How did the Great Leap Forward help create the background for the Cultural Revolution?

The failure of the Great Leap Forward (1958–1960) created a deep ideological and political rift within the Chinese Communist Party that served as the primary catalyst for the Cultural Revolution.1

Following the economic collapse and widespread famine caused by the campaign, party leaders split into two factions. One group, including Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, prioritized economic recovery by implementing material incentives and restoring household-based agricultural production. Mao Zedong viewed these pragmatic reforms as a "revisionist" repudiation of his revolutionary strategy and a betrayal of socialist ideals.12

Mao perceived these moderate policies as evidence that "new bourgeois elements" had infiltrated the party bureaucracy and the elite. In response, he sought to purge these perceived "capitalist roaders" to reassert his ideological control. This conflict culminated in Mao’s 1962 call to "Never forget the class struggle!" and his subsequent decision to launch the Cultural Revolution in 1966 to eliminate those he believed were steering China away from his vision of communism.12