Summary of Frank Dikötter's Mao's Great Famine

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 After Stalin’s death in 1953, Mao was able to break free from his influence. He had no problems taking the money from the Russians, and used it to lead a ragged band of guerrilla fighters to ultimate power. However, he always kept his eye on the Russian funding.

#2 When Mao won the war against Chiang Kai-shek, he was given only $300 million in military aid over five years. He had to give up major territorial concessions, but he did obtain a treaty with the Soviet Union providing for mutual protection in the event of aggression by Japan or its allies.

#3 After Stalin’s death, Mao finally saw a chance to secure independence from the Kremlin and claim leadership of the socialist camp. He assumed that he was the leading light of communism, which was about to crush capitalism.

#4 Khrushchev was very critical of Stalin’s handling of Mao, and he resolved to put relations with Beijing on a new footing. He would be Mao’s benevolent tutor, steering the peasant rebel towards a more enlightened form of Marxism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669352761

IRB Media

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Insights on Frank Dikötter's Maos Great Famine

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 19

Insights from Chapter 20

Insights from Chapter 21

Insights from Chapter 22

Insights from Chapter 23

Insights from Chapter 24

Insights from Chapter 25

Insights from Chapter 26

Insights from Chapter 27

Insights from Chapter 28

Insights from Chapter 29

Insights from Chapter 30

Insights from Chapter 31

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

After Stalin’s death in 1953, Mao was able to break free from his influence. He had no problems taking the money from the Russians, and used it to lead a ragged band of guerrilla fighters to ultimate power. However, he always kept his eye on the Russian funding.

#2

When Mao won the war against Chiang Kai-shek, he was given only $300 million in military aid over five years. He had to give up major territorial concessions, but he did obtain a treaty with the Soviet Union providing for mutual protection in the event of aggression by Japan or its allies.

#3

After Stalin’s death, Mao finally saw a chance to secure independence from the Kremlin and claim leadership of the socialist camp. He assumed that he was the leading light of communism, which was about to crush capitalism.

#4

Khrushchev was very critical of Stalin’s handling of Mao, and he resolved to put relations with Beijing on a new footing. He would be Mao’s benevolent tutor, steering the peasant rebel towards a more enlightened form of Marxism.

#5

Mao’s economic policy, known as the Socialist High Tide, was halted in late 1956, at the second plenum of the party congress. The policy had quickly run into trouble, and famine appeared in some provinces.

#6

The collapse of the Hundred Flowers campaign in June 1957 confirmed the Chairman’s suspicion that rightist conservatism was the major ideological enemy, and that rightist inertia was behind the current economic stagnation. He wanted to revive the policies of the Socialist High Tide, which had been discredited by an outpouring of criticism from the very experts he had tried to court.

Insights from Chapter