Notes: The Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution

• Mao Zedong – chairman of communist party of China, on May 16, 1966 began a struggle for power within the communist party of China
• This struggle manifested into wide scale social, political, and economic chaos, which eventually brought the entire country to the brink of civil war
• The Cultural Revolution led to the ban of what became known as the “Four Olds”
  1. old customs
  2. old cultures
  3. old ideas
  4. old habits
• Between 1966 and 1968, Mao and his principal lieutenants placed youth militia called the Red Guards – Mao’s army, usually young students between the ages of 15 and 20, in charge of destroying items from the Four Olds
• In the chaos and violence that ensured many revolutionary elders, authors, artists, and religious figures were purged and killed. Why did this happen?
• Millions of people were persecuted, and as many as half a million people died.
• In 1957, Mao Zedong called for an increase in the speed of the growth of “actual socialism” in China.
• To accomplish this goal, Mao began the Great Leap Forward, establishing special communes in the countryside through the usage of collective labor and mass mobilization.
• The Great Leap Forward was intended to increase the production of steel and to raise agricultural production to twice 1957 levels.
• However, industries went into turmoil because peasant were producing too much low quality steel while other areas were neglected
• Furthermore, the peasantry, as agriculturalists, were poorly equipped and ill-trained to produce steel, partially relying on such mechanisms as backyard furnaces to achieve production goals, which had been mandated by local cadres.
• Meanwhile, farming implements like rakes were melted down for steel, impeding agricultural production. This led to a decline in the production of most goods other than steel.
• To make matter worse, in order to avoid punishment, local authorities frequently reported grossly unrealistic production numbers, which hid the problem for years, as so, intensified it.
• Inadequate resources and unfortunate climatic conditions resulted in widespread famine, while Mao continued to export grain to “save face” with the outside world.
• According to various sources, the death toll of members of the lower classes due to famine may have been as high as 20 to 30 million.
• Understand these key phrases:
  1. intellectual = highly educated person
  2. communism = common or shared ownership of goods; an economic structure which attempts to achieve economic equality for all (a classless society)
  3. propaganda = information intended to persuade and/or brainwash people (mind control)