I think that Han's view which is relating the common villager's view should be shattering in terms of perception of these key "radical" reforms of the CR, which is why I am happy to relate them.
The benefits are so obvious and so broad, I'm sure many Westerners will wonder how they can apply it in their non-socialist systems" they likely cannot, because they will be accused of being "socialists".
A revolution in rural economy, and thus the national economy, and thus the global economy
Let's not forget that the CR's open emphasis on the rural over the urban (revolutionary in itself, and unappreciated by the USSR) was also ordered by any conception of democracy: While China was 56% urban in 2015 it was only 20% urban as late as 1980. The USSR's emphasis on the primacy of a vanguard party over a People's democratic dictatorship certainly did not keep socialism flag's flying after 1991.
It is no exaggeration to say that the CR brought the Industrial Revolution to rural China it was truly that important.
"During the Cultural Revolution agricultural production more than doubled, but just as impressively rural industry went from 'negligible' to 36% of Jimo's economy. The latter is due to the same developments: political culture which changed to empowerment, collective organization and rapid improvement in education which permitted the intelligence required to understand and adopt modern techniques."
It is not a difficult formula, nor does it absurdly rely on "market magic"".
In the early 1960s Han relates there were just 10 rural industrial enterprises which employed 253 people; by 1976 there were 2,557 enterprises (2.5 per village) which employed 54,771 people. "More importantly, the educational reforms had provided the local industries with educated youth who had acquired technical know-how while in school."It's not just a question of technology, but the people who can run them.
I think that readers in developing countries should be amazed and inspired. Foreign investment (and unequal alliances with foreign corporations) is the West's solution to such problems, but the real solution to building an effective industry which can fuel local development is local education and empowerment.
Han relates how from 1966 to 1976 farmers, often with simple tools, built more reservoirs and other irrigation projects than all those built prior to and after the CR combined. Where would China be in 2019 without all of the CR's economic development? This also shows that a key catalyst for such changes is socialist-inspired revolutionary cooperation, commitment and selflessness. In the West the only way such collective actions and fervor happens is during defensive wartime, which is proof of capitalism's quotidian disregard for the lives of their citizens. Han relates how when a business had grown big enough the village took it over this, too, is anathema in capitalism, of course.
Who did the CR free the most? Women and children, who were liberated from the tedious chore of grinding and mills, because in 1965 rural Jimo still processed their grain in the old fashioned way . "Most farm work was mechanized by 1976." The CR decade saw an 1,800% increase in tractors, 3,500% increase in diesel engines, 1,600% increase in electric motors, 700% increase in mills, 5,100% increase in grinders and a 13,200% increase in sprayers all in just 10 years. These are video game numbers. Let's compare this to the (still totally underreported) Eurozone "Lost Decade" of 0.6% economic growth from 2008-2017.
For readers in developing countries with significant rural populations this must seem like an incredible revolution" well, it was. The implications for the CR on India which is 70% rural should be obvious, fascinating, well-studied and adopted by them.
The increase came despite the worst and longest drought in Jimo in several decades 1967-1969 so in many ways the CR succeeded where the Great Leap Forward failed.
"In these 10 years, Jimo suffered no less serious and no fewer natural disasters than in previous decades. There were altogether four serious droughts, four serious floods, four wind disasters, nine hailstorms and three serious insect disasters. Nevertheless, agricultural production steadily and rapidly increased."
The CR also marked a return to grand, collective economic projects this had not been tried since the Great Leap Forward. The big difference this time was: production decisions were not handed down by high-level authorities. This success was the direct result of the increased socialist democratic empowerment of the CR:
"After the baptism of the Cultural Revolution, farmers refused to follow policies from above blindly, unless they were convinced that these policies would advance their living standards." Han relates how, when it came to Party experts: "But farmers did not have to listen to them. In fact, there were cases of farmers driving away outside cadres." Such a thing prior to the CR appears to have been impossible.
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