Mao’s Dominant Position Within Society (2a.1)

Question 1

When did Mao become a founder member of the new Chinese Communist Party?

Answer 1

1921

Question 2

When Was the Rectification Campaign?

Answer 2

1941

Question 3

What was the Rectification Campaign?

Answer 3

• Top officials (Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai, Chen Yi) produced self-criticisms and confessed to mistakes
• Spiralled down through lower ranks, members denounced each other (often on flimsy grounds)
• By 1942 over 15,000 alleged ‘spies’ unmasked and jailed

Question 4

Mao’s Dominant Position

Answer 4

• Made Head of State 1949 as well as Head of the Party which gave him significant constitutional power but not absolute
• Collective leadership of party theoretically responsible for policy key decisions supposed to come out of debate in Politburo
• Mao expected to win debates, set pace/direction of policy

Question 5

e.g. Mao’s Dominant Position

Answer 5

• Decision to intervene in the Korean War
• Attack on the bourgeoisie in 1952 ‘Five Antis’

Question 6

Mao’s Main Ideas

Answer 6

• Communist thinking heavily influenced by Moscow which urged Chinese to built up industrial workforce
• Only 1% classes as industrial workers in China
• Mao adapted Marxism as exploited peasants offered far greater revolutionary potential

Question 7

Nationalism

Answer 7

• Wanted to feee China from foreign exploitation that had undermined stability since 19th century
• Even relationships with Communist in Russia were fragile: determined not to follow Russian model slavishly, only use friendship to advantage
• Mao invariably put nationalism first (Christian missionaries and foreigners - except Russians- kicked out)

Question 8

Continuing Revolution

Answer 8

• Start of revolution 1949 Mao had to work with leftover GMD to run administration and economy
• Capitalism should be monitored not destroyed
• Each generation must actively participate in the revolution so their revolutionary zeal wouldn’t fade
• Everyone’s duty to look out for enemies, examine their own behaviour/way of thinking/errors (confessing)
• Approach lay behind periodic purges of CCP and frequent struggle sessions, and major events e.g. Hundred Flowers Campaign, Cultural Revolution

Question 9

When was China Excluded from the UN Until?

Answer 9

1972

Question 10

Listening to the People

Answer 10

• Believed Russian Communists gone wrong by failing to respond to people’s concerns, losing touch with them
• Claimed he wanted to get people involved in discussing policy so CCP could take views into account
• Whether Mao actually believed this is debatable (Hundred Flowers Campaign)

Question 11

Mass Mobilisation

Answer 11

• Argued mass campaigners with directions to achieve specific targets were the way forward
• Numbers/revolutionary enthusiasm mattered more than experts when it came to developing economy
• Chinas huge population was its main asset

Question 12

What is a Struggle Session?

Answer 12

• Organised to humiliate opponents, frighten people into conforming
• Victims who’d been denounced by colleagues/neighbours had to make full confessions and self-criticisms
• Frequently beaten during the process

Question 13

Growth of Democratic Centralism

Answer 13

• Chinese communists, many who had spent time in France (believed the government know what’s best for society against their wishes) were more influenced by the French
• Placed no importance on the individual
• Mao’s power became greater but he got more insecure (more to lose), feared enemies plotting against him (explains all the internal purges and ‘anti’ campaigns