1958+Great+Leap+Forward

1958 Great Leap Forward


 * 1.Details:**


 * Second Five-year Plan of 1958-62
 * Aim: to turn China into a fully industrialized state
 * Mass effort of Chinese will bring success and change China into a modern state
 * General Steel
 * Backyard furnaces
 * State-owned enterprises: attempt to have industry fully under control of the government; workers benefited from “iron rice bowl” because SOE provided benefits for workers


 * 2. How this helped Mao to consolidate/maintain power**


 * It actually did not help Mao because there were many weaknesses of the Great Leap Forward such as
 * the lack of realism and
 * effective planning,
 * bad quality of the products and
 * Mao’s personal limitations as a planner.
 * The Great Leap Forward resulted in a famine in China, which was criticized by several communists.
 * However by providing workers an “iron rice bowl”, Mao maintained support from the peasants, who were crucial in his plan to success.