Between 1958 and 1962 Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch up with and overtake Britain in less than fifteen years. Focusing upon China's greatest asset, a labor force that was counted in the hundreds of millions, Mao thought that he could catapult his country past its competitors. He turned his back on the Russian plan of industrialization, preferring agriculture he thought more in synch with the huge labor force and the nation's technological position.
At least 45 million people died unnecessarily between 1958 and 1962. The term 'famine', or even 'Great Famine', is often used to describe these four to five years of the Maoist era, but the term fails to capture the many ways in which people died under radical collectivization.
One thing about great bureaucracies is they keep great records. Using them it appears that 6 to 8 per cent of the victims were tortured to death or summarily killed -- amounting to at least 2.5 million people. Other victims were deliberately deprived of food and starved to death. Many more vanished because they were too old, weak or sick to work -- and hence unable to earn their keep. People were killed selectively because they were rich, because they dragged their feet, because they spoke out or simply because they were not liked, for whatever reason, by the man who controlled the distribution of the scarce food. Countless people were killed indirectly through neglect, as local cadres were under pressure to focus on figures rather than on people, making sure they fulfilled the targets they were handed by the top planners.
Similar damage was seen in agriculture, trade, industry and transportation. And the inefficiencies fed on themselves. Transportation declined so produce could not be shipped and thus rotted. Animals did not get fed and herds declined. Any metal, regardless of its importance, was melted down to provide stock for some new inefficient project.
Coercion, terror and systematic violence were the agents of the Great Leap Forward. Distortion, destruction and death were the products. Even with great central power, a bad idea can not produce good results. And a top-down force, as any victorious army will admit, will win the day but may not win the future.
At least 45 million people died unnecessarily between 1958 and 1962. The term 'famine', or even 'Great Famine', is often used to describe these four to five years of the Maoist era, but the term fails to capture the many ways in which people died under radical collectivization.
One thing about great bureaucracies is they keep great records. Using them it appears that 6 to 8 per cent of the victims were tortured to death or summarily killed -- amounting to at least 2.5 million people. Other victims were deliberately deprived of food and starved to death. Many more vanished because they were too old, weak or sick to work -- and hence unable to earn their keep. People were killed selectively because they were rich, because they dragged their feet, because they spoke out or simply because they were not liked, for whatever reason, by the man who controlled the distribution of the scarce food. Countless people were killed indirectly through neglect, as local cadres were under pressure to focus on figures rather than on people, making sure they fulfilled the targets they were handed by the top planners.
Similar damage was seen in agriculture, trade, industry and transportation. And the inefficiencies fed on themselves. Transportation declined so produce could not be shipped and thus rotted. Animals did not get fed and herds declined. Any metal, regardless of its importance, was melted down to provide stock for some new inefficient project.
Coercion, terror and systematic violence were the agents of the Great Leap Forward. Distortion, destruction and death were the products. Even with great central power, a bad idea can not produce good results. And a top-down force, as any victorious army will admit, will win the day but may not win the future.
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