AHC: A Great Leap Forward that works.

Alexander the Average

I'm not sure if your starting premise quite works. The Great Leap Forwards and the restoration of capitalism under Deng were several decades apart. A better place to start might be the Cultural Revolution, as that undermined any force capable of effectively resisting the restoration, and meant that once the old guard regained control of the party they had carte blanche to begin the reforms that ultimately led to the restoration of capitalism.

If you want to make the Great Leap Forward more successful then greater Soviet assistance wouldn't hurt, and actually consulting agricultural and environmental scientists before hand might have prevented some of the more disastrous policies.
 

Rosencrantz

I imagine the Sino-Soviet split was going to happen regardless so not much aid from that quarter.

Does anyone know of an alternative to Mao's collectivization? Was it a one man show or did somebody else in the party have a better idea?
 

Alexander the Average

The Sino-Soviet split didn't really happen until after the Great Leap Forward though (not that there weren't differences of opinion between Moscow and Beijing).

As for collectivisation, as I understand it that actually went fairly smoothly, in part due to the massive support and popularity the CCP had with the peasantry, unlike in the USSR where Stalin forced it through.
 

Brosip Broz Tito

Banned
Have a view other than Lysenkoism prevail in terms of agriculture. This would mean farmers don't do 'close planting' or 'deep plowing' which was outlandish pseudoscience that killed millions in the Great Leap Forward. You could have collectivization, without that insanity, maybe more Soviet advisers, somebody knowledge speaks up and doesn't get purged for it, and/or Mao wakes up on the right side of the bed.

Also, no iron production drives. The Great Leap Backward forced peasants to smelt their housewares and tools, Mao thought this would make steel, but only makes pig-iron, he reversed this when he went to steel plant and figured out how it's actually produced (whoops.)
 
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