Of the countless dictators who have put on the robe of revolution, very few of them have had a direct and lasting impact on the world. One of these men is Mao Zedong. In the 1960’s, Mao Zedong, revered as a god to his people, was able to completely change how China’s political and economic systems work. Today, China is one of the world’s most powerful nations. They dominate the world’s economy because of the political and economic foundations that Mao Zedong laid down during the Communist revolutions that he led as leader of The People’s Republic of China.
Mao Zedong was born into a village in the Hunan Mountains, a mountain range west of Shanghai in central provinces of China, in the year 1893. Working as a peasant farmer, he saw the extreme …show more content…
Starting in 1958, Mao Zedong launched his first attempt at economic reform in China named “The Great Leap Forward”. This was an attempt to change China from a primarily agrarian society to an industrial society by building factories and forcefully creating an urban working class. However, China had just come out of complete financial turmoil and was unable to fund all of the factory constructions and be able to pay all of the new factory workers. China became incredibly impoverished as well as experiencing famine that was caused by the formation of a working class and neglecting the countryside. Mao’s first attempt at reform had severely damaged the economy of China as well as killing over 45 million people (Trueman 1). In the aftermath, the government had lost all faith in Mao Zedong’s ability to lead and he launched his second attempt at major reform. Mao launched the Great Proletarian Revolution in 1966 in an attempt to regain his revered status as well as cleanse China of what he believed to be the impure elements of society. He shut down all schools throughout China in an attempt to having the students create youth groups that would support Mao and hopefully build up revolutionary spirit. Threatened and fearful, Mao Zedong used much more authoritarian tactics during this reform because he wanted to be sure it would succeed unlike his previous reform. Zedong used a secret police force to make sure no one was plotting against him and also used a group of young men known as the Red Guards. The Red Guards were the students who had formed groups after Zedong had shut down all schools. These students began attacking and harassing intellectuals who had spoken out and questioned Mao Zedong’s ability to rule. Mao Zedong was going to stop at nothing to ensure that his idea of a perfect China would remain
Mao Zedong was born into a village in the Hunan Mountains, a mountain range west of Shanghai in central provinces of China, in the year 1893. Working as a peasant farmer, he saw the extreme …show more content…
Starting in 1958, Mao Zedong launched his first attempt at economic reform in China named “The Great Leap Forward”. This was an attempt to change China from a primarily agrarian society to an industrial society by building factories and forcefully creating an urban working class. However, China had just come out of complete financial turmoil and was unable to fund all of the factory constructions and be able to pay all of the new factory workers. China became incredibly impoverished as well as experiencing famine that was caused by the formation of a working class and neglecting the countryside. Mao’s first attempt at reform had severely damaged the economy of China as well as killing over 45 million people (Trueman 1). In the aftermath, the government had lost all faith in Mao Zedong’s ability to lead and he launched his second attempt at major reform. Mao launched the Great Proletarian Revolution in 1966 in an attempt to regain his revered status as well as cleanse China of what he believed to be the impure elements of society. He shut down all schools throughout China in an attempt to having the students create youth groups that would support Mao and hopefully build up revolutionary spirit. Threatened and fearful, Mao Zedong used much more authoritarian tactics during this reform because he wanted to be sure it would succeed unlike his previous reform. Zedong used a secret police force to make sure no one was plotting against him and also used a group of young men known as the Red Guards. The Red Guards were the students who had formed groups after Zedong had shut down all schools. These students began attacking and harassing intellectuals who had spoken out and questioned Mao Zedong’s ability to rule. Mao Zedong was going to stop at nothing to ensure that his idea of a perfect China would remain