Emergence of Mao Zedong

Mao’s Early Life 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 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 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 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 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) Sun Yat-sen

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Gains Power 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 Chiang Kai-shek

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 Mao Zedong

Split of the Nationalists and CCP 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 Mao fled to the countryside (Jiangxi), where he established independent soviets and the Red Army From 1930-1936, Chiang Kai-shek led military campaigns against the Communists, while the communists defended themselves with guerilla tactics Chiang Kai-shek

CCP Flees From the Nationalists: Long March 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 In September 1931, the Japanese army plotted to seize Manchuria by force Manchuria was land that was rich in mineral and coal reserves as well as good for planting barley and soy During 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 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 In 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 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

Relationship Between Leadership and the Masses Mao developed a program of contact with the masses that became known as the “mass line”. The process includes: 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: 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