What were the social and economic effects of the Great Leap Forward (specifically the 2nd Five Year Plan)?

Pages 207-211

When was the Great Leap Forward announced?

When was the Great Leap Forward announced?

In May 1958 at the 8th CCP Congress along with the 2nd Five Year Plan which would form part of the GLF.

Backyard Furnaces
What were they?
What was their purpose? Why?

• Every family was urged to construct their own backyard furnace and melt down their metal objects (pots,pans,woks) to produce 'steel' to allow industry to 'leap forward'

• Mao was optimistic since the apparent success of the water conservancy campaign of the previous winter

• Mao had announced in the autumn of 1957 that steel production would quadruple inside the next 4 years

Backyard Furnaces

Postitives

• In September 1958 14% of China's steel came from local furnaces but by October it was 49%

• It gathered mass participation and at its peak a 1/4 of the population abandoned normal activities to take part

Backyard Furnaces

Negatives

• It put an unsustainable strain of food production so they had to close schools and deploy peasant shock brigades in order to get in the harvest

• By the spring of 1959 it became apparent that the steel being produced in homemade furnaces was useless and low grade and the only useful steel was the being produced in smelting plants. However they feared losing face so the peasants continued and the steel was buried by the authorities so they wouldn't find out

• Vast swathes of woodland were destroyed to supply fuel for furnaces which led to soil erosion and flooding

De-centralisation

How did it work? Why did Mao support it?

• Giving more freedom to the local party officials, the cadres, to harness the energies of the masses

• Mao thought that if that state bureaucrats continued to control planning, it would hold back the pace of change

State-owned enterprises

How did it work? Why might Mao have supported it?

• It was the movement towards state ownership of businesses to private instead

• Prices, output targets and wages were set by the state so there was no more bargaining between workers and employers for better conditions

State-owned enterprises

Positives

Workers enjoyed guaranteed jobs and wages and certain medical and educational benefits.

State-owned enterprises

Negatives

• The inefficient system removed the incentive to work harder

• Any surplus went to the state so the running of state-owned enterprises did not matter to workers or management

Construction projects

How did it work?

Work brigades were sent out from the communes to construct dams and reservoirs using only the most rudimentary equipment.

Construction projects

Why might Mao have supported it?

Mao saw the masses of China as it’s main asset and felt that they could be used to achieve the desired result without advanced machinery.

Construction projects

Some of the projects were slightly successful but it was mainly just negatives. What are the negatives?

• The 3 Gate Gorge Dam had to be rebuilt within a year and by 1961 twice as much mud was being deposited downstream and foreign visitors were banned from going near the dam

• Cost in terms of lives lost and labour taken away from farming was colossal

• Disruption of existing drainage patterns led to increase in salinisation which reduced the productivity of the land