The Red Army's Long March

The autobiography, Mao’s Last Dancer written by Li Cunxin, is effective in raising awareness of the injustice the Chinese people experienced during Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution and later communist policies in China. When Li’s parents got married in 1946, they were not living in poverty. However, when the Japanese invaded China during WWII and forced all the civilians into communes, Mao then kept these communes and the Li family lost their wealth—they faced injustice and marginalisation. The Chinese population were marginalised by Mao’s use of communist principles and propaganda. They were forced into believing Mao’s views—that the West (Capitalist countries) were filthy and bad, while China was good. Li’s visit to America was an eye-opener.

The cultural revolution is a strange period in Chinese history laced with intense struggle and anguish. The cultural revolution mobilized the all of society to compete for all opposing factions that they belonged to (Ong, 2016). Mao mobilized the young people of society during a background of political turmoil, which helped Mao to mobilize the students in order to enforce his political legitimacy and ideas (Ong, 2016). Mao’s charismatic authority created his personality cult and most defiantly leant a helping hand in mobilizing the red guard movement (Ong, 2016) (Weber, 1946) (Andreas, 2007). No matter which faction of the red guard they belonged to, they all mobilized against their common enemy; the better off, upper class. (Ong, 2016). Multiple ideologies within the youth led red guard movement explain why the movement gained momentum and became incredibly powerful (Walder, 2009).

Viewing both the leaders’ policies, solely on the basis of economic success, it can be said that Stalin’s policies were somewhat successful as Stalin took a backward country and turned it into a massive urban working class with most of the country being electrified, which was not available before. In addition, the policy of collectivisation fulfilled its goals as peasants were now paid wages and land and machinery was collectively owned. Looking at the human cost of the policies, both industrialization and collectivisation were hard on the population, creating poor working conditions and famines throughout the nation. Stalin had also maintained his power throughout all of his economic policies, unlike Mao who after the Great Leap Forward had to re-establish himself through the Cultural Revolutions. Despite Mao’s fall, his economic policies were also to some extent, successful as more than half of China became irrigated and the railway network virtually doubled. In addition, Mao’s reforms motivated the common people to work together and embody a Communist worker, whereas Stalin’s reforms produced “Stakhovanites”.

The Chinese communist party had a great influence on the peasants, this sparked a sense of nationalism between the two classes this is shown in documents 1 and 2. Mao Zedong stated in document 1 that “peasants will rise like a mighty storm” and that “they will smash all chains that bind them and rush forward along the road to liberation”. Here Zedong’s tone is intimidating and determined. Zedong shows confidence in the peasants and their abilities

“As one of the Red Guards in the middle school, I was given power through Mao to torture and humiliate our teachers, headmaster or anyone we didn’t like. I didn’t know it was wrong. I thought I was doing the right thing to continue the revolution, to fight and win the class struggle”- Zhao, Lin Qing. As a teenager Zhao was a Red Guard in Guangzhou during the Cultural Revolution. When asked what her impression was a member of the Red Guards, Zhao answered with two words: “naïve and senseless”. She refused answering anything more about her experience. She said, “The memories are still too painful to recall.”

The method applied by Zedong focused on uniting China under one belief in order to implement communist ideas in the country, widely changing the country’s structure. (Doc 7). At his defense trial, Cuban revolution leader Fidel Castro appealed to those struggling in his country. He spoke to those who hoped for a brighter future and who have been betrayed by their country. By addressing their battle, Castro urged them to fight for a better Cuba. His relentless and undying commitment ultimately granted Castro his wish for a revolution. (Doc 8). An additional document consisting of a diary entry from a Chinese citizen during the communist revolution would create a clearer vision as to how convincing Mao Zedong truly was.

The authors use advances in women safety in Toronto, Delhi, and how this has spread across the globe. They also discuss that the right for women to be in the city without fear or prejudice is important, but security additionally ideal is impact change in all areas of life that will cause prosperity and sexual orientation uniformity. I intend to use the information in this article about community groups that began the Night March and how they influence the politics in the city of Toronto. It shows how that if ordinary people work together for a just cause and to advocate change that they can make a

Today, throughout most of China, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is realized as one of the most chaotic and deadly times in chinese history; often referred to as the “ten lost years.” However, during the revolution, many hopeful individuals sought after change and looked toward Mao as

This memoir of Ma Bo’s sent shock waves throughout China when it was published and was even first banned by the Communist Government. This passionate story paints a clear picture for what the Great Chinese Cultural Revolution was really like. Many Chinese living today can attest to similar if not identical ordeals as expressed in Ma Bo’s story. The toils of being a young Red Guard in inner China were experienced by many if not millions. The horrors and atrocities were wide spread throughout the country, not just in Inner Mongolia. The experiences illustrated in Blood Red Sunset uniquely belong to Ma Bo’s entire generation of mislead Chinese. As expressed in the books dedication the Cultural Revolution

Mao ZeDong is one of the greatest leaders in the history of New China. The influence of Mao’s theory is profound and lasting. He is a great thinker, poet, and a highly intelligent military strategist. Under his leadership and the actions he performed during The Long March, Chinese Civil War then defeating the Kuomintang Party to built the New China are the main epic episodes. Mao ZeDong's extravagant actions made two of the many changes to China. They are the shift from a capitalist system to a socialist system and the achievement of China's independence against Japanese imperialism (Somo, 2013a). The influence of Mao’s theory has been widespread to the world up until this day. Especially, in the countries of the third world have

The Long March began Mao’s ascent into power, with his leadership throughout the retreat gaining him the support of many of the party members. The March’s physical scale gave it a political significance and Mao’ choice of route and vindication of judgement meant he arrived at

In 1919, Mao Zedong helped to establish the city of Changsha by attracting a variety of organizations. One organization was to bring the students, the merchants and the workers together in demonstrations aimed at making the government to oppose Japan. Mao Zedong’s five Year Plan was an attempt by him to boost China’s industry and become more powerful. When Zedong came to power, China was way behind the industrial nations of the planet. “He set ambitious goals for the production of iron and steel, coal, cement, and electrical power. Thousands of factories were to be built and an army of workers was mobilized to staff them.” (80). His plan worked in most cases, but also killed millions of peasants in the process. Chairman Mao also had another plan. This one was said to transform the way hundreds of millions of peasants lived and worked. Mr. Zedong urged all the peasants to give up farming and join cooperatives. Cooperatives were large farms that Zedong believed produce crops more efficiently than private farms. His slogan for this was “More, Better, Faster,” . This plan was one of his many plans that actually worked, at least for a

The works of Chinese Marxist theorist and Soldier, Comrade Mao Zedong, were key in understanding the problems that faced not only the Chinese Military, but the military forces of other major countries as well. Comrade Mao provided a logical description of the strategic problems regarding China’s revolutionary war. The keys to conducting a successful revolutionary insurgency include understanding that the laws of war are developmental, that leaders must study the whole military situation, and that a military must be good at learning.

It is clear that Mao’s initial goal was to gain power in China, which is demonstrated by his determination to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang (KMT) via his idiosyncratic version of communist revolution. In order to do so, Mao utilised methods he deemed most suitable for the communists and, more broadly, Chinese society. For example, unlike his Marxist predecessors, Mao believed that peasants, not urban workers, were the key to rebellion in China. Subsequently, in 1926, he organised peasant unions

The components of Maoist theory up until 1949 developed from Mao Zedong’s sinification of Marxism and procured both positive and negative impacts on the localised Chinese populations living under Communist rule and the relationship with the Comintern. A fundamental principle of Maoism is peasant revolt and following the mass line which emphasises and embodies the perspective of the peasantry. The development of guerrilla tactics and precise military organisation were significantly important for implementing Mao’s policies. Mao instituted three specific reforms, namely political, and social and economic, in the development of Maoism. Under these principles citizens were included in the state’s affairs, given respect and protection and