Readings for Unit 4, Socialism and Environmental Revolution

Then begin at the beginning of Judith Shapiro, Mao's War Against Nature, and read as far as you can.
In class, I will try to tie the particular form of socialism as practiced in China from 1956-1983 to

• The nature of modernity and particularly those variants known as "high modernism"
• The Marxist-Leninist socialist experience of the 20th century.

Wednesday, February 4: The Great Leap Forward
Finish Judith Shapiro, Mao's War Against Nature
Read part of "Mortality," from Judith Bannister, China's Changing Population
Reread the section on "The World's Greatest Famine," from Smil, China's Past, China's Future.

In class, I will try to fill in some of the non-famine aspects of the Great Leap Forward, to give you a more general picture of the logic behind it, the disastrous positive-feedback mechanisms that sustained it, and its continuing ecological legacy.

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