward, the factories that were created by the CCP leaders became useless and ineffective. Most of the steel produced in these factories were useless because, as John Green said it, “it turns out that people making steel who know nothing about making steel, make bad steel” ("Communists, Nationalists, And China's Revolutions." Khan Academy. N. p., 2017. Web. 26 Mar. 2017). While Mao Zedong wanted to modernize its economy, the opposite happened. The food production decreased dramatically because too many farmers/peasants have moved into the city and factories. With the little grain they still had, they used it on exporting it to the USSR to get heavy machinery. This shortage of food caused the government to impose rationing. Floods, terrible farming methods and droughts caused bad harvests for three years, from 1959-1962. The international community didn’t do anything because they didn’t know about the genocide. Back in paragraph 5, Madison Werning said, “If these massacres go ignored by the international community, genocide is ready to proceed” ("The 8 Stages Of Genocide". prezi.com. N. p., 2017. Web. 25 Mar.