Who was Mao Tse tung? What was his role in making China a communist country?
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Solution
Instructions:
Introduce Mao Tse Tung – Place of birth, family background etc
Write about the influences that made him a communist – Marx/Lenin
Elaborate on the events that led to the rise of CCP in China
CCP vs Kuomintang
Mao influences peasants
Long March
Expansion of CCP by military means
China under CCP by 1948
Solution:
Mao Tse Tung was born in Hunan to a wealthy peasant. In 1911, a revolution broke out in China. Mao joined the revolutionary army but soon left to join the Teachers’ Training College in Changsha.
In those days, the ideas of Karl Marx and Lenin were popular. Mao Tse Tung, influenced by their ideology, wanted to make China a communist country. In 1921, the Communist Party of China was established. Mao joined the party and became an important member.
At that time, the Kuomintang party was powerful and controlled most parts of China. They represented the interests of capitalists and landlords, while CCP was influential among the peasant and working class. Due to the differences in the ideology, Kuomintang soon removed all the communist workers from their party.
Mao along with a few hundred people retreated to the mountains and started building an army. By 1933, he gained full control of the CCP. In 1934, he organised a long march with over 1 lakh people. By 1937, he became the leader of over 10 million people. But many important areas of China were still under Kuomintang.
Mao continued the use of guerrilla tactics but also ordered large-scale military movements. Cities fell one by one and the Kuomintang army slowly disintegrated. By the summer of 1948, Communist control had been established over most parts of China. Thus, Mao established the People’s Republic of China as a major communist power in the world next to the Soviet Union.