The Origins of the Cultural Revolution: Volume II, the Great Leap Forward 1958--1960The second volume in a trilogy which examines the politics, economics, culture and international relations of Chines from the mid-1950s to he mid-1960s, this volume tells the story of the Great Leap Forward--Mao's utopian attempt to propel China economically and socially into the twenty-fist century by mobilizing his nation's greatest asset: its disciplined, manpower. The effort produced economic disaster and political dissension, and helped to precipitate the Sino-Soviet split. Today's leaders point to it as the beginning of two decades of national trauma, which ended only after the death of Mao and the purge of the Gang of Four. Those leaders have recently authorized the release of a mass of new documentation in the form of political reminiscences, economic statistics, and leaders' speeches. This volume is the first scholarly work to use the new material comprehensively, weaving it into the narrative along with the contemporary record and the revelations published in Red Guard newspapers during the cultural revolution. The result is the most detailed account and analysis to date of what went wrong and why. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Mao in Moscow | 7 |
The Politburo Tours China | 20 |
The Chengtu Conference | 35 |
The Leap Is Launched | 51 |
The Coming of the Communes | 77 |
High Tide | 91 |
Withdrawal at Wuhan | 119 |
High Noon at Lushan | 187 |
The SinoSoviet Split Emerges | 255 |
The End of the Leap | 293 |
Conclusions | 326 |
Abbreviations used in notes | 337 |
Notes | 339 |
Bibliographical Note | 434 |
Bibliography | 436 |
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1st secretary 8th Congress agricultural APCs April attack brigade cadres campaign CC's cent Ch'en Yi Ch'en Yun Chairman Chan Pao Chang Wen-t'ien Chengchow Chengchow conference Chengtu Chinese Chou En-lai colleagues Communist China Comrade CPSU criticized cultural revolution ECMM economic foreign grain Honan Hunan I-po Ibid industry issued JMJP June Khrushchev Kwangtung labour later leaders leadership leap forward Lin Piao Liu Shao-ch'i Liu's Lu Ting-yi Lushan Lushan conference Mao Tse-tung ssu-hsiang Mao's speech Marshal ment military million tons Minister Miscellany months Moscow munes official output P'eng Chen P'eng Teh-huai party peasants Peitaiho Peking Peng people's communes People's Daily plenum Politburo political problems production province revolutionary role Russians SCMM SCMM(S SCMP SCMP(S session Shanghai Shaoshan Sino-Soviet Dispute Soviet Union steel Szechwan T'an Chen-lin targets Teng Hsiao-p'ing tion trans Tse-tung ssu-hsiang wan Wang Wuhan