Transcript Emergence of Mao Zedong

Emergence of Mao
Zedong
Mao’s Early Life
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His father was a farmer and was fairly well off
Mao was expelled from or asked to leave from at least
three schools for being disobedient
He was widowed at 16
After being widowed, Mao went to a teacher college in
1911
It was there that Mao got caught up on the readings of
Marx
After college, Mao worked as a part-time history
teacher in a primary school
China As Mao Was Growing
Up: Problems With the
Manchu Dynasty
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The emperors were not strong leaders, which trickled
down to other government officials, who were
incompetent
Heavy taxes were put on the people
Large disparity between the rich and poor
Widespread poverty
Gov’t officials accepted money and gifts for political
appointments
Foreign countries had spheres of influence where they
dominated
Manchu Dynasty Begins To
Fall
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Puyi, a 3 year old boy was the last
emperor
A small group of revolutionary soldiers
in Wuchang in central China started
the rebellion in October 1911
The central government had become
so weak that province after province
declared its independence from the
central government
A military general named Yuan Shikai
ruled from 1912-1916
Mao Becomes Communist
There were a number of
foreign spheres of
influence in Changsha,
Mao’s home province
 Radical students, including
Mao, wanted to oust the
provincial warlord who
collaborated with the
foreigners and went to
Peking to unsuccessfully
lobby the government
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The Imperial Palace was
called the Forbidden City b/c
it was so large & no one
could enter w/o the
emperor’s permission
Becoming Communist
A young Zedong
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On his way back, he encountered communists who
were forming a Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
In 1920, Mao was given the assignment of opening a
bookshop in Changsha to sell Party literature
In 1921, Mao became provincial Party leader
Mao did not inspire a passionate following through his
oratory, or ideological appeal
He simply sought willing recruits among his immediate
circle; people who would take orders
Sun Yat-sen Forms the
Nationalist Party
(Kuomintang)
After struggling for power with
a Shikai, Sun Yat-sen
becomes president in 1916
 His main goal is to get rid of
the foreign influences in China
and unite the country (many
provinces were run by
warlords)
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Sun Yat-sen
Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) Gains Power
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Chiang Kai-shek
The Comintern (Soviets) urges the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to
join the Nationalists
The Soviets wanted to help the
Nationalists get rid of the spheres of
influence in China (since they were
dominated by Western nations)
The Nationalists accepted the CCP
because they hoped it would help
strengthen their party
Mao Gains Influence in the
CCP
Since most Communists
hated the Nationalists and
didn’t want to work with
them, Mao saw opportunity
 Mao worked hard for the
Nationalists and rose in
power in the Communist
party
 In 1925, Sun Yat-sen died.
Chiang Kai-Shek now led the
Nationalists
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Mao Zedong
Split of the Nationalists and
CCP
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In April 1927, the Peking authorities raided Russian
premises and seized documents that revealed
Moscow trying to overthrow the Peking government
and there were Soviet links with the Chinese
communists
The Nationalists needed to take action to dissociate
themselves with the Russians and CCP or else they
could be seen as part of the conspiracy to turn China
into a Soviet satellite
Chiang Kai-shek organized massacres of members of
the CCP
CCP Flees From the
Nationalists
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Mao fled to the countryside
(Jiangxi), where he established
independent soviets and the
Red Army
From 1930-1936, Chiang Kaishek led military campaigns
against the Communists, while
the communists defended
themselves with guerilla tactics
Chiang Kai-shek
CCP Flees From the
Nationalists: Long March
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Long March – 1934-35
 Red Army retreated using twisting, unpredictable
patterns
 Split into smaller units that were harder to find
 Out of 87,000 men, less than 10,000 survived the
9,000 km march
In December 1936:
 The communists settled in Yan’an in Shanxi
 A truce occurred to help protect the country against
the Japanese
Shanxi
Jiangxi
The Communists fled from Jiangxi to a city
called Yenan in the province of Shanxi
Mukden Incident
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September 1931, the Japanese army
plotted to seize Manchuria by force
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Manchuria was land that was rich in mineral
and coal reserves as well as good for planting
barley and soy
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the night of the 18th and 19th, the
Japanese blew up the tracks of the South
Manchurian Railway just outside Mukden.
The Japanese blamed it on the Chinese and
so they attacked the Chinese and occupied
Mukden
Chinese Resistance
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Chiang Kai-shek’s government was too weak to
oppose the Japanese army by force (they were
also fighting the civil war against the CCP)
Resistance against Japan would be hopeless
unless China could first be effectively united, and
this became Chiang Kai-shek’s first priority
He concluded a truce with the Japanese in May
1933
Marco Polo Bridge Incident
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July 1937, a clash of
local Chinese and
Japanese troops on the
Marco Polo Bridge
outside Peking became
the Japanese excuse for
launching a full-scale
war on China that lasted
until 1945
Sino-Japanese War and the
CCP Build-Up
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From 1937-1945, the communists:
Expanded their military forces from 500,000 to 1
million
 Established political control over as many as 90
million people
 Were given weapons by the U.S. to help fight the
Japanese
 Nonetheless, the Nationalists did most of the
fighting
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Relationship Between
Leadership and the Masses
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Mao developed a program of contact with the masses that
became known as the “mass line”. The process includes:
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Investigating the conditions of people
Learning about and participating in their struggles
Gathering ideas from them
Creating a plan of action based on these ideas and concerns
It was a powerful tool of propaganda. By 1945, the
communists had reached 100 million people and the mass
line was carried to the people by 1 million members
Chiang and the Nationalists
Chiang and the Nationalists were set back by:
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Corruption
Brutality
Incompetence
Inefficiency
Hyperinflation
Sino-Japanese War
Arms that the U.S. gave to the Nationalists, but
the Red Army captured them
People lost confidence and longed for an end to
famine, death, and civil war
Nationalist shooting Communists –
the signs accuse them of crimes