Yes, the "Great Leap Forward" did result is a mass starvation and death situation, but you said Mao took power with popular support, when it'd be more correct to say that he took power because his armies won more battles.
"Political power flows out of the barrel of a gun" - Mao
Mao had the guns, the regular people didn't, and this is China, a country where obedience to authority is inculcated via Confucian values culturally for millennia.
The Cultural Revolution killer rampage.
It's a thing.
Yes, the "Great Leap Forward" did result is a mass starvation and death situation, but you said Mao took power with popular support, when it'd be more correct to say that he took power because his armies won more battles.
Because of popular support, he consolidated unlimited power.
"Political power flows out of the barrel of a gun" - Mao
Mao had the guns, the regular people didn't, and this is China, a country where obedience to authority is inculcated via Confucian values culturally for millennia.