Saturday, February 15, 2014

Who is Mao (but seriously, for real, you guys)??

Again, this reading should mostly be review.  It is interesting to read about the Soviet Union and China's communist institutions back-to-back, however. I immediately find myself thinking about how the leaders of respective countries tailor political ideologies to meet their country's unique culture.

In other words, China is old, and BIG.  With over 5,000 years of history, China has a long legacy of political greatness, resilience, and nationalism.  How (and why, for that matter), did Mao Zedong strive to implement communist policies that are unique to China's needs?

5 comments:

  1. One of Mao's methods of rallying his large country was to use the technique of mass campaigns in his cultural revolution. In order to implement communist policies, he had to create unique campaigns that would eradicate all forms of non-communist activity. According the the article, these campaigns encouraged millions to join various pro-communist movements. These campaigns usually had double goals that were tailored the the state of China and to what Mao wanted to see change in it. For example, the Five Antis Campaign not only fought against offences such as bribery and fraud, but also worked to remove former nationalists.

    ReplyDelete
  2. As Nicki and the title said, China has been around for a very long time so the leaders know how to be very efficient. Mao had rallies and cultural gatherings in order to promote communism. It also was a good time to get rid the nationalists that plagued the growth of Mao's China. China was one of the first countries to forge steel and they perfected the double edged sword as well as double edged politics.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well the reading is short so most of it has sort of been covered but something Moa did was also the cultural revolution in which the cult of personality was formed and old traditions were sort of discarded for the new. practically ancient ideas about wealth and class had to be rewritten for his Communist goals.

    ReplyDelete
  4. As you mentioned, China has been around the block once or twice and has the history to prove it. Mao used the tactics of nationalism and "culturalism" is thats a word to gather some weight behind communism. It was smart of him to do this because of Chinas long history, much of china is very traditional and if Mao is behind the culture, a lot of people will follow.

    ReplyDelete
  5. "around the block" ^ hahahah

    Mao's cultural revolution initiated the cult of personality, including rallies and gatherings to emphasize communism. On of his specific policies is The Great Leap Forward (a mass campaign), which basically just included farming-collectivization and labour-intensive industries.

    ReplyDelete