Lecture 3 : Mao’s Ideology/ Cult of Mao

Rise of the Moderates

3 Areas of Focus

1. Rise of the ‘Moderates’/ Mao’s retreat from power

2. Mao’s Ideology

3. Cult of Mao

Together, all 3 provide background/ explanation for the Cultural Revolution

1. Rise of the ‘Moderates’

Moderates

Liu Shiaoqi

Became President of China/ Head of State

Moderates

Zhou Enlai

Prime Minister

Moderates

Deng Xiaoping becomesParty Secretary

Practical as regards economic activity:

It does not matter if a cat is white or black- as long as it catches mice it is a good cat

Moderate’s Economic Policies: Practical

The moderates abandoned the Great Leap Forward

• Communes were reduced in size• Backyard steel factories were shut down• Peasants were returned to the fields• Some were given their own plots of land & were allowed to sell their surplus

Mao unhappy with policies- they were a return to Western ideas & capitalism

Mao v. Moderates: Why?

Moderates: Interested in results of economic policies- even if some capitalist ideas

• incentives to work harder (more pay)• Private property

Mao: Wanted Communist ideology. Not capitalism

2. Mao’s Ideology

Capitalism is BAD

• Exploitation/ taking advantage of workers for profit

• Private property

• Class system

Use and study Chairman Mao's glorious philosophical thought in a big way

Mao’s quotes

Never forget class struggle

Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated…In class (capitalist) society everyone lives as a member of a particular class, and every kind of thinking, without exception, is stamped with the brand of a class

People need Mao Zedong thought!!

Mao’s beliefs

Constant struggle:

Who will win in the struggle between the proletariat (workers) and the bourgeoisie (capitalists) has not been really settled yet. We still have to wage a continuing struggle against bourgeois (capitalist) ideology

How will revolution be accomplished?

Always careful: We still have to wage a continuing struggle against bourgeois ideology

Violent if necessary: Everything reactionary is the same; if you don't hit them, they won't fall.

Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.

Is it Easy?

In order to create it is first necessary to destroy

A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or (sewing)

Every generation needs a new (communist) revolution

Everything is political

There is….no such thing as art for art's sake, art that is detached from or independent of politics. [Art] should operate as a powerful weapon for uniting and educating people and for attacking and destroying the enemy

China’s large population will lead the revolution- with Mao Zedong thought!!

The outstanding thing about China's 600 million people is that they are "poor and blank." This may seem to be a bad thing, but in reality it is a good thing. Poverty gives rise to the desire for change, the desire for action and the desire for revolution.

3. The Cult of Mao

Mao is the greatest communist of his age

Mao is the greatest communist of his age

Chairman Mao gives us a happy life

Mao is the greatest communist of his age

Follow the Communist Party forever, follow Chairman Mao forever

The Great Helmsman

In the Yangtze….

Mao is the greatest communist of his age

Mao is the greatest communist of his age

Forging ahead courageously while following the great leader Chairman Mao!

1. Mao unhappy with moderates economic policies

2. They’re taking steps that go against or even abandon Mao’s revolutionary Communist ideology

3. Combine the above with the way that Mao has been portrayed to the masses

Between 1962 - 1966

You were born in 1949, the year the Communists took power. You have been told your whole life that Mao is The Great Leader. Images are all around that deify Mao (make God-like). What would YOU do when Mao, in 1966, calls for a great purging of those opposed to him?

Mao & the Impact of Ideology

Consider Mao’s actions:• The political, economic and social changes of the early

years • Campaigns against ‘enemies’ of the revolution• Women’s Rights• 100 Flowers Movement and what happened to those who

criticized the CCP• Putting peasants into communes (no private property)• Great Leap Forward (The 2d ‘5 Year Plan’) and its

continuation in the face of evidence it wasn’t working• Purge of Marshall Peng Duhuia• The ‘Cult’ of Mao

Mao & the Impact of Ideology

Now consider Mao’s ideology (beliefs) as demonstrated by his quotes…..• about communism• The revolution• rightists (reactionaries) • Those wanted China to return to a class system (either

inadvertently or on purpose)• Even within the Party itself

Question: What was the impact of Mao’s Ideology on his Policies? (with examples)