The peasants also started to trust the Communists when they saw how the Nationalists dealt with the Japanese who were invading China in 1936. The Communists fought bravely against the Japanese forces while the Kuomintang didn’t do anything about it but still tried to fight the Communists. The peasants understood that the Communists cared about the country and the people more then everything, and that the Nationalists only cared about power and money.
This is how Mao gained peasantry support. Another method he used was…
Did the ‘Long March’ have any effect on the peasantry support?
Mao assembled his troops and some of their families and started a march around China. Exactly where it was is illustrated to the right. The march started in 1934, with over 200 000 men, women, and children and he finished the march with about 8 000 people left. The march started in Shanghai in the Southeast China and finished Yanan, near Manchuria. They marched for over a year and about 100 000 kilometres.
The march showed the peasants how powerful the Communists were. The march showed strength and power and also a caring for the people, because they marched through peasantry areas and not cities, which were controlled by the nationalists. The Communists army were not strong enough to face the Nationalists in a battle face to face.
But by doing the ‘Long March’ didn’t help the Communists to defeat the Nationalists, only weaken them. Mao had to use different methods to defeat the Nationalists.
What methods did Mao use to defeat the Kuomintang?
Mao had before tried to gain a lot of peasantry support, and he was successful doing this. But by gaining support didn’t give him the power to defeat the Kuomintang. As said, he had to use other methods to defeat them.
One of the methods he used was guerrilla tactics. This means basically that he attacked during the night and that he was hiding during the day. The Communist forces made hit-and-run attacks against Nationalist troops and camps and after disappearing into the dark. His army was not strong enough to face the Kuomintang so he had to hide.
As known, the Japanese and the Kuomintang had better technology in the sense of weapons and such. Mao used the guerrilla tactics to attack camps and take weapons and equipment. By doing this he got American and Japanese equipment without paying for it.
The Communist forces also had very good leadership from generals and Mao himself. Effective support and good tactical sense made it easy to attack the Nationalist forces without heavy losses. The soldiers also were well treated so they were fit when they would battle. They got food every day and a good night sleep, which the Nationalist soldiers didn’t get at all. They were badly treated by their officers and by Chiang Kai-shek.
Mao also had control over the peasants but that didn’t help too much because he needed to have control over the whole of China and the next step in that direction was to take over the countryside.
How did Mao take over the countryside?
Mao had several techniques to gain control over the countryside and one of them was the co-operatives. This means that he gave land to the peasants so they could farm for themselves and then join forces to make one big field instead of several small ones. Then they could produce more food so they could not only eat until they were not hungry but also that they could sell some and get paid. It basically was as it used to be but now there was not a landlord who had all the power.
Mao also put several people’s court in action. He let the peasants judge landlords. The peasants loved this idea because they go their revenge on the landlords that had made them suffer for so many years of time.
He also used travelling actors and musicians to spread the Communist ideas to the people’s homes.
But the countryside was not enough for Mao. Step by step he took control over China. Bu how did he finally gain control over China?
How did Mao finally take over China?
Now when Mao controlled the peasants and the countryside, he reached to control China. He worked years to plan the defeat of the Kuomintang and finally he had an army big enough to face Chiang Kai-shek’s. The open battle happened in 1948 and the winner was Mao and his Communists. Chiang fled with 200 000 men to the island of Taiwan By defeating the Nationalists he had no longer any threat against China so by this event he ruled China.
Conclusion
In conclusion I think that Mao was a brilliant leader and that he knew how to win the people’s heart and take over China with a variety of methods. He gave the land back to the people that rightfully belonged to them. By gaining peasantry support he was able to gain support from the countryside and finally China.
I wonder what would’ve happened to China if Chiang had won the last battle. Maybe China would’ve been under Nationalist control and be a very miserable country. Who knows?
Magnus Haag 2001-11-29 Social Studies
Sources
Davies, Evan. Aspects of Modern World History. Hodder & Stoughton, 1990
Britannica
Focus® DVD
