Vejas Liulevicius

So many of Mao's actions, like the Great Leap Forward and the agricultural disasters that follow from that, are literally attempts to outdo Stalin, to outperform Stalin, to show that what Stalin was not able to do, the Chinese communist regime will be able to bring off. And the toll for that hubris is vast.

So many of Mao's actions, like the Great Leap Forward and the agricultural disasters that follow from that, are literally attempts to outdo Stalin, to outperform Stalin, to show that what Stalin was not able to do, the Chinese communist regime will be able to bring off. And the toll for that hubris is vast.

So many of Mao's actions, like the Great Leap Forward and the agricultural disasters that follow from that, are literally attempts to outdo Stalin, to outperform Stalin, to show that what Stalin was not able to do, the Chinese communist regime will be able to bring off. And the toll for that hubris is vast.

So it was modeled on the crash industrialization that Stalin had wanted to undertake in the Soviet Union and to outdo it. The notion of the Great Leap Forward was that it would be possible for the peasant masses, out of their conviction in the rightness of the Chinese communist cause, to industrialize China overnight.

So it was modeled on the crash industrialization that Stalin had wanted to undertake in the Soviet Union and to outdo it. The notion of the Great Leap Forward was that it would be possible for the peasant masses, out of their conviction in the rightness of the Chinese communist cause, to industrialize China overnight.

So it was modeled on the crash industrialization that Stalin had wanted to undertake in the Soviet Union and to outdo it. The notion of the Great Leap Forward was that it would be possible for the peasant masses, out of their conviction in the rightness of the Chinese communist cause, to industrialize China overnight.

That involved things like creating small smelting furnaces in individual farm communes. It involved folding together farming territories into vast communes of very large size that were just because of their sheer gigantism supposed to be by definition, more efficient than small scale farming. Um,

That involved things like creating small smelting furnaces in individual farm communes. It involved folding together farming territories into vast communes of very large size that were just because of their sheer gigantism supposed to be by definition, more efficient than small scale farming. Um,

That involved things like creating small smelting furnaces in individual farm communes. It involved folding together farming territories into vast communes of very large size that were just because of their sheer gigantism supposed to be by definition, more efficient than small scale farming. Um,

it ended up producing environmental disasters and campaigns to eliminate birds or insects were supposed to demonstrate mastery over nature by sheer acts of will. These included things like adopting Soviet agricultural methods techniques that were pioneered by a crackpot biologist by the name of Trofim Lysenko. that produced more agricultural disaster.

it ended up producing environmental disasters and campaigns to eliminate birds or insects were supposed to demonstrate mastery over nature by sheer acts of will. These included things like adopting Soviet agricultural methods techniques that were pioneered by a crackpot biologist by the name of Trofim Lysenko. that produced more agricultural disaster.

it ended up producing environmental disasters and campaigns to eliminate birds or insects were supposed to demonstrate mastery over nature by sheer acts of will. These included things like adopting Soviet agricultural methods techniques that were pioneered by a crackpot biologist by the name of Trofim Lysenko. that produced more agricultural disaster.

That involved things like plowing to depths that were not practical for the seeds to germinate and grow, but were supposed to produce super plants that would produce bumper harvests and outpace the capitalist countries and the Soviet Union. So the context for all of this is a race that, to get first to the achievement of full-scale communism.

That involved things like plowing to depths that were not practical for the seeds to germinate and grow, but were supposed to produce super plants that would produce bumper harvests and outpace the capitalist countries and the Soviet Union. So the context for all of this is a race that, to get first to the achievement of full-scale communism.

That involved things like plowing to depths that were not practical for the seeds to germinate and grow, but were supposed to produce super plants that would produce bumper harvests and outpace the capitalist countries and the Soviet Union. So the context for all of this is a race that, to get first to the achievement of full-scale communism.

One of the themes that I think it's so valuable to pursue and to take seriously in the history of communism is what concrete promises were made. In the case of China, Mao made promises and projections for the future that were worrying even to some of his own assistants.

One of the themes that I think it's so valuable to pursue and to take seriously in the history of communism is what concrete promises were made. In the case of China, Mao made promises and projections for the future that were worrying even to some of his own assistants.

One of the themes that I think it's so valuable to pursue and to take seriously in the history of communism is what concrete promises were made. In the case of China, Mao made promises and projections for the future that were worrying even to some of his own assistants.

He exclaimed that perhaps by 1961, perhaps by 1973, China would be the winner in this competition, and it would have achieved full communism. So that which Marx had sketched as the endpoint of humanity would be achieved first by the Chinese. Later, his own comrades, when he passed from the scene, felt the need to temper that a

He exclaimed that perhaps by 1961, perhaps by 1973, China would be the winner in this competition, and it would have achieved full communism. So that which Marx had sketched as the endpoint of humanity would be achieved first by the Chinese. Later, his own comrades, when he passed from the scene, felt the need to temper that a