The Great Leap Forward

What were the aims of the Great Leap Forward and to what extent was it successful? – Valerie Teo

The Great Leap Forward was a movement in China that started in 1958 and lasted two years till 1960. As a result of the successful economic reconstruction that had taken place in the early 1950’s. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lead by Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-Tung considered it was a time for the Great Leap Forward. The CCP launched the Great Leap Forward campaign under the new “General line for Socialist Construction”. This was a militant approach to economic development in China. The Great Leap Forward was aimed at accomplishing the economic as well as technical development in the country at a great and faster pace and to produce greater results. There were some members of the leadership that tried to outdo each other with more unrealistic calls for a ‘greater, faster and cheaper’ production.

Mao’s decision to pursue the Great Leap Forward was based in p...