film Azucar Amarga opens with protagonist, Gustavo, looking at himself in the mirror. A photograph of Fidel Castro wedged behind the mirror makes up half of Gustavo’s face, being one of the director’s first clues to Gustavo’s love for Castro and communist Cuba. Gustavo is Cuba’s ideal “new man”; a term coined by the famous Che Guevara to describe a “selfless and cooperative, obedient and hardworking, gender-blind, incorruptible, non-materialistic, and anti-imperialist”[1] man. Gustavo truly…
book did in China. The book talks a little bit about the Vietnam War, then the civil war in China, then Chiang Kai-Shek, then World War II, and so on. After jumping around the twentieth century, the book then goes to Mao Zedong before becoming the Communist leader. It first talks about where Mao was born to what he did growing up to how he became interested in communism. The book would then go to what he did to events in China to communism to a story of someone and then back to Mao. Later,…
determines an individual 's deservingness to be labeled as a Communist? Is it his or her actions, status, education, mindset, or something entirely different? According to Liu Shaoqi, Chinese Communist Party theoretician and Mao Zedong 's successor as the head of state, it is not a singular aspect of an individual 's life that will make them a true Communist, but a combination of them all. In his 1939 speech, How To Be a Good Communist, Liu outlines the main actions, practices, and lifestyle…
consider Mao to be the narrator, ‘em to be The Nationalist Party and the seven nation army also is the nationalist party. Note, that at the beginning of the March the Nationalist Party forces were over 4 times the size of Mao’s communist forces. In the end, Mao comes on top. 2. Bad Blood - Bastille In short, Bad…
China also holds the most executions out of any country in the world. Though the exact number of executions is classified by the state, but an estimate of 3,000 executions were made in 2014 alone (AmnestyUSA.org & Telegraph.co.uk). Ever since the Communist Party of China took control of the government in 2012, the Chinese government has locked down on citizen’s rights and violating their privacy. Those who speak out against the government are subjected to arbitrary arrest, torture, and death,…
Liang Heng, the author of “Son of the Revolution”, spent almost his whole life under the Communist Party of China, and he was able to share all the details of his difficult life with the world through writing with the help of his wife, and co author, Judith Shapiro. Liang Heng’s life was filled with suffering from sacrifices he and his family made to please the Party. After making it through life with the cap of being the son of a rightist and having a father accused of having capitalist…
Mao Zedong is revered by many as the ‘founding father of modern China’, with his legacy being not only physically but metaphorically embalmed. However, many, particularly in the West, question this reverence in so far as he halted economic and political progress in China via tumultuous campaigns such as the Great Leap Forward. In order to consider if Mao's importance in Chinese history has been exaggerated, his significance needs to be assessed. Looking at Mao's the impact of his policies at the…
passing, begins the issue about the path Cuba will take regarding the country’s future political stance. Does it set aside the decades of dictatorship ruling and transform into a democratic state or, will it continue in its’ current status as a one party communist government? The United States long tourism ban to Cuba had recently been partially lifted “...to make educational visits...” (Hirschfeld Davis and Burnett, p. A6), as was commerce restrictions which permits, “Cuban citizens to earn a…
Mao Tse-Tung, also known as Mao Zedong, was a principal Chinese Marxist theorist and the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from its inception as China’s governing regime in 1949 until his death in 1976. Economically, Tse-Tung is known for his introduction of multiple famous economic policies and five year plans, including the first Five Year Plan of 1953 and the subsequent Great Leap Forward, credited as responsible for completely redefining and modernizing the Chinese economy. In addition…
In 1978, Deng Xiaoping succeeded Mao Zedong as the only paramount leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) without any formal government positions, such as the head of state, the head of government or the General Secretary. He was regarded as ‘the architect’, who successfully strengthened the country with his revolutionary economic reform program- the ‘Open Door’ policy. With that mentioned, this essay focuses on Deng Xiaoping’s effort in his economic reform program that has changed China…