Monday, April 22, 2013
The march within the march
I mentioned today that the Long March was a journey not only for the Communist Party but also for Mao himself. What does the chapter reveal about the lengths which with both go to in order to reach Hunan Province? How does this further contribute to the creation of Mao's cult of personality?
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well the journey of simply being in the Long March probably brought about the image of Moa's character, he was in the litter's like everyone else there and trudged up the mountains with raw knees, but what also happened was a transformation to the image of his character. He started off unpopular and eventually was able to move himself into the secretariat. He used the time he had in the march to maneuver his way through the crowed and create positions to his advantage for himself on the way. So not only did he go through physical struggle of the march but also struggled to achieve and maintain a position as leader and continue to move up the ladder of power.
ReplyDeletepay no attention to the first sentence, it's stupid and i didn't read it through properly...
DeleteMao formed a trio to gain power and take control of the army. He was able to become a member of the Secretariat. But, the article reveals that Mao was often out numbered and shut down in comparison to others, such as Po. Mao did not give up. He became manipulative and skillful in plotting. He ordered the Red Army to turn around and go north; this had to be kept a secret. as for his wife, Mao was not on the same page as her when it came to their babies. He didn't even come see her when she was "dying". Was Mao so focused on reaching the Hunan Province that he just no longer care for his wife? Both Mao and Chiang were both anle to reach their goal, although Chiang still did not get his son back.
ReplyDeletewhen Mao was granted military leadership, he did his own thing. many of the other officials in the communists party didn't understand his tactics and the way he treated his soldiers. it even says in the article that many people have no idea to this day why Mao did the things he did. I think what drew people to Mao was the way he didn't take S$@% from anyone. he was challenged for his leadership and instead of doing it by the book, he screamed and put the challenger in his place before anything could be said in response. The way he always had a plan on who to push to get what he wanted or who to talk to and what deals to make also brought people towards Mao and his way of leading.
ReplyDeleteMao faced many obstacles throughout his career. Like being out numbered after joining the Secretariat. Mao also faced heavy resistance from Po as well. Despite that fact the Mao formed a "trio" of sorts within the Secretariats. This trio gave Mao power over the Red Army. A great demonstration of Mao's power was that he ordered the entire army to move north and he kept it secret. As one could imagine it takes many resources and connections to keep the movement of an entire army covert.
ReplyDeleteMao started off pretty lucky as his two friends secured him in the Secretariat group, the group in which he began to gain more militaristic control over the March. Later Mao succeeded in exploiting Chou's weakness and convinced him to go out of plan and have the "red Army ambush an enemy force that was tailing their group." However these actions were extremely unpopular and when he went to fulfill them, his army suffered great losses all because of his selfish quest for personal power. Now everyone was resenting Mao, thousands were being killed left and right and Mao didn't even care. The article stated that he never once visited the wounded and he never once stopped being the ruthless, relentless and determinated person he was.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Mao's individual journey within the communist party was much more abundant in this reading. In the very beginning of the article, it is explained how, "Mao started to behave in ways Chiang could not have predicted". More specifically, or at least I think this is what Chiang meant, Mao began to try to make friends with his previous enemies. Sure enough, he formed a trio between himself and his former rivals Jia-xiang and Lo Fu. Together they tried to "throw out" Po and Braun, other members of the communist party, in order to give Mao complete control of the army. At the Zunyi meeting, Mao finally became a member of the Secretariat, which seems to have served as a gateway to military leadership. Shortly later, Mao gained full Politburo membership and rose to a high military post status. He formed a new body, Triumvirate, later in his reign and reached his ultimate goal: to grip the Party leadership. This could not have been done without the 2000 km detour he inflicted on the Red Army.
ReplyDeleteThis was such a journey for mao because this was all so new to this. His struggles to gain power with the communist party is really a journey on its own. What makes his life a journey includes some of the obstacles that he faced. After joining the secretariat, he was clearly out numbered. Later on, he formed a trio within the secretariate in hopes of throwing out Po and Braun. If you stand back and look at Mao as a timeline, he may have not known it then, but his goals of becoming a political leader is a journey.
ReplyDeleteWhen I red the reading I was rather schocked tht Mao and the other political leaders were letting themselves carry all the way the Long March and had nothing else to do but plotting against Po while the people where afraid for their.ifes, running away from the KMT. But Alos, it ultimately shows us that Mao was a man who knew when to act towards his favours, how to benefit from extreme situations like this one. In theend he was a, well, bad ass politic.
ReplyDeleteMao's two friends who joined the Secretariat greatly helped him gain military control over the Red Army, and once he was there, it was like he had been leading the military for years, simply based upon his stern attitude and passion. Mao was able to not be affected by the death of thousands of his men, and he did not lose sight of his ultimate goals in the face of thousands of angry men.
ReplyDeleteEvidently the Lang March was no BS thing, the undersurface political conflict was just as hardcore as the extreme physical conditions are. What strikes me the most during last night's reading is that how cunning, knows cultivating and cope with all kinds of people like those washed up politicians like Lo Fu and Wang or military boss CHAU to build up his own crew to organize and form a cope to take power within the party. Seems a lot things happened during the meeting of ZunYi, and it's stunning to me that how Mao is ridiculously good at seizing opportunities.
ReplyDeleteMao's connection helped him get the leadership position, but his disregard of human life made him enemies. His self confidence was admirable and his takeover is fascinating, but the way he went about it left a very bad taste in people's mouths, he pissed off a lot of people.
ReplyDelete