Despite the damage and death caused to humanity and the sad extinction of multiple bird species, Mao didn’t come up with the sparrow campaign out of nowhere. Scientists genuinely believed they were a disease/parasite vector. Its no different from how countries today cull populations of pest species, inoculate animals that spread disease, and control animal populations during disease and hunting seasons.

I always say that for those in a position of power, its better to do something than to do nothing. Mao and the scientific community didn’t have the full picture and couldn’t see the extent of all the potential consequences, the goals were good, and the communist party and scientific community took steps to mitigate and learn from mistakes.

Neoliberals Getting mad at Mao for allegedly killing millions (which Monthly Review expresses serious doubt over) and blaming communism and mao is like getting mad at early humans burning themselves to death when they first tried to use fire to cook food or keep themselves warm.