The man at the head
of the anti-colonial movement and the CCP was named Mao Zedong. He was a
teacher and a librarian by trade, giving him the intellectual roots necessary
to learn about Marxism and its potential benefits. Before World War II,
specifically in the 1920’s, Mao spent much of his time organizing unions of
peasants to join the CCP cause, securing himself as a leader of the communist
party. Mao and the CCP struggled against the KMT until the war started, when
they had to forge an uneasy alliance to fend off the Japanese. While there were
still incidents between the two parties during the war, they successfully
fended off the invaders. The KMT almost immediately restarted the offensive
afterwards, but while the KMT had been fighting against the Japanese, Mao had
been gathering more support for the CCP cause. Mao eventually forced the KMT
all the way to Taiwan, and on October 1st, 1949, Mao officially claimed
mainland China as the People’s Republic of China.
Mao was vehemently
anti-western, and incited mass prosecutions (and in some cases, executions) of
capitalist intellectuals or sympathizers. In the early stages of his rule, Mao
created what would come to be known as the Hundred Flowers Campaign. He offered
free speech to all intellectuals, and opened himself and the government to all
forms of criticism. As would be expected, those against Mao took advantage of
this and spoke out against him and the CCP. Soon after the announcement of the
Hundred Flowers Campaign, however, “the party announced the beginning of an
‘Antirightist’ campaign” (The Hundred Flowers Campaign: Cold War). All of those
that had spoken out against Mao were removed from positions of influence. Some
were killed, and others were imprisoned or sent to labor camps. After the
Hundred Flowers Campaign, Mao began the cultural revolution, in order to return
China to its eastern roots, and oust the western influences from their culture.
Peasant life in China
steadily improved in the early years of the Communist regime, but that was not
fated to last. Mao decided to move his plans for China ahead in a campaign
called the Great Leap Forward. This campaign resulted in the deaths of
countless civilians through starvation, causing Mao the loss of much of his
support. In the later years of his life, Mao was challenged and ultimately
surpassed by Deng Xiaoping, who changed almost all of Mao’s policies, and set
China on the road to where it is today. Mao lived out the rest of his life
powerless but mostly unperturbed, and died of old age.