Monday, December 9, 2013
China Becomes Communist
After over 20 years of civil wars in China the People's Republic of China was formed in 1949. It was led by the Communist dictator Mao Zedong. In 1950 Mao sent the People's Volunteer Army into Korea to fight against the United States. Mao also imposed land reforms which took land from the "wealthy" land-lords and gave it to the peasants. Mao also campaigned to suppress Counterrevolutionaries, which involved the public execution of former government leaders, businessmen, and anyone who was not totally loyal to Mao. In 1976 it was estimated that 1 million people had been killed in the land reforms, and 800,000 in the counterrevolutionary campaign. During Mao's time in power he imposed several reforms such as the Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward began in 1958 and was a plan designed to strengthen the Chinese economy by having every single person produce Steel. However Mao did not predict that the Chinese people would not be able to produce high quality steel and it ended up being a waste of time. Many civilians died of starvation during the Great Leap Forward because people were not producing food, just steel.
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Mao also promised the peasants, that would be taking over the land that was previously owned by the wealthy land lords, that they would be receiving 2 square meals a day for following Mao.
ReplyDeleteWhen Mao took power all he needed to gain support was promise 2 square meals a day. This shows how bad conditions were, but as he progressed in his reign, did conditions improve at all? I think it is ironic that his promise for a better China is why people supported him, but eventually all they received was a worse off country.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that Mao or Stalin, during each of their time of power, had more effective tactics?
ReplyDeleteBoth Stalin and Mao were brutal dictators, they killed millions of their own people simply because they did not like them or the way they think. I feel that Mao was a more successful leader because the People's Republic of China is still around today unlike the Soviet Union.
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