Mao’s Great Leap Forward failed to improve China’s economy due to corruption, being too focused on industry, and issues with collectivization.

“Industrialization of the countryside”

“Why cant 600 million poor people by their own efforts create a socialist country which is rich and strong?”

Thesis: Mao’s Great Leap Forward failed to improve China’s economy due to corruption, being too focused on industry, and issues with collectivization.• Mao decided in 1958 that China needed its own way to industrialize, instead of continuing to follow the Soviet model if

they wanted to become a world power.• His plan was to combine farming and industry in smaller towns and villages by forming huge communes from the co-

operatives that were already developed.• At first the newly found industries appeared to be successful because steel production doubled in a year, but the quality

and quantity being produce dropped enough to make the plan unsuccessful.• Then the problem got worse as a massive famine spread over the countryside because too many people were working

on industry and farming was not considered as important.• Other factors that contributed to the famine were poor weather conditions, peasants who were unhappy about being in

communes, failure of the government to recognize the famine, and use of agriculture techniques that were not right for the conditions many farmers were in.

Picture Top Left• Mao’s plan during the Great Leap Forward was to develop China’s industry. • In order to accomplish this, Mao pushed for all the peasants to start in the development of industry, and in order to do

this, Mao developed communes. • Communes were huge amounts of land combined into one public workplace. Up to 25,000 people lived in barrack and

worked together in over 40,000 communes• Within the commune, iron and steel production were most important, with agriculture second. However, to meet

Mao’s fantasy demands for growth, industry was focused on, and agriculture fell.

Picture Bottom Left • Due to the push for industry, including iron and steel, agriculture feel in China.• Not only was it not focused on, but in most parts of China the wrong type of farming techniques were used.• Also, there was a major drought throughout China, causing crop failures.• When the CCP realized it had a food shortage, it told the peasants to dig deep underground and plant more seeds, and

closer together. • However, this only cause even more crop failures because the nutrient rich soil is within the top layer, and plants need

room to grow. • Overall, there were reports of 100,000s of death, but historians believe it could have reached into the millions

Picture Top Center: • Mao had all the people either worked in factories or the fields within their commune• However, after a period of time the factory production was not met because workers were not feed due to

agriculture failures• In 2 years 2 million die from famine• Mao tells farmers to stop farming and go into steel production to meet his fantasy needs• Bad harvests continue and get worse due to lack of farming and droughts

Written Source 1 Center Left: “Industrialization of the countryside”• Mao’s plan was to grow China’s industry in order to catch up to the world, and he did this by not industrializing large

cities, but rather small villages and towns.• Mao believed that the work ethic of a peasant working in their own town was greater that that of those who moved to

big industrial cities.• Mao also believed that the sheer number of peasants could overcome anything.• Mao once told a story of a man who began digging a mountain, and when he died, his son continues. Mao said that

even though everyone doubted them, over hundreds of generations, they dug up the mountain.• Mao compared this to the peasants, saying their numbers could accomplish anything.

Top Right• Backyard steel furnaces were used by the poor people of China during the Great Leap Forward.• They were constructed in the backyards of the communes, hence the reason they are called backyard furnaces.• People used every type of fuel they could to power these furnaces.• They would use coal to the wood of coffins.• They melted any steel objects they could get their hands on, including pots and pans, and even bicycles, to make steel

girders, but these girders were useless. • The steel was impure and of poor quality and thus cracked easily.• The result was not steel, but high carbon pig iron, which needs to be decarburized to make steel.• The iron that was produced from the backyard furnaces turned out to be brittle, impure, and almost unusable.• There was also no theoretical understanding of the blast furnace process and refining of the pig iron. This was one of

the major failures of the Great Leap Forward

Picture Bottom Center:• The Great Leap Forward plan was abandoned early due to the great famine• The production goals were not met due to the agricultural failures• There was starvation and death from famine• Many injuries occurred because of this, including dieses due to malnourishment • There were millions of deaths during the great leap forward due to famine and disease• There was also severe overcrowding in the communes which spread disease easily

Center of the page• Propaganda was used as one method to get people to follow the plan for the Great Leap Forward by showing a mix of

industry and agriculture.• This particular cartoon depicts peasants riding on a dragon that represents a commune.• They are carrying a mix of industrial and agricultural products.• Unlike in this piece of propaganda, peasants did not like the idea of the communes they were being forced into. The

40,000 communes that existed by 1958 ended any private land ownership the peasants had and families had to live with thousands of other people.

• Another problem was because the land no longer belonged to them, the products the peasants were making were taken away from them and therefore many did not work as hard or stopped working completely.

• Bottom RightMao wanted ordinary people in the towns and villages to get involved in small scale industry.

• The iron produced from the backyard furnaces turned out to be brittle, impure, and almost unusable.• Farmers would join together as communes, each commune would have industrial and farming targets.• Peasants had to use methods for farming tried elsewhere in the country even though they did not suit their land.• In the 1960’s 2 years of serious drought set farming production in the communes back.• It led to famine which at the time was covered up by the Chinese leadership.• The Famine called “The Great Famine” caused 30 million Chinese people to starve to death between 1958 and 1962.• The Chinese people and government were more focused on producing steel and industrializing than they were on

farming to produce food for their ever growing population.

Right side written source: "Why cant 600 million poor people by their own efforts create a socialist country which is rich and strong?”• Mao believed strongly in the power and numbers of the peasants of China.• He believed that they could accomplish anything that they worked on together.• Mao wanted to use this power to grow and modernize China. During the Great Leap Forward, Mao established

and ran a way for the peasants to work, but left them to do it themselves.• Mao used the Chinese people to grow China’s economy and world power, along with his own power. Because of

Mao’s selfish desires, the Great Leap Forward failed.