Peoples communes

Source 9
'By the end of 1958, 700 million people had been placed into 26,578 communes. The speed with which this was achieved was astounding. However, the government did all that it could to whip up enthusiasm for the communes. Propaganda was everywhere – including in the fields where the workers could listen to political speeches as they worked as the communes provided public address systems. Everybody involved in communes was urged not only to meet set targets but to beat them. If the communes lacked machinery, the workers used their bare hands. Major constructions were built in record time – though the quality of some was dubious.

The Great Leap Forward also encouraged communes to set up "back-yard" production plants. The most famous were 600,000 backyard furnaces which produced steel for the communes. When all of these furnaces were working, they added a considerable amount of steel to China’s annual total – 11 million tonnes.' 

Published from the website http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/great_leap_forward.htm

Ideological and International Motives...

Source 8

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2642397

An extract in understanding the ideological underpinnings of the great leap forward and the tensions between China and Soviet union, who were in turn meant to be perfect ideological states yet completely differed on ideological differences and how China felt the need to depart from Russia in order to gain independence
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'During the second half of the 1950s, strains in the Sino-Soviet alliance gradually began to emerge over questions of ideology, security, and economic development. Chinese leaders were disturbed by the Soviet Union's moves under Nikita Khrushchev toward deStalinization and peaceful coexistence with the West. Moscow's successful earth satellite launch in 1957 strengthened Mao's belief that the world balance was in the communists' favor--or, in his words, "the east wind prevails over the west wind"--leading him to call for a more militant policy toward the noncommunist world in contrast to the more conciliatory policy of the Soviet Union.
In retrospect, the major ideological, military, and economic reasons behind the Sino-Soviet split were essentially the same: for the Chinese leadership, the strong desire to achieve self-reliance and independence of action outweighed the benefits Beijing received as Moscow's junior partner.'

http://countrystudies.us/china/128.htm
This source demonstrates the tension between the two communist state, and how China began to feel to dependent on the Russians

On the other hand not an entire Failure!

Source 7

We can see here that during the years of the Great Leap Forward there is an increase in China's GDP, sky rocketing from what it used to be, and hihger than many other countries however decreases back down after the years of the GLF. Suggesting that the GLF did achieve its economy aims and increase Steel production.

What were people's attitudes to the Great Leap Forward?

Source 6
An extract from Anhua Gao from the book To The Edge Of The Sky (2000)

'Mao called on the nation to increase production of steel to an extraordinarily high level. He raised the slogan 'Catch up with Britain within fifteen years!' All over the city we saw the slogan. The radio relayed the same message. At school, the teachers wrote the slogan on the blackboards. The roads had huge billboards that shouted 'Catch up with Britain within fifteen years!' All public buildings and vehicles displayed it. Shops had it chalked on boards slung from the ceiling. Huge portraits of Chairman Mao looked down on us, with the slogan written underneath. It was everywhere. 
I was curious. We Chinese had to catch with Britain within fifteen years. Britain was the reason I couldn't enjoy my grandmother's wonderful cooking and had to eat the no-so-good food from the canteen. Where, I wondered, was Britain.'


Just a small extract in seeing how the population felt with Mao's new found idea's, and how enforced was the idea of Great Leap Forward, being shoved and pushed in extreme cases in order to gain the peoples support and indoctrinate people into believing that through Mao's idea of the GLF China can be transformed into a new world leading Power.

A quick look at stats

Source 5.
In order to gain understanding of the effects of the GLF, i wanted to have a look at some statistics, and this website came up http://www.digitalsurvivors.com/archives/visualizinggreatleapforward.php .
We are able to see a dip in the chart between 1959-1962, in which the starvation of millions of people went through as a result of the Great Leap Forward, we can understand that this means that Mao's aims of economic building was not met, and increasing targets were set up in short periods of time.
Also we can see a huge dip in child birth rate, in which during this period of time the peoples communes were set up and people were discouraged from the sphere of a family and a personal life. We can see a correlation between calorie intake and children death rate, in which the lower the calorie intake the higher percentage of children died.

By looking at these charts, we have proof of Mao persistently pushing his aims to high, resulting in the widespread famine and death of millions across China's rural area's. People may argue that people died under unintentional harm, and Mao was only trying to pull China out of its poverty line, people died under natural causes, i.e starvation, widespread famine, droughts...However we can relate this back to Mao, why was there a famine across China? Why where not regulated aims, and how the result of his initial aims being far from possible  claimed the lives of many innocent citizens.

The start to Mao's Great Leap Forward

Soure 4.
Click Here: Great Leap Forward video source

This video demonstrates different view points and build up towards the failures of the great leap Forward.
Mao's first concern was steel, in order to catch up with Britain and the US he need to strengthen and boost the economy in order for China to be on the same page as Britain and America. However the first fault of his aims was by hoping to achieve this in a dismal 15 years, meaning rapid industrialization methods and mobilize the masses to work day and night.
In order to mobilize the masses Mao used a large form of propaganda to bring the enthusiasm to China, and to encourage the nation by working harder they will create a better future. This source is also useful by bringing witnesses of the time of the GLF and real experiences, which is useful in understanding people's experiences rather than bits of text.
We see that Mao is able to achieve his aims of increading the production line and mobilising the masses, the start of the GLF seemed to be positive and a new start to a new China.

Final Draft of question and source

Source 3.
This will be the final edit of my essay question which I will answer:
'How far did Mao achieve his initial aims in the Great Leap forward?'

I want to publish another propaganda poster in showing how Mao went about publicising the importance of achieving his aims.
http://chineseposters.net/themes/great-leap-forward.php

The commune is like a gigantic dragon, production is visibly awe-inspiring, 1959

The Poster is showing Chinese citizens of all sorts of different jobs, caring a basket of grain and agriculture produce, and you can see gold steel coming out of the basket to highlight Smelting. The are standing on a dragon, symbolizing the great patriotism of China, and bringing back memories to people of the great nation China once was. It promotes patriotism through the dragon and the colours of gold and red running through the picture for people to rediscover their love for China.

 The poster is really key in understanding the publicity of the GLF, in order to understand why people were so enthusiastic on the GLF, and not many questioned Mao on his aims being impossible. People wanted to pull out of the poverty lifestyle China has entered, and Mao has created an opportunity in which China can become a great world Power.
In publishing this poster, Mao wanted to give people a geiunue idea of what China will be like if they just work together as one nation and achieve their aims, and by doing so, relifting the great nation of China once more.

Cannibalism. Where it began to go wrong...

Source 2.
Here I have two sources on the affects of starvation, and the famine had on people
First is from a writer called Yang Jisheng, who wrote the book tombstone (2008) exposing Mao's secret Famine, this extract he is asking a local, Yu Dehong, a retired cadre from the local waterworks bureau, gives an account on his experience In China,
'The surviving residents protested later that they had been too short-handed and exhausted to give the dead the dignity of a burial. They blamed the disfigured corpses on hungry dogs, whose eyes, according to rumours which swept the area, had turned red after gnawing at human flesh. “That is not true,” said Yu. “All the dogs had already been eaten by humans. How could there be dogs left at the time?” The corpses hadn’t been eaten by ravenous animals. They had been cannibalised by local residents. Many people in Xinyang over that winter, and the two that followed, owed their survival to consuming dead members of their families, or stray corpses they could get their hands on.'
This source is vital for historians, in showing the brutality and cruelty people endured throughout China's famine, not only are we looking at figures of 20 million lives, not just a figure, but really understand the depressing, horrific state China was in, yes China did some good in the great leap forward, but was it worth the millions of lives Mao claimed? Did China ever become a world power by allowing a mass self-genocide to happen?

My second source is by J.Becker, whose extract is from Hungry Ghost (1996)
'That Winter (1960) Cannibalism became common. Generally the villagers ate the flesh of corpses, especially those of children. In rare cases, parents ate their own children, elder brothers ate younger brothers, elder sisters ate their younger sisters. In most cases, cannibalism was not punished by the Public Security Bureaux because it was not considered as severe a crime as destroying state property and the means of production. This latter crime often merited the death sentence.Travelling around the region over thirty years later, every peasant that I met over 50 said he personally knew of a case of cannibalism in his production team.'
This source is chilling in itself 'parents ate their own children', a horrific period, in which not only was their famine, but families destroyed, and emotional bonds broken because of this disastrous period of time. Even worse was the idea that corpses were genuinely not treated rightly and the Public Security Bureaux saw it as no crime, which suggests that the government had no care of the extent people are willing to go due to famine as long as it didn't destroy state property. Also it shows that cannibalism in these regions were not a rare thing, and it was just what people had to do to get by, showing us the true contents of Mao's famine.

These two sources will help me in identifying the difficulties and horrific life these citizens had to go for, It helps me understand a failure of the Great Leap Forward, and creates graphical, visual images for me to interpret what life was really like for people in Mao's Famine.
These sources are more of a devasting aftermath of the GLF which means I need to collect sources for positivity towards Mao's GLF, in order to create a balancing argument for my essay question.

Mao's Great Leap Forward Poster Campaigns

Source 1.
I think my question may be along the lines of Mao's great leap forward, whether it was a success or failure for Mao. I want to display the outcomes of the GLF and whether it pushed China into a world power, or rather pushed it down the ladder of becoming its initial aims.
I found this poster, which promoted the GLF, my question is not a source question, however I want to understand the attitudes and promotions, and propaganda pumped into the Great leap forward.

This poster was promoted in 1960, the caption reads 'Start the movement to increase production and practise thrift, with foodstuffs and steel at the center, with great force!, 1960'
I believe it shows at the bottom, groups of people, from all different kinds of jobs and backgrounds joining together, with all sorts of equipment, to promote the GLF, and using all their skills to be able to work together and create China into a world power.
The centre of the picture, shows a man and a woman, the man holding steel with great triumph to use for  smelting, note he is using only one hand which is practically impossible, showing the strength and effort he is putting into working and reforming China.
Whilst the women is holding a batch of grain, promoting the agricultural activity of China, and to increase food production.
In the background there are waves of China, in order to create patriotism among the people, and in order to make people feel that they WILL create a new China.