Briefly, the biography and activities of Mao Zedong can be described in just a few words - the leader of the People’s Republic of China, the founder of the Communist Party and its leader. Mao Zedong ruled China for 27 years. These were difficult years for the country: the formation of the PRC took place after the Second World War and the Civil War. Having examined the biography of Mao Zedong and interesting facts from his life, we can try to understand and analyze the actions of the leader, who left an indelible mark on the history of China. So let's get started.
Mao Zedong Biography: The Early Years
The year of birth of the former head of the People’s Republic of China is 1893. Speaking about the communist leaders and their biographies as Mao Zedong, they were mostly born into simple families. Mao was born into an ordinary illiterate peasant family in 1893, December 26. His father, being a small rice merchant, was able to educate his eldest son. Learning was interrupted in 1911. Then there was a revolution that overthrew the ruling Qing dynasty. After serving in the army for six months, Mao continues his studies, having left for the main city of Hunan province - Changsha. The young man received a teacher education.
Speaking briefly about the biography of Mao Zedong, it can be pointed out that his worldview was formed under the influence of both ancient Chinese philosophical teachings and new trends in Western culture. Patriotism and love for China directed the future leader towards revolutionary ideas and teachings. At the age of 25, he and his associates, in search of better ways for the country, created the social movement “New People”.
Revolutionary youth
In 1918, at the invitation of his mentor, the Communist Li Dazhao, the young man moved to Beijing to work in the library and improve his education. A Marxist circle is organized here, in which he takes part. But soon, the future leader returns to Changsha, where he works as the principal of a junior school and enters into his first marriage with Yang Kaihui, the daughter of his professor. Subsequently, the couple had three sons.
Inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917, he becomes the leader of the Hunan communist cell and represents it in Shanghai at the Constituent Congress of the Communist Party of 1921. In 1923, the CPC merged with the Kuomintang party, which had a nationalist orientation, then Mao Zedong became a member of the Central Committee. In the native province of Hunan, the revolutionary creates many communist communities of workers and peasants, which is why he is being persecuted by local authorities.
China Soviet Republic
In 1927, disagreements occurred between the CCP and the Kuomintang. Chiang Kai-shek (Kuomintang leader) breaks off relations with the CCP and rebels against it. In response, Mao Zedong secretly from his comrades-in-arms organizes and leads a peasant uprising, which was suppressed by the Kuomintang forces. The discontented leadership of the Communist Party excludes Mao from its ranks. But his troops, retreating to the mountains on the border of the provinces of Jiangxi and Hunan, do not give up the struggle and attract more and more supporters.
In 1928, together with another former member of the CCP, Zhu De, Mao gathers strength, proclaiming himself the party commissar and commander Zhu De. Thus, in rural areas in the south of central China, the Chinese Soviet Republic appears under the leadership of Zedong, which is quickly gaining popularity among peasants, passing them land and taken from the landowners.
At the same time, the army of Mao Zedong fought off the attacks of the Kuomintang. However, the Kuomintang managed to capture and execute Mao's wife. After another attack in 1934, he had to leave his deployment, embarking on a “great campaign” with a length of 12 thousand km to Shanxi province. During the campaign, his army suffered heavy casualties.
Chairman of the Central Committee
Then, under the pressure of the Japanese invasion, the Kuomintang and the CCP reunited. Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong are reconciled. Reflecting the attacks of the Japanese, Mao did not miss the chance to strengthen his position in the updated CCP. In 1940, he was elected chairman of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee.
Carrying out leadership of the Communist Party, Mao Zedong regularly organized "purges" of its ranks, thanks to which in 1945 he became permanent chairman of the CPC Central Committee. At the same time, his works were published in which he applies the ideas of Marxism-Leninism to the realities of Chinese reality. They are recognized as the only true way for China. Since then, the cult of personality of the new leader begins.
With more than a million members, about three million soldiers in the regular army and in the militia, the Communist Party was still not ruling. South and central China remained under the influence of Nanjing. The task of the Communists and Chairman Mao was to overthrow the rotten Kuomintang regime.
The formation of China
Having defeated the Japanese invaders with the help of the Soviet Union, the Kuomintang and the Communists begin a fierce struggle between themselves. Having won this confrontation, Mao Zedong proclaims the People's Republic of China in 1949, October 1. Chiang Kai-shek escapes to Taiwan.
Once in power, Mao again carries out mass purges and repressions in the party, ridding himself of people who are objectionable to him in this way. The USSR provides all kinds of support to the young state. The political weight of Mao Zedong among the Communists is increasingly tangible, and after the death of Stalin in 1953, Mao was recognized as the main Marxist.
But already in 1956 (after Khrushchev's famous report on debunking the Stalin personality cult), relations between the PRC and the USSR cooled down, as the Chinese leader considered the report a betrayal of Stalin. During the reign of Mao Zedong, various experiments began, which in many ways worsened the lives of ordinary people.
Big jump
In 1957, allegedly out of good intentions, Mao organized a movement under the slogan "Let a hundred flowers bloom, let thousands of worldview schools compete." His goal was to learn about the flaws in the party, using criticism. However, this movement pitifully turned around for all dissenters. In order not to fall under Mao’s hot hand, the party members began to sing odes, elevating the personality of the leader.
At the same time, Mao exerts pressure on the peasantry, popular communes arise, and private property and commodity production are completely destroyed. From dispossession millions of households suffered. A so-called “Great Leap Forward” program has also been published, designed to accelerate industrialization across the country.
Less than a year later, the results of Mao Zedong's new policy began to cause imbalances in industry and agriculture in China. The standard of living of people has decreased several times, inflation has risen, mass hunger has come.
Before the cultural revolution
Adverse economic and environmental conditions exacerbated the situation, administrative chaos appeared, and many state institutions did not fulfill their functions. Mao Zedong decides to go into the shadows and relieves himself of the powers of the country's leader. In 1959, Liu Shaotsi became the head of state, but Mao could not reconcile with his position in the supporting roles, so after 1.5 years he put forward the ideas of the class struggle in the "great cultural revolution."
In 1960-1965 Mao Zedong partially admits the mistakes of the “Great Leap Forward” policy. During this period his quotation is published, the reading of which becomes mandatory. Mao’s third wife enters into political games, she actively fuels passions about the political future of China and compares her husband’s activities with exploits. Mao is again chairing with the help of his wife and Minister of Defense Lin Biao. The class struggle against the dissent was reflected in the "cultural revolution" of Mao Zedong, which began in 1966.
New repression
The bloody "cultural revolution" begins after the release of a historical play, which Mao compared with the anti-socialist poison. In the play, he saw a short biography of Mao Zedong (i.e. his own) as a dictator of the Chinese people. After the next convocation of party members and loud speeches about the ruthless destruction of enemies, reprisals followed a number of leaders. At the same time, detachments for the "cultural revolution" were formed, formed from students - hunveibiny.
Education in schools and universities is canceled, the mass persecution of teachers, intellectuals, members of the CPC and the Komsomol begins. In the name of the "cultural revolution", killings without trial, routs, and searches are carried out.
Mao's foreign policy towards the USSR is also changing, all ties are breaking, tension at the border is growing. China and the USSR mutually deport specialists from their countries. In 1969, at the next meeting of the government, Mao makes a statement unheard of for the communist countries - he proclaims Minister of Defense Lin Biao as his successor.
The ranks of the Chinese Communist Party were greatly thinned during the repression and persecution of the "cultural revolution." Removed and hated Zedong Liu Shaotsi.
The end of the "cultural revolution"
By 1972, the Chinese people were tired of the outrages and repression. The process of restoration of the Komsomol, trade unions and other organizations begins. Some party members are rehabilitated. Mao Zedong turns his eyes towards the United States and, trying to establish relations with them, receives President Nixon.
In 1975, after a 10-year hiatus, parliament begins work and the new Constitution of the PRC is adopted. But the life of the people did not improve, the economy was in a deep decline, this caused mass unrest and strikes.
In 1976, speeches were held condemning the wife of Mao and other participants in the "cultural revolution." The ruler is responding to this with a new wave of repression. But that same fall, he dies, thus stopping repression and the "cultural revolution."
Board Results
Having set forth a short biography of Mao Zedong, one can understand the only motive that motivated him - the desire for power and its retention at all costs.
According to the most conservative estimates, the "great leap" claimed the lives of more than 50 million Chinese, and the "cultural revolution" - about 20 million. However, polls conducted in the 21st century by ordinary Chinese citizens say that people value their position as the first communist, attaching less importance to the consequences of brutal rule.
The leader often said that he likes to be in a constant struggle for a brighter future. But was it a fight? Or is it a black cat in a dark room? One thing is clear, because of his tyranny, he delayed the development of China for several decades.