rise of mao & chinese communism - coach...
TRANSCRIPT
Rise of Mao &
Chinese CommunismUnit 6 - CH 21 Revolution, Socialism,
and Global Conflict
“Revolution is not a dinner party, nor an essay, nor a
painting... it cannot be so refined, so leisurely & gentle, so
temperate, kind, courteous, restrained & magnanimous. A
revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which
one class overthrows another.”
— Mao ZeDong, February 1927
Drew on mystique of earlier French Rev.:
New & better worlds could be
constructed by human actionsCommunist revolutionaries
★ Ousted old ruling classes &
★ Dispossessed landed aristocracies
Vast peasant upheavals in the
countryside & an educated leadership
with roots in the cities.
All 3 revolutions - French, Russian, &
Chinese - found their vision of the good
society in a modernizing future, not in
some nostalgic vision of the past.
The Communist Powers: Soviet Union & China
Guomindang or Kuomintang
Democratic "Nationalist"
Chinese Revolution, 1911
Sun Yat-sen (pictured right) led Chinese Revolution
of 1911
China became more westernized &
overthrew Qing Dynasty
3 Principles of the People:Nationalism, Socialism, & Democracy
Chiang Kai-Shek:
"Father of China" Sun Yat-sen died in 1925
Chiang Kai-shek: new leader of Guomindang
Two major problems for China:1) Japanese invaded Manchuria
2) Chinese Communists allied with Russia
Ideas of Marx & Lenin: spreading to China
Republic of China, 1912-1949
1911: End of Dynasty: Chinese imperial system -
Ancient imperial order that had governed China for
2 millennia - collapsed:
★ Pressure of foreign imperialism
★ Qing Dynastic inadequacies
Mounting internal opposition
★ Modest nudge from organized
revolutionaries (Guomindang)
Guomindang: Promoted a measure of modern
development - railroads, light industry, banking,
airline services. Impact of achievements was
limited largely to cities, leaving rural areas,
where most people lived, still impoverished.
Guomindang base of support was narrow: Urban
elites, rural landlords, & Western powers. (China’s
massive peasantry - no)
Republic of China, 1912-1949
Chased out of China’s cities in a wave of Guomindang-
inspired anti communist terror in 1927, Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) worked on a new revolutionary
strategy
Differed from classical Marxism & Russian practice:
Bolsheviks had found their primary audience among
workers in Russia’s major cities, CCP increasingly looked
to the country’s peasant villages for support.
★ Years of guerrilla warfare
★ Experiments with land reform
★ Efforts to empower women
★ The creation of a communist military force
★ Landlord reprisals
Slowly gained for the CCP & a growing
measure of respect & support among
China’s peasants.
“Struggle Meetings” -- Land reform teams encountered the age-
old deference that peasants traditionally had rendered to their
social superiors. One young woman activist described the
confrontational meetings intended to break this ancient
pattern:
“Speak bitterness meetings,” would help [the peasants] to understand how
things really had been in the old days, to realize that their lives were not
blindly ordained by fate, that poor peasants had a community of interests,
having suffered similar disasters and misery in the past—and that far from
owing anything to the feudal landlords, it was the feudal landlords who owed
them a debt of suffering beyond all reckoning.
This woman speaks some serious bitterness...
Not “Struggling” to Speak Bitter...
Chinese Civil War
Part I: 1927-1936 (WWII) Part II: 1946-1950
Ideological split between Communists & Nationalists.
Civil war continued intermittently until late 1937, when the 2 parties came together to
form Second United Front to counter a Japanese invasion.
1946: Full-scale civil war resumed after the end of hostilities w/Japan.
Chinese Civil War was won by the communist party, the
Republic of China (democratic government) relocated to Island of
Taiwan.
People's Republic of China (communist) asserted control over
"mainland" China.
R.O.C. contends they are rightful government of all China.
Chiang Kai-shek ruled 1925-1975. He was an ally of the US
during World War II.
Rise of CommunismCivil war: 4 years
1949 - Communists led by Mao
Zedong
Guomindang fled to island of Taiwan, where
they established the Republic of China
Communists named mainland China:
People’s Republic of China
UN & U.S. recognized the People’s
Republic of China as the true China.
Mao Zedong
Collectivized agriculture &
industry
Steel production grew rapidly
1950’s Great Leap Forward: Plan -
Cheap labor rapidly industrialize
It failed crippled the economy & caused
millions of deaths from starvation.
1958: Mao’s Great Leap Forward
One of world history’s most terrible man-made
disasters.
Chairman Mao tried to combat the
social effects of industrialization.
The Great Leap Forward (1958–
1960) promoted small-scale
industrialization in rural areas.By the end of ‘58: 700 Million People (99% of
peasants) were living in 26,000 communes.
Communes were told to hand in all pots, pans,
farming machinery & metal to be melted down
to create industrial foundries to produce steel.
As a result, every single year from ‘58 to ‘62 grain
production fell. Yet the govt. continued to
collect grain output as if the peasant communes
were producing more grain than they previously
did.
Created a horrible FAMINE - starvation of the
peasant people of China.
1958: Mao’s Great Leap Forward Results in Horrible Famine
Enormous disaster. Not a “GREAT LEAP FORWARD” - in any way.
Some villages lost more than 1/2 of their population. Reports of cannibalism exist.
35+ million people died of famine or famine related diseases. (pop of Canada
today)
Rebuilding ChinaBetween 1959-1961 poor policies & natural
disasters caused famine.
Introduced elements of capitalism that helped the
economy.
Cultural Revolution 1966-76Universities: Shut down for 4 years
Students & Faculty forced to work in
farm fields
Arrested or killed any who opposed
New curriculum: Communist studies
& vocational training (only)
Movement paralyzed China politically &
significantly affected the country economically
& socially.
Mao Tse-tung died in 1976.
He was replaced by Deng Xiaoping
1966-76: Mao’s Cultural Revolution or “The Kids are NOT alright!”
Mao took tremendous heat for the failures of the Great Leap Forward, however he
felt it was the party that failed, not him. His “Cultural Revolution” was going to fix
that.
Mao was looking to energize a youthful movement to purge his detractors who
blamed him for the failures of the “Great Famine” that emerged from “The Great Leap”.
Mao gathered a group of radicals, including his wife Jiang Qing & defense minister
Lin Biao, to help him attack current party leadership & reassert his authority.
Chinese propaganda poster:
"Destroy the old world;
Forge the new world." A Red Guard crushes the crucifix, Buddha,
& classical Chinese texts with his hammer;
1967.
The Cultural Revolution: Mao's attempt to combat capitalist tendencies
that he believed had taken root in China’s
bureaucracy.
To encourage the personality cult that sprang up around Mao Zedong during the first phase of the Cultural
Revolution, Defense Minister Lin Biao saw that the now-famous "Little Red Book" of Mao's quotations was
printed and distributed by the millions throughout China.
Today in Beijing, you
can go to the Red
Classic Restaurant to
get some dinner &
Maostalgia.
Plus, dinner entertainment:
Songs, dance, & merriment
from the days of the Cultural
Revolution. Yes, they think this
is just fantastic! Go team!
Ping-Pong Diplomacy"Be it baseball or ping-pong, sports have enabled
different cultures & different political systems to get
together on another level. Politicians should
understand that sport is a great equalizer."—Stephen Bull, one of the organizers of Chinese table tennis team’s in 1972, one
year after the U.S. team's trip to China
April 1971: Chinese Suddenly Invited US to
China
Deng Xiaoping★ Sep. 1976, Mao Zedong died at 83
★ Deng Xiaoping seized power
★ Cultural Revolution ended
Four Modernizations"It matters not whether the cat is black or white,
as long as it catches mice." - Deng Xiaoping
His policy: The 4 Modernizations
SAID:
S: Science & Technology
A: Agriculture
I: Industry
D: Defense
Tried to bring progress to China because they had
been isolated for so long
Thousands of students were sent abroad to study
science, technology, & modern business techniques.
Privatization of Chinese Communes
Xiaoping took the communist party
machinery that Mao had created, plus
private enterprise & the profit motive.
Mass mobilization +
Individual capitalism =
Modern Economic Giant
Moving peasant farmers to cities & jobs
in industry & manufacturing.
This results in the fastest
industrialization of a country in the
history of the world.
Tiananmen Square
in 1987
Means:
“Gate of Heavenly Peace” Large city square in center of Beijing,
China, named after the Tiananmen gate
located to its North, separating it from the
Forbidden City.
4th largest city square in the world.
Tiananmen Square
Security cameras at modern Tiananmen
SquareStudents gather & demonstrate. Chinese Democracy,
1918.
The Great Hall of the People on the west side of the Square
Tiananmen Square
Center-Top: Zhengyangmen Gate Tower marking the south end of Tiananmen Square;
Left & Bottom-Left: Monument to the People's Heroes & the Mausoleum of
Mao Zedong occupy the center of the Square.
Tiananmen Square
Collective FarmsCollective farms could now lease lands
to peasant families for rent
Combined capitalism & communism:
"Socialism with Chinese principles"Similar: Lenin’s NEP & Gorbachev’s “Perestroika”
★ Plan worked: Industry began to
improve production
★ Per capita income increased1980s: Could not afford - refrigerators, radios,
watches, & TVs
1990s: More could afford these items
★ People still wanted change - even
democracy - especially students
★ Students were sent abroad &
influenced by western ideas, dress,
& pop culture
Tiananmen Square in
1988
Tiananmen
SquareJune 4, May 1989: Students & educators began
protests & hunger strikes
Reasons: Government corruption; rule of law;
inflation/economy; distribution of info. Inspiration:
“Autumn of Nations” East. Europe uprisings
against communism in ‘89.
Were not calling for an end to communism.
Goals: Social equality & democracy
Lasted: 1.5 months; spread to 300 cities
★ Massive demonstrations of 1 million in
Beijing
★ Deng ordered tanks & troops into Tiananmen
Square to crush demonstrators
Resulted in the Massacre of Demonstrators
Many violations of human rights
Hundreds to possibly thousands were killed
Democracy remained
only a dream
"Tank Man" temporarily stops advance of a column of tanks on June 5, 1989,
in Beijing. Widely considered one of the iconic images of the 20th century. This photograph (one of 4 similar versions) was taken by Jeff Widener of the Associated Press.
TANK MAN: Man who stood in front of a
column of tanks on June 5, 1989, morning
after Chinese military had suppressed
Tiananmen Square protests of ‘89 by force.
Tanks maneuvered to pass by the man, & he
moved to continue to obstruct them, in
something like a dance. The incident was
filmed and seen worldwide.
Currently, there is no reliable information about
the identity or fate of the tank man. In April
1998, Time included the "Unknown Rebel" in a
feature titled Time 100: The Most Important
People of the Century.
Memory of the Tiananmen Square protests
appears to have faded in China, especially
among younger Chinese people, due to
government censorship.
Modern Chinese students are simply baffled at what the imagine might be. “Looks like some kind of military exercise?”
“Did you make this up? Is it some sort of artwork?”
“I really can’t say... there is no context in which to understand it.”
Is China rising so fast that they will
essentially "rule the world" in your
lifetime?