the great leap forward

the great leap forward was focused on ordinary people in towns to get involved in small scale industry

mao believed the industry could only prosper if the workforce were well fed and if modernised industries were to produce tools for agricultural workers to help grow more food

he made farmer cooperatives join together as communes

each commune would have industrial/farming targets

the communes abolished private land/property

family life was replaced by shared canteens and dormitories

it is estimated that 600,000 backyard furnaces produced 11…