Mao Historiography

Historian Hu Qiaomu

he was maoist, lived 1912-1992, he is chinese, arguably the People’s Republic’s most prominent historian, wrote Thirty Years of the Chinese Communist Party, for a while this was the official history of the communist party in China

Mao Zedong, great revolutionary genius: Hu Qiaomu

“At the first crucial juncture in the Chinese Revolution, Comrade Mao Zedong showed his great revolutionary genius. He was the first to employ the methods of Marxist-Leninism to analyse the class relationships in China, and recognised that the success or failure of the Chinese Revolution depended on whether the working class was able to exercise leadership of the peasantry.”

The chinese people: Hu Qiaomu

“Many communists displaoyed boundless loyalty to the cause of the working class and the people, as well as a high degree of organising ability.”

Praising the communist party: Hu Qiaomu

“The 30 years which the Chinese Communist Party has passed through are 30 great and glorious years, 30 years in which the Chinese Communist Party and the working class and people of China, under the leadership of Comrade Mao Zedong, fought heroically against the imperialist aggressors and their lackeys.”

Without Mao Zedong: Hu Qiaomu

“Without the guidance of Marxism-Leninism and the teachings of Mao Zedong it would have been impossible to lead the Chinese working class and the Chinese people to victory.”

Historian Jonathan Spence

lived 1936-2021, perspective is unclear, british-born american, difficult to pin down, taking a fairly balanced view and acknowledging the political, social and cultural ‘uniqueness’ of China

Historian Jonathan Spence described by the Leigh Bureau

as “the world’s foremost authority on Chinese civilization and the role of history in shaping modern China”.

Jonathan Spence in reference to Mao Zedong

expresses the view that Mao was a ‘Lord of Misrule’, a man of contradictions who succeeded in spite of his failures. “Mao’s beginnings were commonplace, his education episodic, his talents unexceptional, yet he possessed a relentless energy and a ruthless self-confidence that led him to become one of the world’s most powerful rulers”.

During the CCP and Guomindang second united front that collapsed due to this: Jonathan Spence

“[The rape of Nanjing] by the Japanese on December 7th 1937 brought a literal and symbolic end to any myths of Guomindang power in their own capital city.”

Critical of Mao’s Long March: Jonathan Spence

“Mao was not involved in the planning [of the Long March]… it was a nightmare of death and pain.”

Completion of the Long March: Jonathan Spence

“Mao’s completion of the Long March, and the factional battles he had fought there, had brought him a leadership position in the Party, but it was by no means unchallenged…

Mao’s disregard for his actions: Jonathan Spence

“Both the Hundred Flowers movement and the launching of the Great Leap show Mao more and more divorced from any true reality check… and he himself seemed to care less and less for the consequences that might spring from his own erratic utterances.”

The horrors of the Cultural Revolution: Jonathan Spence

“The number of victims from the uncoordinated violence of the Cultural Revolution is incalculable, but there were many millions. Some of these were killed, some committed suicide. Some were crippled or scarred emotionally for life.”