FREE ESSAY ON MAO TSE-TUNG

MAO TSE-TUNG

Mao Tse-Tung was a revolutionary person in his era; his ideas and actions have changed the
lives of billions of Chinese people. Mao's motifs were made to make the people of the
People Republic of China live a life free from poverty and live in a more pleasant place.
Mao used many methods to make this possible but some of them were cruel and inhumane, the
consequences of his actions marked the Chinese for many generations and will continue.
Mao was born December 26, 1893, into a peasant family in the village of Shaoshan, Hunan
province. This harsh upbringing made him know the impact of living in poverty, he wanted
the others in his country to be rid of this adversity. 
Although China is the country with the most population, most of the people lived in
poverty and had no education. The country had no strong support from it's citizens, they
had to work hard to survive and had no time or money for an education. Mao was lucky to
receive an education and he wanted all the children to have on too. 
The main factor of this way of living was due to feudalism , and how it made the servant
work for almost nothing and the landlords had the power over all the people. Mao wanted
this to end so he introduced communism, a concept or system of society in which the major
resources and means of production are owned by the government rather than by individuals.
This provides for equal sharing of all work, according to ability, and all benefits,
according to need, this was a major effect on the people of China. The consequence of
this was that it gave the poor food and support but it caused the rich to become poor,
this made many rich people rebel and in turn it caused a large amount of deaths and
injuries. 
Mao tried to change the government of China during his time of study in Beijing but he
was rejected instantly because it would harm a lot of the government officials in high
positions. In 1920, Mao returned to his hometown, after his studies and his marriage with
his professor's daughter in Beijing . He attempted to organize a democratic government
for Hunan province but failed. This affected his future greatly, he now felt that the
government was selfish and was hiding from the problems of the country. Mao then founded
a (Chinese Communist Party) CCP branch in Hunan and organized workers' strikes throughout
the province. At this time warlords controlled much of northern China. To defeat the
warlords, the Kuomintang (KMT) party of Sun Yat-sen allied with the CCP in 1923 . Mao had
no choice but to join the KMT and served on its Central Committee, although he maintained
his CCP membership. Because of his peasant background, he was named director of both the
CCP and KMT Peasant Commissions. 
In 1927 Mao wrote a paper titled Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in
Hunan, in which he declared that peasants would be the main forces in the revolution. He
tells of the peasants rise, starting with the period of organization, the overthrowing of
bad gentries and landlords. The violence and rage that was shown by the peasants evoked
two distinctive reactions throughout the city. Some citizens were behind the peasants
movement and shared the view point of "Very good indeed", this ran contrary to the other
statement declaring it "an awful mess." People were wondering if it had gone too far in
it's brutality. Mao's comments on this was that "A Revolution is an uprising, an act of
violence where one class overthrows another." "It was necessary to overthrow all
authority of the gentry, to knock them down and even trample them underfoot." A harsh,
but true, view into revolution. 
Mao ends his report with the fourteen great deeds done by the peasants, this account
angered many. The first one deals with the organization of the peasants that were stated
above. The next couple tell of the hardships that were now against the landlords. The
fourth talks of the overthrowing of feudal rule, The fifth with building up a peasant
armed forces with the overthrown landlords'. This access to weapons now has thrown the
power shift into the peasant association. The have also damaged the political power of
the country magistrate. They have now decided everything by a joint council, the judicial
assistant had barely any cases and any power position now was more then careful about
coming tot he countryside to try to extort the peasants. He then tells of restriction by
the peasant association and elimination of bandits. Then ends with the movements now
around. The cultural movement, in which the peasants get to get a good education , thus
leaving them a hope for a better life. The Co-operative movement, which let the peasants
be able to purchase what ever they want and not be restricted as before. To this Mao is
quoted as stating "If there is proper guidance, the co-operative movement will develop
everywhere, along with the expansion of the peasants association." He already is starting
to sound like a revolutionist. This is one of the main points that later gets him in
trouble with the KMT. His final point was the simple statement that the building of roads
and embankments was good for the community.
Because his viewpoint was contrary to orthodox Marxism, because peasant revolt would
alienate the KMT, the CCP rejected Mao's ideas. The KMT broke with the CCP in 1927 and
KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek, who had taken control of the KMT after Sun Yat-sen's death in
1925 , this launched a violent surge against the Communists. Mao had no other choice but
retreated south to mountainous Jiangxi province where he established a base area known as
the Jiangxi Soviet, Mao tried to influence the KMT but they were to stubborn. Mao had his
own share of loses through out his struggle to power, Mao lost his wife during his war
with the KMT party members. The man sacrificed his own wife for his cause, a cause he
truly believed in.