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Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution toc =**Mao's Brand of Marxist Socialism:** =

On December 23, 1893 Mao Zedong was born. Growing up in a peasant family, education was Mao's only hope as to achieving any of his dreams. After multiple years of hard-work, and dedication towards his education, Mao started to realize the possible potential of a revolution for China's peasants. Always being in favor of Marxist Socialism, Mao had some of his own ideas that he wishes to share to the Chinese government. Being one of the founders to organize the Chinese Communist Party, was a key factor of building his way up the government structure to great power.

Although the people around him had different opinions as to what the superior government is, Mao had is own opinion. Zedong already had his own plans for China. He already had a plan to take advantage of a possible revolution of China’s peasants. The issue with Mao’s plan was that he needed land, and lots of it. Under the Agrarian Reform Law of 1950, Zedong decided that he was going to go after the landlords that owned the 70 percent of farmland.[1] With such high authority, Mao did as he pleased and seized the holdings of the landlords, and would do anything to get the land h e needed. In fact, Zedong’s forces killed more than a million landlords who resisted to give up their land to Mao. All of this land was going straight to the local farmers to help improve China’s production rates. After all of this, production rates in China were flowing smoothly. Unfortunately Mao believed otherwise.  media type="file" key="Mao Zedong.mp4" align="right" width="300" height="300"

 While Mao was taking almost com plete control of farmland in China, he also was changing the industry and business environment.As time went on, more and more private businesses were being brought under the government ownership. If a company wasn’t under the government’s ownership, then they were being nationalized. Taking over these small companies played a big factor in the production rates of China. In the year of 1953, Mao Zedong had one of his greatest ideas yet. This brilliant idea was his five year plan that set extremely high expectations to continuously improve the production rates of modern living utilities. By the year of 1957 the production rates of cement, coal, electricity, and steel increased at a dramatic rate.[2] Taking control of small business’, and seizing lots of farmland was an extremely helpful turn of events for Mao Zedong and China.

**The Great Leap Forward:**

Mao Zedong’s five year plan was more than a success. It made China’s production rates improve at an impressive rate, increased economic standards, and also satisfied citizens through China. Although most thought Mao had China at its finest, he believed otherwise. Zedong thought he could improve China as well as his success as a leader by coming up with yet another idea known as the “The Great Leap Forward” early in the year of 1958.

 With all the land that Mao Zedong had, he decided to take it to complete use by turning that land in communes. Zedong also was attempting to have a better production rate of steel than the United Kingdom’s and the United States’. Communes were essentially large collective farms that were not exactly the way people wanted to live. Peasants lived a completely controlled life where it was extremely crowded, and where work was there top priority. Considering the fact that only China benefited from their work, there was no motivation what so ever to work. Communes on average supported over 25,000 people over around 15,000 acres. Also, the peasants had nothing what so ever of their own, giving them no hope. By the time of 1958, around 26,000 communes were created throughout the countryside in China.[3]

 The Great Leap Forward didn’t go the way as planned. In fact, it turned out to be one Great Leap Backwards. Mao Zedong had to come up with another idea in order to satisfy the citizens of China after a very upsetting failure. Zedong’s Great Leap Forward absolutely shattered farming and agricultural growth in China. It wasn’t until 1961 that this program was put to an end. Since crop failures were at an all time high, a huge famine was spread throughout China that killed around 20 million people.[4]

=China and the Soviet Union Clash Over Leadership of Communist Movement: =

 Tension had begun to brew between the Chinese and the Soviet Union over the leadership of the Communist movement. Back in the 1949 the Soviet Union had been China's only major ally during the communist takeover in China and had supplied China with many of the needed forms of aid. However, during the 1960 the Soviet Union began to strongly dislike Mao's Cultural Revolution and the creation of the Brezhnev Doctrine only made the tensions worst. The Brezhnev Doctrine had stated that the Soviet Union had rights to intervene with any other communist state when they were in a state of revolution. As these tensions continued, the strict socialist ideas were moderated and Mao decided to reduce his role in the government. This however happened during the Cultural Revolution.

=**Red Guards:** =

 China was raged with the Great Proletarian Cultural revolution in 1966 to 1969. Made up of 22 million students from the between the ages of 15 to 21 and named after army units that Mao had organized in 1927, the Red Guards quickly rose to the streets. All members of the Red Guards supported the left wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in which was led by Mao Zendong and Lin Biao. The Red Guards were led by an officer from the Ministry of Public Safety and were encouraged to harm officials, professors, and “class enemies”. Their goal was to eliminate the “Four Olds”: old customs, old habits, old culture, and old thinking. Acting as the “soldiers” for the those who opposed these “Four Olds” the Red Guards were allowed traveling on railroads and boats for free, however, they had to follow a strict rule of unity and the inability to follow the rules led to the arrest or death of the individual. Just because they could travel free did not mean that they did not have to walk. In more rural and run down area, the Red Guards would march long distances in order to reach their next destination.[5] Traveling across the country members of the Red Guards would seek food and shelter from locals.

  These locals however, were not always joyful toward providing shelter and food the members of the Red Guards for word of their sudden surge into mass mobs of violence had spread. Encountering hostile villagers who drove them away and  have to march long distances with barely any rest and during all types of weather led to tens of thousands to starve or freeze to death. Slogans were often posted on the walls of building or recited in the streets during a demonstration.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 16px;"> These demonstrations however led to violence in certain occasions. The obsession to abolish all remnants of the pre-communist culture led Red Guards to begun to vandalize public areas and physically beat people. These people were often accused of being part of the bourgeois class and were beaten and murdered. The books of these deceased were burned along with any artwork or furniture. Many of the intellectuals in China feared for their own safety, Red Guards would often beat intellectuals to death, imprison them, or send them to work at hard labor camps for many years.

media type="file" key="Red Guards song.mp4" align="left" width="300" height="300"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 35px;">**The Cultural Revolution:**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The Cultural Revolution was a revolt of the Red Guards, or followers of Mao Zedong. They followed a book of Zedong’s quotes, or what was known as the Red Book. They praised this a kind of Bible, as an inspiring book of teachings. The affects of the Red Guards were quite apparent, but after a few years, they began to spiral out of control. During the duration of 1968-1969, the Red Guards vandalized many bookstores or libraries, religious buildings, or anything else that they believed was influenced by the “Four Olds”. The Cultural Revolution was complete chaos and had detrimental affects that still resound throughout the expanse of China today. The fear spread by the Red Guards can be compared to the Great Fear in France, or the Great Purge in Russia. Thousands of innocent Chinese people committed suicide during the duration of these horrific years.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 17px;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 17px;"> Many of the future Red Guards were students, therefore, when they rebelled, they tended to go after their teachers of previous years, claiming they were “impractical in their applications”, and condemned them. The Red Guards were even “ Encouraged to attack ‘class enemies’, officials, and professors, and even to kill, pillage, and burn.”[6]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 17px;"> Although they were followers of Mao, he eventually turned on them when they became the extremist group that they are known as today. Mao called in the People's Liberation Army (PLA), in an attempt to control the excessive acts of the Red Guards. Mao along with the others in the CCP, met with the head leaders of the Red Guards, arresting many of the more brutal followers of the Red Guards. The extremist phase of the Cultural Revolution abruptly ended with this meeting, but the full effort did not stop until the death of Mao in 1976.

=<span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-position: 100% 50%; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%; padding-right: 10px;">**Sources:** =

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Beck, Roger B., Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor, and Dahia Ibo. Shabaka. // Modern World History Patterns of Interaction //. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2006. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 17px;"> Friedman, Thomas L. // The World is Flat. // New York: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 2005. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 17px;"> [4]Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler. "'China Faces the World'." // Zhou Enlai //, World Leaders Past and Present. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 1986. (Updated 2007.) // Modern World // // History Online //. Facts On File, Inc. 3 May 2011. <<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer;">[] >.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 17px;"> Perkins, Dorothy. "Mao Zedong's political philosophy." // Encyclopedia of China: The essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture. // New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2000. // Modern World History Online. // Facts On File, Inc. 1 May 2011. < __ http:/<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position-x: 100%; background-position-y: 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">[|www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=china01479&singleRecord=True] __ >

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 17px;"> [5][6]Perkins, Dorothy. “Red Guards.” // Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, ITs History and Culture. // New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2000. // Modern World History Online. // Facts On File, Inc. 1 May 2011. < <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #004375; font-size: 10pt;">[] >.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 17px;"> [1][2][3]Slavicek, Louise C. // Mao Zendong. // Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2004. Print.

=<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Video Sources: =

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">//YouTube - Mao Zedong//. //YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.// Web. 12 May 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90pA_qaVAuQ>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">// YouTube - Red Guards //. // YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. // Web. 12 May 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkSTXaU7eSw>. =<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%; line-height: 32px;">**﻿Photograph Sources:** =

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">// Inside a Commune //. Photograph. // Facts and Details //. 2008. Web. 3 May 2011. < [] >. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; margin: 0px;">Shen, Han-Wu. // The Era of the Red Guards //. Photograph. // Painting Palace //. Web. 4 May 2011. < [] >. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; margin: 0px;">// Chairman Mao Invoking Confucian "loyalty" // Photograph. Kenyon College, 20 Apr. 2011. Web. 3 May 2011. < [] >. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em; word-wrap: break-word;">