The Chinese government has not released photographs of the deadly famine
that grew out of Mao Zedong's failed Great Leap Forward. Instead, whimsical,
brighly colored propaganda posters, fixtures during the agricultural
collectivization campaign of 1958 to 1962, offer a stark juxtaposition with
what is known today about the mass starvation. The unique collection
presented here, compiled by the International Institute of Social
History in Amsterdam, spins the Great Leap Forward as an unmitigated
economic and political success, presenting a tragically warped picture
of four years where tens of millions of Chinese died.
The slogan on the poster above reads, "Beat the Great Leap Forward battle drum louder." International Institute of Social History
