the great leap forward

The Great Leap Forward (The Great Leap Forward (1958) was but one example of the Communist vision of social transformation, which was very idealistic but often full of paradoxes. It marked the triumph of the populists over the technocrats. And it was to implement the populists' vision of social transformation and economic development. The Great Leap Forward was to transform China in economy and education.

1. Economic transformation:

• struggle between the populists and the technocrats.
• External influence and pressure: the West, the Soviet Union.
• Rural transformation: people's commune;
• Industrial transformation: steel output.

2. Educational transformation:

• dual track versus single track education
• six years versus five years primary school.

3 Consequences of the Great Leap Forward

• Communal canteens; daycare centers;
• three years famine (1959-1962)

4. The Populist vision and Chinese reality

• the inequality of privilege: the socialist bureaucracy.
• continued inequality between rural and urban, and rich and poor.

5. The youth and political movements

• Exposing the "third layer of thought."