Analyse Mao Zedong’s years in power.

Linda Eriksson 2003-10-17 IB1

Analyse Mao Zedong’s years in power

When Mao Zedong and the Communist party in 1949 seized power over China they set out on a great mission to change the social structure, apply socialism and eventually communism. They were to raise China out of poverty through improving industry and agriculture. And they did do this. However, at what costs? Communism under Mao was a dictatorship which lasted until his death in 1976. Life in China changed drastically during the years of Mao. All changes made naturally had consequences and in this essay I will focus on Mao’s actions and their importance, whether they had positive or negative effects.

The Communist party had control over banks, media, agriculture, industry and schools. China was a totalitarian state and people didn’t have a right to their own opinion which would later show with the “100 Flowers Campaign” and the purges of those who the party considered to oppose communism, the “right” way of politics. However, after the communists first came into power they were very popular. Only after a few years they had created a strong central government which had proved to be able to stop the inflation that had hit the nation and they had fulfilled their promise about land-reforms. Land-owners’ lands had been confiscated and redistributed among the peasants. They had begun a campaign against corrupt officials and women had been given more rights, such as the Marriage Reform Law which allowed people to choose their partner in marriage, women to initiate divorce and wives and daughters to inherit property. People were both impressed and satisfied, thus happy to work for the Party. Even though Mao considered: “Being red is more important than being expert” experts were allowed to keep their jobs and schools etc. no matter class background, but only if they were re-educated and taught according to how the communists liked it. Many simply had to accept the rules as there wasn’t much else to choose from. Free press and independent schools had been eliminated so other ways to make a living wasn’t really possible. Thus Mao had control over what was taught and not taught and therefor also controlled the mind of the people, at least superficially. Education was also offered many more people and by the end of his rule ¾ of the population could read compared to 1/5 in 1949.

Industry had also been improved, through the 5-year Plan which had been presented in 1952. The production results were mainly good but Mao wasn’t happy as he wanted progress to go faster. Officials said it wasn’t realistically possible for such a vast country to make quick changes. Mao disagreed and called them “stuck-in-the-mud”. It was one of the reasons for the “100 Flowers Campaign”

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In 1957 Mao felt that he had enough support to set up his “100 Flowers Campaign”. He wanted to solve the problems between party cadres and the new class of technicians etc. that had developed out of the growing industry. They felt that their authority was threatened. He encouraged people to give constructive criticism and point out negative and positive remarks about the regime. He suspected that there would mainly be good ideas and maybe some small criticism, but he was surprised and angry. Criticism flooded in and Mao called off the campaign. Criticism had mainly come from intellectuals. Even though industrial production was going well, China faced the same problems as the major European nations had faced in the 1800’s. There were shortages of housing and food in overpopulated cities. The campaign is a great example of the dictator regime ruling China. Other opinions but the communist opinions were not allowed. Mao was angry because of all the right-wing opposition, so shortly afterwards massive anti-rightist campaigns were thrown. Up to three million people, many intellectuals, were marked rightists, which not only was a great insult but also had terrible consequences.

A rightist had no real influence at work if they were lucky enough to be allowed to continue at their jobs. Many were sent to labouring camps or to jail to “re-educated” by socialist measures. The worst part is that you can never be sure if someone is a “rightist”, nor could Mao and his followers. Therefore many “innocent” people lost their lives because an informer of Mao had reported you as a traitor.

Obviously there was still much objection to communism and to the cadres which had turned into an elite on the countryside as they ruled the co-operatives. Mao decided that it was time to consolidate socialism and make it even stronger so he called for the “Great Leap Forward”.

The main idea with the Great Leap Forward was that China would stand on her own two legs. Much of the earlier changes to the country had been based on a Soviet model, for example the Five-year Plan. This however was not based on a USSR idea. Mao accused USSR for turning more capitalist than communist and emphasised in his speech to the nation about the Great Leap Forward that the Chinese communism was made up of the truth of Marxism-Leninisn combined with the concrete reality of China.

Instead of having co-operatives of farms, communes were now created. A commune was an even larger co-operative with 25 000 inhabitants on average. These communes would stand on their own “two legs”, with their own local governments that managed schools, medical services and even a small peasant military. They were also in charge of building roads, canals, dams, reservoirs and irrigation channels. The communes produced their own goods and the surplus of industrial workers in the cities had to move to the communes where they received a job. The communes even had what Mao called “backyard furnaces” which produced steel. However, the results were not, once again, what Mao had expected. Only after a year it was obvious the communes didn’t solve China’s problems and opposition among the peasants had also grown as they weren’t allowed to any private ownership.

The communes could have been successful if they had been managed properly. The idea was worth thinking of since China was such a vast country that it was difficult for the government to make ends meet with the low capital and to control the massive land. With smaller local governments, the main Communist Party could keep in contact with them and have people work for them there. Communication and deliverance of orders were easier. However, many economists and engineers etc. had been removed in anti-rightists campaigns and it had a strong impact on the communes. Thus the communes were often badly run as uneducated peasants and eager, ambitious cadres who wanted to show what true communists they were given the responsibility of organising and running the commune which many failed with. In combination with bad harvests, the withdrawal of all Russian aid and inexperience of the cadres China faced famine from 1959-63 and estimated numbers say up to 10 millions people died of hardships because of the Great Leap which turned out not to be so great after all. Even Mao accepted defeat when the results were too obvious to hide. Pressured he gave up his seat in government but remained Chairman of the Communist Party and therefore ruler of China.

After this opposition kept growing and right-wing ideas were creeping up in society such as ideas of higher wage differences. To keep the revolution and the true Marxism going, combined with Mao’s fear of loosing his influence, he launched the Cultural Revolution (1966-9) which got out of hand and eventually abandoned by Mao but continued to rage for ten years.

The Cultural Revolution had a large impact on China, partly because it was so extensive, partly because it continued for so long. It was started by Mao in the spring of 1966 by using the support of students in Beijing. As they had grown up under Mao and his regime, and raised with the view upon Mao as close to a god (the cult of Mao which had developed) it wasn’t difficult to make them accuse party officials, but Mao, of “taking the capitalist road” and being traitors. Mao soon allowed the groups of students to become Red Guards. However, very quickly the protests got out of control for Mao and the Cultural Revolution Small group, which had been created by Mao and his wife to support the revolution. Schools were even closed down as the students were out devoting all their time to Red Guard activities. Power struggles were fought between party officials and Red Guards after Mao had instructed students to seize power from the corrupt officials although the fights rarely led anywhere. Eventually Mao sought the support of the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) who hadn’t involved itself in the revolution before. They were seen as the only group able to restore orders. However, Mao wasn’t satisfied with their work as he thought they fought for the wrong side and then ordered counter attacks performed by the Re Guards. The revolution turned out very violent, communications and transport were on a standstill. Consumer goods in urban areas were on shortage. To prevent a civil war Mao eventually disbanded the Red Guards and ended the revolution.

After the Cultural Revolution measures became very harsh and communism was pushed even harder than before. For example, farmers weren’t even allowed to raise chickens because it was seen as a capitalist activity if it was done for your own benefit. The people marked as coming from bad classes, such as sons and daughters of intellectuals and rich peasants etc. were turned scapegoats as they were for all the mistakes made by Mao. They were denounced and maltreated.

During Mao Zedong’s years in power he managed to make many drastic changes in China. He collectivised agriculture and created communes, large co-operatives which short-term had devastating results. However, long-term they were somewhat positive as industry and agriculture slowly stabilised and increased production. However, in order to achieve better output in industry and agriculture the population of China had been forced into positions they did not know of when they supported Mao before he came into power in 1949. Peasants thought they would get land form the landlords but in reality they were pushed together not owning any land and had the state as the absolute landlord. The had quotas to fulfil and not many were brave enough to tell Mao they couldn’t which contributed to the famine. The little food grown were given away in order to achieve the goals Mao had set during his Five-year Plans. They lived under a terror regime, with no rights to air an opinion which was clearly stated in the 100 Flowers campaign.