This book, first published in 1981, is a study concerned with the leadership and the people of China during the 1942-1962 period. It analyses the attempt made by the CCP to develop new policies of administration in the wartime base areas and the subsequent transformation of these policies after the Communists came to power. The problems of establishing control over China are detailed, as are those associated with adopting the Soviet model. The rejection of that model led to the adoption of the strategy that led to the Great Leap Forward, and its attendant problems are also studied here.