History
The People's commune was born during the Great Leap Forward, when Mao Zedong had a vision of surpassing the United Kingdom and the United States in a short period of time in terms of steel production. Mao also wanted to mobilize peasants to undertake huge water projects during the winter slack seasons in order to improve agricultural productivity.
Each commune was a combination of smaller farm collectives and consisted of 4,000-5,000 households. Larger communes could consist of up to 20,000 households.
The Peoples' commune was made official state policy in 1958 after Mao Zedong visited an unofficial commune in Henan.
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