1958–1976: Three Rounds of Crises at the Initial Phase of Industrialization and the Background of Foreign Debts Due to Introducing Foreign Investment

Chapter 2 of Ten Crises: The Political Economy of China's Development (1949-2020)

Chapter introduction:

Soviet Union withdrew investment and technical support in the late 1950s, causing:

1. Extracted Surplus Value from the Agricultural Sector* <- Cheaper Foods and More Expensive Industrial Products

2. Agricultural Modernization through Rural Collectivization

3. "Mobilized intensive and massive labor input to substitute for capital under condition of extreme capital scarcity"**

4. Sending Unemployed Labor Force to the Rural Sector <- Intellectuals sent to the countryside for "re-education"

* the costs being transferred to the rural sector is a unique characteristic of crises prior to the 1980s reform and opening up

* the "Going to Mountains and Villages" movements also transferred the costs of industrial unemployment to the countryside

** does this refer to the three "Going to Mountains and Villages" movements? (1960, 1968, 1975)

Remainder of Chapter 2 is split into the following sections:

1. Background of the First Occasion of Industrialization Relying on Foreign Capital: The Reconstruction and Transformation of Geo-Political Strategy After WWII

2. The Second Crisis (1958–1960): What Happened in China After the USSR Aid was Interrupted?

3. The Third Crisis (1968–1970): Strategic Adjustment of “Three Defence Lines Construction” and Economic Crisis

4. The Fourth Crisis (1974–1976): The Last “Going to Mountains and Villages” Movement