Independent Author Project Quarter 4"The Great Leap Forward was initiated in 1957 by Chairman Mao Zedong to quickly bring the nation to the forefront of economic development. Rural society had to keep up with the dream of producing enough food to feed the country plus enough for export to help pay for industrialization. These changes were intended to improve conditions for all by collectivizing agriculture and creating structures catering communes where farmers could eat whatever they wanted for free” (chronicle.uchicago.edu). The Great Leap Forward was a program of the Chinese Communist Party that aimed to transform the country from an agrarian economy to a communist society through a rapid industrialization and collectivization. This led to the prohibition of private farming where those against it were persecuted. Collectivism is the practice or principle of giving priority to a group over each individual who is part of it. The central theme of both novels is that any Marxist-like plan for the group leads to chaos and destruction in society. In Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and We the Living, shows the reader what happens when governments and organizations follow socialist ideas, incentives are destroyed, and corruption is inevitable. In We the Living, Rand shows what happens when individuals put their group above themselves, corruption is inevitable, and ideals are questionable. Atlas Shrugged is set over a couple of years in a futuristic United States of America. The characters' individual stories are linked to explain Ayn Rand's perspective on the wrongs of the communist policies the government is enforcing. The book is divided into three parts. The first part is "Non-contradiction" in which... in the middle of the card... ends their respective novels, and both believe that collectivism destroys society and does not help it in any way. In Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand shows the reader what happens when governments and organizations follow socialist ideas, incentives are destroyed, and corruption is inevitable. In We the Living, Rand shows what happens when individuals put their group above themselves, corruption is inevitable, and ideals are questionable. Atlas Shrugged and We the Living portray the central theme where any socialist type plan for the group leads to chaos and destruction in society. Works Cited PageRand, Ayn. Atlas shrugged. New York: Random House, 1957. iBooks. Rand, Ayn. We the Living. New York Coty: Random House, 1959. iBooks. Danni, William. “China's Great Leap Forward.” China's great leap forward. University of Chicago Chronicle, March 14, 1996. Web. May 23 2014.