GLF - aims

Question 1

industrial aims

Answer 1

Mao was impatient at the slow pace of economic progress
* aimed to skip the regular devlopmental stages

• targets were constantly being revised upwards
• Mao wanted to surpass Britains steel production in just 15 years

Question 2

ideological reasons

Answer 2

• ‘walking on two legs’ increasing both agricultural and industrial production simultaneously

the regime declared
* ‘general steel’ and ‘general grain’ were in charge of the economy

Question 3

economic reasons

Answer 3

During the 1st five year plan
* agriculture faltered
* but industry grew by 18.3%

Mao believed mass mobilisation and revolutionary spirit could overcome techonlogical obstacles

Question 4

cold war

Answer 4

• communist technology appeared to be ascendant over the west
• with the launch of sputnik it looked like the space race had been won

In a 1957 moscow speech Mao declared ‘the east wind is prevailing over the west wind’

Question 5

international reasons

Answer 5

• Mao wanted to place china as the leading communist nation in Asia
• Khrushchev promised the USSR would overtake the US in industrial production by 1980
• not to be outdone, Mao told the party they must ‘overtake Britain in fifteen or more years’