Kate Reynolds – Period 3

Karl Marx explains in Chapter 2 of “The Communist Manifesto” that several steps must be taken in order to enforce communism. Marx states that one of the steps that should be taken is “[e]qual liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture” [1]. Marx argues that industrial armies should be established for the benefit of society and to help keep a country’s economy competitive. In the time period known as the Great Leap Forward, China attempted to apply this strategy and instantiated industrial armies in order to develop agriculture and industry. Everyone in the society worked for the common good. Although it appeared successful at first, China was unable to meet its bare minimum requirement for harvest and it is estimated that around 9 million people died of starvation in 1960 alone. Mao Zedong, chairman of the Communist party, admitted failure…