The barefoot doctor system was abolished in 1981 with the end of the commune system of agricultural cooperatives.

Mao defended his commune system by claiming that "until now, not a single commune has collapsed".

The commune system was created during the French occupation to mirror the systems employed in the rest of the French Republic.

But in their commune system they have an equality that is older than law itself.

Nonetheless, the commune system was retained and continued to be the basic form of organization in the agricultural sector until the early 1980s.

Policies leading to food shortages included the implementation of the commune system and an emphasis on non-agricultural activities such as backyard steel production.

Also, farm production incentives languished in the commune system.

Whereas the commune system integrated politics, administration, and economics into one unit, the new system was designed to have separate institutions handle specific functions.

The reform of the commune system fundamentally changed the way farmers were motivated to work.

The organizational defects of the commune system were another barrier, as elsewhere in Russia.