The Red Dream: Nation Built On Million Skulls

Modern nations are fairly young on the world stage of geopolitics, in fact, the nation-state as an idea dates not far too back in recorded history. Small city-states, principalities, kingdoms, and few empires ruled the majority of humanity. One of these kingdoms was the middle kingdom. People inhabiting the lands in this kingdom had a notion of them being the center of the world. Most of the people may recognize this kingdom by its much more familiar name “China”. Officially known as the People’s Republic of China(PRC).

China as a political entity in its current form came into existence back in 1949 when Mao Zedong claimed China as a communist nation from than Republic of China (ROC) led by Kuomintang. The defeats of ROC lead to two major outcomes, first was the creation of Taiwan and the second was communist China embarking on its journey to prosperity

A price paid for prosperity

Prosperity eluded China for far too long, largely due to the myopic vision of its leaders supplemented by the lackluster implementation of policies. A mix of all these factors created a situation where Chine ended up chasing the utopian dream. The price for all this was paid by the general population of China. China being a one-party socialist and communist state meant everyone had to give up on their assets and belongings. Simply put, everyone was the owner of every asset in the nation but in reality, the state was the sole owner.

The consequences of choosing communism over democracy struck Chinese people when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) asked people to openly express their thoughts on CCP. This campaign was beautifully named The Hundred Flowers Campaign. Naive Chinese didn’t know this was never about expressing their thoughts on CCP and expecting it to work on them. This campaign gave a clear picture of the number of people who were against the CCP and criticized their policies. What followed this campaign was the brutal crackdown on intellectuals and liberals who didn’t align with the national policy and CCPs ideology. Mass detention, public shaming, forced labor, and executions were conducted throughout the 1957-1959 period. Massive re-education drives were conducted to make people align with CCP ideology. Incarceration would be the best one could expect if they fail to praise the CCP   The bottom line was clear “China means CCP, not the Chinese people”.

Great Leap Forward in China; Great Chinese Famine

As all this misery was not enough, another ill-conceived campaign was pushed down the throats of Chinese people adding insult to their injuries. What was supposed to be the defining event for the Chinese, turned out to be the greatest disaster of all time for Mao’s communist China. Great Leap Forward was the brainchild of Mao and another nightmare dressed like a daydream for the Chinese people. Mao met the Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev back in late 1957 and both the leaders discussed the future policies for their respective nations. It was widely viewed by nations around the globe as the two huge communist bloc nations with huge populations were making all the fanfare in media. It was the best time for Mao to press the accelerator on his propaganda machinery and make some outlandish commitments, and he did not fail to do so. As the communist Soviet Union was making some remarkable gains on their western contemporaries, Nikita announced that Soviet Union will overtake the US in the next 15 years, to which Mao responded by stating China will overtake Britain in the same amount of time. This hasty announcement was the harbinger of suffering that was on the way.

In the follow-up actions to the announcement, CCP forced people to abandon their homes and give up all of their belongings. Communes and community kitchens were set up for residential and dining purposes respectively. In the starting people were provided 5 meals a day and were forced to work in fields or industries for long hours. Helter-skelter industry for steal manufacturing sprang all around the country. These makeshift manufacturing units were quite acquainted with accidents. Desperation for increasing the output of steel could be gauged with the fact that people were forced to give up their utensils for smelting and steel manufacturing.

Adding to this was the failure of crops and nationwide famine which led CCP to take measures such as food rationing. Food was only offered to the ones who could work. It was reported that Mao told one of his comrades “If half the population could get sufficient amount of food and be able to work, then it is ok to let the other half be left without food”. This translated into 45 million deaths of innocent Chinese. One account offered by a survivor states “people had their hands crushed or thumbs cut off for stealing potatoes”. All it mattered for Mao was the image of China as a global power that can go toe to toe with other superpowers. Just keep his veil of prosperity and happiness intact. Mao refused the aid provided by USSR, the US, and red-cross. 

He even went to the lengths of providing food supplies to neighboring nations as aid just to portray to the world that everything was good at home. Countless lives perished during this period, but CCP puts the number somewhere around 10 million, and that too is the result of natural calamity. All around the globe people know it well that how reliable and transparent the data provided by CCP is.

China has always been sensitive about its image and has gone to extraordinary lengths to reject its shortcomings let alone addressing them. A great leap forward resulted in the fate of millions tumbling off the precipice.