Claim: Mao Zedong was a political leader.

The Great Leap Forward of the People 's Republic of China -LRB- PRC -RRB- was an economic and social campaign by the Communist Party of China -LRB- CPC -RRB- from 1958 to 1962 . The campaign was led by Chairman Mao Zedong and aimed to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a socialist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization . However , it is widely considered to have caused the Great Chinese Famine .   Chief changes in the lives of rural Chinese included the incremental introduction of mandatory agricultural collectivization . Private farming was prohibited , and those engaged in it were persecuted and labeled counter-revolutionaries . Restrictions on rural people were enforced through public struggle sessions and social pressure , although people also experienced forced labor . Rural industrialization , officially a priority of the campaign , saw `` its development ... aborted by the mistakes of the Great Leap Forward . ''   It is widely regarded by historians that The Great Leap resulted in tens of millions of deaths . A lower-end estimate is 18 million , while extensive research by Yu Xiguang suggests the death toll from the movement is closer to 55 million . Historian Frank Dikötter asserts that `` coercion , terror , and systematic violence were the foundation of the Great Leap Forward '' and it `` motivated one of the most deadly mass killings of human history '' .   The years of the Great Leap Forward saw economic regression , with 1958 through 1962 being the only period -LRB- other than the Cultural Revolution -RRB- between 1953 and 1976 in which China 's economy shrank . Political economist Dwight Perkins argues , `` enormous amounts of investment produced only modest increases in production or none at all . ... In short , the Great Leap was a very expensive disaster . ''   In subsequent conferences in March 1960 and May 1962 , the negative effects of the Great Leap Forward were studied by the CPC , and Mao was criticized in the party conferences . Moderate Party members like President Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping rose to power , and Chairman Mao was marginalized within the party , leading him to initiate the Cultural Revolution in 1966 .