How did Mao become leader of the CCP? - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

How did Mao become leader of the CCP?

L/O – To identify how Mao took control of the CCPSlide2

Tasks

Make a timeline of Mao’s rise to power from 1919-1937. Include a brief description of each event (50 words max).

What were the most important events in Mao’s rise to power? Why? (try to identify at least 3 events)

Why was China such an unstable nation in the early 20

th

century?

Why do you think that the Long March was later afforded such an important place in Maoist propaganda?

Why had Mao Zedong emerged as the unchallenged leader of the CCP by 1945?

Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJy_wduFy4Slide3

1893 - Born in Hunan province, rich peasant family

1901-6 – Attended primary school1912 – Joined anti-Qing army in Hunan1912-8 – Trained as a teacher

1918 – Joined the Hunan independence movement1919 – Worked as librarian at Beijing Uni. Organised strikes in Hunan.1921 –

Became a founding member of CCP.

1923 – Joined the KMT.

1924-7 – Involved in planning CCP/KMT alliance against Warlords.

1927-34 – Created the

Jiangxi Soviet

.

1930 – Suppressed a mutiny in Red Army at

Futian

10,000+ killed

1934-5 – Led the

Long March

to Yanan

1935-45 – Created the

Yanan Soviet

1942 – Crushed opposition within the CCP using torture.

1945-49 – Led the CCP to victory over KMT

1949 – Declaration of the creation of the

People’s Republic of ChinaSlide4

Mao’s Early Years

Born into rich peasant family

. Father worked hard, mother was religious Buddhist. Often fell out with father, refused to show him respect. He didn’t like working, always wanted to read.Volunteered in

anti-Qing army

during 1911.

Introduced to

Marxism

at Beijing University, where he worked as a librarian in 1919.Slide5

Mao as a Chinese Revolutionary 1911-1927

Mao came to believe in the dialectic

as the explanation of life. i.e. the Marxist notion that historical development occurs through a progressive series of conflicts between social classes.He held the belief that all change, all progress, resulted from

suppression of the weaker by the stronger

.

During the

Warlord Period

, he saw first hand how force could be used:

‘All power grows out of the barrel of a gun’.

‘A revolution is not a tea party; it is an act of violence, by which one class overthrows another’.Slide6

Mao as a Chinese Revolutionary 1911-1927

‘During my student days in Hunan, the city was overrun by the forces of rival war lords – not once but half a dozen times. Twice the school was occupied by troops and all the school funds confiscated. The brutal punishments inflicted on the peasants included such things as gouging out eyes, ripping out tongues, disembowelling and decapitation, slashing with knives and grinding with sand, burning with kerosene and branding with red-hot irons.’

Mao realised that it was the

strongest

and

most ruthless

who always won. The only way to gain power was through

violence

.

The rise to power of the

Bolsheviks

in the 1917 Russian Revolution seemed to

confirm his beliefs

.Slide7

Mao at Jiangxi 1927-34

After the 1927 Shanghai Massacre, Mao led his CCP forces to the mountains of

Jiangxi province and organised guerrilla resistance.He spent 7 years developing the Jiangxi Soviet, dedicated to peasant revolution

. He clashed with the

COMINTERN

who wanted him to focus on

urban workers

.

It was at Jiangxi where Mao developed his taste for using

torture and purges to gain control.Slide8

Mao at Jiangxi 1927-34

In 1930, he had no qualms in torturing & executing

some 4000 Red Army troops, accused of being KMT spies. Some estimate over 10,000!This incident became known as the ‘Futian incident’. It strengthened Mao’s control until the CCP leadership arrived in 1932.

Zhou

Enlai

and

Bo

Gu

ousted Mao from his military positions.

‘They were brought out to be tortured, women as well as men… they were tortured to make them speak and they were tortured on Mao’s orders. These is a document in the party archives which Mao approved which says, ‘do not kill the important leaders too quickly, but squeeze out of them the maximum information; then from the clues they give you can go on to unearth others.’Slide9

The Long March 1934-35

The Jiangxi Soviet was crushed in 1934. The KMT between 1930-1934 launched 5 massive

extermination campaigns.The first 4 were failures due to the guerrilla tactics used by Mao’s forces.

However the KMT encircled the base area entirely in 1934 and Mao led the communists to escape north to

Yanan in Shaanxi province

.

Mao on the tactics of the Red Army, 1930

When the enemy advances, we retreat.

When the enemy halts, we harass.

When the army retires, we attack.

When the enemy retreats, we pursue.Slide10
Slide11

The Fifth Extermination Campaign

In

Summer 1933, Chiang used new tactics suggested by General Hans von Seeckt

, a German military advisor.

Seeckt used ‘

blockhouse

’ tactics. The KMT surrounded the Kiangsi Soviet with

½ m troops

and advanced slowly building

blockhouses, digging

trenches

& putting up

barbed wire fences

.

This

prevented food

getting in or out.Slide12

The Fifth Extermination Campaign

The Communists

abandoned Guerrilla Warfare and under the influence of Otto Braun

, launched a series of disastrous pitched battles.

By summer the communists were surrounded by

four lines

of blockhouses & close to

starvation

.

By

Oct 1934

, they had lost

½

of their territory as well as

60,000 troops

.

Otto Braun

– German Communist and

Comintern

agent who was sent to China by Soviet Russia to give military advice to the CCP Slide13

The Break Out – October 1934

On the suggestion of Otto Braun, on

16th Oct 1934,

87,000 soldiers

began a

retreat

.

They took as much equipment & guns as they could carry and took them

6 weeks to break out

of the ring of blockhouses.

At the end of

Nov 1934

, the Red Army reached the

Xiang River

and lost

over half

their number fighting the KMT.Slide14

Mao Takes Over – January 1935

In

Jan 1935 they reached Zunyi, where a meeting was held. Braun was

blamed

for the defeat at the Xiang River:

He had allowed them to carry to much equipment which slowed them down.

The retreat was in a straight line which helped the KMT predict where they were headed.

Leadership of the march was handed to

Mao

and

Zhu De

.

Mao had outmanoeuvred his opponents in the CCP and imposed his idea that to be successful the revolution in China must be based on the peasants in the countryside, not on the workers in the towns.

The

Zunyi

Conference was thus a major milestone in Mao’s eventual control of the Party.Slide15

Progress in 1935 – January-October

Under their new leadership, the march took off in a new direction, often

changing routes & splitting forces.

One of the most famous events was the

crossing of the

Dadu

River

. 22 soldiers swung across the river gorge on chains whilst under fire.Slide16

Arrival – October 1935

In

October 1935 they had reached their destination of the poor communist base at Yanan in

Shaanxi

province. They had:

Fought dozens of battles

Crossed 24 rivers

Crossed 18 mountain ranges

Covered 24 miles a day

6000 miles in total

30,000 reached destination out of 100,000Slide17

Importance of the March

The

CCP had survived and found a new base which was remote and safe from attack from the KMT & Japanese

Mao was hailed as a

great hero

and was re-established as the unchallenged

leader of the CCP

Many Chinese saw the

CCP as heroes

& Long March became part of

CCP mythology

The

good behaviour

of the Red Army impressed peasants

1.) Which is the

most important

consequence of the march? Why?

2.) How did the success of the march help

boost CCP support

across China?Slide18

The Yanan Years 1935-1945

During this time Mao succeeded in imposing his personal authority on the CCP.

He also fought off attempts by the Stalin and the COMINTERN to dominate the party.During the 1940s, he launched a series of ‘rectification campaigns

’ to consolidate his hold. He also wrote his major political works setting out his revolutionary ideas.

Rectification of Conduct Campaigns

– A serious of ferocious purges by which Mao removed any member of the CCP he suspected of opposing him.Slide19

Victory of the KMT 1945-1949

With the surrender of Japan

at the end of WW2, Mao turned on the KMT again.A fierce 4-year struggle for supremacy of China ended with complete victory for the Communists.Chiang and the KMT were driven to

Taiwan

.

In October 1949, Mao triumphantly declared that a new Communist society had come into being – the

People’s Republic of China (PRC).Slide20

Review – How did Mao become leader of the CCP?

Early Years

– Mao became politically aware during his time at Middle School in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province. In 1911 He joined an anti-Qing rebel army in support of the nationalists but saw no action.

He later dropped out of school and spent time in Changsha library studying political philosophers of

Western liberalism

like Adam Smith, Montesquieu, Darwin and Rousseau.

In 1912-18 he trained to be a teacher in Changsha, where he read

New Youth

magazine by

Chen Duxiu. In April 1917 he had an article published, instructing readers to increase their physical strength to serve the revolution!Slide21

Review – How did Mao become leader of the CCP?

Time in Beijing – In 1919, he worked as assistant librarian at Beijing University. It is here that he began to read

Marxism, attending lectures by Chen Duxiu.

Student Organiser

– In 1919-1920, Mao moved back to Changsha to work as a history teacher. There he co-founded the

Hunanese Student Association

and began production of a radical magazine –

Xiang River Review

. His articles became famous throughout China and in 1920, Mao organised students protests in support of the KMT.CCP Founded – In 1921, Mao attended the first meeting of the CCP, where he was made

Party Secretary

for Hunan. He spent most of his time in Changsha, distributing revolutionary literature and

recruiting people

to communism.Slide22

Review – How did Mao become leader of the CCP?

Collaboration with KMT – In 1923, Mao was elected to the

Party Committee of the CCP and also to KMT Central Committee, working to implement the United Front. He was appointed to run the KMT’s

Peasant Movement Training Institute

, organising Hunanese peasants and preparing them for military activity in the Northern March.

Commander in Chief

– In 1927-28, Mao is appointed

commander-in-chief

of the Red Army. He led the failed

Autumn Harvest Uprising on Changsha and escaped with his army group to Jiangxi.Slide23

Review – How did Mao become leader of the CCP?

Jiangxi Soviet – In 1929-34, Mao established the Jiangxi Soviet. Here he faced criticism for being anti-revolutionary and in the ‘

Futian Incident’, Mao put down the rebels, with his loyalists executing and torturing many. In Nov, the CCP Central Committee moved to Jiangxi and Mao lost control of the army to

Zhou

Enlai

.

Long March

– In Jan 1935, the Red Army captured the city of Zunyi

. It was here that Mao outmanoeuvred his rivals and was elected Chairman of the Politburo – de facto leader of both Party and Red Army. In Nov 1935, Mao was declared

Chairman of the Military Commission

as well.Slide24

Review – How did Mao become leader of the CCP?

Yanan Years

– In 1935-45, Mao consolidated his hold on the Party further, using ‘Rectification Campaigns’ in 1942 to purge and torture opponents and ‘Thought Reform Campaigns’ to indoctrinate new recruits. Membership had grown to 800,000 by 1940 and Mao was holding down Japanese troops with his Guerrilla Tactics. With the defeat of the Japanese in 1945, Mao was elected Party Chairman.

What was the key turning point in Mao’s rise to power?