Describe Mao’s Career and his contribution to the CCP

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFKlpWBe6Xs

Before CCP

• Born 1893, raised in a peasant family in HuNan• Trained as a teacher and worked in the university library

in Beijing• Introduced to Marxist Literature

Establishment of the CCP

• 1911 – Mao joined revolution • 1919 – Became communist, set up communist cell group

at Changsha• 1921 – Started CCP with Chou En-Lai • 1923 – CCP allies with KMT• 1931 – Elected chairman of the

Central Executive Committee

United Front

• 1926 – Northern march, KMT & CCP set out to destroy warlords

• 1927 – Hankow, Shanghai & Nanking• 1928 – Beijing captured

Chiang’s Extermination Campaigns

• 1930-1934: Five campaigns aimed to destroy communists• CCP took to the mountains and concentrated on building

up Red Army• Early 1934 – Mao’s base area surrounded by KMT• Oct 1934 – CCP broke through CKS’s lines

Long March

• 1934:Aim: Escape KMT and create new power base100,000 communist covered 6000 miles in 368 daysEventually 20,000 survivors reached Yenan, Shensi province, and

set up new power base• Effects:

Mao’s leadership of CCP accepted, made chairman during the march

Members left along the route to promote communist causeMassive propagation of CommunismMao gained faithful supporters

Second United Front

• Means of executing Mao’s goals• CCP and KMT allied against Japanese invasion • KMT removed anti- Communist resistance and CCP

allowed use of Red Army by KMT • Free themselves from nationalist attacks• Expand military strength and spread Communism over

wider areas

WW2

• KMT made no major offensive action to push back Japanese forces

• Retreated to Chongqing• KMT’s weaknesses exposed when financial crisis from

war emerged- discontentment and loss of support from middle, upper classes and military when it made no economic reforms

WW2

• Mao’s tactics gained him massive support-guerrilla activities behind Jap. Lines

• Expand visibly as compared to KMT’s little progress• Soldiers given regular political instruction- prevent lossof morale• Red army educated Chinese on how to defend their villages and

set up militia force(2 million) to defend as well• Communists set up village councils- land programme gave

peasants land and reduced rents to manageable levels• Considerable expansion in countryside-won over millions of

peasants in Communist- controlled land

WW2

• Chinese of all classes came to respect CCP as leader of China through their effort in resisting Jap. Forces

• ‘New Democracy’ included election to local committees from every social class- appealed to masses, even the wealthy

• By 1945, CCP controlled 19 ‘liberated’ areas- Many people recognised Mao’s authority

• CCP militarily stronger at end of the war and demanded end to KMT’s one-party rule

• Coalition denied and civil war broke out(1946)

How CCP gained support

• KMT inefficient & corruptKMT only looked after interest of industrialist, bankers &

landowners and its decisions were not aimed for popular support from the peasants and working class

Mismanagement of government fundsFailure to implement plans of reformLittle improvement in factory conditionsMao & communists provided better alternatives

• NO improvement in peasant poverty1930s – Series of droughts and bad harvestsHigh taxes and forced labour Communists land policy much more attractive- equal land

distribution and more food

How CCP gained support

• KMT put up no effective resistance against the Japanese1937 – KMT forces quickly defeated by Japs and quickly

retreated, choosing instead to rely on allied aid to force back Japanese

Enabled Mao to present Communists as patriotic nationalists leading a guerilla campaign against the Japs

Won them massive support with the peasants and middle class

Mao’s role during the Civil War

• Won the peasant support through quick land reforms, rent reduction and Red Army recruitment

• Won social revolution in coutryside• Concentrate military forces on for mobile warfare to

avoid direct confrontation with the GMD instead of securing land

• Mao evacuated Yenan and stayed in the Shanxi base area to evade pursuers

Communist VICTORY

• 1949 – Communists captured Beijing• Chiang fled to Taiwan• Mao in control of mainland China• Oct 1949 – Mao proclaims himself chairman of the CCP

and president of the republic

Communist VICTORY

• Reasons for CCP triumphWon popular support with the peasants by their land policyCommunist armies well disciplinedAdministration honest & fairSome KMT troops influenced by communist propaganda

and desertedCommunist armies more tactically competent than KMT

China’s problems

• Problems after communist victoryCountry devastated by civil war and Japanese invasionFood shortages due to inefficient agricultureBackward industry

Mao deals with China’s problems

• 1950 constitutionIncluded the National People’s Congress, State Council and

the ChairmanMade sure that laws were carried out and that

administration went ahead Opposition ruthlessly suppressedSignificance: Provided China with a strong central

government

Mao deals with China’s problems

• Industrial changes Most businesses nationalized 1953 – Five Year Plan concentrating on the development of heavy

industry (iron, steel, chemicals and coal)• Agricultural changes

Land taken from large landowners and redistributed to peasants Peasants then persuaded to join collective farms Significance: Transformed small, inefficient private farms into

large co-operative farms

Hundred Flowers campaign (1957)

• Industrialization produced a new class of experts (technicians and engineers)

• Party cadres believed the experts would threaten their authority

• However, government decided that open discussion might improve relations and called for constructive criticism

Hundred Flowers campaign (1957)

• Unfortunately for Mao, more criticism than expected• Campaign hurriedly called off• Significance: Showed how much opposition remained

Also convinced Mao that he needed to consolidate the advance of socialism

Great Leap Forward

• Involved further developments in industry and agricultureAim: Increase output through mass mobilisation of labour

• Introduction of communesUnits larger than collective farmsRan their own farms and factoriesContained up 75 000 people

Great Leap Forward

• Change of emphasis in industrySmaller factories set up in the countryside instead of large-

scale worksMao talked of 600 000 ‘backyard steel furnaces’ springing

up, organized and managed by communesCommunes also undertook to build roads, canals, dams,

reservoirs and irrigation channels

Effectiveness and Consequences of Great Leap

• Seemed doomed to be a failure at first due to bad harvests from 1959 to 1961 and the withdrawal of Russian aid

• Massive decline in agricultural production• Famine and millions of deaths• Coupled with lack of experience among cadres, caused

hardship from 1959 to 1963.• Mao’s prestige suffered and he was forced to resign as

Chairman of the People’s Congress

Effectiveness and Consequences of Great Leap

• Eventually, agricultural and industrial production increasedBy mid-1960s, China was able to feed its population

without famineCommunes became efficient units of local government

Allowed central government to keep in touch with local opinion

Economy continued to be labor-intensiveEnsured that everyone had a job, thus avoiding unemployment

problems

The Cultural Revolution(1966-9)

• Aim: Re-assert Mao’s authority by purging elements that did not follow Maoism and reviving the revolutionary spirit

• Roused many students• Red Guards toured the country to persuade Mao’s case• Many schools and companies closed down• Many were violently abused and killed, not just Mao’s

opposers

The Cultural Revolution(1966-9)

• 1.5 million killed• Loss of China’s cultural heritage• Many cities were on the verge of anarchy• Mao had to send in the army to restore order• Massive decline in Mao’s support