Mao’s China rose from the ruins of 40 years of war, broken and humiliated, into an untouchable nuclear power which threatened the balance of the bipolar world order. The primary and secondary documents on Mao and Maoism details this path built on utopian radicalism, the death and misery of millions, and an intricate relationship with the Soviet Union. This relationship began formally in 1950 with the Sino-Soviet alliance and ended in the late 1960s. The alliance was doomed from the start, both countries had little in shared cultural legacies, different perceptions on the significance of the alliance, and was based on the momentary weakness of China. However, it stood as the greatest threat to the “political supremacy of western capitalists …show more content…
The primary and secondary documents show that ruler interactions on the international level dictate a state’s national policy. In December 1949, shortly following the declaration of the People’s Republic of China, Mao fulfilled his wish to meet Stalin, who was both an inspiration and nemesis to Mao. Stalin was a founding father of the communist revolution, head of the international communist movement, and the key to the survival of the new Chinese state. Mao and Stalin’s meeting is recounted in The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts by interpreters or high officials in the room, and describes the conversation and relationship between the two leaders. Mao is courteous when discussing the needs of rebuilding China and asks plainly for Soviet military and economic aid. While Stalin appears confident and shrewd in offering aid and advising on China’s future. Mao and Stalin’s relationship embodies the relations and outlook of their respective countries, with China as a subservient junior ally, and the Soviet Union as the “elder brother” who is “bestowing the honor of recognition on a subordinate who has proved his worth.” Mao was not to disobey Stalin, and agreed to model China after the Soviet Union into …show more content…
In 1949, while China was recovering, it maintained a public image as an active member of the “global struggle against imperialist domination.” Coupled with the Sino-Soviet alliance, China projected an image of the rightful Chinese state, aligned with the global communist movement. This public image signaled a new China to the rest of the world, one that was to emulate the success of the Soviet Union and remain fervently anti-imperialist and anti-western. Mao sought to maintain this image through supporting communist revolutions and war. Mao suggested intervention in regional conflicts such as the French Indochinese rebellions and to invade Taiwan to assert Chinese sovereignty. However, without Stalin’s approval Mao did not intervene outside China until the Korean War allowed China to present itself as a liberator and champion against “imperialists.” Following Stalin’s death, the international perception of the Soviet Union was a state plagued with chaos and disunity, prompting Mao to consider himself the true successor to Stalin and the leader of the international communist movement. Moreover, China’s nuclear program and rivalry with the Soviet Union led to China being seen as an independent actor, not aligned with either superpower and open to cooperation with the west on its own terms. Overall, the texts
In the 50s the advent of the Korean war was firmly implanted in minds of Australia’s, coinciding with the idea that communism had to be contained, on the presumption of US President Eisenhower’s Domino Theory. With China becoming a communist state, the spread of the communist ideology was an ever more imposing
In the two-step dance with China, the European nations raced to carve China into mercantile spheres of influence. The U.K fought repeated opium wars. Nonetheless, the U.S maintained a more nuanced, enlightened open door policy built upon free markets. Additionally, the administration in the U.S pursued a relatively peaceful policy Vis a Vis China based upon shared interests in trade and political stability (Nathan & Gilley, 2003). China has since loomed large on Vietnam’s international decision making.
Document 1 depicts the leader of the Chinese Communist party, Mao Zedong,’s written report that describes peasants’ strong nationalism. His written report uses strong words as “corrupt” and “evil” which describes peasants’ enemies, such as officials and landowners. Mao wanted to uprise the sense of nationalism by mentioning the peasants’ enemies. However, Mao Zedong is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, so he might exaggerated the state of peasants in order to gain trusts from the peasants. According to document 2, a sense of nationalism is shown in the discussion between a teenaged peasant and his grandfather.
Why Can’t We Be Friends?: The Rise of Tension between the US and USSR post-WWII Dating back to at least the start of communism, the world saw the gradual rise of the Cold War between the United States of America (USA) and the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). Although the Cold War was may have been inevitable because of these countries differing visions of economic policy, governmental systems, and the postwar world in general, it was during the years 1941-1949 when it became imminent. In this time, suspicion and tension between the Superpowers increased due to the battle between communism and capitalism, as well as their different governmental systems.
(Mao winning civil war? Command economy, totalitarian society, and Mao cult, How Maoist China actually closed itself off from the world) Economically Mao instituted a program named The Great Leap forward
When Japan invaded China in 1937, they started a chain of events leading to their defeat at the end of the second world war. Between circa 1925 and circa 1950 the Chinese communist party took hold of China sparking nationalism and anti-japanese stances, bringing the people new opportunities, and advocating social and gender equality. The Chinese people felt a loss of pride when Japan invaded them, but with the rising of the communist party they felt a new sense of nationalism and pride in their country. When looking at the conversation between a teenager and his grandfather, we get a wider picture at what life was like before the communist party rose to power.
One reason for this was due to manipulation of the people. For example, during this time period different events happened. The articles shows us that, “Fear of Communist infiltration intensified in the 1949 when Communists led by Mao Zedong took control of China and the Soviets detonated an atomic bomb-- well before some American scientists had estimated they would have the expertise to do so…” (Robert). The fear of an atomic bomb and Communist plagued the people’s attitudes.
The Chinese communist party gained much power after going after and attacking the Kuomintang and its anti communist policies into Taiwan. With the growth of the communist party’s power, the peasant and lower class experienced major influence that would change the course of their lives forever. Chinese peasants and the Chinese communist party between circa 1925 and circa 1950 had a relationship in which the party fostered and cared the state of the people. This created a sense of nationalism and pride for the peasants, while they were advocating social equality, and showing anti-Japanese sentiment. First of all, the Chinese communist party greatly influenced the peasant class in sparking and igniting a sense of nationalistic unity into the
The author says that perhaps many citizens may be drawn to Communist ideology if the social injustices become more prevalent, and urges the readers to look into the problems of Communist civilizations. This article is an example of how many felt during the Red Scare and Cold War in regards to communism. It shows that people felt a collapse
Chairman Mao Zedong’s Great Proletarian Revolution created scarring effects on the Chinese youth of the time. Chairman Mao’s propaganda encouraged the young population to revolt against the old systems, to give up their education and to support and participate in his revolution. Finally, Mao’s policies stripped the youth of their identities and created a generation of mindless and uneducated adults. These actions taken by Mao and his communist government failed to achieve their goals and forced the entire population to suffer through a decade of economic struggle. The youth of China were directly targeted and encouraged by Mao and the Communist government to destroy all old ideas, culture and customs by taking a violent role in the revolution.
The impact of Lenin’s victory over a capitalist monarchy defines an important change in the way Sino-Vietnamese relations would occur, since the focus on nationalism would slowly convert to communism as the dominant ideology to resist western capitalism. The rise of the communist resistance Ho Chi Minh in the early 20th century defines the overarching influence of Chinese/Soviet communist policies, which he followed by building a military force on the northern border of China and Vietnam in the 1920s: “By late 1924, Nguyen Ai Quoc (Ho Chi Minh) was in southern China, building a new revolutionary organization meant to operate inside Indochina. These efforts culminated in 1930 with the establishment of the Vietnamese Communist Party” (Ward 45). In this historical perspective, it is imperative to understand the impact that the Soviet Union had on Chinese Communism, which had been steadily growing as a counter-ideology to the capitalist nationalism of Sun Yat-sen.
To examine the Cold War consensus, one must discuss the Cold War. The Cold war was the tension between the United States, standing for capitalism, and the USSR, standing for totalitarianism and socialism, following World War II. Although it was not a physical war between the two superpowers, many proxy wars had came out of it as way to spread or combat communism throughout the Free World. The Free World, as the U.S. came to define it, did not necessarily mean free as countries were being ruled by military regimes and dictatorships, but free from communism(70). During the Cold War, the spread of communism frighted the American People.
We must uphold the socialist road 2. We must uphold the dictatorship of the proletariat 3. We must uphold the leadership of the communist party 4. We must uphold Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought” (Document 10). This is drastically influenced by Mao
With the Soviet Union, China had found an ideological partnership which changed in the following decades into rivalry. The relationship with Taiwan was and still is very complex. And finally, the Sino-American relations, which are best described with the transformation from being enemies and becoming friends. In the following essay, I try to highlight the three main foreign relations of Mao‘s China, firstly with the United States, secondly, with the Soviet Union, and thirdly with
Secondly, the Cultural Revolution and the chaos and disaster this had on the Chinese population, especially through the “Down to the Countryside movement” and finally, the Cult of Mao and what the idolisation and glorification of Mao meant for the future of China. Mao’s introduction of the Great Leap Forward policy and the impacts and effects this had on the Chinese population as well as its role in the introduction of the Cultural Revolution played a key role in shaping China into what it is today. The plan’s failure lead to Mao’s loss of power, which resulted in Mao introducing the Cultural Revolution in China. Unfortunately, Mao’s five-year plan was a disaster, and caused the death of an estimated twenty to forty