c) MAO book of
The Great Leap Forward
On 23, Nov 2015 | In c) MAO book of | By foster eastman
The Great Leap Forward ended (January 1961) after 3 years in catastrophe as its foundation was dependant on coercion, terror and systematic violence. Peasants who had received property through land reforms were unwilling to hand over their plots to the state. The ban on private holdings ruined peasant life as villagers were unable to secure enough food to survive. People were herded into fields and worked intolerable hours. Local customs such as funerals, weddings, markets and festivals were deemed as signs of feudalism and were banned. Failure to participate in political campaigns would result in detention, torture, the suffering of entire families and death. Public criticism or ‘struggle’ sessions were often used to intimidate peasants to obey the local cadres. Crop yields were dramatically reduced due to the new planting techniques and the amount of labour diverted to producing low quality steel called pig iron. Under tremendous pressure local officials falsely reported record harvests, which were then used as a basis to determine the amount of grain taken to supply the cities and for export. Most of the grain was exported to the Soviet Union in order to pay for debts incurred during the revolution and to pay for weapon technology… including the atomic bomb. Foreign aid was refused as Mao sought to maintain face and convince the outside world of the success of his plans… even exporting grains to Africa and Cuba. In 1959 and 1960 the weather was less favourable and the situation got considerably worse. There is disagreement over how much weather conditions contributed to the famine and how much was intentional or due to willful negligence. An estimated 18-40 million citizens starved to death, 2.5 million were beaten or tortured to death, 1-3 million committed suicide and The Great Leap Forward became one of the deadliest famines in history.
