The Cultural Revolution 1966-76

The Cultural Revolution originated in the disastrous outcome of Mao’s second five-year plan also known as The Great Leap Forward 1958 – 62. Mao believed that the ideal way to modernize Chinese economy was by collectivizing: private farming ceased to exist and the Chinese peasantry was to regard their commune as their private relation – not their family. This was a huge social transformation. Furthermore, agricultural land was divided into 70000 communes which were now under the control of the central government: the state decided which crops the farmers should grow, which farming methods they should apply (an eight point agricultural “constitution” based on Lesenko), how the sale and distribution of agricultural products should take place and at what price (the state now functioned as the ultimate landlord). The Great Leap Forward ended out in the most extensive famine in Chinese history. It did so for many reasons: Lysenko’s “super-crops” turned out to be an utter failure, the Collectivization Program discouraged the individual peasant from producing food beyond his own immediate needs, the attempted Pest Control backfired (created imbalance in the ecosystems), and most importantly people were afraid of going against Mao, leaving the situation to carry out for way too long. Around 20 million people died.