Mao Zedong: Social Policies and Rise to Power in China

Mao Zedong's Social Policies

Mao Zedong implemented a series of social policies aimed at transforming Chinese society. These policies included:

1. Organic Law: Served as the constitution until 1954, establishing a coalition government.
2. Mass Line: Involved CCP officials working closely with the people.
3. Continuous Revolution & Rectification: Encouraged criticism and self-criticism to shape people's thoughts.
4. Hundred Flowers Campaign (1957): Initially removed censorship for six weeks but ended in purges of intellectuals and opposition during the Anti-Rightist Campaign.
5. Thought Reform Movement (1951): Focused on arts, documents, and literature.
6. Land Reforms: Aimed to remove the bourgeois class.
7. Organizations: Established groups like the National Women's Association, New Democratic Youth League, and Children's Pioneer Corps.
8. Children's Education: Instilled values through the 'Five Loves' (country, people, labor, science, and public property).
9. Anti-Revolutionary Purges: Conducted during the Korean War (1950) due to fear of internal enemies.
10. Three-Anti and Five-Anti Campaigns: Targeted corruption, waste, and elitism (1951) and bribery, tax evasion, fraud, theft of government property, and economic secrets (1952).
11. Marriage Reform: Addressed arranged marriages, child marriages, and polygamy.
12. Education: Focused on improving literacy rates, which were around 80% illiterate in 1950.

Mao's Rise to Power

Mao's ascent to power was influenced by several factors:

• Foreign Intervention: Events like the Opium Wars (1839-1842), the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), and the Boxer Rebellion (1898) weakened China.
• Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905): Further destabilized the region.
• Influence of Educated Chinese: Young Chinese educated abroad brought back revolutionary ideas.
• Failure of the Qing Dynasty: The government under Emperor Puyi failed to introduce effective reforms, leading to provincial fragmentation.
• Yuan Shikai's Rule: Yuan's betrayal of Puyi and subsequent rule (1915-1916) led to further disintegration.
• KMT Under Sun Yat-sen: Sun Yat-sen's KMT aimed to unify China but faced challenges after his death in 1925.
• Chiang Kai-shek's Leadership: Chiang Kai-shek failed to fully implement Sun's principles (Nationalism, Democracy, and Land Reforms) and betrayed the CCP.
• Lack of Popular Support: Chiang's government was corrupt, failed to defeat the Japanese, and lacked full support from the US.
• Military Weakness: Poorly paid and undisciplined army, failure to control inflation, and severe droughts leading to famine undermined Chiang's support.
• PLA Infiltration: The People's Liberation Army (PLA) infiltrated the KMT, with key figures like Chiang's chief of staff and head of war planning being CCP members.
• Post-War Land Reforms: After the war with Japan, Mao implemented land reforms to gain support from the middle class.
• Extermination Campaigns: Chiang focused more on extermination campaigns than defeating the Japanese.