20 - Violence in Revolutionary China, 1949–1963

Summary

This chapter shows that terror and violence were integral part of the Great Leap Forward in Mao’s China. From the outset of the collectivisation in 1958, terror and violence was used to whip those unwilling individuals into joining collectives. Mao conceived of the People’s Commune as an environment without legal safeguards, which operated strictly as a military organization, meaning that violence could be practiced with impunity. Terror and repression were used against a much wider population, and the level of violence intensified. For many, the practice of violence became a habit that needed no intellectual rationale. Endless ‘struggle’ meetings also provided opportunities for venting personal revenge and for other selfish pursuits. Grass-roots cadres used their positions of power to extract as much benefit for themselves, while punishing anyone they disliked or with whom they disagreed. To survive, peasants fought against peasants in the People’s Commune, and in some cases even family members fought one another. In the pursuit of Mao’s utopia, unleashed by totalitarianism, between 2 to 3 million people were tortured to death or were killed deliberately during the Great Leap Forward between 1958 and 1961.