Mao's Rule

Why Mao is an absolute monster

The main reason for the failure of the Great Leap Forward was the unwillingness of Mao and the government to acknowledge the faults within their policies during the Great Leap Forward campaign. As stated by Michael Lynch, "Mao would not accept that his policies were at fault ... His invariable reaction to the news of failure was to blame the messenger." Mao and the government would not acknowledge the faults of their policies, causing the pre-existing mistakes to continue exist and deteriorate. Even when Mao actually noted the faults of the government policies, Mao disregard them, even claiming these faults to be necessary for the progression of the Great Leap Forward. As stated by Jung Chang and Halliday, Mao's reaction to the casualties of the Great Leap Forward was that his "was more than ready for myriad deaths to results. ... [Mao] should not be too shock if [casualties] happen." Mao's disregard of the faults in his policies, and his unwillingness to acknowledge these faults caused pre-existing problems to continue their undermining of the Great Leap Forward campaign. 

It's a trap!

The Hundred Flowers Campaign was a trap set by Mao to lure out all his potential opposition by letting them to speak out against him. As said by historian Jung Chang and John Halliday, "Mao was setting up a trap and ... inviting people to speak out so ... he could then use what they said as an excuse to victimise them." Another critic of Mao criticized Mao's socialism to be "a socialism sprung from a basis of feudalism." The Hundred Flowers Campaign was merely a trap for Mao to identify potential opposition. Mao never genuinely want democracy.