ABSTRACT
The Great Leap Forward saw a continuation of Mao’s commitment to mass mobilization, only this time on a much larger scale. Originally conceived as an ambitious attempt to rapidly and simultaneously increase agricultural and industrial production in order to catch up with the levels of developed Western nations, the Leap relied exclusively on the productive capacities of China’s rural millions who were asked to turn their hands to almost any task from the construction of dams and irrigation canals to the production of steel. Decision making was decentralized to the local commune level where policies were derived from the first hand experience of local residents (especially farmers) rather than the more “abstract” theoretical input of specialist academics who were denigrated during this period. In theory, the Leap was an exercise in the mass line with a view to furthering the mass legitimacy of the party. In practice, it turned out to be something quite different.
