VCE History Revolutions 2025 Unit 4 AOS 2: Consequences of the Chinese Revolution: The Great Leap Forward

When was the Great Leap Forward launched, and what were its goals?

At the 8th Party Congress in May 1958. The goal was to produce more steel than Britain by 1973, and to promote collectivisation.

What were the 4 main features of the Great Leap Forward?

Collectivisation, Backyard Furnaces, the Four Pests Campaign and the Manipulation of Numbers.

When was the Wuhan Plenum and what was its purpose?

December 1958, and it was held to discuss ‘Some Questions Concerning People’s Communes.’

What occurred at the Wuhan Plenum?

Harvest quotas were reduced from 450 million tonnes to 370 million tonnes, and some of the efforts of the Great Leap Forward were rolled back, but little changed.

When did Liu Shaoqi assume presidency?

April 1959. He undertook ‘judicious trimming’ of policies. (Dietrich, People’s China).

When did Krushchev discontinue financial support to China?

July 1959.

When did the Three Bad Years Famine begin and end?

1959 and 1961.

When was the Lushan Plenum and what occurred there?

July 1959. Peng Dehuai brought up his concerns with the Great Leap Forward. He is condemned as an ‘anti-Party element’, and Mao purged 350,000 other ‘Rightists’ from the CCP. Mao also offered self-criticism, saying ‘It is I who am to blame’ for the 3 Bad Years Famine.

What were the impacts of the Lushan Plenum?

Peng Dehuai was beaten over 130 times by the Red Guard. ‘After Lushan the whole Party shut up. We were afraid to speak up. It stifled democracy.’- CCP Official. Mao ‘could not tolerate anyone who dared to tell the truth.’- Mao’s bodyguard.

When are Soviet workers removed from China, and what effect did this have on the economy?

July 1960. ‘The Russians have landed us in the shit.’- Mao. ‘The loss of 1,400 Soviet scientists and engineers was a shock to the Chinese and greatly compounded the economic difficulties of a Great Leap Forward.’- Maurice Meisner.

What were the impacts of the 3 Bad Years Famine?

There were 30 million casualties. China’s food production decreased by 25% from 1958 to 1961. ‘We ate the bark off trees.’- Famine Victim.

What were the reported harvest during the 3 Bad Years, and what was the result?

The ‘Going Up to Heaven’ Campaign meant that the harvest was reported as 500 million tonnes, but was really only 170 million, so collected harvest rose from 30% to 90%.

What were the effects of the use of Backyard Furnaces? Quote and Statistic.

‘The country looked as though it had been picked clean by iron-eating ants.’- Harrison Salisbury. 750,000 backyard furnaces worked by 100 million people led to a 9% decrease in the amount of farmland sown by crops in 1958.

What are some evaluations of the Great Leap Forward? Meisner and Snowdon.

‘It was a failure on a grand scale, dominating and distorting the social and political life of the People’s Republic.’- Maurice Meisner. ‘Arguably the worst aspect of the Great Leap Forward was the failure to tell the truth.’- Trevor Snowdon. It was ‘not an economic plan.’ It ‘relied ultimately on… the 'revolutionary enthusiasm’ of the masses.’- Maurice Meisner.

What was the CCP response to the Famine?

‘It is not that there is no food. There is plenty of grain, but 90% of the people have ideological problems.’- CCP Official. ‘Mao only heard and saw what he wanted to- that the Great Leap Forward was a tremendous success.’- Jasper Becker.

How did Collectivisation work during the Great Leap Forward?

740,000 Cooperatives were organised into 26,000 communes by the end of 1958, some including up to 5,000 families.