Mao Zedong: Moncher_Soriano_Halvadzija
Emergence of Authoritarian State
Consolidation & Maintenance of Policies
Aims & Results of Policies
Conditions
Methods
Aims & Impact
Policies on Women & Minorities
Authoritarian control & extent
Legal Methods
Nature, Extent & Treatment of Opposition
Impact of the success/failure on Maintenance
Economic
Cultural & Social
The impact of the policies on women allowed Mao to gain popularity not only with men but with women as well.
The impact with minorities was similar, due to the Agrarian Reform gave peasants a sense of belonging due to their leader, Mao.
Marriage Reform-1950 Arranged marriage, foot-binding, and prostitution was abolished and allowed women to have more control in some aspects of their life
Five Year Plans =>small scale cooperatives=>large scale cooperatives--industrialize as quick as possible, so China can get up to par
There is a great extent to which Mao upheld an authoritarian state. Mao fulfilled the lack of individuality and speech in China. The citizens didn't have very many freedoms and were obedient to Mao.
Agrarian Reform-1950 Mao redistributed the land and called all peasants to rebel against their landlords
The Great Leap Forward-1958-1962 Mao wanted to increase the steel production-->no more private land and communes began to crack down, overall lead to famine from 1959-61
Economic Factors
- Most of China's population were peasants and China wanted to become a greater power
- Japan's exploitation of peasants and rejection of needs of rural areas
Social Division
- Peasants were thrown off to the side and disregarded, and Mao wanted to make sure everyone was equal and there to be no social classes.
Impact of War
- The Japanese were becoming the more powerful Asian nation and they slowly started to invade China (1937-45)
- Eliminate warlords which made Mao and Jiang to create a United Front (1924)
Weakness of Political System
- 1911- collapse of the Qing Dynasty
- Country Ran by Warlords (1916-1927)
- Mao believed that there needed to be a stronger central government to run the country
Mao's most important idea was for the people of China to be able to identify their enemy. This was one of the legal ways he would maintain power and have the people look up to him.
Oppositions would be shamed and sent to the country's south to be "cleansed". The people would usually be verbally and physically abused and in some cases even killed.
One of Mao's failures was the hundred flowers campaign because a large amount of people criticized the government even though the first five year plan was fairly successful.
Mao used the cultural revolution to have most students leave school and their studies to go and destroy universities, capitalistic writings in China and even abuse their teachers.
If you opposed the government in China you would have critics and some type of punishment but it was not as brutal as the punishment of opposition in the USSR under Stalin.
Persuasion and Coercion
- Mao got on the peasants side
- Mao told the people of China that The CPC was the best option for China if they wanted to move forward
- After Mao defeated Jiang in the civil was Mao had the path open
The role of Leaders
- There was no stable leader in China until after Mao came in and took over in 1929
- Leaders before Mao caused economic problems and China to be exploited by Western Powers
Ideology
- Everyone should be equal there should be a strong Central Government
Use of Force
- Anyone against the Regime or that criticized Mao was considered and opposition and Mao focused on removing anyone that was a threat
Propaganda
- China began to become enclosed and anything published had to support communism and go against capitalism