The Great Leap Forward was Mao Zedong’s, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party’s, way of parting from the USSR’s model of communism. Mao formally implemented it in 1958 but begun its initial stages after the infamous ‘de-Stalinization’ speech in 1956 (Best et al 2008, p.369). This bold move caused many issues for China as described in the book “Black Country to Red China: One Girl’s Story From War-torn England To Revolutionary China” by Esther Cheo Ying. There, she recounts the situations first hand as she worked in the news agency under the Red Army, the tortures they endured as well as the harsh situations that China experienced. Therefore, the Great Leap Forward failed because of the free-thinking restriction imposed, Mao’s lust for power and the rush for development.
The Great Leap Forward’s deterioration was because of the restriction of free thinking imposed on society. Free thinking was restricted in the form of ideologies and mindsets through countless campaigns and Mao’s Red Guards. These frequent campaigns act as a control to the society. Even though some campaigns had good intentions such as keeping the surrounding areas clean, unfeasible expectations would be forced upon the people. For instance, in the Anti-fly campaign, Esther Cheo Ying (2009, p. 91) quoted: “We had to swat 10 flies a day, which was quite easy at first because China was full of flies. But when you have millions of people involved in swatting flies they tend to be scarce.” That shows the extreme turns these seemingly harmless fanfares would take. These not only showcased the unforgiving systems but also the anxiety Esther feels in those situations. Not only that, the intellectuals were usually weeded out by intensifying criticism meetings held by the red army which pointed golden fingers at those deemed as counter-revolutionist (Cheo 2009, p.85). This was because intellectuals had the knowledge and ability to question the faulty system. That was the reason as to free judgement being heavily discouraged, it was seen as an obstacle to a greater China. The Red Guards even demanded that the city of Nanning be transformed into, as quoted in the Ebrey (ed. n.d., p.45) “a great school of Mao Zedong’s thoughts.” Therefore, the Great Leap Forward deteriorated as the restriction of free thinking and scholarly development may hinder a nation’s growth.
Furthermore, Mao’s implementation of the Great Leap Forward’s failure was due to his lust for power. Mao tried to create a nation where everyone was equal and would obey orders without question. The ideology in Nanning which forced everyone to be a slave of Mao’s ideologies spread to the whole of China (Ebrey ed. n.d., p.452). The Red Army achieved this by torturing and at times killing those who would not heel to Mao’s philosophies (Cheo 2009, p.89-91). Those times were described as full of self-criticism and discipline as everyone in China was outright denied the right to question the orders and intentions of their leader Mao Zedong let alone disobey them. For example, Esther Cheo Ying (2009, p.92-93) was criticised and threatened when she refused to join the campaign to eliminate sparrows as she thought it was barbaric and would disrupt nature. Despite her strong arguments, Mao’s absolute dominance over the party and his leadership went unchallenged (Teiwas & Sun 1999, p.13). His dictatorship went to the point that he had to be consulted on major decisions even if someone else was ministerial (Chan 2001,p.10). This degree of power also leads Mao to impractical ideas such as replacing the people’s names with numbers and causing world destruction with nuclear weapons (Kristof 2005, p.3). His poor leadership brought upon one of the largest recorded cases of famine in history where about 38 million people died and caused countless people to starve and suffer (Kristof 2005, p.4). Hence Esther’s sour view on the Great Leap Forward and Mao’s method of ruling China was rightfully proven as it shows how dictatorship tendencies of one man may lead to the death of millions.
Another reason the Great Leap Forward failed was due to Mao’s desire to develop China as quickly as possible. A slogan emerged that stated: “Overtake Britain in Industrial Output in Five Years!” (Cheo 2009, p.96). This resulted in fanfares and campaigns that required the whole population to smelt steel and produce grain. The masses were forced to produce steel from any metal they have at home, to the point where furnaces were a backyard norm. Unfortunately, this resulted in expensive but low quality steel. An expert stated in “Black Country to Red China: One Girl’s Story From War-torn England To Revolutionary China” that the steel was as expensive as a motorcycle but was useless otherwise (Cheo 2009, p.96). In 1959, Mao felt the need to pivot the rural people away from industrialisation to focus more on agriculture (Best et al 2008, p.361). Even so, the unrealistic expectations resulted in the fabrication of the amount of grain output by farmers to please Mao. However, even as production of grain fell, Mao decided to continue his unrealistic policies, hoping the people would cooperate for the revolution. Mao’s crude actions devastated China. Within the eight years of the Great Leap Forward, the economy of China not only worsened, it also caused famine, starvation and suffering (Chan 2001, p.4). As the push for agricultural and industrial growth continued, more slogans were created to drive initiative and motivation such as “more, faster, better, more economical” (Teiwas & Sun 1999, p.23). Therefore, the Great Leap Forward met it’s demise as development takes time and resourceful management.
To conclude, the Great Leap Forward was Mao Zedong’s greatest failure as the policies and mindset forced upon the masses were not suitable to manage a country. The main reasons as to its downfall were the restricted free thinking forced upon the people. The policies to eradicate intellectuals and free thinking would heavily hinder the progress of the country as knowledge and innovative ideas are essential pillars of development. Aside from that, Mao’s obsession with power can be attributed to the downfall of the Great Leap Forward. Mao’s position of power may be paralleled to a dictatorship as he has the ultimate authority in any event. Lastly, the rush for development is another major reason why the policies of the Great Leap Forward failed to run a such as China. This is stated due to the belief that China can achieve the development it requires to rival Britain in that rough era. Hence, Mao’s ideologies resulted in the Great Leap Forward not achieving its intended success.
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References
Best, AHJMJ 2014, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Taylor and Francis, Florence.
Chan, AL 2001, Mao's Crusade : Politics And Policy Implementation In China's Great Leap Forward, Oxford: Oxford University Press, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2017.
Cheo, Y.E 2009, Black Country to Red China : One Girl’s Story From War-torn England To Revolutionary China, Vintage Books, London.
Ebrey, P.B (ed.) n.d., Chinese Civilisation: A Sourcebook, 2nd Edition, Revised and Expanded, The Free Press, New York.
Kristof, N 2005, ‘Mao’: The Real Mao Review of Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, New York Times.
Teiwes, F, & Sun, W 1999, China's Road To Disaster: Mao, Central Politicians And Provincial Leaders In The Great Leap Forward, 1955-59 : Mao, Central Politicians And Provincial Leaders In The Great Leap Forward, 1955-59, Armonk, N.Y.
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