Mao Zedong
| Famous as | Communist Leader of China |
| Born on | 26 December 1893 |
| Born in | China |
| Died on | 09 September 1976 |
| Nationality | China |
| Works & Achievements | Victory in Chinese Civil War, Socio-Cultural reforms in China |
Early life in China
Mao Zedong was born in an affluent Buddhist family of China. After
graduating from the First provincial Normal School of Hunan in 1918 he
traveled to Beijing during May Fourth Movement in 1919 with his
professor Yang Changji. He registered as a part time student at Beijing
University and engaged himself as much as possible in reading. During
his stay in Beijing, his idea of communism evolved and matured. He
married Yang kaihui, professor Changji’s daughter and a fellow student.
On July 1921, Mao attended the first session of the National Congress of the Communist Party
of China, in Shanghai. Two years later, he was elected as one of the
five commissars of the Central committee of the Party during the third
Congress session. In 1924, he was elected an Alternate Executive of the
central Committee and in the same year he became an Executive of the
Shanghai branch of the Kuomintang and Secretary of the Organization
Department. In October 1925, Mao became acting propaganda Director of
the Kuomintang.
Political Ideas
Mao Zedong was from a peasant family, and he believed that problems of
China could be studied and resolved only within China. Mao was first
introduced to communism while working at Peking University and in 1921;
he co-founded the Communist Party of China (CPC). He sought to sabotage
the alliance of imperialism and feudalism in China. Throughout the
1920’s he led several laborer struggles with limited success. After
initial failures, he planed to embark on violent revolutions, realizing
the fact that unarmed labor struggles could not resolve the problems of
imperial and feudal suppression. In 1927, Mao conducted the famous
Autumn Harvest Uprising in Changsha, Hunan, as commander-in-chief. After
the defeat of his ‘Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants’ he
created Workers’ and peasants Red Army of China (Red Army) in Jinggang,
Jiangxi.
From 1931 to 1934, Mao helped establish the Soviet Republic of China
and was elected Chairman of the republic in Jiangxi. Here he married to
He Zizhen, after his previous wife was arrested and executed by KMT in
1930. Mao faced opposition for his land policies and army leadership
from the founder of the CPC’s and Red Army branch in Jiangxi that led to
a violent series of systematic suppression of them. Around 1930, there
was a struggle for power within the communist
leadership, following which Mao Zedong was removed from his important
positions, and replaced by individuals who were believed to be more
loyal. On 21 January 1949, The KMT suffered massive losses against Mao’s
Red Army and Red Army took over the power in Chengdu, the last city
occupied by KMT. While in Yan’an, Mao divorced He Zizhen and married an
actress Lang Ping.
Leadership of China
The People’s Republic of China was established on 1 October 1949
ending the almost two decade’s long civil and International war. Mao
became chairman of the PRC in 1954 remained till 1959. During this
period The Communist Party took over the control of all media to promote the image of Mao and the party. The communist party
aimed at the total involvement of the Chinese people in building and
strengthening their nation. There were campaigns of mass repression and
public executions during 1949-1953, in which millions of KMT officials,
businessmen, landowners and former employees of western companies were
killed whose loyalty was suspect. Mao’s personal role in ordering
executions was undeniable who explained these executions as necessary
for the ‘securing the power.’
Mao launched the first Five-Years Plan in 1953 that aimed to end
the Chinese dependence on agriculture to become a world power. New
industrial plants were built and agricultural industries began to
produce enough capital that China no longer needed any outside support.
The success of first Five-Year Plan encouraged Mao to initiate the
Second Five-year Plan, ‘The Great Leap Forward’ in 1958. During the
Second Five-Year plan, efforts were made to increase the rate of
literacy and to control price. For equal distribution of land and power,
land were taken from rich land owners and given to poor farmers. Apart
from these campaigns, large scale industrialization projects were also
taken.
Programs pursued during his leadership include ‘Hundred flowers
campaign’ in which Mao invited suggestions and opinions from party
members about how China should be governed. Given the freedom of
expression intellectual and liberal Chinese started questioning its
leadership and opposing Communist party. After few months of toleration
Mao reversed its policy and prosecuted those who criticized the
government. It was said that Mao used this policy as a method of
identifying and subsequently prosecuting his enemies.
"The Great Leap forward"
The Second Five-Year Plan, also known as ‘The Great Leap Forward’
focusing on heavy industries for economic growth was launched next.
Under this plan relatively small agricultural collectives were merged
into far larger people’s communes. Peasants were ordered to work on
massive infrastructure projects and all private food production was
banned.
Mao and other party leaders ordered implementation of unproven and
unscientific new agricultural techniques. This led to a 16% drop in the
total grain production with no recovery till 1961. This, combined by the
flood or drought situation in some areas left peasants nothing to eat
resulting into the largest Famine in the human history.
Cultural Revolution
After the failure of the ‘Great Leap Forward’, fearing the prospect
of loosing his place at the political stage, as he had lost esteem
among top party leaders, Mao launched Cultural Revolution in 1966. The
idea was to continue the armed struggle through young people and
teenagers and give power directly to the Red Group. Mao closed the
schools in China and people were forced to manufacture weapons for the
Red Army. This led to the destruction of Chinese heritage and
prosecution of millions. When Mao was informed of the severity of the
situation he showed extreme hostility towards the issue, whereas
according to some scholars, he was never aware of the violent situation
in China.
Final Days
In 1969, Mao declared the Cultural Revolution to be over. In his
last days Mao was faced with declining health and lung ailment due to
smoking and heart trouble. In the afternoon of 2 September 1976, he
suffered a serious heart attack and took his last breath on 9 September
1976 in his sleep. He had been in a poor health for many years prior to
his death. His body lay in the state at the Great hall of the People. A
memorial service was held in Tiananmen Square on 18 September 1976. His
body was later placed into Mausoleum of Mao Zedong.
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Timeline: | ||||
1893- Mao Zedong was born on 26 December 1893.
1918- Graduated from Normal Provincial School.
1919- Traveled to Beijing.
1921- He co-founded the Communist party of China.
1927- Conducted Autumn Harvest Uprising.
1930- His wife Yang Kaihui was arrested and killed by KMT.
1949- Took over the power from the KMT.
1949- Establishment of People’s Republic of China.
1954- Mao became president of PRC.
1958- Second Five-Year Plan ‘The Great leap forward’ was launched.
1966- Cultural Revolution was launched.
1976- On 9 September Mao Zedong passed away.
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