Aims & Results of Policies: Mao

Domestic/Economic #1

Great Leap Forward(1958-1962)

Aims:

• Rapid industrialization and collectivization;

• transform China into an industrialized socialist society;

• Increase grain and steel production through people’s communes and backyard furnaces

Impacts

• catastrophic famine causing 45 million deaths+

• widespread starvation, social disruption, and violence against peasants

• decline in agricultural output

Domestic/Political Policy #1

Anti-Rightist Campaign(1957)

Aims:

• Purge political opponents labelled as “rightists” to consolidate Mao’s power

• suppress dissent and criticism of party policies

Impacts:

• labelled “rightists” facing social and political persecution

• enabled misguided policies like Great Leap Forward to continue unchecked

Cultural/Social Policy #1

Hundred Flowers Campaign(1956)

Aims:

• encourage intellectual and public criticism to improve party policies

• promote openness briefly

Impacts:

• initial criticism followed by crackdown as Mao reversed course

• led directly to the Anti-Rightist Campaign

Social Policy

Educational Reforms(1958-1960)

Aims:

• Increase the participation of workers, peasants, and soldiers

• politicize education, emphasizing socialist values

Impacts:

• Rapid growth in universities, often with lowered academic standards

• many newly formed institutions lacked qualified staff

Women/Gender Equality Policy #1

Mobilization of Women’s Labor(late 1950’s to early 1960’s)

Aims:

• integrate women into workforce to support industrial and agricultural goals

• promote gender equality slogans

Impacts:

• tripling of women in state institutions(1957-1960)

• emergence of “Iron Women”, performing traditionally male roles

• enhanced economic independence for many women

Economic Policy

Backyward Steel Production(1958)

Aims:

• Increase steel output rapidly through small-scale furnaces in rural areas

Impact:

• produced mostly unstable pig iron

• diversion of labor from agriculture exacerbated food shortages

Economic/Domestic Policy

Agricultural Collectivization(1949 - 1958)

Aims:

• abolish private farming

• gather land and resources to boost agricultural efficiency

• Eliminate landlords and enhance state control over peasants

Impacts:

• disruption of traditional farming

• decline in productivity due to forced communal living and political pressure

• intense social control including public denunciations

• initial modest productivity gains followed by famine

Social Policy

Hukou System(late 1950’s)

Aims:

• control population movement by classifying citizens as agricultural or non-agricultural residents

• manage resource distribution and migration

Impacts:

• restricted rural urban migration, formalized social stratification and impacted socio-economic opportunities