Thursday, April 11, 2013

Why Mao didn't reinvent the wheel


This blog is not a diatribe about how 'uncreative' Mao was.  After all, he temporarily dabbled in the Hunanese independence movement, until many of his followers either latched onto the movement for selfish gain or eventually lost interest.  When Mao became more interest in the Communist party, it is at first because of his love for anarchism in general, but eventually he turns specifically to the Bolshevik model.  Why didn't Mao create a unique brand of communism for China?  Why did he do what the Russians had already done?

15 comments:

  1. Mao didn't create a unique brand of comunism for China because he was inspired by Russia. The reading says "Mao himself dreamed of going to Russia". I think Mao did what the Russians had already done because he wanted a Russian style revolution because he wanted education to be key. He needed to move China forward, so he chose Bolshevism.

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  2. As Russian leaders of Cominterm were already discussing plans of spreading Bolshevism to China and thus creating a political alliance, Mao was still hesitant to embrace that extreme form of socialism. However, after he was fed up with the "apathy of the population", he realized that perhaps China should "carve out a new path, and create a new environment." In a world already growing with communist sentiments and discussion of Bolshevism already permeating through Chinese politics, Mao agreed that because the "the Russian Revolution...represent simply the natural course of events."

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  3. I think that he used the Bolsheviks as a model because it alreay had worked out someplace else. It is always risky to create something individual. How could he be sure that whatever he wanted to do would work out for a country?  By following the example of Russia, the chances that he could realize a communist system for China was just higher.

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  4. He think he saw something as already working and decided to go with it. It's sort of like when you see an answer to a question before you try to answer and you can no longer come up with an answer of your own because the first one fit so neatly. I think he was the Bolsheviks first and just decided that that was the best and most natural answer to go with.

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  5. Mao chose the Russian model because it was already successful inRussia. Also both Lenin and Stalin were revered by many of their people they were also incredibly powerful. Mao wanted power, this isn't to say he didn't want to raise China to a superpower, but, like Stalin, he craved power as well.

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  6. Mao used the Bolshevik model because of the results that it yielded in Russia. he was inspired by Stalin's way of controlling the masses, and grew tired of the people of China seemingly not caring about the political situation, nor were they living in fear of Mao. As Russia had already offered expansion of their model to China, it was a logical step to fully adopt the Bolshevik model.

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  7. i think that Mao didn't create a "Chinese communism" becasue he saw the success that the russians had had and were having. Russia industrialized in a matter of months compared to countries where it took years, and that can be associated with the Communists take over in Russia. seeing how this "backwards" country of Russia can bring its people together and become a world power, Mao saw china in the same light so why not do what Russia did.

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  8. Mao was very influenced by Russia in general, which of course includes its Bolshevik model. Initially, Mao was hesitant to follow this ideology, but through the words of Li Dazhoa and Chen Duziu, he soon was intrigued with the plan. After all, the Russians were the model socialist nation at the time.

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  9. I think Mao looked up to Stalin and saw Stalin as a powerful man. Mao wanted the best for his people I truly believe that, but a close second was a long for power above anyone else in China. Stalin did a remarkable job, but there were imperfections in his work that Mao believed he could refine and do better. He desperately wanted a Marxist Communism and believed in the writings and preaching a of Lenin.

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  10. The Russian model of communism had already been successful, so there really wasn't any need for Mao to create a new type of Communism. The article said that Mao liked the way the Russians did things, so that he felt China should also move in the Bolshevik direction.

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  11. I think that he used the Bolsheviks as a model of communism because creating something entirely new is very risky. Without the knowledge of whats going to turn out of it, it was a much safer plan to just follow the Russians as it is proven to effectively work.

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  12. Mao certainly did not re-invent the wheel so-to-speak Since it is made clear in the reading that Mao drew his inspiration from communist Russia. In fact Russian communism could probably charge Mao with plagiarism due to the striking similarities between the 2 governments. More specifically Mao adapted the Bolshevik model for China. From Mao's perspective it made perfect, logical, sense because he was able to see how successful the Bolshevik model is in practice. SO he simply applied to his own country.

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  13. He turned to the Bolshevik model because he found it convenient. Why not use a template instead of building one from scratch. It would be easier to just adjust the template as they go.

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  14. Well, i think there were not so many choices back then, China just healed itself from the overthrown of feudalism at the time, so it seems less likely to make sense. Then, other alternatives like Capitalism and Monarchism in England and Japan does not really line line up with the circumstances, plus those two system were majorly used by China's political foes, it would not look good to be the hound or eagle of the King. What's left is really just Bolshevik ways, which correspond with the fact that the majority of China's population are peasants and proletariats.

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