Why did Mao Zedong object to Liu Shaoqi’s agricultural recovery policies?

Mao Zedong’s objection to the agricultural recovery policies implemented by Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping stemmed from his belief that these measures signaled a rejection of the Great Leap Forward strategy.1

Following the widespread famine and economic disorganization caused by the Great Leap Forward, Liu and other planners introduced material incentives and increased the role of individual households in agricultural production to stabilize the economy. While Mao initially accepted these steps out of necessity, he eventually concluded that they represented a dangerous shift toward revisionism and a repudiation of his socialist vision.1

Mao viewed these pragmatic economic reforms as evidence of "new bourgeois elements" emerging within the party bureaucracy. Consequently, he perceived the recovery efforts as a fundamental challenge to his leadership, leading him to prioritize "class struggle" over the economic policies favored by Liu. This ideological conflict ultimately convinced Mao that Liu had to be removed from power, culminating in the political battles of the mid-1960s.1