The Great Leap Forward

Great Leap Forward Great Leap Forward (1958-1960), economic and social plan initiated by Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung), with the intent of radically increasing agricultural and industrial production in the People's Republic of China, and of bringing China to the brink of a utopian communist society.The Great Leap Forward was a reaction to the Hundred Flowers Campaign, a more moderate development program in China in 1957. In this earlier program, Mao Zedong tried …

…as counterrevolutionary during the Leap, was actively encouraged. Originally Mao Zedong went along with these policies, but he increasingly felt that they betrayed his vision of socialism. He grew suspicious of other CCP leaders, such as Deng Xiaoping (Teng Hsiao-p'ing), who had advocated moderate policies. His differences with Deng and others drove Mao to launch the Cultural Revolution in 1966 to purge his perceived opponents and to try to restore his ideal of a Chinese revolution.