Mao Zedong

Between circa 1925 and circa 1950, the relations between the Chinese peasants and the Chinese Communist Party became out of hand due to the peasant rebellions/uprising groups present, the tension between Japan and the communist party, and most notable the mass reform during this time period.

Source B is a primary source based on the observations of a Communist correspondent that objectively reported on the success of Mao’s land reform. From the source, we can infer that Mao’s land reform was not well-accepted among the people as they feared the plausible punishments of having successful crop production. . Source B states that “peasants look with a suspicious eye” and they “have no desire to become well-to-do through production efforts”. These descriptions of the peasants’ behaviour and attitude towards Mao’s land reform illustrates how the peasants were wary and distrustful of the government’s motives.

While Mao’s interpretation of Marxism included using peasants as the basis for revolution, Stalin felt that workers were meant to lead an urban-based class war. This led to Stalin’s view that the revolution in China was not genuinely Marxist and his refusal to support the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, Stalin also feared Mao as a rival, did not want the Cold War to spread to Asia, and favored the Guomindang over the CCP. These personality clashes and Stalin’s instinct for self-preservation convinced Mao that Stalin wished for a divided and weak China that would be unable to

The cultural revolution is a strange period in Chinese history laced with intense struggle and anguish. The cultural revolution mobilized the all of society to compete for all opposing factions that they belonged to (Ong, 2016). Mao mobilized the young people of society during a background of political turmoil, which helped Mao to mobilize the students in order to enforce his political legitimacy and ideas (Ong, 2016). Mao’s charismatic authority created his personality cult and most defiantly leant a helping hand in mobilizing the red guard movement (Ong, 2016) (Weber, 1946) (Andreas, 2007). No matter which faction of the red guard they belonged to, they all mobilized against their common enemy; the better off, upper class. (Ong, 2016). Multiple ideologies within the youth led red guard movement explain why the movement gained momentum and became incredibly powerful (Walder, 2009).

The Chinese communist party had a great influence on the peasants, this sparked a sense of nationalism between the two classes this is shown in documents 1 and 2. Mao Zedong stated in document 1 that “peasants will rise like a mighty storm” and that “they will smash all chains that bind them and rush forward along the road to liberation”. Here Zedong’s tone is intimidating and determined. Zedong shows confidence in the peasants and their abilities

The begins of Mao’s Cultural Revolution begins with the Hundred Flowers Campaign which took place during 1956-1957, the government embarks on this campaign with the hope that the tension between government and scholars can end, but this approach does not work and backfires. The next event which takes place in the Anti-Rights Campaign (1957-1958), this campaign disciplines those who spoke out during the Hundred flowers Campaign, a significant amount of people lots many jobs due to this and are sent away by government. This leads into the Great Leap Forward (1958-1959), this just happens to be one of Mao’s more intense programs of economic reform, in this program Mao’s main attempt was to modernize China’s economy, the consequence of this resulted in Mao’s having a temporary loss of power. He believed that all he needed to develop was agriculture and industry and believed that both

Mao Zedong was a Chinese communist and father of the People’s Republic of China. Mao Zedong grew up farming and had arranged marriage. He got his power by getting a lot of support from peasants from China. The communists were led by Mao Zedong. The Chinese communists got their power in 1949. Mao Zedong did not make a better society economically because he did not improve the quality of lives for people because there wasn’t enough jobs. He did make a better society socially because he improved living conditions, women got freedom after the law, and expanded education.

The Cultural Revolution, which affected China from 1965 to 1968, is the name given to Mao's endeavor to proclaim his convictions in China. Mao Zedong was a Chinese Communist progressive and the establishing father of the People's Republic of China. He had a Marxist-Leninist hypothesis, military procedures, and political approaches which were known as the Mao Zedong Thought. Mao was worried about the traits of post 1959 China. He commented that the unrest had supplanted the old respectability with over again one and expected that these individuals taking in a main part would debilitate Mao's energy inside the gathering and nation. Mao trusted that with the begin of the Cultural Revolution, it would disrupt the decision class and get China to a more equivalent condition of being. August 1966 at a meeting of the Plenum of the Central Committee was the initiation of the Cultural Revolution development.

It is clear that Mao’s initial goal was to gain power in China, which is demonstrated by his determination to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang (KMT) via his idiosyncratic version of communist revolution. In order to do so, Mao utilised methods he deemed most suitable for the communists and, more broadly, Chinese society. For example, unlike his Marxist predecessors, Mao believed that peasants, not urban workers, were the key to rebellion in China. Subsequently, in 1926, he organised peasant unions

Mao’s rise to power was as a result of favourable conditions resulting from both the failures of the Nationalist party (GMD) and the various successes of the Communist party (CCP). Before Mao was able to consolidate his power over China in 1949, he first had to become solitary leader of the CCP party; which he accomplished through his ideology, policies and leadership qualities.

` Kevin Lai Period 3 zx Mao Zedong was the leader of China from 1949 until 1976. He began as a revolutionary leader who was attempting to rid China of--what he believed--were corrupt imperialists; however, his policies and campaigns led to the deaths of millions of his citizens. In 1949, Mao officially founded the People’s Republic of China and made China a communism-based country. While his motivation to modernize China was reasonable, his methods were horrific. One of the first ways that Mao turned against his own people was with The Great Leap Forward in 1958.

Mao Zedong is widely regarded as one of the most famous and influential leaders of all time, and although opinions on him differ, most will agree that, for better or for worse, he had brought about changes, in an amount which the Chinese had never before witnessed. When Mao came to power, China had been at war for more than 30 years, and millions had died during this period. After the overthrowing of China's last monarch, the country descended into chaos. Warlords had taken over certain areas, making them into mini-kingdoms, which they had peasants protect. The government and running of China was backwards and non-sensical.

As many other countries around the world China has its long history of a struggle for equality and prosperity against tyrants and dictatorships. The establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949 seemed to have put an end to that struggle for a better life. “The Chinese people have stood up!” declared Mao Tse-tung, the chairman of China’s Communist Party (CPP) – a leading political force in the country for the time. The people were defined as a coalition of four social classes: the workers, the peasants, the petite bourgeoisie and the national-capitalists. The four classes were to be led buy the CPP, as the leader of the working class.

Similar to Marx, Mao saw revolution as class struggle when one class becomes conscious of the exploitation of another class. However, Mao’s revolution was not one where the proletariat overthrows capitalism, but instead an amalgamation of “revolutionary classes” overthrowing imperialism and feudalism. Mao did not see the motive of the socialist revolution in industrial maturity but instead in economic backwardness. It is through this economic backwardness that will energize the “proletariat” as they suffer “three fold oppressions (feudalist, imperialist and bourgeoisie)” making them unable to move the economy forward, thus becoming the “most politically conscious class in Chinese Society” . The Chinese communist party will thus lead the proletariat and their example would bring consciousness to the masses and thus mobilizing them for a revolution. As compared to Marx, who saw socialist revolution as a reflex of the proletariat towards

In 1949 a powerful communist leader by the name of Mao Zedong came to power based on his idea for a, “Great Leap Forward.” This idea was meant to bring China’s economy into the twentieth century. He had assembled a revolutionary government using traditional Chinese ideals of filial piety, harmony, and order. Mao's cult of personality, party purges, and political policies reflect Mao's esteem of these traditional Chinese ideals and history. However, the product of this revolution created a massive national shortage in vital materials and initiated a wide scale famine to China’s people (Gabriel).