Lesson 1-how Did Mao Lead The Communists In The Early Stages Of The CCP? Flashcards
1
Q
Define ‘Dialectician’.
A
A believer that life is essentially a struggle between opposites in which the more powerful always wins.
2
Q
What is a ‘Marxist’?
A
A believe in the theories of Karl Marx (1818-83), who used the notion of dialectic to explain history.
3
Q
What is the White Terror?
A
Chiang’s 1927 campaign of annihilation of the CCP
4
Q
Who was the Red Army?
A
Name adopted for the CCP’s military forces.
5
Q
Define ‘Comintern’.
A
The Communists international, the body set up in Moscow to organise international revolution by requiring Communist Parties to follow Soviet instructions.
6
Q
Define ‘Leninism’.
A
The revolutionary theories of class war first formulated by Karl Marx and subsequently developed by Lenin.
7
Q
Define the term ‘dialectic’.
A
The dynamic force that shapes the historical development of class war.
8
Q
Who were the Urban Proletariat?
A
Industrial-working class, destined in Marxist analysis to be the final victor in the dialectic struggle.
9
Q
What was the bourgeois stage?
A
Period in Marxist theory when the middle class, having overcome the previous feudal system, dominates society until the working-class revolution occurs.
10
Q
Define ‘liberated’.
A
CCP’s term for the areas brought under its military and political control
11
Q
Define ‘usury’.
A
Charging exorbitant (unreasonably high) interest on money loans.
12
Q
Who were the Twenty-eight Bolsheviks?
A
Group of CCP members who had been trained in Moscow and returned to China with instructions to make the Party conform to Soviet concepts of urban revolution.
13
Q
What position is Mao and the CCP on the political spectrum?
A
Far Left
14
Q
What does CCP stand for?
A
Chinese Communist Party
15
Q
Define Communism.
A
A theory or system of social organisation in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs.
16
Q
What is Marxism?
A
Political and economic theories of German philosopher, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels later being formed into Communism
17
Q
What does Marxism put forward?
A
the struggle between social classes—specifically between the bourgeoisie, or capitalists, and the proletariat, or workers—defines economic relations in a capitalist economy and will lead inevitably to a communist revolution.
18
Q
What is the Dynasty Rule?
A
A sequence of rulers from the same family, often ruling as a monarch or emperor.
19
Q
What years was the Dynasty Rule between?
A
C2200-1912
20
Q
When was the fall of the Qing Dynasty/all Dynasty rule?
A
1912
21
Q
When was the founding of the GMD?
A
1912
22
Q
When was Yuan Shikai president in China?
A
1912
23
Q
When was the Twenty-One Demands by Japan?
A
8th January 1915
24
Q
When was the death of Yuan Shikai?
A
1916
25
When was the founding of the CCP?
1921
26
When was the death of Sun Yat-Sen?
1925
27
When was the Northern expidition?
1926-28
28
When was the White Terror/Shanghai Massacre?
1927
29
Who were the Twenty-One Demands from and to who?
Set of demands by the Empire of Japan to the Republic of China.
30
What is the GMD?
Guomindang
Nationalist Party
31
Who was Sun Yat-Sen?
President and founder of the republic of China.
32
Who was the Northern expedition led by?
Led by Chiang Kai-Shek, 1926-28.
33
What did the Northern expedition lead to?
Led to the end of the Warlord era and a reunification of China in 1928
34
Who is Chiang Kai-Shek?
Chinese military and political leader.
Head of the GMD.
35
What was the White Terror/Shanghai Massacre?
Violent suppression of Chinese Communists by Chiang Kai-Shek and the Chinese Nationalists.
36
With whose help was the CCP founded?
Soviet Russia
37
What type of party was the CCP?
Revolutionary
38
By the late 1920s, who was the CCP led by?
Mao Zedong
39
What is a Warlord?
a military leader who controls a country or, more frequently, an area within a country, esp. when the central government is not in control
40
After what event did the GMD turn savagely (violently) on the Communists?
After the defeat of Warlords during the United Front with the GMD.
Northern expedition
41
What was the First United Front in China?
formed so the GMD and the CCP could join to strengthen China.
The initial aim was to help defeat the warlord threat but both parties actually had ulterior motives with this alliance.
42
What is a United Front?
alliance of groups against their common enemies
43
By 1934 of the attacks from the GMD on the Communists, the Communists were nearly defeated but escaped to where and when?
A new Northern base in Yanan
1935
44
What was the Communists escaping to Yanan in 1935 known as?
The Long March
45
What did Mao attempt to do at Yanan?
Set up a Communist Soviet.
It was a Communist controlled area in which life is structured communally
46
What was Mao before his political career?
Peasant
47
From what province was Mao from?
Hunan
48
What type of young man did Mao grow up as?
Intensely patriotic
49
Define 'patriotic'.
having or expressing devotion to and vigorous support for one's country.
50
Between what years did Mao witness acts of great violence?
1912-1919
51
What did Mao believe a leader needed?
Total commitment to be able to succeed politically.
52
What did Mao say in regards to power?
'Political power grows out the barrel of a gun.'
53
What was it which Mao believed that if he did not use it, he could not achieve anything?
Brutal and unyielding methods
54
What was Mao a follower of?
Marxism
55
What was Mao a believer of?
Dialectic
He was a dialectician.
56
In order, what were the key features of the dialectic?
Feudalism
Early Capitalism
Industrial Capitalism
Dictatorship of the Proletariat
Classless society
57
Define 'feudalism'.
a social system that existed in Europe during the Middle Ages in which people worked and fought for nobles who gave them protection and the use of land in return.
58
What was industrial capitalism?
saw the rapid development of the factory system of production, characterized by much more rigid, complex, and intricate divisions of labor, both within and between production processes
59
Who were the winners of feudalism in the dialectic?
Landowners
Property-owning feudal lords
60
Who were the losers of feudalism in the dialectic?
Serfs (propertyless peasants)
61
Who were the winners of Early Capitalism in the dialectic?
Bourgeoisie (Merchants and bankers)
62
Who were the losers of Early Capitalism in the dialectic?
Landowners
Remains of the feudal class
63
Who were the winners of Industrial Capitalism in the dialectic?
Proletariat
(Industrial workers)
64
Who were the losers of Industrial Capitalism in the dialectic?
Bourgeoisie
(owners of industry and wealth)
65
Who were the winners of the dictatorship of the Proletariat in the dialectic?
Proletariat successful revolutionaries
66
Who were the losers of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the dialectic?
Reactionaries
(Remnants of defeated classes)
67
Between what years did Mao Zedong live?
1893-1976
68
Who was Mao Zedong?
Chinese Communist Revolutionary and founding father of PRC, who governed as Chairman of the Communist Party of China, from it establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976
69
What was the PRC?
People's Republic of China
70
What are Mao's Marxist-Leninist theories, military strategies and political policies collectively known as?
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism OR
Mao Zedong Thought
71
When was CCP founded?
23 July 1921
72
When was the PRC created?
1st October 1949
73
Between what years did Edgar Snow live?
1905-72
74
Who is Edgar Snow?
US Communist who became confidant of Mao
75
Define confidant.
a person with whom one shares a secret or private matter, trusting them not to repeat it to others
76
What are Edgar Snow's writings now sometimes criticised for having been?
Too Pro-Mao in their bias
77
What did Edgar Snow's writings help greatly in?
The West's gaining of an understanding of Chinese Communism.
78
Between what years did Li Lisan live?
1899-1967
79
Who was Li Lisan?
Moscow-trained CCP member who held the Orthodox Marxist view that peasants could not be a truly revolutionary force.
80
As a young man, what was Mao angered by?
China's failings
81
As a young man, what was Mao much impressed by?
Sun Yat-Sen's revolutionary ideas
82
Between 1912 and 1919, what scenes of great violence did Mao witness?
Rival Republicans factions who had fought for supremacy in his home province.
83
What did Mao do with his experiences as a young man?
Recorded them and claimed they affected him deeply.
84
What did Mao's experiences as a young man lead him to conclude?
To be a leader and gain success politically or militarily, total commitment and willingness to use extreme methods was needed-helps to explain his saying about power.
85
Why did Mao become a Marxist and a founder member of the CCP in 1921?
He was a dialectician
86
As a young man, what did Mao hold about what all change and progress resulted from?
All progress and change resulted from suppression of the weaker by the stronger.
87
What did Mao become attracted to when moving to Beijing?
Marxist ideas
88
What did Mao develop when moving to Beijing?
The conviction (view) that if China was to regain its greatness, it would have to undergo a profound social and political revolution.
89
To further his aims of improving China, when did Mao become one of the founder members of the CCP?
1921
90
In 1927, during Chiang's White Terror, where were the Communists forced to flee to?
Jiangxi provinces
91
When was Mao's first endeavour (attempt) to build a Chinese soviet?
When the Communists were forced to flee to Jiangxi provinces
92
Mao revealed his ruthlessness when he began creating a Chinese soviet. What did he regard ruthlessness as?
Essential to effective leadership.
This characterised his whole career.
93
How much Red Army troops did Mao order the torture and execution of?
some 4000
94
Why did Mao order the torture and execution of some 4000 Red Army troops?
He accused them of plotting against him.
95
When did Mao order the torture and executions of some 4000 Red Army troops whom he accused of plotting against him?
1930
96
What was Mao's written instructions when he ordered the torture and execution of some 4000 Red Army troops?
'Do not kill the important leaders too quickly, but squeeze out of them the maximum information'.
97
What did Mao show during the Long March?
An unwillingness to compromise in establishing his leadership over the Party.
98
Over the next decade, once he was established in Yanan in 1935, what did Mao turn the camp into?
A Communist soviet.
99
What did the Communist soviet camp serve as in Yanan?
Protective base
A haven to which Communists sympathisers flocked.
100
At the base of the Communist soviet, what did Mao develop and formalise?
His revolutionary ideas.
101
What did Mao's revolutionary ideas include?
Him in an ideological battle to enforce leadership in the face of opposition within the CCP and from the Comintern.
102
What did Mao see in Marxism-Leninism?
A set of principles that he could turn into a practical programme for restoring China to its original greatness.
103
What did Mao do to the Marxist theory?
Never a slave to it.
Interpreted ideology to suit his purpose in China
104
What was Mao concerned about in regards to the Comintern?
If he gave too much consideration to the opinions of foreign Communists, as expressed through the Comintern, it would damage his claim to personal authority in China
105
What was Mao's conviction about the Comintern?
'Correct leadership should be done by each of the Communist parties in its own country. The Comintern, far away from actual struggle, can no longer provide proper leadership.'
106
What could Mao's conviction about the Comintern, result in?
Would damage his claim to personal authority in China.
107
Who did Mao's ideas about the Comintern bring him criticism from?
The pro-Moscow elements in the Party.
108
What did the pro-Moscow elements in the Party accuse Mao of?
Ignoring Comintern instructions and taking an independent line.
109
What was a particular point of conflict raised by the pro-Moscow elements of the Party?
Mao's insistence that the distinct conditions in China determined that revolution must first come in the countryside.
110
What Comintern demands did Mao reject?
That the CCP direct its efforts into preparing risings in the urban areas.
111
What was Mao's central belief that the Chinese revolution must be?
The Chinese revolution must be a peasant revolution.
112
Define revolution.
a radical change in the established order, usually the established government and social institutions.
113
In the eyes of Comintern theorists, what did they assert Mao was committing?
Heresy/blasphemy/non-conformity
114
What laws was Mao ignoring?
Dialectic whose stages followed a predetermined, ordered path and thus could not be bypassed (avoided)
115
What was a peasant revolution seen as by Mao?
An end in itself
Merely a precursor (ancestor) of the final proletarian revolution.
116
What did China lack which meant it was , therefore, incapable of achieving a genuinely proletarian revolution?
An urban proletariat large enough to mount a revolution.
117
Why was it best for the CCP to merge with the Nationalist?
It was the best they could do to help being about the bourgeois stage of the revolution.
118
What did Mao stress about the Marxist theory?
It had to be interpreted in the light of the actual conditions of China.
119
What did Mao dismiss the notion of?
That genuine revolution could only be achieved by industrial workers
120
How did Mao counter the fact that a genuine revolution could only be achieved by industrial workers?
Asserted (declared and maintained) his convictions.
121
In China, what percentage of the population did industrial workers account for?
Less than 4%
122
In China, what percentage of the population did rural peasant make up?
88%
123
What did Mao redefine the term proletarian to mean?
Not so much a social class as an attitude.
(More an attitude)
124
Who were those who were genuinely committed to the revolution?
Members of the proletariat.
125
Who was counted as a member of the proletariat?
Anyone who had suffered oppression at the hands of the class enemies.
126
What was the saying in regards to peasants being able to achieve a genuine revolution?
'No power, however strong, can restrain them'.
127
What did Mao tell and quote his followers about peasant being able to achieve a genuine revolution?
Told his followers it was their task to unleash the huge potential of the peasantry.
'The peasants are the sea; we are the fish. We live in the sea'.
128
Who did Mao's particular interpretation of the dialectic put him at variance (conflict) with?
Orthodox Communists, such as Li Lisan.
129
Who was Li Lisan?
Moscow-trained Marxist
130
What did Li Lisan continue to follow?
The Comintern line by insisting that the Chinese Communists concentrate their revolutionary ideas in urban areas.
131
Where do Communists concentrate their revolutionary ideas?
In urban areas
132
Throughout the 1930s, what was Mao involved in?
A battle to assert his authority within the Party.
133
Which faction was a major opponent to Mao?
'Twenty-eight Bolsheviks'.
134
Who did the 'Twenty-eight Bolsheviks' follow?
Li Lisan
135
What did the 'Twenty-eight Bolsheviks' do to Mao?
Criticise him for ignoring Comintern instructions and acting independently
136
What was Mao accused of for assuming that the staged of proletarian revolution could be skipped at will?
Reckless adventurism
137
Largely because of how many factors was Mao able to survive all this criticism?
4
138
Name the 4 factors which helped Mao survive all the criticism.
1. His election in 1934
2. His unrivalled knowledge of Chinese peasantry
3. His intense self-belief and determination
4. He was indispensable (essential) as a military leader.
139
How did Mao's election in 1934 help him survive all the criticism he received?
Election of the correct northern route to follow the Long March had given him moral superiority over the opposition.
Opposition, pro Moscow faction, had argued for a different Western route
140
How did Mao's unrivalled knowledge of the Chinese peasantry help him survive the criticism he received?
As a result of his field research, Mao dominated in any discussion of the Party's peasant policy.
141
How did Mao's intense self-belief and determination help him survive the criticism?
It allowed him to silence opponents and browbeat (to intimidate) waverers (someone who hesitates).
142
What did Mao define the revolution as?
Not as a class movement but a national one.
143
After being faced with the Japanese occupation of China, after 1937, what did Mao declare the aim of the Party to be?
'Long term co-operation with all those classes, strata, political groups and individuals who were willing to fight Japan to the end.'
144
Who did Mao appeal to, to unite against the enemies of the nation?
All Chinese of goodwill.
145
Why was Yanan's geographical distance from Soviet influence useful?
Mao was able to dominate the urban-orientated members of the CCP and bring the Party to accept his line of thinking.
146
How was Mao able to dominate the urban-orientated members of the CCP and bring the Party to accept his line of thinking using Yanan's geographical distance from Soviet influence?
Mao acted in Chinese traditions of taking from a foreign ideology those elements which were considered to be of practical value for China.
147
What did Mao do and change with Marxism in China?
Made Marxism fit the Chinese situation, not the Chinese situation fit Marxism.
148
Why did Mao have to contend with opposition for some years?
Because of his reshaping of revolutionary Marxism
149
How did outmanoeuvring and where necessary, removing opponents, help Mao?
He was able to establish an unmatched authority and so impose his ideas regarding reshaping of revolutionary Marxism.
150
How did Mao give practical form to his concept of revolution?
Sending out Red Army units from Yanan to occupy neighbouring regions.
151
What method did Mao use to give practical from to his concept of revolution?
Red Army occupied a particular region.
Rounded up landowners from areas.
Reallocated areas to peasants.
Peasants invited to co-operate in reorganising the village or region into a soviet.
152
What was Mao's hope for the method he used to give practical form to his concept of revolution?
He hoped that such treatment would persuade local people to become CCP supporters.
153
What did Mao urge the soldiers who did the liberating (of the peasants) to regards themselves as?
Ambassadors carrying Communist message to the peasants.
154
Until the Yanan period, by tradition how did the Chinese armies treat local populations?
They had invariably (always) terrorised them.
155
How did the imperial and warlord forces used to act towards the population?
Had ravaged and plundered them (devastated them).
156
How was the Red Army instructed to behave differently to previous Chinese armies and forces?
It was their duty to aid and comfort the people
157
What did the Red Army do in order to win further support from the peasants in the liberated areas?
Introduced a number of schemes.
158
Name the schemes the Red Army introduced to win further support from the peasants in the liberated areas.
1. The creation of local peasant associations
2. A programme for ending usury
3. Introduction of literacy and education programmes
4. Provision of basic medical services
159
What did the creation of local peasants associations do?
Invited peasants to work with the CCP in improving their own conditions.
160
How did usury impacted the lives of the peasants?
Blighted the lives of the peasants.
161
As a result of the CCP land policies, how much did the party grow starting in 1937 compared to in 1945?
1937=40,000
1945=1 million
162
What was the essential purpose of all the moves the CCP made under Mao who was prepared to be moderate (fair) at all times?
To strengthen Communist control.
163
What kind of process was the removal of landlords in areas where the Red Army held sway (had authority)?
Brutal
164
What happened to villages who would not conform to the demands of the CCP's land programme?
Were subject to harsh penalties such as having all their crops and livestock confiscated and ruinous (disastrous) taxes imposed on them.
165
When and by who was what the CCP's occupation of liberated areas entailed actually described?
1937
Edgar Snow (travelled with Red Army)
166
[SUMMARY] What was Mao's concept of leadership?
Ruthlessness
'All power grows out the barrel of a gun.'
167
[SUMMARY] What was Mao's key ideology?
Nationalist Chinese considerations always held primacy (priority).
Marxist China needed a profound social and political revolution
Revolution must be peasant revolution not a proletarian revolution
168
[SUMMARY] What created Mao's ideological dominance?
Red Army liberation
Communist control of countryside
Repressive land policies
