The Great Leap Forward - Ft. Nick Crowley

The Great Leap Forward was the name given to economic and social programs devised by the Communist Party of China and Chairman Mao. The goal was to improve farming practices and increase productivity, namely in areas such as steel. The largely peasant classes would be the driving force for this movement, with limited support from the state. Due to state oppression, poorly handled natural disasters and over reporting of production, the Great Leap Forward failed and resulted in the loss of millions of innocent lives

[DisturbanHistory]

Hey everyone! Nicks channel is in the description if you want to check it out! Highly recommended!

[panqueque]

"Let's have the peasants make their own steel"
"Should we teach them how?"
"Nah, they'll figure it out"

[plapin]

Mao really pulled a Lord Farquaad:
“Some of you may die; but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make”

[airplanetowardsthesky]

What’s sad is that even people who went through this still see Mao in a positive light. That’s the power of propaganda. I talked with an exchange student from China about Mao because I was curious what people in China thought of him. She said that people think all the atrocities weren’t his fault and that other people in the party were at fault.

[AmieEss]

> melt farming tools
> plant crops really close together
> kill all the bug-eating sparrows

A testament to the deadliness of ignorance.

[Criticaldrinker]

The fact that this occurred less than 100 years ago is mind blowing. This should be required learning in all classrooms.

[cosmicmelon]

Mao: "Hey! Plant all of the same crops right next to each other! They'll help one another grow!"
The plants: *IN THIS WORLD, IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED*

[cheekloins]

My mother passed this morning, my only coping mechanism is seeing how much worse it could be.
Thank you for these videos.

[aurorawolfe]

so basically tens of millions of people died because of the leadership's ignorance and ego. they would rather people die than admit they made horrible mistakes, and delay the change in course of action...

[nightmarefanatic]

Another book I recommend is The Corpse Walkers by Liao Yiwu, a series of interviews of people from different rungs of the social ladder. It came out in 2002 so a lot of the people had lived through the famine. One former guard talked about how people in the town he was assigned to would trade their children amongst different families so they would not be killing and eating their own children. Not surprisingly, there was always plenty of food for the officers to feast every night, justifying it by how "important" they were to the cause.

[countessmorncreek]

I was and still am grateful that this terrible period of history was covered. Too many people focus on Mao and not nearly enough on the millions of people who died. This video bears witness to their needless deaths. Thank you Disturban, you and your brother are AMAZING.

[lfirstnamel]

there was actually a sequel to mao's "little red book" called the "big red book"

the cover is actually black, and the 800 pages are all empty. you are just expected to bash sparrows to death with it, making the book red from blood and thereby transitioning into a higher form of communism

[thesenate]

"We're gonna make almost everyone a farmer and take away their properites"
"Those farmers will be a part of metal industry even though they don't know shit about it"
"There shall be quotas"

3 sentences before a massive famine/death.

[TheIITroubleIIMaker]

Great video, terrible tragedy. Just remember, history runs in patterns.

[JonasC]

When your government thinks it can do no wrong and refuses to be held accountable, bad things happen.
Kinda feeling like history is doomed to repeat itself forever.

[grantmck]

I find it fascinating that people deny reality in the face of such circumstances as they watch themselves and those around them starving to death. Chernobyl was another great example of denying clear and present danger to preserve the myth of the state. Would love a video on that👌

[samiamthesuperhero]

The uneven distribution of food at this level is mass murder. Dope coverage!

[hebneh]

The remarkable thing about this catastrophe was how successfully it was concealed from the outside world. Few foreigners were allowed into China at the time and they could only visit selected cities, which were kept supplied with food. Thus the starving millions were kept unseen.

[McMillanScottish]

Mau said, “Russia didn’t succeed because they did communism wrong.“ Where have I heard that before?

[one-eyedghoul]

Cold War history is always so bloody and violent despite the main two super powers never actually engaging in battles. The proxy wars, revolutions and civil wars were enough. The power of ideologies I guess. Great video.