The origins of the cultural revolution: the great leap forward, Vol. 2

The 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. This is the final volume in a trilogy that examines the politics, personalities, economics, culture, and international relations of China from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. It seeks to answer the central question: Why did Chairman Mao Zedong launch the Cultural Revolution (1966--76), which plunged China into chaos and almost destroyed its Communist Party? The Coming of the Cataclysm starts with the great famine of the early 1960s, which resulted in tens of millions of deaths and set in train a series of emergency measures that increasingly divided Mao from his comrades-in-arms. His anger that they were prepared to adopt "capitalist" methods to rescue the country was sharpened by his belief that Moscow had actually gone capitalist and sold out to the "imperialist" West. From 1961 to 1966, the period covered by this volume, the increasingly urgent question for Mao was how to prevent a similar revolutionary degeneration in China. The Cultural Revolution was his answer.Drawing upon new evidence from Party documents, personal interviews, books, and journals, MacFarquhar details the growing rift between Mao and his colleagues as they attempted to cope with domestic privation and an increasingly hostile international environment -- until the Chairman finally decided to smash the unity of the Yan'an Round Table by unleashing society against the party-state Frontmatter Preface (page ix) Abbreviations (page xiii) Chinese names (page xiv) Introduction (page 1) Part One: Charge 1 Mao in Moscow (page 7) 2 The Politburo Tours China (page 20) 3 The Chengtu Conference (page 35) 4 The Leap is Launched (page 51) 5 The Coming of the Communes (page 77) 6 High Tide (page 91) Part Two: Retreat 7 Withdrawal at Wuhan (page 119) 8 Mao Veers Right (page 136) 9 Chairman Liu (page 160) Part Three: Clash 10 High Noon at Lushan (page 187) Part Four: Defeat 11 The Sino-Soviet Split Emerges (page 255) 12 The End of the Leap (page 293) Conclusions (page 326) Abbreviations used in notes (page 337) Notes (page 339) Bibliographical Note (page 434) Bibliography (page 436) Index (page 447) This is the final volume in a now-classic trilogy that seeks an answer to this question as it examines the politics, economics, culture, and international relations of China from the mid-1950s to the mid 1960s. "The Coming of the Cataclysm" explores the important events leading up to the Cultural Revolution, and details the ways in which Mao continually tested the Chinese Communist Party. Reason began to prevail in the summer of 1960 as a gloomily pensive Mao realized the enormity of what he had perpetrated. Roderick Macfarquhar. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [436]-446) And Index.