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The Second Phase: A “Starry-eyed” Joan Robinson

In: Making Sense of Joan Robinson on China

Author

Listed:
  • Pervez Tahir

Abstract

Joan Robinson’s writings on China after the Sino-Soviet ideological dispute and before the death of Mao betray a general bias towards the Maoist view. Even if it was a sympathetic observer’s attempt to counterbalance the US-led policy of isolating China, she did not have any special information to uncritically accept the official Chinese pronouncements. She failed to realise that the great leap forward and the rush towards farm collectivisation led to a massive famine, besides the return of orthodoxy to population control and family planning. Her original position that collectivisation without mechanisation cannot deliver the desired agricultural surplus changed to justifying it as a blend of individual incentive and collective advantage. The sudden withdrawal of Soviet assistance in 1960 led her to believe that national independence had priority over economic independence, even if it required nuclear testing. In the return of the abandoned ideas of the leap with a militant ideology as cultural revolution, Joan Robinson thought that the moment had arrived for the ideas which were ahead of time during the leap.

Suggested Citation

  • Pervez Tahir, 2019. "The Second Phase: A “Starry-eyed” Joan Robinson," Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought, in: Making Sense of Joan Robinson on China, chapter 4, pages 61-118, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:pshchp:978-3-030-28825-9_4
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-28825-9_4
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