La lluita de Mao contra la naturalesa

SHAPIRO, J. (2001). Mao's war against China. Politics and environment in Revolutionary China. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Pàg. 9-10.

Under the influence of the Soviet Union and his own peasant background, Mao adopted a series of unsuitable policies. Mao was always struggling in war, so he continued to struggle after the war ended. Class struggle - everything was a struggle. In his youth, he wrote a line of poetry, 'To struggle against the heavens is endless joy, to struggle against the earth is endless joy, to struggle against people is endless joy" [Yu tian dou, qi le wu qiong, yu di dou, qi le wu qiong, yu ren dou, qi le wu qiong). His whole philosophy was that of struggle. Nor everyone in the Party thought as he did. Zhou Enlai opposed the population policy. Peng Dehuai opposed the Great Leap Forward. Destruction of nature during the Mao years was connected to the cult of Mao.
Traditional Chinese philosophy emphasizes moderation and adaptation, "Harmony between the Heavens and Humankind" [Tian Ren Heyi). But Mao took another view: "Man Must Conquer Nature" [Ren Ding Sheng Tian). For him, building China meant transforming China's face. To improve the lives of the poor, nature should be defeated [zhansheng ziran). Mao didn't respect nature. This struggle mentality was there from the beginning, with Marxism. Marxism rests on struggle.
Although Mao was supposedly a peasant, he had little farming experience. Mao's attitude toward nature was an oppositional relationship. It influenced China for decades. Population policy and national construction were influenced by his military mentality. With respect to population, Mao said, "With Many People, Strength is Great" [Ren Duo, Liliang Da), and he suppressed those who disagreed with him. The Great Leap Forward of 1958 did not respect the laws of nature or science. Mao wanted to catch up with Great Britain in steel production, and many trees were cut down to fuel furnaces. By 1959, the people had no grain, and in 1960 and 1961 there was a great famine. So Mao said, "open the wilderness to plant grain" [kaihuang zhong liangshi), and it was another disaster for the forests. The forests were cur without restraint so as to plant grain in the mountains. During the Cultural Revolution, there were even more crazy things. Everything was collective and nature belonged to the country, so there was no individual responsibility to protect nature. Tradition was destroyed. Because of the "Take Grain as the Key Link" policy in agriculture, only grain was planted and other crops were destroyed. Officials were ordered to cut down fruit trees. If they resisted, it was terrible. Some cut down trees with tears in their eyes. The third great cutting took place in 1980-82, after Mao's death. The farmland that had been state-owned was contracted out to families, as were the forests. But people feared they wouldn't have the right to use the land for long, so there was terrible cutting. So we can speak of "three great cuttings" [san da fa): the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the early 1980s.
Because of their lack of a democratic, scientific approach, and their philosophy of struggle, the leaders didn't know how to build China. They had ideals, but if you struggle against your own people and against nature, and don't allow people to express their opinions, it suppresses people and harms nature.