Part 2/10:
The movement began with Mao's enthusiastic endorsement of a banner he saw praising the first experimental commune in Henan Province. With soaring rhetoric, he declared that the People's Communes would serve as a “bridge” to a Socialist Paradise. His call to action resonated throughout the country, leading to the rapid formation of thousands of communes within just a summer. Each commune was intended to encompass thousands of families, managed by party cadres loyal to Mao and the communist ideology.