Successes and failures of the Plan
Most targets achieved by 1956
Official statistics show success in most areas
Official statistics may be exaggerated
Urban living standards improved - wages, job security. However, lack of freedom
More migration to cities – more stress on resources
Emphasis on quantity over quality
USSR help highlighted inefficiency in education system and Chinese children remained
uneducated
'Anti' campaigns drove away experts and standard of bureaucratic administration suffered as
a result
Competition between private enterprises and SOEs until 1956
Bad for countryside - sold most grain to state to feed workers and export to Russia
What was the impact of the second 5-year plan, 1958-62?
Formed part of the Great Leap Forward
Not much 'planning' - more mass mobilisation and hope
Responsibility moved from state to party – hence not a ‘plan’
Not much planning announced on specific targets but merely on trust on local cadres,
direction from above using slogans to increase enthusiasm mixed with threats against those
who did not pull their weight
Targets were constantly being revised upwards, sometimes by Mao himself, sometimes from
below, by keen officials trying to create a good impression
Mao's reasons for launching it
Economic - Industrialisation relied on agriculture becoming more productive and efficient in
order to feed industrial workforce. This would free up peasants, who would migrate to the
cities to become urban workers
Economic - Mao needed consumer goods to offer peasants incentives, so agricultural and
therefore industry would improve. However, this was not possible (so not a good reason for
launch)
Personal - Mao was encouraged by speed of collectivisation by 1958
- Water conservancy schemes were successful 1957-58
- Provincial tour of early 1958 had been received well
- Cadres wanted to prove revolutionary zeal to Mao making him more
ambitious
Political - Mao wanted to prove to USSR and become leader of communist world. Wanted to
do both at once to prove this
Political - Conservatives like Zhou Enlai and Chen Yu advocated a ‘carrot’ approach of
rewarding high food producers with material incentives (more consumer goods and higher
Most targets achieved by 1956
Official statistics show success in most areas
Official statistics may be exaggerated
Urban living standards improved - wages, job security. However, lack of freedom
More migration to cities – more stress on resources
Emphasis on quantity over quality
USSR help highlighted inefficiency in education system and Chinese children remained
uneducated
'Anti' campaigns drove away experts and standard of bureaucratic administration suffered as
a result
Competition between private enterprises and SOEs until 1956
Bad for countryside - sold most grain to state to feed workers and export to Russia
What was the impact of the second 5-year plan, 1958-62?
Formed part of the Great Leap Forward
Not much 'planning' - more mass mobilisation and hope
Responsibility moved from state to party – hence not a ‘plan’
Not much planning announced on specific targets but merely on trust on local cadres,
direction from above using slogans to increase enthusiasm mixed with threats against those
who did not pull their weight
Targets were constantly being revised upwards, sometimes by Mao himself, sometimes from
below, by keen officials trying to create a good impression
Mao's reasons for launching it
Economic - Industrialisation relied on agriculture becoming more productive and efficient in
order to feed industrial workforce. This would free up peasants, who would migrate to the
cities to become urban workers
Economic - Mao needed consumer goods to offer peasants incentives, so agricultural and
therefore industry would improve. However, this was not possible (so not a good reason for
launch)
Personal - Mao was encouraged by speed of collectivisation by 1958
- Water conservancy schemes were successful 1957-58
- Provincial tour of early 1958 had been received well
- Cadres wanted to prove revolutionary zeal to Mao making him more
ambitious
Political - Mao wanted to prove to USSR and become leader of communist world. Wanted to
do both at once to prove this
Political - Conservatives like Zhou Enlai and Chen Yu advocated a ‘carrot’ approach of
rewarding high food producers with material incentives (more consumer goods and higher
