Second Five Year Plan ( Three Red Banners, Great Leap Forward)

Aims of the plan

To move away from the Soviet model, to mobilise the peasant masses to make up for the lack of industry and equipment available, decentralisation of decision making to harness energy of the cadres.

Economic reasons to launch the plans

Conservatives like Zhou Enlai argued that the ‘carrot’ approach to the peasantry of providing incentives for hard work was the only way to go. Despite leftist arguing the party was 70% peasants so Mao decided to agree with the right. However, after only a few months it became clear China could not afford these incentives and a whole new plan was needed to sustain economic growth.

Personal factors to Mao

Mao was full of confidence from the rapid success of collectivisation and irrigation projects. He toured the country seeing the greatest show fields ever formulated. On his return to Beijing his enthusiasm was enough to convince the rest of the party the time was right for the next step.

Political/ ideological reasons for implementation

After the Sino-Soviet split that began in 1959 Mao now aimed to move from socialism to communism much faster than the Soviets along the ‘Chinese road’ with the ‘walking on two legs’ and mass mobilisation campaigns at the heart of this ideology.

Decentralisation

Mao believed bureaucracy like the one developed in the Soviet Union would limit revolutionary spirit and therefore limit progress. To avoid this, local party cadres were given a lot more power meaning decisions could be made without consulting technical experts first.

Backyard furnaces

To get the peasants involved with industry they were tasked with making steel with no expertise, using poorly made furnaces. These were exhausting and expensive to sustain with whole forests being pulled down to keep them going. People melted down all metal objects they owned but the lack of carbon meant the steel was brittle, flimsy, and utterly pointless. Only 18% of what was produced was used in the first few years.

State owned enterprises

Industry was taken under full government control, private business disappeared by 1955, prices and targets were set by the state, iron rice bowl continued in cities

Construction projects

Tiananmen square was repaved and rebuilt reading to act as a political hub for the duration of the CCP.

Successes of the Second Five Year Plan

Increases in oil and fertiliser production, redevelopment of Tiananmen square, iron rice bowl secured life for many people.

Failures of Second Five Year plan

45 million died in rural areas as urban populations needed grain that could not be provided, heavy industry halved and light industry became ¾ of the already small figure it represented, incentives for hard work were removed, 300 industrial plants were closed as Soviet experts left, Technocrats weren’t available due to Anti-Campaign, Lushan conference failures led to the continuation of this awful plan.