The Failure of the Great Leap Forward Essay Example

cement etc. all showed huge rises though the figures started at in 1958 were low. Grain and cotton production also showed major increases in production. 11 million tonnes of steel was produced. In addition to these accomplishments, women were brought into the work force for the first time, which continued the process of liberating women in China; and access to education increased as a result of communal development. In theory, Mao’s economic plan seemed like it would be a great success. It did have moderate success, but it did more damage than good.

The Great Leap Forward was a failure on Mao’s part of becoming an economist because it led to famine, the production of poor-quality goods, deep debt for China, exhaustion and demoralization of the peasantry, severe management problems by party cadres of all levels, and it had a negative impact on China’s environment. The Great Leap Forward took a great toll on human life, despite its minor successes. People across the nation were required to make steel. Planners believed the single commodity would allow industries to develop and manufacture heavy machinery.

On Mao’s orders, people in the communes as well as in city neighbourhoods set up 600,000 backyard furnaces to melt down scrap metal for iron and steel production. The goal was to double the output of steel within a year. Everyone was urged to help make steel, even young children. Families tossed their cooking utensils, pots, iron bedsprings, metal doorknobs and hinges, railings, farm tools, and almost any cast-iron items they owned or found. Evidence of foolhardy efforts and lack of technical knowledge included the backyard furnaces.

They produced

steel of inferior quality. It was brittle and useless for many building projects and contributed to the collapse of some structures. The government also plunged the country into a deep debt by increasing spending on the development of heavy industry. Government spending on heavy industry grew in 1958 to represent 56 percent of state capital investment, an increase from 38 percent in 1956. The backyard steel production plan resulted in entire forests being burned to fuel the smelters that melt metal 24 hours a day, which left the land open to erosion.

Dense cropping and deep ploughing stripped the farmland and left if vulnerable as well. When the autumn of 1958 came, many areas had a bumper crop because the soil was not yet exhausted. This played a role in crop failures and eventually famine. With so much emphasis on steel output as well as on development of other small industries and building projects, people were pulled away from agriculture. Local leaders competed with one another to see who could create the most activity. In the rush to recruit labor, agricultural tasks were neglected, sometimes leaving the grain harvest to rot in the fields.

Crop production began to falter. But Mao was adamant about increasing agricultural output, and communes were expected to meet high quotas or face punishment. In the frenzy of the competition, the CCP officers and many peasants exaggerated their harvests to their superiors in Beijing. There were claims that gigantic vegetables – cabbages, cucumbers, tomatoes, and millions of pounds of potatoes and huge volumes of grain had been produced. Because of the falsely exaggerated harvest, much of the grain was

diverted from rural to urban areas.

It was kept in storage or exported to other countries to fund industrial programs. People in the cities and countryside were suffering from scarcity of food. As people tried to find food and survive, some left the communes and began farming on their own. Rural militias formed to protect food supplies or to seize grain where it was available. Turmoil reigned in the countryside, and the CCP feared that it would lose power and be unable to control the nation. The CCP issued instructions on what would be produced and how crops would be planted and harvested.

Government planners without agricultural experience were the ones who determined farming methods, and they dictated the use of Soviet techniques that had failed years earlier. They ordered peasants to plant their crops close together to increase productivity. While plants sprouted, they appeared healthy, but as densely planted crops grew, they didn’t get enough nutrients from the soil. The result was massive crop failures. Another CCP order required the extermination of sparrows. The small birds were thought to carry diseases related to poor hygiene that affected many peasants.

People took great pride to killing the birds and parading down the street with their carcasses. Actually, the birds ate insects that were crop pests. When the sparrows were chased away or killed, insects multiplied and severely damaged plants. Again, agricultural production suffered because of poor management. Falsely exaggerated harvests, poor farming methods, and farmers leaving their crops to work on national projects created the largest famine in history. Even cannibalism was an option of survival for some people. An estimated 20

million to 40 million Chinese people had died as a result of the Great Leap Forward famine.

Chinese people were also killed for not being on the same terms as the Chinese Communist Party. In pursuit of its goals, the government executed people who did not agree with the quick pace of radical change. The crackdown led to the deaths of 550,000 people by 1958. Therefore, Mao had basically killed millions of his own people, and that definitely had no positive impact on the Great Leap Forward. Working in the factories also was not a pleasant experience. Former farmers had no idea how to actually use the new factories.

Industrialization was pushed too fast; there was an immense overproduction of goods in such a short amount of time so factories began to crash. Factories were overcrowded and machines were faulty and very dangerous. Long working hours meant workers fell asleep on the job, which increased their rate of getting severely injured around the faulty machine parts that fell off as soon as they were used. Therefore, factory life during the Great Leap Forward had a negative impact on the Chinese peasantry. There were undoubtedly very severe management problems during the Great Leap Forward.

People were being asked to participate in physically demanding projects, but were not consistently provided with sufficient extra food rations. Without these gigantic irrigation projects, there would probably not have been any starvation in Jimo and the grain shortage and the aftermath would have been much less severe. It was, at the very least, unpractical to engage in such a gigantic investment of labour in such a short time

and without sufficient food rations. Clearly, government leaders were guilty of miscalculation and mismanagement of human and financial resources during the Great Leap Forward.

The Great Leap Forward was an unsuccessful, rushed economic plan. Although it did have a few accomplishments, many problems resulted because of it. China grew in debt, faulty and useless items were produced in great numbers, and crops failed to produce. Mao caused the death and destruction of his own land and people. He was proven a bad economist, and had to step down as the Head of State as a result. China’s attempt to industrialize and become an industrial power in 1958 was an overall fruitless disaster.