Mao Zedong

The People's Republic of China was established by Mao Zedong, a Chinese communist revolutionary who also went by the name Chairman Mao. He lived from 26 December 1893 to 9 September 1976. His theories, military tactics, and political ideologies are generally referred to as Maoism because he was a Marxist-Leninist. He began the Great Leap Forward in 1958 with the intention of quickly converting China's economy from agrarian to industrial. In addition, Mao is renowned as a theoretician, military planner, and poet. Mao, who had struggled with his health for years, passed away in 1976 at the age of 82 after having many heart attacks.
On December 26, 1893, in the Hunan town of Shaoshan, Mao Zedong was born. Mao Yichang, his father, was formerly an underprivileged peasant. George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte's military prowess and fervor for nationalism served as inspiration for Mao. Sun Yat-publication, sen's The People's Independence (Minli bao), had an impact on Mao Zedong, who urged Sun to run for president while still a student. Mao enlisted in the rebel army as a private soldier but stayed out of the battle.
His father took away his money and made him check into a homeless shelter. Mao attended Changsha's Fourth Normal School, which is regarded as the best in Hunan. In April 1917, Mao wrote his first piece for New Youth, advising readers to get physically stronger in order to support the revolution. Mao performed physical endurance feats alongside Xiao Zisheng and Cai Hesen. Due to his poor status and rural Hunanese accent, Mao was shunned by other pupils.
Her spouse passed away in January 1920, and his mother passed away in October 1919. Together with He Shuheng and Deng Zhongxia, Mao established the Hunanese Student Association in May 1919. The "Great Union of the Popular Masses," which Mao argued was necessary, would boost labor unions and enable them to carry out a non-violent revolution. The notion of mutual aid proposed by Kropotkin had a profound impact on his thinking. 13 delegates, including Mao, were present in the Chinese Communist Party's first congress, which was held in 1921.
Due to Mao Zedong's achievement in the Anyuan mines, Chen Duxiu extended an invitation for him to join the Communist Party's Central Committee. Mao advanced to become the Kuomintang's chief of propaganda and called for a coalition across China's socioeconomic strata. Mao escaped to Guangzhou in 1925 as his revolutionary activities came to light. From May to September 1926, he served as the KMT's Peasant Movement Training Institute's sixth director. When Chiang Kai-National shek's Revolutionary Army launched the Northern Expedition offensive on warlords in 1926, Mao backed them.
Only a portion of Mao's ideas for the Chinese revolution were carried out. Of its 25,000 members, the CCP lost about 15,000 in the conflict with Chiang Kai-shek. After being named Red Army's supreme commander, Mao led four regiments toward Changsha. Mao was dismissed from the Communist Party Central Committee (CCP) and the Hunan Provincial Committee as retribution for his "military opportunism" and emphasis on rural work. Mao created a foothold in the Jinggang Mountains' Jinggangshan City, where he supported the eviction of wealthy landowners.
Mao wed He Zizhen, an 18-year-old revolutionary, in 1928, and together they had six children. In the meantime, KMT forces had occupied Jinggangshan, depriving them of a base. For 25 days, Mao's soldiers held off the KMT while he nightly departed the camp in search of reinforcements. He was succeeded by the "28 Bolsheviks," a group of Chinese Communists with Soviet-style education. Mao disagreed with the new leadership because he thought they didn't fully understand the circumstances in China.
He quickly became their main adversary. On the southwest corner of the Jiangxi Soviet, at Xinfeng, Mao Zedong's Red Army overran the KMT defenses in 1934. The Red Army successfully overcame the first and second encirclements as a result. To deal with the additional Japanese assaults into China, Chiang Kai-shek withdrew.
Mao thought that through emphasizing anti-imperialist resistance, the Communists would win the confidence of the Chinese people, who would then reject the KMT. In October 1935, Mao's forces landed in the Yan'an Soviet and settled in Pao An. forged connections with the neighborhood's residents and farmed and redistributed the land. Mao consented to work with Chiang Kai-shek in an effort to defeat the Japanese. In response to Mao Zedong's letter to Chiang Kai-shek, a United Front was established on December 25, 1937.
The Red Army launched the Hundred Regiments Campaign in August 1940, in which 400,000 soldiers simultaneously battled the Japanese in five regions. Mao wrote many books for his soldiers from his camp in Yan'an, including Philosophy of Revolution and Protracted Warfare. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the modern People's Republic of China. In December 1949, Chiang Kai-shek fled mainland China as PLA troops besieged Chongqing and Chengdu. Due to China's participation in the Korean War, the United States imposed a trade embargo on the country.
Mao Zedong served as both the PLA's Supreme Commander in Chief and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC). He is recognized with utilizing unbridled repression and social reform to eradicate opium use and production in the 1950s. Mass execution quotas were instituted, and Mao personally organized their planning. The First Five-Year Plan (1953–1958) was introduced by Mao and placed Chinese emphasis on quick industrial development. During this time, Mao's security chief permitted Kang Sheng to pressure rivals into committing suicide.
Driving those who were viewed as opponents to commit suicide was a strategy used frequently throughout the Mao era, according to some biographers. The Great Leap Forward, also known as the second Five-Year Plan, was introduced by Mao in 1958. Mao wanted to transform China from an agricultural to an industrialized country. A 15% decrease in grain production was the result of the labor being diverted to infrastructure and steel industry projects. Between 1959 and 1962, the Great Leap Forward directly contributed to the deaths of 30 million Chinese peasants.
It is debatable to what degree Mao was aware of how serious the situation was. Mao might not have known the scale of the famine, in part because local officials were reluctant to express their disapproval of his policies. For the overwhelming majority of Chinese people, the Great Leap Forward was tragic. On April 27, 1959, Mao resigned as president of China, but he kept his other key positions. He was ultimately compelled to end the strategy in 1962, and as a result, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping gained political power.
Ministers hailed Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward as a success during the Lushan Conference in 1959. It's possible that six million individuals received unfair punishment for participating in the campaign. China conducted censuses in 1953, 1964, and 1982 to stifle opposition to the programs. One of the pivotal moments of the Cold War was the Sino-Soviet split. Only Albania publicly supported China, resulting in an alliance between the two nations.
The division had major impact on the Vietnam War's direction as well as the overall structure of the Second Cold War. Mao started to worry about the state of China after 1959. The old governing class has been replaced, he observed, by a fresh one. Mao thought that a cultural revolution would depose and shake up the "ruling elite." Many think that Mao started the Cultural Revolution as a reaction to Liu and Deng's movements.
The brutality of the Cultural Revolution claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. People who attempt suicide—don't try to save them!, Mao is believed to have stated. According to reports, the Red Guards murdered 1,772 people in Beijing alone during August and September 1966. Mao declared the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1969. Mao's economic policies significantly increased poverty.
According to records, during a conversation with Henry Kissinger in 1973, Mao called women "nonsense." Mao and Kissinger concurred that their remarks against women should not be made public.
Mao only made two trips outside of China while he was in power, both of which were official trips to the Soviet Union. The number of people killed during the Cultural Revolution, including Red Guards and civilians, has been estimated to range widely. According to some academics, there were many significant advancements, and the Chinese economy continued to do better than the West in some industries. Mao Zedong, who was 82 years old, passed away on September 9, 1976. He had two serious heart attacks in March and July, followed by a third on September 5.
For a week, Mao's embalmed body was displayed in the Great Hall of the People. One of the most significant and influential figures of the 20th century is considered to be Mao Tse-Tung. He is also renowned as a visionary, poet, theorist, and military strategist. During his 27-year rule, his actions caused the deaths of tens of millions of people in China. Many Chinese Communist Party members and supporters in mainland China hold Mao in high regard.
He is credited with increasing the average life expectancy from 35 in 1949 to 63 by 1975, according to author Mobo Gao. Mao has a terrible reputation in the West because of the Great Leap Forward deaths and his persecutions. In 2008, to commemorate the 115th anniversary of his birth, Mao Zedong Square opened. Mao continues to be honored as a national hero by the Chinese government. Mao was compared to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin as "one of the great tyrants of the twentieth century" by historians.
Frequently referred to as the Red Emperor, Mao Zedong. Mao was frequently compared to Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a united China. Mao's methods have been compared by critics to those of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Others contend that Mao should not be viewed as a devil because he was a complex person. According to Dikötter, leaders of the CCP "glorified violence and were accustomed to tremendous loss of life."
Villagers in Qingshui and Gansu referred to these projects as the "death fields" in a chilling foreshadowing to Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, he adds. Many Communists, mostly in the Third World, like the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the Shining Path in Peru, have been influenced by Maoist doctrine. Since Mao's passing, China has veered significantly away from Maoism. The majority of Maoists outside of China consider Deng Xiaoping's policies to be a betrayal of Maoism. People's War theory is Mao's primary contribution to military science.
Mao used mobile warfare effectively in the Korean War to encircle, push back, and finally stop the UN forces there. Mao also gave out the vibe that he might even be in favor of a nuclear exchange. In an effort to educate the peasants, Mao suggested the Socialist Education Movement (SEM) in 1962. The Little Red Book, also known as Mao's Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, was released in 1966. Mao was at the center of a significant amount of politically charged art that was created and disseminated.
Mao Zedong's forefathers included his paternal great-grandfather Mao Ychng (1870–1940), Li (1847), and Máo np (1846–1904). Jiang Qing with Li Na, the wife of Mao, in the 1940s. There were ten children born to Mao's four marriages, including Luo Yixiu (1889–1910) and Yang Kaihui (1901–1930). Mao had 10 kids in all, including his grandson Mao Dongdong, Mao Anying, and Mao Xinyu. Yang's son, Mao Anlong (1927–1931), perished in the Chinese Civil War.
It was extremely risky to raise the first and second girls while battling the Kuomintang, so they were given to the local peasants. Mao Zedong, who had a strong Hunanese dialect and made "earthy" comments on sexual matters, was a "son of the soil" who was proud of his "peasant ways and manners" and "peasant ways and manners." He spoke only a few single words, small phrases, and a few short sentences in English. Some of Mao's most well-known quotes can be found in the Little Red Book. Mao was a prolific writer of political commentary, strategy, and philosophy.
When Mao was alive, he was regarded as a master of calligraphy. His work inspired the creation of the "Mao-style" of Chinese calligraphy. Mao began publishing poems in traditional genres when he was a young man. Li Bai and Li He, two of the greatest Tang era poets, had an impact on his style. Nixon in China, an opera by John Adams, has Mao as a central figure (1987). In the verse "revolution" of The Beatles' song "Revolution," Mao is mentioned.
== The Great Leap Forward ==
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) oversaw the economic and social campaign known as The Great Leap Forward (Second Five Year Plan) from 1958 to 1962. The Great Chinese Famine, which is considered to be the largest or second-largest famine in human history, claimed millions of lives in China during the Great Leap, with estimates varying from 15 to 55 million. The People's Republic of China was established in 1949, according to the Chinese Communist Party. Land holdings of landlords and richer farmers were immediately forcibly transferred to less fortunate peasants. Crops that the Party judged to be "full of evil," like opium, were eliminated in the agricultural areas.
All homes were compelled into state-run communes, and private land ownership was outlawed. Additionally, rationing was implemented in urban areas to reduce "wasteful consumption" and promote savings. All religious and mystic institutions and rituals are abolished, and are replaced with political gatherings and propaganda sessions. Although the Great Leap Forward effort was abandoned by 1961, it was launched during the Second Five Year Plan. Khrushchev's aim of catching and surpassing the UK in 15 years served as motivation for Mao Zedong.
The Korean War and China's isolation from the majority of the world sped up Mao's onslaught on alleged domestic foes. Mao's Great Leap Forward was a clear-cut social innovation and a logical theory of economic growth. Mao argued that the countryside required a second cycle of collectivization modeled after the USSR's "Third Period." The commune system was designed to produce as much as possible to supply the cities. Mao considered the production of steel and grains to be the two main foundations of economic growth.
He predicted that China's industrial output will surpass the UK's in 15 years after the Great Leap began. This industrial investment led to the state hiring of millions of Chinese people. During the Great Leap Forward, China's backyard iron furnaces were constructed to satisfy irrationally high output goals. Mao had a strong dislike for intellectuals and believed in the peasants' ability to mobilize in large numbers. To aid in the manufacturing of iron, many of the male agricultural laborers were diverted from the harvest.
Mao ordered the promotion of a variety of innovative and divisive agricultural technologies on the communes. Numerous of them were based on the now debunked theories of Trofim Lysenko and his adherents, a Soviet agronomist. Together, these unproven advances often resulted in lower grain production rather than higher grain production. The Communist Party's involvement in the Great Leap Forward is studied by historians and sociologists. Traditional Chinese practices were seen to be "feudal" and should be eradicated.
Six to eight percent of people who perished in the famine were tortured to death or were slain suddenly. At the Lushan Conference in July–August 1959, the Great Leap Forward was addressed. Many of the more liberal politicians expressed skepticism over the new approach. Peng Dehuai's criticism of the Great Leap prompted Mao to fire Peng from his position as defense minister. Despite the massive hunger that was occurring in the countryside, China maintained a sizable net export of grains from 1958 to 1960.
The Four Pests campaign's most notable target was the Eurasian tree sparrow. The Yellow River flooded that same year, 1959, and there was a drought that year as well. During the Great Leap Forward, John F. Kennedy was aware that China was selling food to Cuba and Africa. Up to 55 million people may have perished from famine, according to estimates. It is believed that Sichuan province, often known as "Heaven's Granary," suffered disproportionately.
Although it didn't have the highest relative death toll, the Great Leap Forward arguably had the highest absolute death toll. Regional differences in the famine's severity were evident. In 1958, Fuyang, a region in Anhui with a population of 8 million, had a death rate comparable to that of Khmer Rouge-era Cambodia. Up to 70% of the Great Leap Forward fatalities, according to Dikötter, were allegedly murdered or tortured by party members and its militia. Utsa Patnaik's estimate of 11 million, Sun Jingxian's estimate of 3.5 million, and Yang Songlin's estimate of 2.6 million are all outliers. Between 1959 and 1961, China saw an excess of 14.8 million deaths. Of those, 10.3 million, or around 69%, appear to be caused by national policy. At least 2.5 million of these demises were brought on by brutality, torture, or executions without trial. Between 50 million and 100 million people were living in China during the Great Famine (GLF), according to estimates. Large-scale internal migration made it difficult to accurately measure the population and record deaths. claims that a lot of deaths remained hidden so that the family could still use the deceased person's food allowance. On how much, if at all, weather factors contributed to the Great Leap Forward famine, there is dispute. Yang Jisheng places the entire burden on Maoist ideologies and the authoritarian political system. According to economist Steven Rosefielde, Yang's report demonstrates that terror-starvation played a significant role in Mao's massacre. Frank Dikötter claims that Mao and the Communist Party were aware of the fact that certain of their programs were causing the hunger. Between 1958 and 1962, 36 million Chinese people died of starvation, and 40 million more were unable to conceive. The Great Famine caused a total population loss of 76 million in China. In order to feed the cities and appease foreign customers, Mao insisted that the state purchase one-third of all grain. The relatively straightforward language of the historical document is contradicted by Dikötter's interpretation of Mao's remark, "It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill." According to Ashton et al., the famine was caused by policies that resulted in food shortages, natural calamities, and a failure to act quickly enough when there were signs of a food deficit. The failures of the food supply during the Great Leap were met by a gradual de-collectivization in the 1960s that foreshadowed further economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping. The Great Leap Forward resulted in the greatest destruction of real estate in human history, surpassing any of the bombing campaigns from World War II. Opportunities for women to succeed in the workforce were created as a result of the Great Leap Forward's emphasis on entire worker mobilization. The time period also saw the beginning of China's explosive growth in the production of tractors and fertilizer. Armed uprisings occurred in some regions, but they never seriously threatened the Central Government. At the Lushan party meeting, Mao's Great Leap Forward strategy was openly questioned. One jingle played during the Great Leap: Flatter shamelessly—eat delicacies. Don't flatter; definitely starve to death. On April 27, 1959, Mao resigned as State Chairman of the PRC. Following the Great Leap, Mao began the Cultural Revolution in 1966, which signaled his return to politics. The party conducted several conferences in 1962 and restored most of the ousted comrades. Mao primarily stayed out of the running of the government, leaving Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping in charge of establishing policies.
== Maoism ==
Mao Zedong created Maoism, a variation of Marxism-Leninism, to bring about a socialist revolution in the Republic of China's rural, pre-industrial society. The Chinese Communist Party and other Maoist revolutionary forces around the world adopted Maoism as their political and military philosophy. The final collapse of the Confucian moral system occurred with the overthrow of the last imperial Chinese dynasty in 1911. The "complete eradication of the traditions and ideals of the past" was suggested by the New Culture Movement. Intellectuals in China experienced a wave of deep nationalist fury as a result of the Treaty of Versailles.
The intellectual growth of Mao Zedong can be broken down into five key phases. Between November 1935 and March 1947, during the Yan'an period, Mao became recognized as a leading Marxist theorist. In his writing, Mao avoided all theoretical implications and used the barest minimum of Marxist category thought. Mao's most productive period was during this mature Maoist period. Mao devoted less attention to Marxist theory and more attention to revolutionary practice.
He focused on a number of theoretical issues, but the Cheng Feng movement of 1942 was the most important one. Mao rewrote the theory with assertiveness to connect it to the brand-new activity of socialist construction. The 1951 revision of On Contradiction shows these changes. The millions of peasants Mao Zedong described to as the popular masses were the proletariat in his eyes. Mao disagreed with Marx's assertion that economic cycles are unavoidable.
Maoists of today criticize the social injustices the revisionist Communist Party has engendered. One of the Four Cardinal Principles of the People's Republic of China is still Mao Zedong Thought. However, it also claims that Mao's acts are considered as having contributed to excesses during the Cultural Revolution. The Communist Party today claims that Maoism was required to free China from its feudal past. According to the CCP Constitution, Mao Zedong Thought is "Marxism-Leninism adapted in a Chinese context." It says that despite the bourgeoisie's overthrow by the proletariat, there is still class conflict.
The CCP of today views Maoism, as it was practiced between 1959 and 1976, as a political and economic failure. Three camps made up the international Maoist movement after Mao's passing in 1976. The new Chinese government under Deng Xiaoping received only moderate support from one group. The new leadership was attacked by one group as betraying Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. Maoism sees the gap between urban and rural areas as one that capitalism has manipulated.
Peasant uprisings within specific national contexts are recognized by Maoism as a component of a global revolution. The mass line lays out a plan for consolidating the proletariat's dictatorship, empowering the party, and empowering the people to lead revolution. During the 1950s to the 1970s, China saw sociocultural upheavals known as the New Culture and May Fourth movements. These two movements can be considered as influencing Maoist ideology regarding the necessity of and objectives of the Cultural Revolution. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s is the most well-known instance of a Maoist implementation of cultural revolution.
He embraces the positivist-empiricist theory that contradiction exists in matter itself and, therefore, in the concepts of the brain in On Contradiction and On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People. Contradictions, according to Mao, are a necessary component of society and predominate in a variety of forms.
Marxism-Leninism is defined as Maoism when it is applied to Chinese circumstances. Maoism differs from Marxism, which was influenced by Europe, in that it places more emphasis on rural agrarian forces than on urban industrial forces. According to the Three Worlds Theory, the United States and the Soviet Union together formed the "first world" during the Cold War. Under Nikita Khrushchev, Maoism overthrew the Soviet Union's legal system. In the West and the Third World, numerous parties and organizations developed that upheld ties to the CCP.
The student radicalism wave of the 1960s and 1970s served as the foundation for numerous pro-CCP movements. Instead of focusing on Maoism, the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO) wants to unite under the banner of Marxism-Leninism. Maoist or Mao Zedong Thought is a term used to describe several parties and organizations within the ICMLPO. A Maoist group is the Communist Party of Australia. All Power To The Workers, or Alle Macht Aan De Arbeiders, was founded as a vanguard party in the making.
The main Maoist group in India is the Communist Party of India. A political and armed Maoist group is the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The First Great Rectification Movement and a schism within the previous Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930, which the founders viewed as revisionist, led to the formation of the CPP. The National Democratic Front of the Philippines is made up of the CPP and the NPA. Maoist groups operating in the UK.
On February 21, 1972, Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong met. The Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Turkey was established in 1972. The Patriotic Party, a left-leaning nationalist and Eurasianist organization, succeeded TKP. The Sino-Soviet break in 1970 marked the start of the U.S. and China Cold War's thawing. Richard Nixon went to China in 1972 and shook hands with Mao Zedong.
American left-wing revolutionary Huey P. Newton created the Black Panthers Party (BPP). During the 1973 publication of his autobiography Revolutionary Suicide, Mao stated: "Some of them were exploiting the socialist label to tear me down." Since Deng Xiaoping's reforms in 1978, Maoism has lost support inside the Chinese Communist Party. Maoism has been viewed by some political thinkers as an attempt to meld socialism and Confucianism. From a Marxist-Leninist standpoint, Enver Hoxha criticized Maoism, contending that New Democracy puts an end to the class struggle and permits unlimited capitalist exploitation.
Some claim that Mao's departure from Leninism was due to both his conception of the party and his almost complete lack of interest in the urban working class. Mao-Spontex is a term used to describe a Maoist interpretation that emphasizes the value of the cultural revolution and the dismantling of hierarchy in western Europe. Some Western academics believed that Maoism particularly fought to control and rule nature and was disastrous for the ecology. Michael Kühnen, a member of the far-right movement in Germany after World War II, once lauded Maoism as a Chinese variant of Nazism.
== Democide ==
Who committed the most number of mass murders in human history? Adolf Hitler, the mastermind behind the Holocaust, is likely what most people think the answer is. Others could pick Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union, who may have succeeded in killing even more innocent people than Hitler, many of them as part of a terror famine that likely claimed more lives than the Holocaust. But Mao Zedong outdid both Hitler and Stalin. His Great Leap Forward campaign, which ran from 1958 to 1962, resulted in the deaths of up to 45 million people, making it by far the largest instance of mass murder ever documented.
Author of the significant book Mao's Great Famine and historian Frank Dikötter has presented a summary of what transpired in History Today:
Mao believed that by forcing rural residents into massive people's communes, he might propel his nation ahead of its rivals. Everything was collectivize in the name of a utopian paradise. People lost their jobs, homes, land, possessions, and means of subsistence. Food, which was served in communal canteens by the spoonful and based on merit, evolved into a tool for enforcing party rule. Without incentives to work, starving farmers were forced to labor on ill-thought-out irrigation projects while fields went unattended using coercion and violence.
Huge disaster of enormous proportions followed. Historians have conjectured that tens of millions of people perished from starvation based on extrapolations made from publicly available population numbers. But it's only now that the full scope of what occurred is becoming clear because of the careful reports the party generated throughout the famine.
The horrific story that emerges from this extensive and thorough dossier paints Mao as one of the most notorious mass murderers in history, responsible for at least 45 million deaths between 1958 and 1962. The magnitude of the calamity far exceeds earlier estimates, but so does the way in which so many people perished: between two and three million victims were brutally executed or tortured to death, frequently for the slightest offense. Local leader Xiong Dechang ordered the father of a Hunan rural lad who had stolen a handful of grain to be buried alive. A few days later, the father passed away from grief. Wang Ziyou's case was brought up to the central leadership; as a punishment for digging up a potato, one of his ears was cut off, his legs were bound with iron wire, a ten kilogram stone was thrown on his back, and finally he was brandished with a sizzling tool.
Scholars have long been aware of the fundamental details of the Great Leap Forward. Dikötter's research is remarkable for showing that there may have been more victims than previously believed, that Mao's mass murder was more clearly purposeful, and that a significant portion of the victims were tortured or executed rather than "merely" starved to death. This would still rank as the largest mass murder in history, even using the previously accepted estimates of 30 million or more.
The Great Leap Forward's atrocities are well known to communist historians and experts on Chinese history, but the average person outside of China rarely thinks about them, and its cultural influence has been minimal. Rarely do Westerners consider this to be one of the worst sins in human history. We make little effort to remember the Great Leap Forward or to ensure that society has learnt its lessons, in contrast to the innumerable books, movies, museums, and days of remembering dedicated to the Holocaust. We frequently forget that when we swear "never again," we should also mean that it applies to atrocities brought on by racism or anti-Semitism.
Even though Mao's crimes claimed far more lives than those committed by Hitler, this does not necessarily imply that Mao was the more evil of the two. The fact that Mao governed over a far larger population for a much longer period of time contributed to the higher death toll. I personally lost several family members during the Holocaust, therefore I don't want to downplay its importance. However, they are comparable in scope to the horrors committed by the Chinese communist regime. They should at the very least be given much more credit than they already do.
[The reality of life in communist Cuba]
I. Why Do We Rarely Reflect on the Great Forward Leap?
What causes this disregard? One explanation is that Chinese peasants, who are culturally and socially distinct from the Western academics and media personalities who have the most influence on our historical memory and popular culture, made up the majority of the victims. In general, it is simpler to feel sympathy for those who resemble oneself.
However, a more significant reason for our relative ignorance of the Great Leap Forward is that communist regimes often have a reputation for committing fewer atrocities than do right-wing authoritarians. Nowadays, compared to the time of Mao, very few western intellectuals truly support communism. But many are hesitant to truly acknowledge what a huge evil it was, maybe out of concern that affiliation might taint other left-wing causes.
Play Video1:20 China's peculiar Cultural Revolution
Mao Zedong started a social-political movement in May 1966 as a response to a disastrous industrialization drive that left millions of people starving. It's a delicate time in the history of contemporary China. Because of this, this museum is unique and has artifacts from China's "Red Era." Chairman Mao and his ideals are depicted on everything from sculptures to badges, plates to posters. (Reuters)
In recent years, the Chinese regime has acknowledged Mao's "mistakes" and permitted some open debate of this past. However, the government continues to periodically repress and prosecute dissidents who point out the facts and refuses to acknowledge that the mass massacre was carried out on purpose.
The fact that China is still ruled by the Communist Party is clearly to blame for this reticence. The leadership continues to derive a significant portion of its legitimacy from Mao's legacy even if they have rejected many of his specific programs. In 2014, while serving as a visiting professor at a Chinese university and lecturing on the topic, I first saw China's official ambiguity on the matter.
Failure to recognize the true character of the Great Leap Forward has major consequences for both Chinese and Westerners. There are still some living Great Leap Forward survivors. They ought to be given much more credit for the terrible injustice they endured. Additionally, they need restitution for their losses as well as the imposition of just punishment on the remaining offenders.
Additionally, we continue to underestimate the horrors of such policies and increase the likelihood that they will be reinstated in the future due to our historical blind spot regarding the crimes committed by Mao and other communist leaders. Socialism should have been irreversibly discredited by the atrocious histories of China, the USSR, and their copycats, just as fascism was by the Nazis. However, it has not yet done so completely.
Venezuela's socialist government has subjected a large portion of its populace to compulsory labor. However, the majority of media coverage of this unfairness ignores the socialist underpinnings or the fact that previous socialist regimes, including the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and others, have adopted similar policies. According to one analysis, Venezuela's "particular brand of socialism, which fuses bad economic ideas with a distinctive brand of strongman bullying," and is prone to authoritarianism and "mismanagement," is the real issue rather than "socialism qua socialism," while the author simply ignores the fact that "strongman bullying" and "mismanagement" are typical of socialist states around the world. Because they do not have government ownership of the means of production and in many ways have freer markets than most other western countries, the Scandinavian countries—which are occasionally mentioned as successful socialist examples—are not at all socialist.
Anyone who is aware with the history of the Great Leap Forward would not be surprised by Venezuela's unfortunate condition. We would be wise to finally pay attention to the largest mass murder incident in recorded history.