Keith Chung 4th period 5-4-12

Mao Zedong

Communism, a revolutionary socialist movement to create a classless, moneyless, and stateless social order structured upon common ownership of the means of production, as well as a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of this social order. Many countries frown upon communist ruled societies; with barely any freedom distributed among classes and discipline given when speaking out against the government, one whom is a supporter of communism and takes charge as being the leader of it has a mental capacity of insanity. Mao Zedong, a political ruler, which had a persuasive charm over a section of China, had a strong belief in communism. His ideas and morals towards society as a whole were for his self-pleasure and overall he was a corrupt man with horrible moral values. Mao Zedong was born in December 26, 1893 in Shaoshan, Hunan Province, China. From the start Mao Zedong had a rocky life; his father was a poor peasant who then became a prosperous farmer and a grain dealer, at a young age he habitually left school to work on the family farm. Mao joined the Revolutionary Army in Hunan when the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing Dynasty broke out. In the spring of 1912 the war ended, the Republic of China was founded and Mao left the army. After he graduated from the First Provincial Normal School of Hunan, he traveled to Beijing and worked as an assistant librarian at a University Library under Li Dazhao who was a great influence of Maos upcoming thoughts. He then married Yang Kaihui ignoring his 1st wife arranged by his father. On July 23, 1921 Mao attended the National

Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai and then was later elected as one of the five commissars of the Central Committee. In October 1925 Mao became acting Propaganda Director of the Kuomintang. In the early 1927 Mao was beginning to hear about the peasant uprisings and that began his step towards Maos innovative theories. Mao graduated from the First Provincial Normal School of Hunan which is considered the highest level of academics in his province. While working at Peking University he was introduced to communism. Throughout the 1920s Mao commanded numerous labor struggles that were successful due to government controls, but then had to flee after he was labeled a radical activist. He discovered that industrial workers made up of a small percent of China so he could not rely on them; however the peasant population was more than enough to support his philosophy of violent revolutions. He managed to take command of a small rebel force of peasants and guided it through some tempestuous times until its dominance over China. After that, government policy formed a country that was an agricultural nation into a modern economy. In the Communist world, he is credited with making the peasants part of the revolutionary structure. The Leninist/Stalinist way of thinking was that the urban workers were the most important part of the working class, and if you lacked that assemblage, you wouldnt ensure a revolution. Since agriculture was Chinas main job for many, and the cities were mostly controlled by upperclassmen that were allied with the government, he advanced into the countryside and organized the peasants. In the end the greatest achievement Mao had provided was unification of China, the creation of a unified Republic of China and becoming the leader of the greatest social revolution in history. The revolution involved taking most land and property, destroying the landlord class, weakening the middle class and raising the status of the peasant and industrial workers. Mao had a desire for equality, giving low class peasant workers food, shelter, jobs and

other necessities, but in doing so he took property from higher classmen to distribute to the poor. My grandfather was had this experience when living in China around this time period, after the duration of this he developed a animosity towards him causing his family misfortune. Mao developed The Great Leap Forward plan which is a plan intended as an alternative model for economic growth to the Soviet model focusing on heavy industry that was advocated by others in the party. The absence of focusing on grain production and natural causes approximately led to a 15% drop in grain production in 1959 followed by a further 10% reduction in 1960 and no recovery in 1961. This also led to the Great Chinese Famine which caused about 20-46 million deaths of Chinese peasants in 1959 and 1962. Mao then launched a Cultural Revolution in 1966, but it backfired as it led to the destruction of much of China's traditional cultural heritage and the imprisonment of a huge number of Chinese citizens, as well as creating general economic and social chaos in the country. Millions of lives were ruined during this period, as the Cultural Revolution pierced into every part of Chinese life. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, perished in the violence of the Cultural Revolution. Mao decided it was time to choose a successor and that would be Lin Biao since Lin was on par with Maos thinkings, but over time differences were seen and Lin was planning a assassination against Mao but presumably failed. He was then later arrested while trying to flee China. On September 9, 1976 he finally died. Having one rule is not the best of ideas, but Mao Zedong will be an icon to many after his death, although he has brought pain and sufferings to many, the idea of equality will never lose hope in many other countries besides China. No one can really determine what is right and what is wrong, but eventually we will find the answer and hopefully no grief and sorrow will have to be conjured up on a daily basis.

Works Cited

1."Mao Zedong." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 June 2012. Web. 06 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong>. 2."Mao Zedong." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation. Web. 06 May 2012. <http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312702/maozedong.htm>. 3. Cheek, Timothy. Mao Zedong and China's Revolutions: A Brief History with Documents. Print. 4. "Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) - Political Leader." About.com Secondary Education. Web. 06 May 2012. <http://712educators.about.com/cs/biographies/p/zedong.htm>. 5. "Spartacus Educational." Spartacus Educational. Web. 06 May 2012.

<http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDmao.htm>.