Mao Study Notes

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1. Historical Context:

Chinese Revolution 1911-12

The rise of the GMD

The New Culture and May 4th Movements

The formation of the Chinese Communist Party

The Chinese Civil War

The Sino-Japanese War

The Chinese Communist Revolution and it's aftermath 1949-76

2. Background:

Family background and education

Role in the New Culture and May 4th Movements

Early role within the Chinese Communist Party

3. Rise to Prominence:

Role in the Jiangxi Soviet

The Long March

The Sino-Japanese War

Mao's proclamation of the People's Republic of China

Mao's role as Chairman of Communist China

4. Significance and Evaluation:

Mao's social reforms

100 Flowers Campaign

The Great Leap Forward

The Cultural Revolution

Mao and the Cold War

Mao's role in creating Modern China

Evaluation: Resister? Liberator? Oppressor? - EXAM QUESTION ???

Mao:

1912: End of Imperial System in China

1912: Period of Social and Political instability

CHINESE REVOLUTION:

The Emperor abdicated after a series of revolts and uprisings due to political and social turmoil

Reasons for an Uprising: poor living and working conditions, workers treated as slaves own by the imperial landlords

China was ruled by a weak government of regional warlords

RISE OF THE GMD:

GMD ( Guomindang) was the Nationalist Party of China

Lead by Chiang Kai-shek- opposition to Communism and Mao

The CCP and the GMD were opposing forces for the political control of China

NEW CULTURE MOVEMENT:

Despite the political chaos, the intellectual and cultural life of China was undergoing a renaissance

Leaders of the New Culture Movement, rejected traditional Confucian (philosopher) values- deemed as "feudal" values.

New Culture advocated for a turn to science, democracy and educational and social reforms in search of a way to Modernize China

New political philosophies emerged during this time as well such as Marxism/Communism

MAY 4TH MOVEMENT:

1919: May 4th Movement, students protest against the Versailles Peace Conference at the end of WWI, deciding to grant former German territory in China to Japan rather than returning to Chine

This resulted in growing Chinese Nationalist sentiment, this violation of China's territorial rights was unacceptable. Many New Culture Movement leaders aligned themselves with the May 4th anti-imperialism movement, the two movements are commonly linked in history.

THE FORMATION OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY:

Anarchist theory- Marxist Socialism- the answer to China's problems

Socialism: Is a political philosophy that advocates communal (communist) ownership of resources and land by the people, not by individuals.

By 1920 Russian Communists were sending agents abroad to guide the development of Communism is other countries, including China

These Russian Communist agents were known as " Comintern"

The Comintern advisers invited Mao and other Marxists to a secret meeting in Shanghai in 1921- this meeting saw the establishment of the CCP

The CCP had two issues: First shaping the Marxist theories to suit the Chinese situation.

Marx believed the working class to be the primary force of revolutionary change- Mao believed the backbone of Chinese society rested on the peasants they therefore would lead the China's Revolution

The second problem was the issue of the GMD as the opposing political force

Under the advice of the Comintern the CCP and GMD joined forces to subdue to remaining governing Chinese Warlords

The Guomindang General Chiang Kai-shek supported by the CCP led his troops against China's Warlords and subdued them

CHINESE CIVIL WAR:

1927: fearing the rising influence of Communism, Chiang turned on his Communist allies launching attacks on Communists in Shanghai and other cities

5000 Communists were slaughtered in Shanghai alone

Communist forces were lead against the Nationalists using military tactics rather than Mao's preferred Guerrilla tactics- the troops were defeated

Mao captured and escaped

Mao and surviving Communist Supporters fled to the mountains- 1929

In the mountains they set up the Jiangxi Soviet a region of seventeen counties where Socialist principles were put into practice.

Mao lived for 5 years in the Jiangxi Province and worked to create a model Socialist state.

He conducted studies of the peasant life, instituted land reform and established social reforms, giving women legal rights

Positives of The Red Army were : disciplined force required all troops to follow a code of good behavior- made the CCP force more popular among the peasants than the GMD- due to respectful and sharing nature

Internal struggle for power between Mao and Zhou Enlai

GMD with German Nazi support struck the Jiangxi province with a force of 1 million men in 1933

THE LONG MARCH:

In 1934 the Jiangxi Soviet was under attack by the GMD

The Long March started on October 1934 from Southern Jiangxi

Soldiers, women, peasants and children carried their possessions

By 1935 they had traveled over 2000 miles

Many died

By October 1935 they reached the Northen Shannixi- the year long march was over

The Long March is a manifesto, it proclaims to the world that the Red Army is an army of heroes against the evil imperialists and the GMD

The Long March also represents the unification of 11 provinces of approximately 200 million people

THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR:

Japan invades China to invade and proclaim Manchuria as Japanese soil- 1931

Sino- Japanese War- 1937-45

China is the causality- The Rape of Nanjing

Millions of Soldiers and Civilians killed

After Manchuria was invaded by Japan the CCP and GMD continued to fight- this internal conflict made it easy for Japan to extend it's reach to China

Xian Crisis (1936): Chiang was kidnapped by the Manchurians who wanted him to work for the CCP against the Japanese- this ended the civil war

7 July 1937: The Clash of the Chinese and Japanese troops in Lukouchian- this saw the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War

December 1937: Japanese capture GMD capitial of Nanjing- 50,000 Japanese raped, murdered and looted the city- this has lead to the title the "Rape of Nanjing"- any females between the ages of 10 and 70 were raped, at least 42,000 people were killed mostly women and children

By 1938 China was divided into occupied China- controlled by the Japanese and Free China the western part of the country

Chiang became inpassive in the war- the Japanese left him alone as he waited for international intervention

Chiang lost the majority of his sources of income, he taxed peasants heavily- this lead to famine

The Communist Resistance comprised of the use of Guerilla tactic, such as land mines, booby traps, ambushes and acts of sabotage.

The Communist gained support from the peasants who fed, clothed and hid them from the Japanese

The GMD and CCP combined forces to fight the Japanese

There were however two forces: The Red Army CCP and the GMD fight separately and with their own styles of warfare

The two Chinese armies faced the Japanese invasion in different parts of the country and operated in different ways- CCP- Guerrilla tactics, GMD- strict military tactics

At the end of the war the Red army had the balance of power and favour

FAMILY BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION:

Mother and Father were wealthy peasants owned land

Born in 1893

Attended Primary school

was a rebellious teenager- who hated his father

was married at 14- wife died

left home in 1911 to seek more education

During his student years he was touched by the famine and plight of the peasants

During his schooling years he was inspired by the political turmoil and revolutionary movements occurring around him

partook in the May 4th Movement against foreign imperialism

developed his ideas and created clubs for the new cultural movement

was a teacher

Mao was a strong advocate for Women's rights like other members of the Cultural movement

Mao condemned the system of arranged marriages

Mao openly criticized the tyrannical government and wrote multiple thesis's and papers

By late 1920's Mao was a successful businessman, teacher, writer, political activist and father

Mao joined the CCP in 1921 after a secret meeting with Russia communist advocates

Mao's role in the Chinese civil war was as an officer to the CCP and GMD

He organised strikes, wrote articles and spoke on behalf of the alliance's goals

In 1925 Mao wrote an article introducing the idea of the Chinese peasant as a revolutionary force

MAO'S PROCLAMATION OF PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA:

Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the Communist Party in control of mainland China with the GMD retreating offshore to Taiwan

1st October 1949 Mao proclaims The People's Republic of China- known as Red China to the outside world

MAO AS CHAIRMAN:

Mao's vision for Chinese agriculture was to forbid privately owned plots and to push farmers into agricultural collectives

The first decade of the People's Republic was fairly successful

The positive reforms included the land reform program confiscating all farmland and redistributing it to landless peasants and reform to the marriage law, which outlawed concubinage and polygamy and made it easier for women to obtain divorces

Negative reforms included the round up and execution of more than 500,000 counterrevolutionaries - and reprogramming camps using hard labour and subtle psychological torture to change the political persuasions of counterrevolutionaries

The People's Republic used Soviet models and a 5 year plan to achieve it's socialist transformation

For the first couple of years the PRC focused on the reformation of health care, education and industrialization

AGRICULTURE

The first soviet 5 year plan was seen between 1953-57 with continued effort to improve education and health but to primarily improve heavy industry and agricultural production

Agriculture changed significantly with the ideological Mao creating an agricultural collectivization scheme under which China's peasants would combine themselves into agricultural producers' collectives(APC's) of between 40-300 households. The cooperatives would pool labour and create a more efficient agriculture.

The project ultimately failed- but created a loss of family life, and poor production

By 1955 several thousand APC's had been disbanded- In 1957 Mao then pushed again for the creation of the APC's which were created once more

HEALTHCARE

The Communist Regime placed great emphasis on the need to improve health care on a preventative rather than curative approach

This was done largely to compensate the lack of doctors and hospitals in China

Health reform in China mainly took form through mass campaigns using the street and neighbourhood commitees to moblise the people and create campaigns such as the Patriotic Health campaign to improve sanitation and hygiene there by reducing the spreading of diseases such as Cholera

EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN

In traditional Chinese society women had no civil rights, foot binding still occurred up until the 20th century as well as rich men having concubines as well as wives

Under Mao women received: The right to vote, greater educational opportunities, ban on arranged marriages, women to have a share in hard manual labour, easier divorces, ban on concubinage, represented in government

EDUCATION

Traditional China education had been seen as a way to enter the imperial civil service

Western involvement in China during the 19th and 20th century had led to the creation of a a number of schools and universities offering a Western style of education - by 1949 takeover there were 31 schools run by the British or Americans

Emphasis on the creation of Primary education was slow in the early years of the Communist regime

By 1956 less than half the children aged 7-16 were in full-time education- some 20 years later that portion had reached 96%

As China became isolated from the West the opportunities to study overseas stopped

Only 6.4% of the budget was spent on school and the majority of the schooling system retained the traditional Chinese model

100 FLOWERS CAMPAIGN:

1957- Mao invited the people to comment on Communism and the running of China

This resulted in a ground swell of unpopular public opinions voice against the CCP and Mao's government

Mao later used the 100 Flowers Campaign to weed out and execute all those who openly opposed him

THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD:

The CCP launched the Great Leap Forward in September 1957

It's purpose was twofold: to collectivize agriculture and thereby dramatically increase agricultural production and to surpass Great Britain in industrial production within 15 years

AGRICULTURE:

The collectivization of agriculture was accomplished by October 1958, in industry it was decided that China should follow a de-centralized approach to agriculture with thousands of small-scale industrial enterprises located throughout the countryside.

Huge numbers of peasants were relocated to these local,rural industrial efforts which led to a shortage of agricultural

The enthusiasm for the Great Leap Forward was tremendous throughout China, with the movement in the countryside to remove the 4 pests (flies, rats, sparrows and mosquitoes) with so many sparrows killed the number of insects increased due to the loss of its natural predator- resulting in crops ruined by the increase in insect activity

With boundless enthusiasm from the people in the countryside and the completion of agricultural collectivization, the government elevated agricultural production goals in the summer of 1958- Peasants and agricultural leader naively believed that these targets could be met

Government propaganda was at a high point during 1958- with APC officials falsifying records of crop harvest to beat other APC communes as competition between communes were endorsed by the government.

Show crops were created in Communes for visiting officials to show the vast amount of food that was being produced however by harvest time the crops had been sewn too close together and rotted and died

When it became time to collect the grain there was no grain to collect from failed crops. Communist officials blamed the peasants for hoarding the grain when in fact the people were starving, surviving on eating, grass, tree bark and the flesh of their dead neighbors and family members

Mao refused to believe that the famine existed because it would mean he would have to admit to the failing of his agricultural reform, he did nothing until the mass starvation was indisputable- finally sending the army in with grain

Mao was ultimately responsible for the famine of 1958-61, he ordered the beatings of starving peasants who were accused of hoarding grain

INDUSTRY:

In industry one of the most well known efforts of mass industry was "Backyard Furnaces" or small-scale steel making efforts which had sprung up all over the country by autumn 1958- as per Mao's request of mass industrialization through a mass increase in steel production

Almost 100 million people were diverted for labour in these efforts- leaving agriculture and crops to fail

Men, Women and Children all took part in this collective effort burning everything of metal they could find- including their own personal, woks ect.

The result was impure and useless steel, in the meantime the crops had failed and famine began

The autumn harvest of 1958 was disastrously small but falsified records detailed that the production had doubled

The APC's did not wish to disappoint the government, according to these figures the government took grain accordingly resulting in a famine from 1958-59

FAILURE OF THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD:

By the Summer of 1959 everyone in China had realized the great failure of the Great Leap Forward but very few people dared to say so for fear of offending Mao and his officials

Those who did were imprisoned or called traitors and executed- even high ranking and senior officials in the CCP who were close to Mao were killed

The Great Leap Forward in reality was a "Great Leap Back" with an estimated 20-40 million people starving to death between 1959-62 due to food shortages created by the movement- this number would have been higher if Canada and Australia disregarding America's instructions didn't sell thousands of tons of grain to China

THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION:

POLICY DISAGREEMENTS IN THE CCP:

After the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao's position became insecure. His polices were not working and the 100 flowers campaign showed there were many critics

For a time Mao resigned as Chairman

Mao argued that more collective for large construction schemes and the running of factories should be lead by the workers rather than by experts

This point caused a split in the CCP, some leaders believed that China should model itself on the Soviet Union and allow the creation of an educated, privileged class of scientists, engineers, managers and technicians, this would stimulate the growth such as had been seen the the USSR

Mao disagreed with this entirely saying that the creation of an elite group was anti-communist and should be destroyed

THE RED GUARDS:

It wasn't until 1966 that Mao's image was rejuvenated slightly with Mao's swim in the Chaingjiang River, this event was surrounded by media publicity and seemed to appeal to the youth of China particularly a group of young extremists called the "Red Guards"

Mao wanted this group to relaunch his campaign to regain control of leadership of China and to remove any "bourgeois thinking"

Mao wanted to remove the elite group of managers and party official and create a purely communist society where everyone was equal

Millions of young people most school children and university students joined the "Red Guards"- Mao told them they had the right to rebel against authority figures who did not have pure communist views

Mao published a collection his ideas and quotes known as the "Little Red Book"- it became known as the Bible of the Red Guards

In 1966 the Red Guards moved into action: resulting in the removal of all Western influences and bourgeois customs, such as Western style hair cuts or the selling of flowers- thought to be a bourgeois custom

With all this social chaos resulted mass brutality and many thousands were killed- No criticism of Mao's ideas were tolerated

THE EFFECTS OF THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION:

By 1969 the violence of the Cultural Revolution had ended with Mao and his Prime Minister Zhou Enlai emerging as the two most powerful men in China

Those who opposed Mao in the 1960's fled to the USSR or were imprisoned

In the early 1970's Mao's thoughts were put into practice in the education system, with children learning the importance of serving others, the value of manual labour

Communes were made the centre of 85% of Chinese people's lives

Managers and other privileged groups were not allowed

Urban Communes were set up and organised every aspect of peoples lives: nursery school for working mothers, street cleaning and organised squads of part-time soldiers

Prices and wages were controlled by the government

All young people had to serve two years in the People's Liberation Army

Everyone wore the Mao blue boiler suit

Mao was in supreme position and power worshipped as a hero by millions of Chinese people- the cult of Maoism

In order to attain unquestioning obedience of the Chinese population Mao had to create a cult of personality using the media and saturating society with Mao propaganda so he was seen as a God like figure

The Red Guards were instructed by Mao to destroying traditional Chinese culture and those who propagate it- Mao talked about destroying the old culture for a new culture to build

The Red Guards were then ordered by Mao to turn on officials in the party who were "pursuing a capitalist road"

In this new wave of attacks on officials the Red Guards were replaced by the adult force the Rebels who were encouraged to attack their bosses and people in power

1967 Mao ordered theses Rebels seize power from the officials with excessive force

Mao didn't know who to trust in the CCP " so he decided to make them all suffer first and then have them screened by their replacements to decide who was loyal."

When the violence under Mao could not be reigned in and the factions of the Rebels could not be controlled- China on the brink of civil war

Mao relied on Lin Biao defence minister more people in the CCP supported Lin than Mao

By 1971 Mao decided Lin had grown to powerful and had to be purged- Lin attempted to flee the country but his daughter tipped off the authorities- Lin's plane crashed- example of the indoctrination of youth- daughter turns against father

By the early 1970's Mao was too sick to have much political control over China

When Mao died his replacement declared that the Cultural Revolution was a mistake

Deng (next leader) denounced a lot of Mao's polices - "seven parts wrong 3 parts right"

MAO + COLD WAR:

Chinese Foreign Policy from 1949-59 was based largely on the twin idea of support for the Soviet Union and opposition to the United States of America

China and the USSR had similar political regimes and ideas

Mao was looking for military support for his new regime in his trip to the USSR he created a friendship and alliance in 1950

The Soviet Union agreed to provide military assistance, a substantial cash grant, and many experts to help the Chinese upgrade and modernise their economy

Soviet Union gave China control of war reparations seized from the Japanese, it also gave up the right to use Port Arthur as a naval base. Later in 1957 they helped China develop nuclear power

In 1956 the new Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev attacked many of the polices of the former leader Joseph Stalin and called for a peaceful co-existence policy with the USA- Mao objected to the attacks on Stalin and the peaceful co-existence policy

In 1958 Mao wished to attack Taiwan where the GMD were located and asked the USSR for nuclear weapons Khruschev refused saying he wished to reduce international tension

America gave assistance to Taiwan in 1950

Chinese forces enter Tibet in 1950 and insisted on controlling Tibet's foreign policy. The Chinese Government set up in Tibet still recognised the traditional Dalai Lama as official head of state

The USA refused to acknowledge Mao's government as the legal government of China- "Red China" was not represented in the UN was represented by Jiang- Taiwan China

Tensions between the USSR and China grew in the 1950's with disagreements about warfare and political communist structures

The USSR threatened to pull financial aid and advisors out of China unless Mao ceased his troublesome activities- Mao refused

USSR removed financial aid in the 1960's

Mao criticised Khrushchev's "soft" policy towards the USA

In the 1970's China's relationship with the USA improved- invited the president to visit China

In 1972 Nixon visits China- no longer seen as a threat to each other

In 1971 America lifted their opposition to Communist China's admission to the UN therefore they took their place in the UN

1970's saw the improvement of relations with Japan and the USA not Russia

MAO'S CHINA:

Mao's Communist Regime brought a sense of national unity to China

At Mao's death Communism still remained in China as the governing force

The Communist Regime created a nation of strength, China was no longer a nation to be despised or exploited by foreigners as it was in the 19th century and part of the 20th century. It was a major world force and it's influence in world affairs was of extreme importance.

Mao's achievements:

- Strong central government

- Greater equality for women

- More education

- increased food production

- improved communications

- major industrial development

ASSESSING MAO'S ACHIEVEMENTS:

Mao did not concern himself with economic reform or education and health- they were the works of able administrators and political leaders in the CCP

Under Mao's leadership China was reformed in a number of ways:

- after many years of weakness and disunity, China became once again a united country.

- Warlordism and civil war ended and a strong centralised government was created

- China became a great power, for more than a century foreign powers, especially Western Powers and Japan had treated China as virtually a colonial territory.

-Under Communist rule, China regained it's independence, pride and self.

- China acquired Nuclear weapons and entered the space race

- progress towards greater equality for women

- China's population became better educated and more healthy

- Food production, particularly grain kept pace with the rapid increase in population- apart from the period of the Great Leap Forward, hunger and starvation were largely eradicated

- Improved communications enabled food to be moved from region to region, where there was a surplus to regions where there were shortages

- China experienced significant industrial development

- Steel production tripled between 1950- 1970

- The foundations were laid for China's own oil industry

- A nuclear industry was created from scratch

- electricity generation- hydroelectric power greatly expanded

- By the 1970's China had reached an economic plateau in which the foundations for industrial growth and improved food production had been laid but Mao's polices of mass mobilisation and self-reliance could not take China any further in it's economic development without connections to the West

THE LOSS

- Differing figures on the loss of life but tens of millions of Chinese people suffered violent deaths under the Communist Regime

- Many millions more died of famine in the early 60'a

- Mao viewed these deaths however with a callous indifference regarding there deaths as unavoidable and as a necessary cost to bear in the pursuit of his ideals- the ends justified the means

-Mao's China had no concept of human rights or the rule of law

- The victims of Mao had no right to appeal- he created a totalitarian state

- Due to the disruption of the education system and attack on intellectuals had discouraged innovation and experimentation leaving the country unable to develop its own advanced technologies

- The stress of self-reliance and China's increased isolation during the Cultural Revolution had denied China access to more advanced technologies of the West

- Agriculture was starved for investment and needed for greater mechanisation and use of fertilisers

- The centralised planning of the economy led to wasteful duplication of effort- with little to no benefits

- The wage of the peasants rose slowly but not as quickly as the urban workers- therefore the equilibrium that Mao had tried to create failed anyway

- He had dominated in the years of 1949-76 in China but after his death he was unable to still dominate with his idea of China

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