Chinese History Essay - Mao\'s Rise to Power PDF

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Kahill Sarronwala

Yr 13 History- David Todd

To what extent was the rise to power of Mao due to personal appeal and ability?

Mao’s rise to power was undoubtedly due in part to his personal skilss; he understood that the peasantry was the key to his Communist ideology. Mao used his personal ability to master the soviets within China. The long March, His agreeableness to join with the Guomindang to fight the warlords and the Japanese showed him to have China’s best interests at heart. Mao’s survival of the extermination campaigns and subsequent creation of Guerilla warfare proved his ability as a leader in combat as well. Although the personal appeal and ability of Mao was crucial in Mao’s rise, there are other factors that played an undeniable role. Factors to consider are, the weaknesses of Mao’s opposition, the weaknesses of the Chinese government,CCP military force and skill and lastly; foreign influence. All of these other factors were important in allowing Mao to demonstrate his abilities and ultimately rise to power through force. Mao’s personal appeal and ability was a very important factor in his rise. Mao was one of the original communists, attending a delegation of 12 in July 1921. This was the first national congress of the party. Mao then became in charge of propaganda and political agents. Mao developed his own blend of communism centered on the peasantry of China, which made up 90% of the population. His policies would address land reform, industrialization and a removal of the power held by the elite minority of society that had always exploited the peasants. Ideology was crucial; Mao saw revolutionary potential in the peasants. His ideology became something people wanted as it would improve their lives and establish a government that was strong. Mao was able to cooperate and negotiate with Chiang Kai Shek and the Nationalists to combat the warlords in 1923. After Chiang’s betrayal in 1927 in the Shanghai Massacres, remaining communist forces Mao faced the extermination campaigns and broke out of the Jiang-xi soviet in the 1930s. Mao was always respectful, and made his troops conduct their movements with grace, never stealing from villages or treating people badly. The Long march 1934-35 really showed Mao to be charismatic and respectable. His ability to lead the communists to the Yanan Soviet made him the clear leader of the CCP by 1935. The policies for the Jiangxi province were created to allow redistribution of land.Mao also used propaganda very effectively: such as the ‘little red book’. We can see that Mao being an original communist gave him a reputation, showed him to be committed and developed a foundation for himself. Mao proved his pedigree, which made his ideology even more valuable. Ideology was his claim to fame, it promised a better China, a more equal China and a China was achieving it’s potential. Mao’s cooperation with Chiang proved he would sacrifice his personal matters to better China and to remove warlordism, it also signaled Mao as an excellent negotiator and politician. The break out from the extermination campaigns showed Mao to be competent not just politically but militarily, as he developed the strategy of Guerilla warfare, which enabled the Communists to gain an upper hand on a superior and larger force. The way Mao treated the peasants made people want to follow him because of all the good he appeared to do. The Long March then made Mao a mythical figure, with tales of heroism echoing, the Long 1

Kahill Sarronwala

Yr 13 History- David Todd

March also enabled him to gain more followers and spread ideology. His clear leadership skills enabled him to cull competition and so become the leader of the party, that way if the nationalists were defeated Mao would inevitably become the leader of China. Policies were aimed at improving the lives of the peasants, and the propaganda spread more ideology. Mao’s communist ideology and individual leadership and personal appeal appealed to the people’s idea of ruling the country for the people, not the elite minority. Mao’s personal appeal based on his ideology was extremely crucial, his ability and charisma made his ideology stand out even more.The conditions of china and the domestic problems made Mao’s personal appeal even more powerful. A factor that needs considering in Mao’s rise to power, was the state in which China was in 1911. The backwards policies, lack of industrialization, the appalling conditions for the peasantry, and warlordism, all put China in a position to change in a revolutionary manner. Mao exploited this. The collapse of the Chin dynasty in 1911 with the removal of Pu Yi as the emperor of China, a power vacuum and instability were generated. China was used to a hierarchical system of government, in that sense Confucius values were very hierarchical. China therefore also had no experience with a neither communist nor nationalist government. The conditions however, made it ripe for change. The government of Nationalists installed after the removal of the emperor was poor at ruling for the people. They failed to effectively address land reform; peasants still lived in terrible conditions often dying of sickness and famine. Landlords and elites took everything in society. Warlordism form 1916 to 1927 was a huge problem as many armed thugs under the control of brutal war leaders occupied and divided China into areas of influence. As a result constant conflicts brewed between warlords, worsening conditions in China and preventing unification to defend against foreign threats. German colonies in Tsinghua, as well as British colonies signified China’s lack of development the outside influence impacted the running of the government. The primary problem in the country was instability made worse by worsening living conditions for the vast majority of people-the peasantry due to the Sino-Japanese war. The power struggle was evidently between the nationalists and the communists after 1911. The nationalists did govern China and had their chance to improve the country economically, socially and militarily. However, the worsening conditions, lack of regard for the peasantry, the roaring inflation, stagnant economy and the refusal to effectively stand against Japan proved the current government incapable of ruling the country as was required. Mao exploited instability to give people what they wanted, to make China a more equal society through land reforms and social policies. Mao was also able to use the Japanese invasion, publically combat the Japanese as the Nationalists should have done and prove that they were more capable of ruling China. It is important to note that many of the weaknesses of the government can be attributed to the weaknesses of Mao’s opposition. The main weakness was the governmental structure was new and lacked authority and experience, thus, as conditions worsened people became more desperate for change and Mao had an opportunity to play his ideology, exploit his enemies weaknesses to rise to power. The inherent conditions in China made it ripe 2

Kahill Sarronwala

Yr 13 History- David Todd

for change, dissatisfaction in a country will lead to people looking to extreme solutions such as the communists. So, although Mao’s personal appeal was very important, we cannot underestimate the preconditions, which made his ideology and appeal so much more powerful because they were needed. Once Mao had asserted himself as leader of the CCP, by default, triumph over the nationalists would result in his ascension to power. The mistakes of Mao’s opposition were therefore an important factor in his rise. The GMD were brutal nationalists catering to the rich elites, landowners and the upper class. They disregarded and in some cases treated the peasantry extremely poorly turning almost 90% of China against them. In 1923 when the United Front was created with the CCP and GMD, the warlords were combatted but in 1927 Chiang Kai Shek betrayed his communist allies, ordering their execution during the Shanghai massacres. In the following extermination campaigns ‘encirclement’ and ‘blockhouse’ tactics were employed; whilst successful intheir own right it drove the CCP to employ guerilla tactics were largely successful for shock offensives and culling a larger force. During the 1930s Chiang’s army would steal from the peasants, loot villages and treat the peasants very poorly with no intention of recompense. In 1936 the Xian incident took place and the warlord who fought against the Japanese occupation of Manchuria; Zhang Xueliang captured Chiang Kai Shek in an attempt to make him cooperate with the CCP in a United Front to combat the Japanese. This culminated in Chiang’s second betrayal of the Communists in 1941. Thus, Chiang diverted his resources to crushing the Communists instead of fighting the Japanese. Earlier in 1937 we see how Chiang betrayed his own people by abandoning Nanjing resulting in the ‘rape of Nanjing’ where over 200,000 civilians were brutally murdered. Likewise, Shanghai and Beijing fell due to GMD errors. Economically the GMD made a mess, massive inflation of 287,000% between 1937 and 1949. Lastly, Chiang’s poor treatment of his soldiers resulted in the death of 14 million. The minority of China backed the GMD politically, the peasants were the majority and they hated the GMD for the way they were treated. Not only did Mao offer attractive policies for them to support him but negative cohesion would also have played a large part in leaving Chiang devoid of support. Chiang’s betrayals of the united fronts showed that his interests were not in the protection or development of china but purely in its governance. It also made him seem like someone who should not be trusted. Forcing the CCP into Guerilla tactics contributed to Chiang’s overwhelming loss of 14 million troops, as a result people did not want to fight for the nationalists like they wanted to fight for the communists. The peasantry was vehemently opposed to helping Chiang through supplies, food and morale. Negative cohesion resulted in these resources being given to the Communists, which allowed them to more effectively combat Chiang and the Japanese. Mao’s policies and ideology then appeared to be the perfect solution for many of the problems in China. As stated before the mistake of Mao’s opposition was crucial, as if and when the CCP triumphed against the GMD Mao would inevitably become the leader of China. Negative cohesion is the key here, people turning away from Mao’s opposition and supporting him was extremely relevant in his rise to power. 3

Kahill Sarronwala

Yr 13 History- David Todd

However, it did play upon the foundation Mao had built with his ideology and personal appeal as people viewed the communists in comparison to the nationalists. Leading on to foreign influence as a factor of Mao’s rise. We see even more of a distinction between things Mao DID to achieve power and situations Mao EXPLOITED to achieve power. Foreign influence such as colonialism with the British, German and French armies was detrimental to Chinese society itself as it meant they were too weak to resist foreign influence, it meant they lost certain resources, land, ports such as Tsinghua and it meant the rest of the world saw them as weak. An example of foreign influence being detrimental to society would be the Opium wars in 1830 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860, against the British. Self-strengthening, attempts to make China independent were required. Mao exploited this situation to offer resistance of foreign influence to his people. Any outside influence was a sign that China was weak, the way the GMD took American aid was not a popular act amongst the majority of the population. When China had attempted to resist imperialistic values during the May the 4th movement in protest to the weak nationalist government response to the Treaty of Versailles, it was clear that the nationalist government could ineffectively combat foreign influence. Mao exploited this whole situation very well. The nationalist government permitted this foreign influence and did little to resist. The Chinese peasantry and even many elites were too patriotic and proud to stand for this. We can see the link between foreign influence and weaknesses of Mao’s opposition here; the Nationalist government was in trouble from the beginning simply because of their passiveness to foreign influence. Foreign influence contributed to the fall of the nationalists, however, Mao could only have exploited this situation because of his ideology, personal ability and personal appeal. The meat of the victory of Mao and the communists lay in the actually military power struggle between the GMD and CCP; the last notable factor in Mao’s rise to power. In 1927 the CCP began fighting the warlords, first by entering cities and paralyzing them so the GMD could come in and with the CCP crush any warlord forces. The CCP showed they were effective agitators and combatants, and especially that they were willing to fight to free China from its constraints on its development. Between 1934 and 1935 Mao and the CCP constantly were engaged in skirmishes with nationalist forces. Mao developed the tactic of Guerilla warfare. Although this is related to Mao’s personal ability, the tactics would not have been successful without the aid of the troops and especially gifted commanders such as Zhu De. The guerilla tactics of avoiding frontal assaults, hiding in forests and mountains, then ambushing droves of GMD soldiers with small shock squads proved very effective. It meant that although the GMD had a much larger army they also dies in greater numbers, evening out the military playing field. In December 1936, the CCP moved their headquarters from Bao’an to Yanan, the military of the CCP increased from 30,000 to over a million over 8 years. The CCP began to effectively destroy the Japanese invaders. The CCP waged ‘Hundred regiment offensives’ and guerilla warfare against Japanese controlled territory such as Manchuria. Lastly the victory in the civil war, 1946-1949, when Mao declared a people’s republic of China and Chiang Kai Shek and the 4

Kahill Sarronwala

Yr 13 History- David Todd

nationalists fled to Taiwan. Not only did the CCP show the people of China they were willing to fight for their liberty and ideology but they could win for China. This gave them a lot of support in supplies, men and morale. In the end it boiled down to victory in the civil war where Mao being the leader of the winning side automatically assumed control of China. The crass errors of the GMD may have been equally to blame for their defeat as the successful tactics employed by the CCP. However, it is arguable as to whether the CCP would have won if not for the leadership of Mao, Furthermore, without Mao’s personal appeal and ability, he would not have been in line for the position of a leader. Mao’s use of force allowed him to appear as a strong leader who was in control and aligned his interests with those of the majority of China. In conclusion, the factors are all important to some extent. However, Mao’s ideology, his subsequent personal appeal and his ability both politically and militarily were at the heart of his success. His appeal and ability allowed him to exploit the weaknesses of his opposition especially through negative cohesion. The same applies for his exploitation of the weakness of the Government in China as well as foreign intervention. His leadership and development of guerilla tactics was at the core of military success both against the GMD and the Japanese. However, the weaknesses of Mao’s opposition were evidently relevant in his rise to power. The underlying fact that if the CCP won the civil war then Mao would become the leader was crucial. Therefore, political weaknesses of the nationalists to effectively govern in the interests of the people combined with Chiang’s betrayals and him reveling in foreign influence were deeply unpopular. That combined with China’s inherent backward and divided condition allowed a scenario in which Mao could utilize his own ideology and ability to rise to power. Mao’s leadership was further essential for the survival of the CCP during the early year when the Shanghai Massacres occurred and Long March. So evaluating ‘to what extent’, Mao’s personal appeal and ability was the most important factor in his rise, he presented himself as the champion of the people and took every opportunity to show he could improve China, but he was helped to a large extent by the mistakes of Chiang and the nationalists and the conditions in China which his appeal and ideology addressed.

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