Communism in China Mao Zedong and Revolution Support

Communism in China

Mao Zedong and Revolution • Support from the peasants • Red Army controlled much of China • Mao gains control of China in Oct. 1949 People’s Republic of China

Opponents • NATIONALISTS - Jiang Jieshi - Southern China - defeat of Communists - public support-weak - ineffective, corrupt leadership - supported by Americans • COMMUNISTS – Mao Zedong – Northern China – Desired National liberation – Public support- strong because of promised land reform – Experienced, motivated guerilla army – Supported by Soviet Union

The Long March • Chaing Kai-Shek went after communists and Mao • Mao and his Red Army went on a 6, 000 mile march to the mountains of Northern China • 100, 000 soldiers braved horrible conditions • Used Guerilla warfare and hit and run tactics • Only 8, 000 communists survived

Great Leap Forward • Modernize China…catch up to Britain, America, Russia • Five Year plan to get better technology and agriculture • Collective Farms-Government owned farms to grow food in mass • PROBLEMS-Bad crop rotation, poor grain, limited rain, too many workers in factories • 20 million people starved to death from famine

Cultural Revolution • Ten-year political campaign - a social experiment aimed at rekindling revolutionary fervour and purifying the party. • Mao Zedong and his wife, Jiang Qing, directed popular anger against opposition • Red Guard removed "intellectuals" and "bourgeois" influences. • Millions were forced into manual labour, and tens of thousands were executed. • The result was massive civil unrest, and the army was sent in to control student disorder. At the 1977 11 th Party Congress, the Cultural Revolution was declared officially to have ended with the arrest of the Gang of Four.

Mao • “The force of the peasantry is like that of the raging winds and driving rains…. They will bury beneath them all the forces of imperialism, militarism, corrupt officialdom, village bosses and evil gentry. ”

Cultural Revolution http: //www. youtube. com/watc h? v=Mk. STXa. U 7 e. Sw http: //www. youtube. com/watc h? v=DIr. UHVFkm 9 A&featu re=related

Questions • Did the people of China like or dislike Chairman Mao? • Was the Great Leap Forward successful? • Was he a hero or a villain? • Was he an effective leader? • What does the Cultural Revolution remind you of?