  |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
Mao Zedong (1893-1976)Chinese dictator. Born on 26 December 1893, in Shaoshan, Hunan, into a wealthy peasant family, he ran away in 1910 because he wanted to study. In Changsha, he founded the New People's Study Society, and after graduation in 1918, he got a job at the Beijing University library, where he discovered Marxism. One of the founding members of the Chinese Communist party in 1921, he returned to his home province to organise there. Two years later, Mao was elected to the central committee, but he disagreed with other leaders about Marxist ideology, believing that, in China, the revolution would come from the peasants rather than from the industrial workers. After an unsuccessful attempt to set up a soviet republic in Kiangsi (1931-4), he led the revolutionaries in an epic Long March and, against all odds, managed to get a hardcore of followers to safety in the isolated region of Yanan in 1935. On 8 January, he became leader of the Chinese Communist party, and over the next decade gradually built up the power of the Yanan Soviet. He developed his ideas of a peasant revolution in numerous writings. And in 1939, he married his third wife, Jiang Qing (who, after his death, would find prominence as one of the 'Gang of Four'). During the Japanese invasion of China, he patiently built up his influence in the northern part of the country. In the Chinese civil war against the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek, which followed the defeat of Japan in 1945, Mao led the Communist Red Army to victory by instilling rigid discipline, carrying out land reforms in areas he controlled and exploiting the corruption of his enemies. On 1 October 1949, he proclaimed the People's Republic of China. With considerable skill, Mao carried out the collectivisation of agriculture and the nationalisation of industry, but his leadership could be erratic. Ideas such as the 1956-7 'Hundred Flowers' campaign, in which he encouraged criticism, resulted in such a wave of protest that he had to repress opposition with draconian measures. His 1958 'Great Leap Forward', which, among other things, ordered peasants to smelt steel in villages, was an economic disaster. To recover his prestige, Mao unleashed the 1966 Cultural Revolution, a massive purge that terrorised the population and destabilised society. After two years, the army had to restore order. However, by then, Mao enjoyed demi-god status and his supporters used a collection of his sayings – The Little Red Book – as inspiration for their actions. By the time of his death on 9 September 1976, he had become an emperor-like figure and a cultural icon. |
|
