Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward and rural collectivization in China

¶ … China's economic reform

Totalitarianism has oftenly been described as being the most awful movement of the 20th century: it has affected the entire world, it has led to many innocent deaths and it has been against the natural economic development. Even though, in its early beginning, communism has wanted itself to be the proper solution for all the nations that used to dream to equality and peacefulness among people. Despite this fact, Marx's theories had proven to be wrong and, instead of installing peace and stability, they have been the reasons for many years of bloodshed and terror.

Among the countries in the deepest sense affected by communism there has surely been China; this state and its people have seen the totalitarian regime as a form of salvation from poverty and economic insuccesses, and they still see it as such, since they maintained their wish to live within its boundaries in the 21st century as well.

As it might be inferred from above, the communist movement has a long history in China; everything started in 1935, when "Mao Zedong became the leader of communist party. In 1945 after Japanese capitulation the civil war broke out which ended in 1949 by creation of People's Republic of China which was headed by Mao Zedong. The period of Mao's rule was that of experiments in economy, agriculture and social life."

The Maoist Period

Unlike the earlier forms of Marxism-Leninism in which the urban proletariat was seen as the main source of revolution, and the countryside was largely ignored, Mao focused on the peasantry as a revolutionary force which, he said, could be mobilized by a Communist Party with their knowledge and leadership."

The background for Mao's conception is considered to be the Chinese Communist rural insurgency of the 1920s and 1930s, which offered the chance to the Communist Party of China to come to power. That is why, unlike other communist regimes, which were based on industrial development, Maoism was mainly keen on rural change, as the Chinese population was mostly made of peasants. In addition, in the case of the Chinese communism, the military power is also very important, as "political power comes from the barrel of the gun," and it is made of the peasantry itself, which would act in three stages: in the first instance, the peasantry would be organized and mobilized; afterwards "rural base areas and increasing coordination among the guerrilla organizations" would be established and, in the end a transition to conventional warfare would be completed.

The peasantry was as well considered by Mao to be the force which would re-establish the economy: in this framework, in 1957, after China's first Five-Year Plan, "Mao Zedong called for an increase in the speed of growth of "actual socialism" in China. To accomplish this goal, Mao began the Great Leap Forward, establishing special communes in the countryside through the usage of collective labor and mass mobilization. The Great Leap Forward was intended to increase the production of steel and to raise agricultural production to twice 1957 levels."

Even though, the result was not the expected one: peasants were producing too much low quality steel, as they were not qualified workers; moreover, other areas were neglected, a fact which has led to disestablishment of the entire industrial sector and of the agricultural one as well. Similar to other communist experiences, the authorities did not want to admit the system encountered problems so they aggravated the situation by reporting unrealistic production numbers, producing disastrous effects on the economy, which, together with chaos in the collectives and unfavorable climatic conditions, produced great famine and the death of 20 to 30 million people.

Amazing as it might be, these were not the only terrifying measures of the Maoist regime; on May 16, 1966 the "Cultural Revolution" officially began with its purpose of eliminating the bourgeois elements from the Chinese social strata. Other views have put the occurrence of this movement on the fact that it was just another desperate attempt of Mao's to reestablish the authority of the Communist Party, after the failure of the Great Leap Forward. The movement mobilized "not only students but also "the masses of the workers, peasants, soldiers, revolutionary intellectuals, and revolutionary cadres" to carry out the task of "transforming the superstructure" by writing big-character posters and holding "great debates." The decision granted the most extensive freedom of speech the People's Republic has ever seen."

Despite Mao's great attempts, the movement he had produced did not bring anything good to the Chinese people; on the contrary, the economy was seriously injured, and the tendency continued after his death as well. Only after 1976 did the Chinese leaders understand that only through abolishing the people's communes, readmitting family-oriented agriculture, and through a limited introduction of prices and markets would planned economy succeed to function.

One Country, two systems

Besides the reforms in the economic cultural and political domains, Xiaoping attempted first of all to pay attention to the people's desires, and that is why he allowed Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan to respect the capitalist principles, whileas the rest of china would have at its basis the communist ones. In his own words, "the concept of "one country, two systems" has been formulated according to China's realities, and it has attracted international attention. China has not only the Hong Kong problem to tackle but also the Taiwan problem. What is the solution to these problems? As for the second, is it for socialism to swallow up Taiwan, or for the "Three People's Principles" preached by Taiwan to swallow up the mainland? The answer is neither. If the problem cannot be solved by peaceful means, then it must be solved by force. Neither side would benefit from that. Reunification of the motherland is the aspiration of the whole nation. If it cannot be accomplished in 100 years, it will be in 1,000 years."

This decision is surely unique in the entire communist history: Deng has been the only totalitarian leader who accepted a part of his country to run according to the enemy-capitalist principles. Even though, his logic might have a relatively philosophical background in the writings of Marx, who believed that capitalism could only be defeated through its own means, namely by using its own system. What it should not be forgotten is the fact that at that time the Chinese authorities were able to accept anything in order to reach their goal, that of totally transforming china from an economic point-of-view until the beginning of the 21st century.

Moreover, it should not be forgotten that national security has been a main aim of the whole Chinese communist regime, ever since 1949. Even though it was perceived as not having a great importance for the Four Modernizations, it has been avoided its neglecting, and this because of the continuous concern China had with being surrounded by enemies -the Soviets, the Vietnamese and the Indians -. In the Chinese conception, the country could only maintain its position ad status by keeping its people together, whatever the price and the nature of the sacrifice it had to make, even though this would have meant the brake of the communist principles.

However, it is commonly recognized that Deng Xiaoping has played a major role in the history of the Chinese communist regime: it has liberalized it, opened its borders and has drawn the international attention towards it. Thus, by having a liberalized economy and a communist regime, China has entered the World Trade Agreement in 2001, after signing some economic concessions. Moreover, this country has become a great attraction point for foreign investment, due to its cheap workforce. And the roots of these changes have been put by deng and his liberalizing reforms.

Nowadays, the great importance of China in the international trade is a fact. Even though, "what will happen to China in the 21st Century will depend upon the interplay of events inside China and internationally. On the one hand, China is currently more dependent on the world economy than any other recently developed nation at the same point in its development. On the other, internal problems are awesome: the future of the transformation of the state and bureaucracy; the social and economic fragmentation of society as the market creates both winners and losers"; it has many times been assumed that the proper solution for its problems would be for China to adopt a democratic political regime as well. On the other hand, it is still hard to imagine China as working according to the rule of law and having at its basis democratic principles instead of authoritarian ones. Even though, the economic prosperity the country faces from the 20th century onwards might be a sufficient reason to convince its leaders to act according to the international current tendencies.