The Negative Effects Of The Great Leap Forward

The Great Leap Forward was a campaign issued by China’s leader Mao Zedong whose purpose was to rapidly transition The People’s Republic of China from an agrarian society to an industrialized communist society (Lean). It spanned from 1958 - 1961, but radical changes were made within that short time and it had a catastrophic effect on the people of China. It is important because of the large scale of the plan and the loss of life all around the countryside. Bad leadership and natural disasters combined to create a massive famine in which it is estimated that 20 - 40 million Chinese citizens starved to death or died from disease, and in some provinces, entire villages were wiped out (Slavicek). Its disastrous effects can stand as an example to
Before the Great Leap, China was an agrarian society, had a majority peasant population, and was isolated from other countries. The People’s Republic of China had been recently established in 1949, and communism was a leading force. In the beginnings of the PRC, China was very dependent on Soviet assistance. However, as time passed the Sino-Soviet relationship deteriorated. The alliance between the two countries relied heavily on the relationship between Mao Zedong, leader of the People’s Republic of China, and USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev, and tensions were high between the two of them. Mao’s distaste for the USSR stemmed from views on Stalin, ideology, and the Soviet’s paternalistic attitude (Pantsov 433). The strains placed on their relationship eventually led to the withdrawal of Soviet advisors and experts in China. Mao’s emphasis on self-reliance also played a part in the fallout. He also stressed industrializing China, especially in the countryside, and the Great Leap Forward was how he attained those goals. However, those two ideas were the extent of the solid plans for the Great Leap Forward. Mao’s proposal was vague and very few details
He had little knowledge of how exactly he would increase the grain and steel production and when questioned he would just state, “We can catch up with England in fifteen years” (Pantsov 450). Mao wished to revolutionize the Chinese economy, but he himself was totally ignorant of how economics worked. This ignorance was common among many Chinese leaders, and its continuation was a large reason for why the Great Leap Forward failed. Mao had a lot of faith in his plan, and he believed that China had a large advantage because of its large and rapidly growing population and that more people, meant more labor (Pantsov 450). Mao believed in the success of his plan, and even when China’s situation became increasingly worse, he would say that it was going well and that the following year would be even better. His denial of the growing issues that occurred during the Great