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<br />{{Important}} | <br />{{Important}} | ||
{{Villain Infobox | {{Villain Infobox | ||
|Image = Mao | |Image = Chairman Mao.jpg | ||
|fullname = Mao Zedong | |fullname = Mao Zedong | ||
|skills = Army commanding <br> Leadership | |skills = Army commanding<br>Leadership<br>Propaganda<br>Manipulation | ||
|hobby = | |hobby = Writing poetry<br>Sailing<br>Reading | ||
|alias = Chairman Mao<br>Mao Tse-tung<br>Great Helmsman<br>The Red Sun<br>Savior of the People<br>The Red Emperor | |alias = Chairman Mao<br>Mao Tse-tung<br>Great Helmsman<br>The Red Sun<br>Savior of the People<br>The Red Emperor<br>Li Desheng <small>(temporary alias)</small> | ||
|occupation = Chairman of the [[Communist Party of China]] (1943 - 1976) | |occupation = Chairman of the [[Communist Party of China]] (1943 - 1976) | ||
|goals = Establish The People's Republic of China | |goals = Establish The People's Republic of China (succeeded)<br> Take over Tibet (succeeded)<br>Completely unify Taiwan (failed)<br>Destroy the United States (failed) | ||
|type of villain = | |type of villain = Delusional Dictator | ||
|origin = Shaoshin, Hunan, Qing Empire (now Shaoshan, Hunan Province, China) | |origin = Shaoshin, Hunan, Qing Empire (now Shaoshan, Hunan Province, China) | ||
|crimes = | |crimes = [[Mass murder]]<br>[[War crimes]]<br>Conspiracy<br>Aiding and abetting<br>[[Crimes against humanity]]<br>Human rights violations<br>[[Torture]]<br>Mass starvation<br>Mass internment<br>Mass repression<br>Destruction of religious and cultural artifacts<br>[[Genocide]]<br>[[Anti-Japanese sentiment]]<br>[[Anti-Taiwanese sentiment]]<br>[[Hate Speech]]<br>[[Ethnic cleansing]]<br>[[Misogyny]]<br>[[Xenophobia]]<br>[[Kidnapping]]<br>[[Acephobia]]<br>[[Ableism]]<br>[[Discrimination]] | ||
}} | |name=Mao Zedong}} | ||
{{Quote|Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.|Mao Zedong}} | {{Quote|Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.|Mao Zedong}} | ||
'''Mao Zedong | '''Mao Zedong '''(December 26<sup>th</sup>, 1893 - September 9<sup>th</sup>, 1976), commonly known as '''Chairman Mao''', was the Communist Leader of the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976 and led the "Great Leap Forward" movement to break all traditions of Ancient China. His Cultural Revolution all but destroyed China's heritage. | ||
A major player in the [[Cold War]], Mao is considered to be a pioneer of communism alongside [[Joseph Stalin]], developing his own brand of communism known as Maoism (also known as Mao Zedong Thought). He also pioneered the [[People's War]] strategy commonly used by many Communists in armed struggle. | A major player in the [[Cold War]], Mao is considered to be a pioneer of communism alongside [[Joseph Stalin]], developing his own brand of communism known as Maoism (also known as Mao Zedong Thought). He also pioneered the [[People's War]] strategy commonly used by many Communists in armed struggle. | ||
Although many of Mao's campaigns, most notably The Great Leap Forward lead to the death of millions, many historians have pointed out that many of the deaths under Mao's regime were unintentional unlike many of the deaths under [[Nazi Party|Nazi Germany]] or the Soviet Union. He is widely considered one of the most polarizing and controversial figures in recent history, many regard him as a capable and necessary leader who improved health care, women's rights and industrialized China and see many of his campaigns as taking significant risks, while in contrast his critics have drawn comparisons between him and dictators such as [[Joseph Stalin]] and [[Adolf Hitler]] due to his radically destructive and neglectful polices against his own people. Some estimates say that 80 million people total died under his regime | Although many of Mao's campaigns, most notably The Great Leap Forward lead to the death of millions, many historians have pointed out that many of the deaths under Mao's regime were unintentional unlike many of the deaths under [[Nazi Party|Nazi Germany]] or the Soviet Union. He is widely considered one of the most polarizing and controversial figures in recent history, many regard him as a capable and necessary leader who improved health care, women's rights and industrialized China and see many of his campaigns as taking significant risks, while in contrast his critics have drawn comparisons between him and dictators such as [[Joseph Stalin]] and [[Adolf Hitler]] due to his radically destructive and neglectful polices against his own people. Some estimates say that between 30 million-80 million people in total died under his regime and for this reason he is considered by some historians to be ''the'' most brutal dictator in history. | ||
== Early | == Biography == | ||
=== Early life === | |||
Mao was born in the village of Shaoshan in Hunan province, the son of a former peasant who had become affluent as a farmer and grain dealer. He grew up in an environment in which education was valued only as training for keeping records and accounts. From the age of eight he attended his native village’s primary school, where he acquired a basic knowledge of the <em>Wujing</em> (Confucian Classics). At 13 he was forced to begin working full-time on his family’s farm. Rebelling against paternal authority (which included an arranged marriage that was forced on him and that he never acknowledged or consummated), Mao left his family to study at a higher primary school in a neighbouring county and then at a secondary school in the provincial capital, Changsha. There he came in contact with new ideas from the West, as formulated by such political and cultural reformers as Liang Qichao and the Nationalist revolutionary Sun Yat-sen. Scarcely had he begun studying revolutionary ideas when a real revolution took place before his very eyes. On October 10, 1911, fighting against the Qing dynastybroke out in Wuchang, and within two weeks the revolt had spread to Changsha. | Mao was born in the village of Shaoshan in Hunan province, the son of a former peasant who had become affluent as a farmer and grain dealer. He grew up in an environment in which education was valued only as training for keeping records and accounts. From the age of eight he attended his native village’s primary school, where he acquired a basic knowledge of the <em>Wujing</em> (Confucian Classics). At 13 he was forced to begin working full-time on his family’s farm. Rebelling against paternal authority (which included an arranged marriage that was forced on him and that he never acknowledged or consummated), Mao left his family to study at a higher primary school in a neighbouring county and then at a secondary school in the provincial capital, Changsha. There he came in contact with new ideas from the West, as formulated by such political and cultural reformers as Liang Qichao and the Nationalist revolutionary Sun Yat-sen. Scarcely had he begun studying revolutionary ideas when a real revolution took place before his very eyes. On October 10, 1911, fighting against the Qing dynastybroke out in Wuchang, and within two weeks the revolt had spread to Changsha. | ||
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During the summer of 1919 Mao Zedong helped to establish in Changsha a variety of organizations that brought the students together with the merchants and the workers—but not yet with the peasants—in demonstrations aimed at forcing the government to oppose Japan. His writings at the time are filled with references to the “army of the red flag” throughout the world and to the victory of the Russian Revolution of 1917, but it was not until January 1921 that he was finally committed to Marxism as the philosophical basis of the revolution in China. | During the summer of 1919 Mao Zedong helped to establish in Changsha a variety of organizations that brought the students together with the merchants and the workers—but not yet with the peasants—in demonstrations aimed at forcing the government to oppose Japan. His writings at the time are filled with references to the “army of the red flag” throughout the world and to the victory of the Russian Revolution of 1917, but it was not until January 1921 that he was finally committed to Marxism as the philosophical basis of the revolution in China. | ||
==Role in wars and political parties== | === Role in wars and political parties === | ||
=== Mao And The Chinese Communist Party === | ==== Mao And The Chinese Communist Party ==== | ||
In September 1920 Mao became principal of the Lin Changsha primary school, and in October he organized a branch of the Socialist Youth League there. That winter he married Yang Kaihui, the daughter of his former ethics teacher. In July 1921 he attended the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, together with representatives from the other communist groups in China and two delegates from the Moscow-based Comintern (Communist International). In 1923, when the young party entered into an alliance with Sun Yat-sen’s Nationalist Party ([[Kuomintang]]), Mao was one of the first communists to join the Nationalist Party and to work within it. During the first half of 1924, he lived mostly with his wife and two infant sons in Shanghai, where he was a leading member of the Nationalists’ Executive Bureau. | In September 1920 Mao became principal of the Lin Changsha primary school, and in October he organized a branch of the Socialist Youth League there. That winter he married Yang Kaihui, the daughter of his former ethics teacher. In July 1921 he attended the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, together with representatives from the other communist groups in China and two delegates from the Moscow-based Comintern (Communist International). In 1923, when the young party entered into an alliance with Sun Yat-sen’s Nationalist Party ([[Kuomintang]]), Mao was one of the first communists to join the Nationalist Party and to work within it. During the first half of 1924, he lived mostly with his wife and two infant sons in Shanghai, where he was a leading member of the Nationalists’ Executive Bureau. | ||
In the winter of 1924–25, Mao returned to his native village of Shaoshan for a rest. There, after witnessing demonstrations by peasants stirred into political consciousness by the shooting of several dozen Chinese by foreign police in Shanghai (May and June 1925), Mao suddenly became aware of the revolutionary potential inherent in the peasantry. Although born in a peasant household, he had, in the course of his student years, adopted the Chinese intellectual’s traditional view of the workers and peasants as ignorant and dirty. His conversion to Marxism had forced him to revise his estimate of the urban proletariat, but he continued to share Marx’s own contempt for the backward and amorphous peasantry. Now he turned back to the rural world of his youth as the source of China’s regeneration. Following the example of other communists working within the Nationalist Party who had already begun to organize the peasants, Mao sought to channel the spontaneous protests of the Hunanese peasants into a network of peasant associations. | In the winter of 1924–25, Mao returned to his native village of Shaoshan for a rest. There, after witnessing demonstrations by peasants stirred into political consciousness by the shooting of several dozen Chinese by foreign police in Shanghai (May and June 1925), Mao suddenly became aware of the revolutionary potential inherent in the peasantry. Although born in a peasant household, he had, in the course of his student years, adopted the Chinese intellectual’s traditional view of the workers and peasants as ignorant and dirty. His conversion to Marxism had forced him to revise his estimate of the urban proletariat, but he continued to share Marx’s own contempt for the backward and amorphous peasantry. Now he turned back to the rural world of his youth as the source of China’s regeneration. Following the example of other communists working within the Nationalist Party who had already begun to organize the peasants, Mao sought to channel the spontaneous protests of the Hunanese peasants into a network of peasant associations. | ||
=== The Communists And The Nationalists === | ==== The Communists And The Nationalists ==== | ||
Pursued by the military governor of Hunan, Mao was soon forced to flee his native province once more, and he returned for another year to an urban environment—Guangzhou (Canton), the main power base of the Nationalists. However, though he lived in Guangzhou, Mao still focused his attention on the countryside. He became the acting head of the propaganda department of the Nationalist Party—in which capacity he edited its leading organ, the <em>Political Weekly</em>, and attended the Second Kuomintang Congress in January 1926—but he also served at the Peasant Movement Training Institute, set up in Guangzhou under the auspices of the Nationalists, as principal of the sixth training session. [[Chiang Kai-shek]] (Jiang Jieshi) had become the leader of the Nationalists after the death of Sun Yat-sen in March 1925, and, although Chiang still declared his allegiance to the “world revolution” and wished to avail himself of aid from the Soviet Union, he was determined to remain master in his own house. He therefore expelled most communists from responsible posts in the Nationalist Party in May 1926. Mao, however, stayed on at the institute until October of that year. Most of the young peasant activists Mao trained were shortly at work strengthening the position of the communists. | Pursued by the military governor of Hunan, Mao was soon forced to flee his native province once more, and he returned for another year to an urban environment—Guangzhou (Canton), the main power base of the Nationalists. However, though he lived in Guangzhou, Mao still focused his attention on the countryside. He became the acting head of the propaganda department of the Nationalist Party—in which capacity he edited its leading organ, the <em>Political Weekly</em>, and attended the Second Kuomintang Congress in January 1926—but he also served at the Peasant Movement Training Institute, set up in Guangzhou under the auspices of the Nationalists, as principal of the sixth training session. [[Chiang Kai-shek]] (Jiang Jieshi) had become the leader of the Nationalists after the death of Sun Yat-sen in March 1925, and, although Chiang still declared his allegiance to the “world revolution” and wished to avail himself of aid from the Soviet Union, he was determined to remain master in his own house. He therefore expelled most communists from responsible posts in the Nationalist Party in May 1926. Mao, however, stayed on at the institute until October of that year. Most of the young peasant activists Mao trained were shortly at work strengthening the position of the communists. | ||
In July 1926 Chiang Kai-shek set out on what became known as the Northern Expedition, aiming to unify the country under his own leadership and to overthrow the conservative government in Beijing as well as other warlords. In November Mao once more returned to Hunan; there, in January and February 1927, he investigated the peasant movement and concluded that in a very short time several hundred million peasants in China would “rise like a tornado or tempest—a force so extraordinarily swift and violent that no power, however great, will be able to suppress it.” Strictly speaking, that prediction proved to be false. Revolution in the shape of spontaneous action by hundreds of millions of peasants did not sweep across China “in a very short time,” or indeed at all. Chiang Kai-shek, who was bent on an alliance with the propertied classes in the cities and in the countryside, turned against the worker and peasant revolution, and in April he massacred the very Shanghai workers who had delivered the city to him. The strategy of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin for carrying out revolution in alliance with the Nationalists collapsed, and the CCP was virtually annihilated in the cities and decimated in the countryside. In a broader and less literal sense, however, Mao’s prophecy was justified. In October 1927 Mao led a few hundred peasants who had survived the autumn harvest uprising in Hunan to a base in the Jinggang Mountains, on the border between Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, and embarked on a new type of revolutionary warfare in the countryside in which the Red Army (military arm of the CCP), rather than the unarmed masses, would play the central role. But it was only because a large proportion of China’s hundreds of millions of peasants sympathized with and supported that effort that Mao Zedong was able in the course of the protracted [[Civil War|civil war]] to encircle the cities from the countryside and thus eventually defeat Chiang Kai-shek and gain control of the country. | In July 1926 Chiang Kai-shek set out on what became known as the Northern Expedition, aiming to unify the country under his own leadership and to overthrow the conservative government in Beijing as well as other warlords. In November Mao once more returned to Hunan; there, in January and February 1927, he investigated the peasant movement and concluded that in a very short time several hundred million peasants in China would “rise like a tornado or tempest—a force so extraordinarily swift and violent that no power, however great, will be able to suppress it.” Strictly speaking, that prediction proved to be false. Revolution in the shape of spontaneous action by hundreds of millions of peasants did not sweep across China “in a very short time,” or indeed at all. Chiang Kai-shek, who was bent on an alliance with the propertied classes in the cities and in the countryside, turned against the worker and peasant revolution, and in April he massacred the very Shanghai workers who had delivered the city to him. The strategy of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin for carrying out revolution in alliance with the Nationalists collapsed, and the CCP was virtually annihilated in the cities and decimated in the countryside. In a broader and less literal sense, however, Mao’s prophecy was justified. In October 1927 Mao led a few hundred peasants who had survived the autumn harvest uprising in Hunan to a base in the Jinggang Mountains, on the border between Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, and embarked on a new type of revolutionary warfare in the countryside in which the Red Army (military arm of the CCP), rather than the unarmed masses, would play the central role. But it was only because a large proportion of China’s hundreds of millions of peasants sympathized with and supported that effort that Mao Zedong was able in the course of the protracted [[Civil War|civil war]] to encircle the cities from the countryside and thus eventually defeat Chiang Kai-shek and gain control of the country. | ||
=== The Road To Power === | ==== The Road To Power ==== | ||
[[File:Mao-Zedong-group-followers-1944.jpg|thumb|249x249px|Mao Zedong addressing a group of his followers in 1944.|link=Special:FilePath/Mao-Zedong-group-followers-1944.jpg]] | [[File:Mao-Zedong-group-followers-1944.jpg|thumb|249x249px|Mao Zedong addressing a group of his followers in 1944.|link=Special:FilePath/Mao-Zedong-group-followers-1944.jpg]] | ||
Mao Zedong’s 22 years in the wilderness can be divided into four phases. The first of those is the initial three years when Mao and Zhu De, the commander in chief of the army, successfully developed the tactics of guerrilla warfare from base areas in the countryside. Those activities, however, were regarded even by their protagonists, and still more by the Central Committee in Shanghai (and by the Comintern in Moscow), as a holding operation until the next upsurge of revolution in the urban centers. In the summer of 1930 the Red Army was ordered by the Central Committee to occupy several major cities in south-central China in the hope of sparking a revolution by the workers. When it became evident that persistence in that attempt could only lead to further costly losses, Mao disobeyed orders and abandoned the battle to return to the base in southern Jiangxi. During that year Mao’s wife was executed by the Nationalists, and he married He Zizhen, with whom he had been living since 1928. | Mao Zedong’s 22 years in the wilderness can be divided into four phases. The first of those is the initial three years when Mao and Zhu De, the commander in chief of the army, successfully developed the tactics of guerrilla warfare from base areas in the countryside. Those activities, however, were regarded even by their protagonists, and still more by the Central Committee in Shanghai (and by the Comintern in Moscow), as a holding operation until the next upsurge of revolution in the urban centers. In the summer of 1930 the Red Army was ordered by the Central Committee to occupy several major cities in south-central China in the hope of sparking a revolution by the workers. When it became evident that persistence in that attempt could only lead to further costly losses, Mao disobeyed orders and abandoned the battle to return to the base in southern Jiangxi. During that year Mao’s wife was executed by the Nationalists, and he married He Zizhen, with whom he had been living since 1928. | ||
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That account of Stalin’s attitude is substantiated by a whole series of public gestures at the time, culminating in the fact that, when the People’s Liberation Army (successor to the Red Army) took the Nationalist capital of Nanjing in April 1949, the Soviet ambassador was the only foreign diplomat to accompany the retreating Nationalist government to Guangzhou. Stalin’s motives were obviously those described by Mao in the above passage; he did not believe in the capacity of the Chinese communists to achieve a clear-cut victory, and he thought they would be a nuisance if they did. | That account of Stalin’s attitude is substantiated by a whole series of public gestures at the time, culminating in the fact that, when the People’s Liberation Army (successor to the Red Army) took the Nationalist capital of Nanjing in April 1949, the Soviet ambassador was the only foreign diplomat to accompany the retreating Nationalist government to Guangzhou. Stalin’s motives were obviously those described by Mao in the above passage; he did not believe in the capacity of the Chinese communists to achieve a clear-cut victory, and he thought they would be a nuisance if they did. | ||
=== Formation Of The People’s Republic Of China === | ==== Formation Of The People’s Republic Of China ==== | ||
Nevertheless, when the communists did take power in China, both Mao and Stalin had to make the best of the situation. In December 1949 Mao, now chairman of the People’s Republic of China—which he had proclaimed on October 1—traveled to Moscow, where, after two months of arduous negotiations, he succeeded in persuading Stalin to sign a treaty of mutual assistance accompanied by limited economic aid. Before the Chinese had time to profit from the resources made available for economic development, however, they found themselves dragged into the [[Korean War]] in support of [[Kim Il-sung]]'s Moscow-oriented regime in North Korea. Only after that baptism of fire did Stalin, according to Mao, begin to have confidence in him and believe he was not first and foremost a Chinese nationalist. | Nevertheless, when the communists did take power in China, both Mao and Stalin had to make the best of the situation. In December 1949 Mao, now chairman of the People’s Republic of China—which he had proclaimed on October 1—traveled to Moscow, where, after two months of arduous negotiations, he succeeded in persuading Stalin to sign a treaty of mutual assistance accompanied by limited economic aid. Before the Chinese had time to profit from the resources made available for economic development, however, they found themselves dragged into the [[Korean War]] in support of [[Kim Il-sung]]'s Moscow-oriented regime in North Korea. Only after that baptism of fire did Stalin, according to Mao, begin to have confidence in him and believe he was not first and foremost a Chinese nationalist. | ||
Despite those tensions with Moscow, the policies of the People’s Republic of China in its early years were in very many respects based, as Mao later said, on “copying from the Soviets.” While Mao and his comrades had experience in guerrilla warfare, in mobilization of the peasants in the countryside, and in political administration at the grass roots, they had no firsthand knowledge of running a state or of large-scale economic development. In such circumstances the Soviet Union provided the only available model. A five-year plan was therefore drawn up under Soviet guidance; it was put into effect in 1953 and included Soviet technical assistance and a number of complete industrial plants. Yet, within two years, Mao had taken steps that were to lead to the breakdown of the political and ideological alliance with Moscow. | Despite those tensions with Moscow, the policies of the People’s Republic of China in its early years were in very many respects based, as Mao later said, on “copying from the Soviets.” While Mao and his comrades had experience in guerrilla warfare, in mobilization of the peasants in the countryside, and in political administration at the grass roots, they had no firsthand knowledge of running a state or of large-scale economic development. In such circumstances the Soviet Union provided the only available model. A five-year plan was therefore drawn up under Soviet guidance; it was put into effect in 1953 and included Soviet technical assistance and a number of complete industrial plants. Yet, within two years, Mao had taken steps that were to lead to the breakdown of the political and ideological alliance with Moscow. | ||
=== The Emergence Of Mao’s Road To Socialism === | ==== The Emergence Of Mao’s Road To Socialism ==== | ||
In the spring of 1949, Mao proclaimed that, while in the past the Chinese revolution had followed the unorthodox path of “encircling the cities from the countryside,” it would in the future take the orthodox road of the cities leading and guiding the countryside. In harmony with that view, he had agreed in 1950 with Liu Shaoqi that collectivization would be possible only when China’s heavy industry had provided the necessary equipment for mechanization. In a report of July 1955, he reversed that position, arguing that in China the social transformation could run ahead of the technical transformation. Deeply impressed by the achievements of certain cooperatives that claimed to have radically improved their material conditions without any outside assistance, he came to believe in the limitless capacity of the Chinese people, especially of the rural masses, to transform at will both nature and their own social relations when mobilized for revolutionary goals. Those in the leadership who did not share that vision he denounced as “old women with bound feet.” He made those criticisms before an ad hoc gathering of provincial and local party secretaries, thus creating a groundswell of enthusiasm for rapid collectivization such that all those in the leadership who had expressed doubts about Mao’s ideas were soon presented with a fait accompli. The tendency thus manifested to pursue his own ends outside the collective decision-making processes of the party was to continue and to be accentuated. | In the spring of 1949, Mao proclaimed that, while in the past the Chinese revolution had followed the unorthodox path of “encircling the cities from the countryside,” it would in the future take the orthodox road of the cities leading and guiding the countryside. In harmony with that view, he had agreed in 1950 with Liu Shaoqi that collectivization would be possible only when China’s heavy industry had provided the necessary equipment for mechanization. In a report of July 1955, he reversed that position, arguing that in China the social transformation could run ahead of the technical transformation. Deeply impressed by the achievements of certain cooperatives that claimed to have radically improved their material conditions without any outside assistance, he came to believe in the limitless capacity of the Chinese people, especially of the rural masses, to transform at will both nature and their own social relations when mobilized for revolutionary goals. Those in the leadership who did not share that vision he denounced as “old women with bound feet.” He made those criticisms before an ad hoc gathering of provincial and local party secretaries, thus creating a groundswell of enthusiasm for rapid collectivization such that all those in the leadership who had expressed doubts about Mao’s ideas were soon presented with a fait accompli. The tendency thus manifested to pursue his own ends outside the collective decision-making processes of the party was to continue and to be accentuated. | ||
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By the winter of 1958–59, Mao himself had come to recognize that some adjustments were necessary, including decentralization of ownership to the constituent elements of the communes and a scaling down of the unrealistically high production targets in both industry and agriculture. He insisted, however, that in broad outline his new Chinese road to socialism, including the concept of the communes and the belief that China, though “poor and blank,” could leap ahead of other countries, was basically sound. At the Lushan meeting of the Central Committee in July–August 1959, Peng Dehuai, the minister of defense, denounced the excesses of the Great Leap and the economic losses they had caused. He was immediately removed from all party and state posts and placed in detention until his death during the Cultural Revolution. From that time, Mao regarded any criticism of his policies as nothing less than a crime of lèse-majesté, meriting exemplary punishment. | By the winter of 1958–59, Mao himself had come to recognize that some adjustments were necessary, including decentralization of ownership to the constituent elements of the communes and a scaling down of the unrealistically high production targets in both industry and agriculture. He insisted, however, that in broad outline his new Chinese road to socialism, including the concept of the communes and the belief that China, though “poor and blank,” could leap ahead of other countries, was basically sound. At the Lushan meeting of the Central Committee in July–August 1959, Peng Dehuai, the minister of defense, denounced the excesses of the Great Leap and the economic losses they had caused. He was immediately removed from all party and state posts and placed in detention until his death during the Cultural Revolution. From that time, Mao regarded any criticism of his policies as nothing less than a crime of lèse-majesté, meriting exemplary punishment. | ||
=== Retreat And Counterattack === | ==== Retreat And Counterattack ==== | ||
Though few spoke up at Lushan in support of Peng, a considerable number of the top leaders sympathized with him in private. Almost immediately, in 1960, Mao began building an alternative power base in the People’s Liberation Army, which the new defense minister, [[Lin Biao]], had set out to turn into a “great school of Mao Zedong Thought.” At about the same time, Mao began to denounce the emergence, not only in the Soviet Union but also in China itself, of “new bourgeois elements” among the privileged strata of the state and party bureaucracy and the technical and artistic elite. Under those conditions, he concluded, a “protracted, complex, and sometimes even violent class struggle” would continue during the whole socialist stage. | Though few spoke up at Lushan in support of Peng, a considerable number of the top leaders sympathized with him in private. Almost immediately, in 1960, Mao began building an alternative power base in the People’s Liberation Army, which the new defense minister, [[Lin Biao]], had set out to turn into a “great school of Mao Zedong Thought.” At about the same time, Mao began to denounce the emergence, not only in the Soviet Union but also in China itself, of “new bourgeois elements” among the privileged strata of the state and party bureaucracy and the technical and artistic elite. Under those conditions, he concluded, a “protracted, complex, and sometimes even violent class struggle” would continue during the whole socialist stage. | ||
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During the next three years Mao waged such a struggle, primarily through the Socialist Education Movement in the countryside, and it was over the guidelines for that campaign that the major political battles were fought within the Chinese leadership. At the end of 1964, when Liu Shaoqi refused to accept Mao’s demand to direct the main thrust of class struggle against “capitalist roaders” in the party, Mao decided that “Liu had to go.” | During the next three years Mao waged such a struggle, primarily through the Socialist Education Movement in the countryside, and it was over the guidelines for that campaign that the major political battles were fought within the Chinese leadership. At the end of 1964, when Liu Shaoqi refused to accept Mao’s demand to direct the main thrust of class struggle against “capitalist roaders” in the party, Mao decided that “Liu had to go.” | ||
=== The Cultural Revolution === | ==== The Cultural Revolution ==== | ||
The movement that became known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution represented an attempt by Mao to go beyond the party rectification campaigns—of which there had been many since 1942—and to devise a new and more radical method for dealing with what he saw as the bureaucratic degeneration of the party. It also represented, beyond any doubt or question, however, a deliberate effort to eliminate those in the leadership who, over the years, had dared to cross him. The victims, from throughout the party hierarchy, suffered more than mere political disgrace. All were publicly humiliated and detained for varying periods, sometimes under very harsh conditions; many were beaten and tortured, and not a few were killed or driven to suicide. Among the casualties was Liu, who died because he was denied proper medical attention. | |||
The movement that became known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution represented an attempt by Mao to go beyond the party rectification campaigns—of which there had been many since 1942—and to devise a new and more radical method for dealing with what he saw as the bureaucratic degeneration of the party. It also represented, beyond any doubt or question, however, a deliberate effort to eliminate those in the leadership who, over the years, had dared to cross him. The victims, from throughout the party hierarchy, suffered more than mere political disgrace. All were publicly humiliated and detained for varying periods, sometimes under very harsh conditions; many were beaten and tortured, and not a few were killed or driven to suicide. Among the casualties was Liu, who died because he was denied proper medical attention. | |||
The justification for those sacrifices was defined in a key slogan of the time: “Fight selfishness, criticize revisionism.” When the young Chinese known as the [[Red Guards]], who constituted the first shock troops of Mao’s enterprise, burst onto the scene in the summer of 1966 with their battle cry “To rebel is justified!” it seemed for a time that not only the power of the party cadres but also authority in all its forms was being questioned. It soon became evident that Mao, who in 1956 had justified decentralization as a means to building a “strong socialist state,” still believed in the need for state power. When the Shanghai leftists Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan—who were later to make up half the Gang of Four—came to see him in February 1967, immediately after setting up the Shanghai Commune, Mao asserted that the demand for the abolition of “heads” (leaders), which had been heard in their city, was “extreme anarchism” and “most reactionary”; in fact, he stated, there would “always be heads.” Communes, he added, were “too weak when it came to suppressing counterrevolution” and in any case required party leadership. He therefore ordered them to dissolve theirs and to replace it with a “revolutionary committee.” | |||
Those committees, based on an alliance of former party cadres, young activists, and representatives of the People’s Liberation Army, were to remain in place until two years after Mao’s death. At first they were largely controlled by the army. The Ninth Congress of 1969 initiated the process of rebuilding the party; and the death of Lin Biao in 1971 diminished, though it by no means eliminated, the army’s role. Thereafter it seemed briefly, in 1971–72, that a compromise, of which [[Zhou Enlai]] was the architect, might produce some kind of synthesis between the values of the Cultural Revolution and the pre-1966 political and economic order. | Those committees, based on an alliance of former party cadres, young activists, and representatives of the People’s Liberation Army, were to remain in place until two years after Mao’s death. At first they were largely controlled by the army. The Ninth Congress of 1969 initiated the process of rebuilding the party; and the death of Lin Biao in 1971 diminished, though it by no means eliminated, the army’s role. Thereafter it seemed briefly, in 1971–72, that a compromise, of which [[Zhou Enlai]] was the architect, might produce some kind of synthesis between the values of the Cultural Revolution and the pre-1966 political and economic order. | ||
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Even before Zhou’s death in January 1976, however, that compromise had been overturned. All recognition by Mao of the importance of professional skills was swallowed up in an orgy of political rhetoric, and all things foreign were regarded as counterrevolutionary. Mao’s last decade, which had opened with manifestos in favour of the Paris Commune model of mass democracy, closed with paeans of praise to that most implacable of centralizing despots, Shihuangdi, the first emperor of the ancient Qin dynasty. | Even before Zhou’s death in January 1976, however, that compromise had been overturned. All recognition by Mao of the importance of professional skills was swallowed up in an orgy of political rhetoric, and all things foreign were regarded as counterrevolutionary. Mao’s last decade, which had opened with manifestos in favour of the Paris Commune model of mass democracy, closed with paeans of praise to that most implacable of centralizing despots, Shihuangdi, the first emperor of the ancient Qin dynasty. | ||
=== Death === | ==== Death ==== | ||
Mao's last public appearance—and the last known photograph of him alive—was on May 27, 1976, when he met the visiting Pakistani Prime Minister [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]] during the latter's one-day visit to Beijing. At around 5:00 pm on 2 September 1976, Mao suffered a heart attack, far more severe than his previous two and affecting a much larger area of his heart. Three days later, on 5 September another heart attack randered him an invalid. On the afternoon of 7 September, Mao's condition completely deteriorated. Mao's organs failed quickly and he fell into a coma shortly before noon where he was put on life support machines. | Mao's last public appearance—and the last known photograph of him alive—was on May 27, 1976, when he met the visiting Pakistani Prime Minister [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]] during the latter's one-day visit to Beijing. At around 5:00 pm on 2 September 1976, Mao suffered a heart attack, far more severe than his previous two and affecting a much larger area of his heart. Three days later, on 5 September another heart attack randered him an invalid. On the afternoon of 7 September, Mao's condition completely deteriorated. Mao's organs failed quickly and he fell into a coma shortly before noon where he was put on life support machines. | ||
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Mao's record after 1949 is more ambiguous. The official Chinese view, defined in June 1981, is that his leadership was basically correct until the summer of 1957, but from then on it was mixed at best and frequently wrong. It cannot be disputed that Mao’s two major innovations of his later years, the Great Leap and the Cultural Revolution, were ill-conceived and led to disastrous consequences. His goals of combating bureaucracy, encouraging popular participation, and stressing China’s self-reliance were generally laudable—and the industrialization that began during Mao’s reign did indeed lay a foundation for China’s remarkable economic development since the late 20th century—but the methods he used to pursue them were often violent and self-defeating. | Mao's record after 1949 is more ambiguous. The official Chinese view, defined in June 1981, is that his leadership was basically correct until the summer of 1957, but from then on it was mixed at best and frequently wrong. It cannot be disputed that Mao’s two major innovations of his later years, the Great Leap and the Cultural Revolution, were ill-conceived and led to disastrous consequences. His goals of combating bureaucracy, encouraging popular participation, and stressing China’s self-reliance were generally laudable—and the industrialization that began during Mao’s reign did indeed lay a foundation for China’s remarkable economic development since the late 20th century—but the methods he used to pursue them were often violent and self-defeating. | ||
There is no single accepted measure of Mao and his long career. How does one weigh, for example, the good fortune of peasants acquiring land against millions of executions and deaths? How does one balance the real economic achievements after 1949 against the starvation that came in the wake of the Great Leap | There is no single accepted measure of Mao and his long career. How does one weigh, for example, the good fortune of peasants acquiring land against millions of executions and deaths? How does one balance the real economic achievements after 1949 against the starvation that came in the wake of the Great Leap Forward or the bloody shambles of the Cultural Revolution? It is, perhaps, possible to accept the official verdict that, despite the "errors of his later years," Mao's merits outweighed his faults, while underscoring the fact that the account is very finely balanced. | ||
==Trivia== | ==Trivia== | ||
*Mao personally didn't like purging his officials despite seeing it as necessary. | |||
*Mao was reportedly a great swimmer and it has been said that he managed to swim across a flowing river in a very short amount of time. | |||
*Mao Zedong, despite being a repressive controversial dictator that caused millions of deaths, was against imperialism and fought as a general in the Second Sino-Japanese War against [[Imperial Japan]], a conflict that saw him briefly join forces with future Taiwanese dictator Chiang Kai-Shek and the [[Kuomintang]]. Furthermore, Mao was so disgusted by the horrific [[Rape of Nanking]] committed by Japanese forces during the war that he refused to speak of the horrendous atrocity for the rest of his life. | *Mao Zedong, despite being a repressive controversial dictator that caused millions of deaths, was against imperialism and fought as a general in the Second Sino-Japanese War against [[Imperial Japan]], a conflict that saw him briefly join forces with future Taiwanese dictator Chiang Kai-Shek and the [[Kuomintang]]. Furthermore, Mao was so disgusted by the horrific [[Rape of Nanking]] committed by Japanese forces during the war that he refused to speak of the horrendous atrocity for the rest of his life. | ||
**However he rather thanked Japan for invading China, He ironically said these words: ''" Don't say that, on the contrary, Japanese helped us (Communist) in a big way. "'' Meaning he refused to accept Japan's apology and rather thanked the Japanese invasion of Mainland China as well as supporting the denials of Nanking Massacre until his death in 1976 the rise of Anti-Japanese sentiment rose. | **However he rather thanked Japan for invading China, He ironically said these words: ''" Don't say that, on the contrary, Japanese helped us (Communist) in a big way. "'' Meaning he refused to accept Japan's apology and rather thanked the Japanese invasion of Mainland China as well as supporting the denials of Nanking Massacre until his death in 1976 the rise of Anti-Japanese sentiment rose. | ||
**According to Watchmojo's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9yPMWpjN9k&t=173s 10 Most EVIL Men in History video], Mao Zedong is the sixth most evil man in the history of mankind. | |||
==Videos== | ==Videos== | ||
<YouTube width=320 height=180>https://youtu.be/PJIIZm_JO_4</YouTube> | <YouTube width=320 height=180>https://youtu.be/PJIIZm_JO_4</YouTube> | ||
<YouTube width=320 height=180>https://youtu.be/fsME7AXcf6E</YouTube> | <YouTube width=320 height=180>https://youtu.be/fsME7AXcf6E</YouTube> | ||
<YouTube width=320 height=180>https://youtu.be/g_2FZ-V_4zs</YouTube> | <YouTube width=320 height=180>https://youtu.be/g_2FZ-V_4zs</YouTube> | ||
<YouTube width=320 height=180>https://youtu.be/uWKNVZqC0yo</YouTube> | <YouTube width=320 height=180>https://youtu.be/uWKNVZqC0yo</YouTube> | ||
<YouTube width=320 height=180>https://youtu.be/oSmHz1S9K2Q</YouTube> | |||
<YouTube width=320 height=180>https://youtu.be/dW_ekZRGalk</YouTube> | |||
[[Category:List]] | [[Category:List]] | ||
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[[Category:Jingoists]] | [[Category:Jingoists]] | ||
[[Category:Lawful Evil]] | [[Category:Lawful Evil]] | ||
[[Category:Government support]] | [[Category:Government support]] | ||
[[Category:Perverts]] | [[Category:Perverts]] | ||
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[[Category:Polluters]] | [[Category:Polluters]] | ||
[[Category:Brutes]] | [[Category:Brutes]] | ||
[[Category:Dark Messiah]] | [[Category:Dark Messiah]] | ||
[[Category:Eco Destroyer]] | [[Category:Eco Destroyer]] | ||
[[Category:Warlords]] | [[Category:Warlords]] | ||
[[Category:Muses]] | [[Category:Muses]] | ||
[[Category:Delusional]] | [[Category:Delusional]] | ||
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[[Category:Mongers]] | [[Category:Mongers]] | ||
[[Category:Artistic]] | [[Category:Artistic]] | ||
[[Category:Vengeful]] | [[Category:Vengeful]] | ||
[[Category:Psychological Abusers]] | [[Category:Psychological Abusers]] | ||
[[Category:Destroyer of Innocence]] | [[Category:Destroyer of Innocence]] | ||
[[Category:Anti- | [[Category:Anti-Semitic]] | ||
[[Category:Conspirators]] | [[Category:Conspirators]] | ||
[[Category:Power Hungry]] | [[Category:Power Hungry]] | ||
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[[Category:Misogynists]] | [[Category:Misogynists]] | ||
[[Category:Misopedists]] | [[Category:Misopedists]] | ||
[[Category:Paranoid]] | [[Category:Paranoid]] | ||
[[Category:Hegemony]] | [[Category:Hegemony]] | ||
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[[Category:Saboteurs]] | [[Category:Saboteurs]] | ||
[[Category:Greedy]] | [[Category:Greedy]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Affably Evil]] | ||
[[Category:Early Modern Villains]] | |||