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Jérôme Torossian

Professor Hengda Yang

HIST 346

September 28, 2015

Mao Zedong: The Unknown Truth

Chairman Mao Zedong remains one of the well-known and most controversial characters

from the history of China, and more particularly from the twentieth-century. Indeed, the

Communist Party, as well as many people in the People’s Republic of China believe that Mao

Zedong has restored the unity and the national independence of the nation. In fact, they present

him as China’s “great savior”, especially for having put an end to imperialism, for pushing out

the Japanese invaders, and for making the country economically stable. He is also considered as

the one who has led a third world country in becoming a global power and having a voice in the

international arena. In addition, individuals who support Mao Zedong think that he was serving

his own people and wanted nothing but the best for them. In contrast, many famous occidental

historians, as well as writers view in his exercise of power a typical authoritarianism from

totalitarian leaders such as the soviet ruler, Joseph Stalin. These western intellectuals accuse Mao

Zedong not only for having created an authoritarian and anti-democratic regime, full of

propaganda, arrests and tortures, but also for making political policies in which he knew

perfectly that they would cause the death of millions of its countrymen. In truth, Mao is regarded

as one of the most murderous dictators in history, and that he was able to kill more people than

Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin together. In this essay, I will mainly talk about how Mao Zedong

has been successful in using propaganda in order to achieve his main purpose of conquering

China. In addition, I will also develop on his strategy to create myths, and prove that Chairman

Mao was anything but the “savior” of China and its own people.

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In order to know this man well, an overview of his own beginning is necessary. Mao Zedong was

born in 1893 into a rich peasant family in the village of Shaoshan located in the Chinese

province of Hunan.1 He did little work in his parent’s farm, “gathering fodder for pigs and taking

the buffalo out of a stroll in the tea-oil camellia groves by a pond shaded by banana leaves.”2

Mao actually preferred to learn rather than farm, and reading became rapidly an obsession for

him at a very young age.3 Yi-chang, Mao’s father, paid for his son’s education, yet, he decided to

stop financing him after Mao was dismissed from his fourth tutor in 1907.4 However, thinking

that Mao would finally “behave responsibly”, Yi-chang had him married his niece who was four

years older than him a year later.5 Unfortunately, she died two years after their marriage. Mao

immediately asked his father to leave the village after knowing that there was a modern school

not far away, in which he could study subjects such as science, world history, and foreign

languages.6 In fact, these types of schools were his only chance to get out from his peasant life

and build a future. He later found out that there was another school in the provincial capital,

Changsha. He got enrolled into that educational institution after persuading a professor.7

When Mao arrived in Changsha in 1911, revolutionary sentiment was high among the

population. Indeed, people were especially tired of “over two thousand years of imperial rule”

from the Qing dynasty, and most of them were asking for a republic.8 After an armed uprising on

October 1912, the imperial system that ruled China for thousands of years disappeared to make

room for a newly established government, the Republic of China.9 Yet, the power was still in the

1 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. Globalfare Ltd, 2005, p.32 Ibid., p53 Ibid., p64 Ibid., p75 Ibid., p76 Ibid., p77 Ibid., p88 Ibid., p109 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. Globalfare Ltd, 2005, p.10

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hand of a former official from the Qing Dynasty. Once this official died, China was divided

between regional warlords, communists, and nationalists. On June 1918, Mao graduated from a

teacher-training college, and apparently it was common for graduates to go study abroad.10

Unlike some of his friends, Mao did not want to go study in France because he knew he would

have to study French. Therefore, his low linguistic abilities discouraged him.11 After a short trip

to Beijing, he returned to Changsha where people were unhappy about a deal that was made at

the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. At the time, some of the territories in China were controlled

by foreign powers, which most of the Chinese wanted back. The deal agreed in Paris “allowed

Japan to stay […] in Shandong,” which it had taken away from Germany during World War I.12

As a result, a big nationalist movement occurred on May 4th,1919, in which people protested

against their government’s failure to gain back its lost territories, now controlled by Japan.13

The idea of creating a Communist Party came from the Soviet Union when the latter

founded the Comintern, “to foment revolution and influence policy in Moscow’s interest”

abroad.14 The Communist Party of China was founded in Shanghai on August 1920, in which

Mao was actually not invited to be one of the founding fathers.15 However, the authors of the

book, Mao: The Unknown Story, declared that “Mao had become a Communist […] by being at

the right place in the right time,” and was given a mission that was important to him.16 He later

was able to set up a house in Hunan, which, in theory, became the office of the Hunan Party

Branch.17 His primary goal was to find members who would accept to join his party, to build his

10 Ibid., p1511 Ibid., p1612 Ibid., p1713 Ibid., p1714 Ibid., p1915 Ibid., p1916 Ibid., p2117 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. Globalfare Ltd, 2005, p.29

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own army and get a territory under his control. Yet, the year 1927 was a difficult year for Mao

Zedong. Indeed, during that year the Nationalists led by Chiang-Kai-shek decided to launch an

anti-communist purge, in which more than 300 communists died in only a few days.18

After an investigation he had made on the peasants, Mao concluded that “the poor

peasants […] were the most revolutionary group,” and that he absolutely needed to mobilize

them.19 He took a smart decision for the reason that at that time China’s population was 90%

composed of peasants.20 Furthermore, in order to gain the support of the poor, Mao created a

class distinction among them so that a war between classes could emerge.21 The main objective

was to attack the rich peasants so that their wealth and lands could be distributed to the poor, as

well as to topple the feudal rule of the local tyrants and evil gentry.22 In fact, his strategy was to

show the poor peasants that he not only cared about them but that he also wanted to help them to

have a better life. Therefore, he led a peasant movement known as the Autumn Harvest Uprising

against the landlords, as well as the Nationalists.23 However, Mao was defeated and had to retreat

in the Jinggang Mountain, where he decided to establish his own base.24 According to the authors

of the book Mao: The Unknown Story, they argue that Mao “actually sabotaged the movement

and that he was not involved in any action.”25 He was later in control of 130,000 people and was

able to live “by collecting rents and taxes from the locals.”26 In order to get the peasants join the

revolution, the party announced that the only way was to “use Red terror to prod them into doing

things that leave them with no chance to make compromises later with the gentry or the

18 Ibid., p4519 Zedong, Mao. Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan. 1927, p.720 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications, 2005, p.8421 Ibid., p8422 Ibid., p8623 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. Globalfare Ltd, 2005, p.5424 Ibid., p54-5525 Ibid., p5426 Ibid., p55

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bourgeoisie.”27 Everyone had to work for the communists or be purged. They were “like a cancer

cell, feeding and spreading continuously.”28 Mao started to create an army with the help of Zhu

De and launched a campaign in order to destroy all his rivals.29 Those against him were declared

as being anti-Bolshevik or kulak. It seems that Mao tended to forget that he came from a kulak

family himself.

However, after the Chiang Kai-shek had defeated the government in Peking in 1928,

controlled much of China, and declared Nanjing as his capital, he led his troops to finish his anti-

communist purge.30 This was the beginning of what is known as the Long March, a huge

communist retreat, in which a series of events claimed by Mao were actually contested by many

historians. Yet, the war between China and Japan in 1937 stopped temporarily the communist’s

struggle against the nationalists.31 In fact, Japan helped tremendously Mao in achieving his goal

of conquering China. Indeed, after many atrocities were inflicted by the Japanese army on the

Chinese people, Mao understood that a high level of patriotism increased among the population.

He pretended that the communist’s goal was to drive out the Japanese and protect the Chinese,

but this was only propaganda. Mao had the idea of creating an autobiography that would present

him as a good man, and that the communist party was committed to fight the Japanese invaders.32

Thanks to this Sino-Japanese War, the red army was allowed to keep its autonomy and increased

significantly.33 Mao took the advantage that the nationalists were occupied in attacking the

Japanese to increase his supporters, army, and power. Mao was able to build an army of 1.3

27 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. Globalfare Ltd, 2005, p.6328 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications, 2005, p.12329 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. Globalfare Ltd, 2005, p.6430 Ibid., p6631 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications, 2005, p.20732 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. Globalfare Ltd, 2005, p.19833 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications, 2005, p.210

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million soldiers while the nationalists were completely weakened.34 In 1945, when the Japan

capitulated, the truce between the communists and the nationalists did not last. The power of the

communists was too strong that the nationalists collapsed and had no choice than to retreat in

Taiwan. On October 1st, 1949, Mao announced in Beijing, its new capital, that the “people have

stood up,” and proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.35

The series of myths created by Mao himself were essential for him in order to gain his

status of China’s “great savior.” Many of these myths were discussed in the book Mao: The

Unknown Story, and the authors did a great job in helping me understand the real face of this

man. Indeed, Mao often described himself as to love the peasants and have the goal to help them

have a better life. In reality, Mao hated the peasants like he detested his own father.36 In addition,

he pretended to be at the service of the people; however, history has proven that Mao wanted

individuals to follow and agree with his thinking under the threat of being purged. Furthermore,

still nowadays, most of the Chinese people and the Communist Party believe that Mao Zedong is

the founder of the party. As a result, people think that he is the one who created a party that

liberated China and the Chinese from imperialism and misery. Once again, this was contested by

the authors of Mao: The Unknown Story, who declared that he was not even invited to be one of

the founding members, nor “was he told it was about to be formed.”37 Likewise, he invented a

battle that “occurred” on a burning bridge during the Long March period in order to be viewed as

a hero.38 In fact, the strongest evidence that this conflict was pure invention is that there were no

casualties.39 Moreover, the communist party argued to be dedicated to drive out the Japanese

34 Ibid., p.21035 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. Globalfare Ltd, 2005, p.33536 Ibid., p637 Ibid., p1938 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. Globalfare Ltd, 2005, p.15839 Ibid., p160

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from China, unlike the nationalists. The truth was that the more Chinese the Japanese killed the

better for the communist party. General Lu Cheng Ts’ao in the book The Enemy Within declared

that “The Japs killings and bayoneting encourage the Chinese people to hatred. That’s what we

want. That’s the way we can get every man who can walk into MY army!”40 This proves that

their main goal was not to defeat the Japanese, but to conquer China, and letting the nationalists

get weaken in the conflict. Lastly, his myth of loving the peasants was highly contradicted when

in 1958 he planned the Great Leap Forward, which attempted “to overtake Britain in less than

fifteen years.”41 Indeed, Mao robbed the people who led him into power by making a radical

collectivization of food and anything that was made of iron. The peasants were overexploited,

and it is believed that “at least 45 million people died unnecessarily between 1958 and 1962.”42

One particular quote from Mao that shocked me is when he said that distributing the “resources

evenly will ruin the Great Leap Forward. When there is not enough to eat, people starve to death.

It is better to let half the people die so that others can eat their fill.”43 This is the confirmation that

Mao Zedong was not a wise man, nor a hero of the oppressed, and not even a Marxist, but a

tyrant despising the peasants, a manipulator quest for absolute power.

Like any self-respecting dictator, Mao Zedong had only one goal, which was to

constantly increase its own power and gain the total control of China. Terror and manipulation

were its only modes of governance on the people he despised. He successfully rose to power

through its long campaign of propaganda, terrorism, and particularly thanks to the Sino-Japanese

War, in which “If it hadn’t been for the Japanese invasion, communism would never have

40 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications, 2005, p.7941 Dikotter, Frank. Mao’s Great Famine. Walker Publishing Company, Inc, 2010, p.xi42 Ibid., p.xii43Branigan, Tania. China’s Great Famine: the true story. The guardian. 2013. Web. 26 Sep. 2015

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succeeded in China.”44 Mao is somehow dedicated the leader in atrocities. He understood that by

terrorizing his own people, they will be automatically obedient to him and his ideas. He is the

man who bears the main responsibility “for well over 70 million deaths in peacetime, more than

any other twentieth-century leader.”45

A

This paper uses Mao’s own life as well as rich historical facts to destroy Mao’s great savior myth

with great persuasiveness. The analysis is based on reasonable logic and relies on reliable

material and sources. The paper gives us a real Mao.

Bibliography

Branigan, Tania. China’s Great Famine: the true story. The guardian. 2013. Web. 26 Sep. 2015.

44 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications, 2005, p.7245 Dikotter, Frank. Mao’s Great Famine. Walker Publishing Company, Inc, 2010, p.1

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Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. Globalfare Ltd, 2005.Print.

De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications, 2005. Print.

Dikotter, Frank. Mao’s Great Famine. Walker Publishing Company, Inc, 2010. Print.

Zedong, Mao. Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan. 1927. Web.

25.Sep. 2015.