<P> However, J.G. Mahoney, Professor of Liberal Studies and East Asian Studies at Grand Valley State University, has said that "there is too much diversity and dynamism in the country for one work to capture...rural China as if it were one place ." Mahoney describes an elderly man in rural Shanxi who recalls Mao fondly, saying "Before Mao we sometimes ate leaves, after liberation we did not ." Regardless, Mahoney points out that Da Fo villagers recall the Great Leap as a period of famine and death, and among those who survived in Da Fo were precisely those who could digest leaves . </P> <P> The initial impact of the Great Leap Forward was discussed at the Lushan Conference in July / August 1959 . Although many of the more moderate leaders had reservations about the new policy, the only senior leader to speak out openly was Marshal Peng Dehuai . Mao responded to Peng's criticism of the Great Leap by dismissing Peng from his post as Defence Minister, denouncing Peng (who came from a poor peasant family) and his supporters as "bourgeois," and launching a nationwide campaign against "rightist opportunism ." Peng was replaced by Lin Biao, who began a systematic purge of Peng's supporters from the military . </P> <P> The failure of agricultural policies, the movement of farmers from agricultural to industrial work, and weather conditions led to millions of deaths from severe famine . Many also died from quota - based executions instituted by government officials . The economy, which had improved since the end of the civil war, was devastated . In response to the severe conditions, there was resistance among the populace . </P> <P> The effects on the upper levels of government in response to the disaster were complex, with Mao purging the Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai in 1959, the temporary promotion of Lin Biao, Liu Shaoqi, and Deng Xiaoping, and Mao losing some power and prestige following the Great Leap Forward, which led him to launch the Cultural Revolution in 1966 . </P>

Which was a motive for the great leap forward in communist china