![]() Mao gave the following solution: "No worse than eat less. In January of 1958, a government meeting concluded that there was not enough food to eat. 15 Before the Great Leap Forward began, China did not have enough food to feed the population and the Communist Government knew it. In 1960, the Communist Government estimated that the "average daily calorie intake fell to 1,534.8." 14 This is less half the estimated 3,100-3,900 calorie/day international standard needed by a man working a hard eight-hour day. The report was sent privately to Mao whose response was to circulate "it to all the senior cadres. In April of 1959, a series of reports were shown to Chairman Mao stating that "there was severe starvation in half of the country." and "his response was to ask the provinces to 'deal with it.'" 12 In July of the same year, Mao received a report from an army marshal who called into question the 375 million tons of grain reportedly produced from the previous year. Reports of the food situation and missed goals did trickle into the government, but they were ignored. One such need was used to produce ethyl alcohol for fuel in "missile tests, each of which consumed 10 million kilograms of grain, enough to radically deplete the food intake of 1-2 million people for a whole year." 10 Another use was to export the grain for money and other military projects in which millions of tons were exported. The Communist Government appropriated grain for its needs as though the goals were met while the peasants went without food. Local leaders continued to give false reports of meeting impossible goals and other local leaders followed suit in order to keep pace. "Cowed by the mass rural hunts for dissidents, and manipulated by their local political leaders who were often fighting their own career battles, local peasants dared not dispute even the most fanciful claims for higher agricultural yields." 9 A vicious cycle began. ![]() The actual amount of grain produced for 1958 was 215 million tons 8 which was nearly 52% less than what was estimated and reported. It can only be peaceful when we take it over." 7Īt first, local leaders claimed they were meeting the lofty goals when in reality they weren't even close. In 1958, Mao told a group of military officers that the "Pacific Ocean is not peaceful. 5 The problem was Mao "calculated on the basis, not of what the peasants could afford, but of what was needed for Mao's Programme." 6 Mao's Programme was militaristic in nature. 4 This was almost twice the actual production of 195 million tons in 1957. A goal of 375 million tons of grain was set for the year 1958. In 1958, the government propaganda told the people "that the goal of the Leap was for China to 'overtake all capitalist countries in a fairly short time, and become one of the richest, most advanced and powerful countries in the world.'" 3 In order to accomplish this goal, the nation would be required to increase production in its main commodity: grain. The leader of Communist China, Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, was the brainchild of the Great Leap Forward. The Communist Government is the main culprit in this mass death because it was ignorant in its lofty goal-setting for grain production, it scared the peasants and local leaders into inflating their statistics, it denied reports of starvation and missed goals, and it ultimately did not care that people would die in the process of taking a "great leap forward." ![]() 2 There are many causes of such an astronomical body count, but they can be grouped into four major categories: ignorance, fear, denial, and apathy. The result was a great jump backward when about "38 million people died of starvation and overwork" in the ensuing famine that followed. The goal was to increase the country's grain and cereal production by grouping the peasants into "thousands or even tens of thousands of families, with everything to become communical." 1 The peasants would work longer and harder while practicing extreme frugality. ![]() In May of 1958, the People's Republic of China launched The Great Leap Forward, an effort by the country's leaders to transform China into a military superpower in just five years. ![]()
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