| The extent of Mao's knowledge as to the | | | | many millions starved to death in what is thought |
| severity of the situation has been disputed. | | | | to be the largest famine in human history. This |
| According to some, most notably Dr. Li Zhisui, | | | | famine was a direct cause of the death of tens |
| Mao was not aware of anything more than a mild | | | | of millions of Chinese peasants between 1959 and |
| food and general supply shortage until late 1959. | | | | 1962. Further, many children who became |
| In January 1958, Mao Zedong launched the second | | | | emaciated and malnourished during years of |
| Five-Year Plan known as the Great Leap Forward, | | | | hardship and struggle for survival, died shortly |
| a plan intended as an alternative model for | | | | after the Great Leap Forward came to an end in |
| economic growth to the Soviet model focusing on | | | | 1962 (Spence, 553). |
| heavy industry that was advocated by others in | | | | "But I do not think that when he spoke on 2 July |
| the party. Under this economic program, the | | | | 1959, he knew how bad the disaster had become, |
| relatively small agricultural collectives which had | | | | and he believed the party was doing everything it |
| been formed to date were rapidly merged into | | | | could to manage the situation" |
| far larger people's communes, and many of the | | | | Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, in Mao: the Unknown |
| peasants ordered to work on massive | | | | Story, alleged that Mao knew of the vast |
| infrastructure projects and the small-scale | | | | suffering and that he was dismissive of it, blaming |
| production of iron and steel. All private food | | | | bad weather or other officials for the famine. |
| production was banned; livestock and farm | | | | "Although slaughter was not his purpose with the |
| implements were brought under collective | | | | Leap, he was more than ready for myriad deaths |
| ownership. | | | | to result, and hinted to his top echelon that they |
| At a large Communist Party conference in Beijing | | | | should not be too shocked if they happened |
| in January 1962, called the "Conference of the | | | | (438-439)." |
| Seven Thousand," State President Liu Shaoqi | | | | Whatever the case, the Great Leap Forward led |
| denounced the Great Leap Forward as responsible | | | | to millions of deaths in China. Mao lost esteem |
| for widespread famine. The overwhelming | | | | among many of the top party cadres and was |
| majority of delegates expressed agreement, but | | | | eventually forced to abandon the policy in 1962, |
| Defense Minister Lin Biao staunchly defended Mao. | | | | also losing some political power to moderate |
| A brief period of liberalization followed while Mao | | | | leaders, notably Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. |
| and Lin plotted a comeback. Liu and Deng Xiaoping | | | | However, Mao and national propaganda claimed |
| rescued the economy by disbanding the people's | | | | that he was only partly to blame. As a result, he |
| communes, introducing elements of private | | | | was able to remain Chairman of the Communist |
| control of peasant smallholdings and importing | | | | Party, with the Presidency transferred to Liu |
| grain from Canada and Australia to mitigate the | | | | Shaoqi. |
| worst effects of famine. | | | | The Great Leap Forward was a disaster for |
| There is a great deal of controversy over the | | | | China. Although the steel quotas were officially |
| number of deaths by starvation during the Great | | | | reached, almost all of it made in the countryside |
| Leap Forward. Until the mid 1980s, when official | | | | was useless lumps of iron, as it had been made |
| census figures were finally published by the | | | | from assorted scrap metal in home made |
| Chinese Government, little was known about the | | | | furnaces with no reliable source of fuel such as |
| scale of the disaster in the Chinese countryside, | | | | coal. According to Zhang Rongmei, a geometry |
| as the handful of Western observers allowed | | | | teacher in rural Shanghai during the Great Leap |
| access during this time had been restricted to | | | | Forward: |
| model villages where they were deceived into | | | | We took all the furniture, pots, and pans we had |
| believing that Great Leap Forward had been a | | | | in our house, and all our neighbors did likewise. We |
| great success. There was also an assumption that | | | | put all everything in a big fire and melted down all |
| the flow of individual reports of starvation that | | | | the metal. |
| had been reaching the West, primarily through | | | | Moreover, most of the dams, canals and other |
| Hong Kong and Taiwan, must be localized or | | | | infrastructure projects, which millions of peasants |
| exaggerated as China was continuing to claim | | | | and prisoners had been forced to toil on and in |
| record harvests and was a net exporter of grain | | | | many cases die for, proved useless as they had |
| through the period. Censuses were carried out in | | | | been built without the input of trained engineers, |
| China in 1953, 1964 and 1982. The first attempt | | | | whom Mao had rejected on ideological grounds. |
| to analyse this data in order to estimate the | | | | |
| number of famine deaths was carried out by | | | | Mao, shown here with Henry Kissinger and Zhou |
| American demographer Dr Judith Banister and | | | | Enlai; Beijing, 1972.In the Party Congress at Lushan |
| published in 1984. Given the lengthy gaps between | | | | in July/August 1959, several leaders expressed |
| the censuses and doubts over the reliability of the | | | | concern that the Great Leap Forward was not as |
| data, an accurate figure is difficult to ascertain. | | | | successful as planned. The most direct of these |
| Nevertheless, Banister concluded that the official | | | | was Minister of Defence and Korean War General |
| data implied that around 15 million excess deaths | | | | Peng Dehuai. Mao, fearing loss of his position, |
| incurred in China during 1958-61 and that based on | | | | orchestrated a purge of Peng and his supporters, |
| her modelling of Chinese demographics during the | | | | stifling criticism of the Great Leap policies. |
| period and taking account of assumed | | | | On the international front, the period was |
| underreporting during the famine years, the figure | | | | dominated by the further isolation of China, due |
| was around 30 million. The official statistic is 20 | | | | to start of the Sino-Soviet split which resulted in |
| million deaths, as given by Hu Yaobang. Various | | | | Khrushchev withdrawing all Soviet technical |
| other sources have put the figure between 20 | | | | experts and aid from the country. The split was |
| and 72 million. | | | | triggered by border disputes, and arguments over |
| Under the Great Leap Forward, Mao and other | | | | the control and direction of world communism, |
| party leaders ordered the implementation of a | | | | and other disputes pertaining to foreign policy. |
| variety of unproven and unscientific new | | | | Most of the problems regarding communist unity |
| agricultural techniques by the new communes. | | | | resulted from the death of Stalin and his |
| Combined with the diversion of labor to steel | | | | replacement by Khrushchev. Stalin had established |
| production and infrastructure projects and the | | | | himself as the successor of "correct" Marxist |
| reduced personal incentives under a commune | | | | thought well before Mao controlled the Communist |
| system this led to an approximately 15% drop in | | | | Party of China, and therefore Mao never |
| grain production in 1959 followed by further 10% | | | | challenged the suitability of any Stalinist doctrine |
| reduction in 1960 and no recovery in 1961. In an | | | | (at least while Stalin was alive). Upon the death of |
| effort to win favor with their superiors and avoid | | | | Stalin, Mao believed (perhaps because of seniority) |
| being purged, each layer in the party hierarchy | | | | that the leadership of the "correct" Marxist |
| exaggerated the amount of grain produced under | | | | doctrine would fall to him. The resulting tension |
| them and based on the fabricated success, party | | | | between Khrushchev (at the head of a politically |
| cadres were ordered to requisition a | | | | militarily superior government), and Mao (believing |
| disproportionately high amount of the true | | | | he had a superior understanding of Marxist |
| harvest for state use primarily in the cities and | | | | ideology) eroded the previous patron-client |
| urban areas but also for export. The net result, | | | | relationship between the CPSU and CPC. In China, |
| which was compounded in some areas by | | | | the formerly favourable Soviets were now |
| drought and in others by floods, was that the | | | | denounced as "revisionists" and listed alongside |
| rural peasants were not left enough to eat and | | | | "American imperialism" as movements to oppose. |