Mao Zedong: Dictatorship of a Single Party State

2. How did Mao consolidate his power and remain in power?

a. What was the role of the army, police, and special forces or tactics?

• People’s Liberation Army lead by Mao on rise to power

• Chinese Civil War vs KMT, Sino-Japanese War vs Japanese

• during reign of power, not as significant as other dictators; People’s Liberation Army still present
• used army to kill opposition exposed by Hundred Flowers Campaign
• unconfirmed amount killed during Cultural Revolution

• scholarly estimates range roughly from 750,000 – 3 mill
• Red Guard also used; consisted of students & young people mobilized by Mao

b. How specifically was opposition dealt with, from within and without the CPC?

• during to rise power, opposition within CPC suppressed during brief run of Soviet Republic of China

• tortured; victims were subjected to a red-hot gun-rod being rammed into the anus
• killed ~186,000

• during reign of power, exposed opposition with Hundred Flowers Campaign

• resulting persecution of opposition lead to approx 550,000 people identified as "rightists" were humiliated, imprisoned, demoted/fired from their positions, sent to labour and re-education camps, tortured, killed
• scared the rest of opposition into submission

• Social Education Movement launched to cleanse politics, economy, organization, ideology of opposition
• Cultural Revolution launched; ulterior motive – regain control of party after disastrous Great Leap Forward

c. What role did propaganda and censorship play?

• censorship not as significant as other dictators; Mao had already silenced opposition w/ fear of death via Hundred Flowers Campaign
• propaganda heavily used to promote Great Leap Forward, eg:

“Tale steel as the key link, leap forward in all fields.

d. To what extent did Mao try to be popular, and why?

• during rise to power, Mao tried to be popular amongst CPC + peasant population

• wanted support of CPC to gain leadership; wanted peasant support b/c they rep’d majority of population

• during reign power, Mao appealed to opposition w/ Hundred Flowers Campaign

• scared them into submission with persecution

• Social Education Movement to target Chinese youth, future support for Mao

3. Style and policies of Mao.

a. What were the dictator’s chief economic, military, education and social policies? What

    was the dictator’s policy regarding ethnic minorities? What were his motivations for

    these policies?

• economic – Great Leap Forward (GLF) & Chinese Five Year Plans (like Stalin’s)

• GLF – 2nd Five Year Plan, 1958-1961
• after 1st Five Year Plan completed, Mao felt path to socialism taken by USSR not appropriate for China
• modeled on USSR’s Third Period
• rapid development of China’s agricultural + industrial sectors; simultaneous
• make use of massive supply of cheap labour rather than use heavy machinery
• grain & steel production key pillars of economic development; steel more important
• encouraged establishment of small backyard steel furnaces – produced low quality steel out of scrap metal, pots, pans, etc.
• deforested vast stretches of countryside to fuel backyard steel furnaces
• many workers diverted to steel production

• farmers, teachers, even doctors all sent to help steel production

• large effort placed on poorly planned construction projects, eg: irrigation works built w/p input of trained engineers
• adopted harmful farming techniques

• close cropping – seeds were sown too densely on incorrect assumption that plants of same species wouldn’t compete
• leaving fields unploughed, etc.

• 1958-1962, Great Sparrow Campaign

• extermination of rats, flies, mosquitoes, sparrows, etc.
• in order to stop them from eating/damaging crops

• 1958-1961, Great Chinese Famine

• 1958 – favourable weather, but lack of farmers to collect harvest; everyone’s on steel production
• crops left to rot uncollected
• mass extermination of sparrows b/c of Great Sparrow Campaign, lots of locust swarms to eat + destroy crops
• exaggerated harvest reports – disproportioned amount of grain given to state, none left for peasants
• 1959 – Yellow River flooded; est. 2 mill. died as result of drowning/starvation from crop failure
• 1960 – drought; affected 55% of cultivated land

• predicting to take most of blame, Mao stepped down as President of PRC, maintained position as Chairman of CPC

• Liu Shaoqi to replace Mao as President of PRC

• education – Simplified Chinese Characters (SCC), 1956, & Social Education Movement (SEM), 1963-1966

• SCC to increase literacy; would make masses more susceptible to propaganda (similar to Lenin)
• SEM goal was to cleanse politics, economy, organization, and ideology of “reactionary” (opposing, threatening) elements

• specifically, Liu Shaoqi, party member that gained prestige + support of CPC at expense of Mao’s GLF failure

• social – Hundred Flowers Campaign (HFC), 1956-1957, & Cultural Revolution (CR), 1966-1976

• HFC – launched to “promote” free thought, criticism of gov’t

• “Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land.”
• July 1957, campaign halted – Mao threatened by Khrushchev denunciation of Stalin, Hungarian Revolution of 1956
• used expose + identify opposition, dissenters
• results persecution of 550,000 – “rights” humiliated, imprisoned, demoted/fired from their positions, sent to labour/re-education camps, tortured, killed
• rep’d pattern of Chinese history wherein free thought promoted by gov’t and then is suppressed by it

• CR – officially launched as campaign to rid China of “liberal bourgeoisie” elements

• underlying motive – Mao’s attempt to regain control of CPC after disastrous GLF

• purged rival Liu Shaoqi

• mass mobilization of Red Guard, mostly students + youth

• called for youth, students, workers, peasants, soldiers, revolutionary intellectuals, cadres to “transform” superstructure

• Destruction of Four Olds campaign – abolishment of Four Olds (Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, Old Ideas)

• Four Great Rights – right to speak out freely, to air one’s views fully, to write big-character posters, to hold great debates

• Heavily influenced & determined by Maoist ideological climate + Mao’s control of People’s Liberation Army
• Those who had anything other than Communist background were challenged + charged for corruption, sent to prison

• Liu Shaoqi sent to detention camp, died

• January Storm – January 1967, municipal gov’t debacle, lead by Lin Biao + Jiang Qing (Mao’s wife)

• praised by Mao, encouraged local gov’t leaders to “rise in self-criticism”
• sparked purge after purge of local gov’ts, crippling some altogether

• Jiang + Lin, under Mao, turned Red Guard on People’s Liberation Army, purging many military officials

• Red Guards to People’s Liberation Army if necessary – looting of barracks ensued

• December 1968, Down to the Country Side Movement – all “young intellectuals” (anyone with middle school education) to be sent to countryside

• kept Red Guards in countryside, where they caused less social disruption
• Red Guards purpose fulfilled – purge dissenters + opposition, erase past, cause general state of chaos which Mao would “divinely” put an end to

• Lin Bao named as Mao’s successor

• Lin kept pushing to be named Vice-President + additional powers within gov’t
• constant pushing threatened Mao – should Mao die, Lin would take his power; fear of assassination

• Project 571 – Lin’s attempted military coup to oust Mao from power

• failed; as of 11 September, 1971, Lin Bao + backers never appeared public again
• 13 September 1971, plain en route to USSR crashed, killing all on board (Lin Bao, wife, son)
• exact cause for plane’s crash not known  (SABOTAGE?!?!?!)

• Gang of Four – group of prominent Communist party officials. Incl: Jiang Qing (leader), Zhan Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, Wang Hongwen

• Late 1973, began political campaign to weaken opposition, in anticipation of Mao’s succession

• 9 September, 1976 – Mao dies, appoints Hua Guofeng

• Hua, not on political radar of Gang of Four, deemed not a threat
• under influence of Army, generals, prominent party members, ordered arrest of Gang of Four, ends CR era

b. How were these policies enforced?

• GLF – enforced mainly through propaganda, supported by influence of People’s Liberation Army
• HFC – did not need enforcing; there was enough dissent amongst pop.

• persecutions enforced by People’s Liberation Army, served as examples to other dissenters

• CR – initial chaotic phase enforced by Red Guards

4. Success of Mao?

a. How long did the dictator remain in power? Did he resign; was he forced to resign; died;

    assassinated?

• kept power from inception of PRC until death (1 October 1949 – 9 September 1976)
• 1959, “resigned” as President of PRC, but STILL was Chairman of CPC

• China = Party-State. Control of Party = control of State, but NOT vice versa

b. What forces brought about the dictator’s goals? Consider the use of military force,

     propaganda, personal charisma, strong economic policies, foreign polices etc.

• desire to establish China as a Socialist power
• desire to return China to state of world prestige after period of Western/Japanese imperialism (GLF)
• desire to maintain power

c. To what extent were the dictator’s goals implemented?

• achieved Socialism in China
• GLF disaster - iron production increased 45% in 1958 and a combined 30% over the next two years, but plummeted in 1961, and did not reach the previous 1958 level until 1964.
• HFC persecutions successful in silencing critics
• CR successful in purging opposition, esp. Liu Shaoqi

d. What were the chief good/bad things that Mao did for his state?