ABSTRACT

The Third Plenum in fall 1957 marked a fundamental turning point in the history of the PRC. This meeting saw the first steps towards new economic policies which emerged as the Great Leap Forward in 1958, an unprecedented developmental strategy breaking decisively from the Soviet model. a The new strategy inevitably involved basic changes in organizational relationships and methods. A far-reaching administrative decentralization and a more fluid work style were decreed, measures which upset long standing interests within and without the CCP. Moreover, the departure from the Soviet model which had been the basis of the policy consensus of the previous eight years injected a new note of dissent into higher Party councils. This, in turn, resulted in rectification and purging now increasingly involving high ranking officials and their policy views, a development ominous for an open decision making process. Moreover, despite Mao’s continued advocacy of “gentle breeze and mild rain” methods, rectification within the Party took on more coercive overtones.