IB History Topic 10 Authoritarian States: Mao Zedong

May Fourth Movement

1919 student and intellectual protests in China against the Treaty of Versailles (especially the Shandong concession to Japan); sparked Chinese nationalism and interest in Marxism.

Wilson's Fourteen Points & Shandong Peninsula

Wilson's 1918 peace principles promised self-determination; China hoped to recover Shandong from Japan but was denied at Versailles — fueling the May Fourth Movement.

Chinese Civil War

Armed conflict between the Nationalist GMD and Communist CCP (1927–49); interrupted by the Second United Front against Japan and ended with Communist victory in 1949.

Guomindang/Nationalists/KMT

Chinese Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek; ruled China 1928–49 but lost the Civil War to the CCP and retreated to Taiwan.

Chiang Kai-shek

Leader of the Guomindang and the Republic of China; fought both the Communists and Japan but was defeated by Mao in 1949.

Communists/CCP

Chinese Communist Party founded in 1921; led by Mao Zedong and won the Civil War in 1949 establishing the People's Republic of China.

First United Front

1923–27 alliance between the GMD and CCP to unify China against warlords; collapsed when Chiang Kai-shek purged the Communists in the Shanghai Massacre (1927).

Long March

1934–35 CCP strategic retreat of ~6000 miles to escape GMD encirclement; cemented Mao's leadership and became a founding myth of Communist China.

Second United Front

1937 fragile GMD-CCP alliance to resist Japan following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident; cooperation was limited and the Civil War resumed after Japan's defeat.

People's Republic of China (1949)

Proclaimed by Mao on October 1 1949 after the Communist victory in the Civil War; established the one-party state that rules China today.

Taiwan

Island to which Chiang Kai-shek and the GMD retreated in 1949; maintained a rival Chinese government (Republic of China) backed by the US.

Mao's essay "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship"

1949 essay outlining Mao's vision for the new PRC — a state led by the working class allied with peasants excluding "reactionary" classes.

Common Program for China

1949 interim constitution of the PRC; established the political framework before the formal 1954 constitution.

Rural reform/Land reform

1950–52 redistribution of land from landlords to peasants; accompanied by mass struggle sessions and executions of landlords — estimated 1–2 million killed.

Marriage Law

1950 PRC law abolishing arranged marriages and giving women the right to divorce; a major social reform undermining traditional Confucian family structures.

Liu Shaoqi

Senior CCP leader and PRC President; promoted pragmatic economic policies and was later purged as a "capitalist roader" during the Cultural Revolution — died in custody 1969.

Zhou Enlai

Premier of the PRC (1949–76) and key diplomat; served as a moderating force and managed China's foreign relations including the opening to the US in 1971–72.

Zhu De

Commander of the People's Liberation Army and key military figure of the revolution; one of the ten marshals of the PRC.

People's Liberation Army

The armed forces of the PRC; played both military and political roles especially during the Cultural Revolution when it restored order.

Korean War

1950–53 conflict in which China intervened in October 1950 after UN forces neared the Yalu River; cost China enormously but boosted Mao's prestige domestically.

Peng Dehuai

PLA general and Defense Minister who wrote a private letter to Mao criticizing the Great Leap Forward; purged at the Lushan Conference (1959) — became a symbol of dissent.

Rectification Campaign

Periodic CCP campaigns to purge ideological deviation within the Party; the 1942 Yan'an campaign established Mao's ideological dominance.

Three-Anti Campaign

1951–52 campaign against corruption waste and bureaucratism targeting Party and government officials; part of consolidating CCP control after 1949.

Five-Anti Campaign

1952 campaign targeting capitalists accused of bribery tax evasion fraud and theft from the state; used to eliminate the bourgeoisie's economic independence.

Central Committee / Politburo / Standing Committee

Hierarchical structure of CCP leadership; the Standing Committee of the Politburo held ultimate power with Mao as dominant figure.

First Five-Year Plan

1953–57 Soviet-modeled industrialization plan prioritizing heavy industry; achieved significant growth but neglected agriculture and consumer goods.

Deng Xiaoping

Senior CCP official and General Secretary; sidelined during the Cultural Revolution but later became China's paramount leader and architect of economic reform after 1978.

Cooperative units

Collective farming structures created during collectivization; peasants pooled land and labor in increasingly large units leading to full communes by 1958.

"Lower-stage" & "higher-stage" cooperatives

Progressive stages of agricultural collectivization; lower-stage cooperatives retained some private ownership while higher-stage cooperatives fully collectivized land and production.

Cadres

CCP political administrators and local officials responsible for implementing Party policy; their competence and ideology were crucial to whether campaigns succeeded or failed.

Hu Feng & "Hu Fengism"

Writer who criticized CCP cultural controls in a 1954 petition; arrested in 1955 and used as an example to intimidate intellectuals — a precursor to the Hundred Flowers crackdown.

Lin Biao

PLA marshal who replaced Peng Dehuai as Defense Minister; promoted the Little Red Book and was Mao's chosen successor until his mysterious death in a plane crash in 1971.

Hundred Flowers Campaign 1956

Mao's call for open criticism of the Party ("let a hundred flowers bloom"); backfired as criticism was far harsher than expected — followed by the Anti-Rightist crackdown.

"Revolutionary colleges" / reeducation camps

Facilities where "rightists" and class enemies were sent for political reeducation; part of the broader system of thought reform and coercive compliance.

Eighth Party Congress 1956

CCP Congress that downplayed Mao's personality cult following Khrushchev's de-Stalinization speech; reflected a brief period of collective leadership.

"On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People"

Mao's 1957 speech distinguishing between "antagonistic" (enemy) and "non-antagonistic" (internal) contradictions; used to frame the Hundred Flowers as safe but later used to justify repression.

Anti-Rightist Campaign

1957–58 crackdown following the Hundred Flowers; ~500000 labeled "rightists" and sent to labor camps — intellectuals were silenced for decades.

Great Leap Forward

1958–62 radical campaign to rapidly industrialize and collectivize China simultaneously; caused the Great Famine killing an estimated 15–55 million people.

Material vs. Moral incentives

Key policy debate: pragmatists (Liu Shaoqi Chen Yun) favored material rewards to boost production; Mao preferred moral/ideological motivation — the GLF prioritized Mao's approach disastrously.

"Continuing revolution"

Mao's belief that class struggle and revolutionary transformation must be ongoing even after seizing power; used to justify perpetual campaigns against perceived enemies.

"Red and expert" / "poor and blank"

Mao's preference for ideological purity ("red") over technical expertise ("expert"); "poor and blank" — Mao called peasants ideal revolutionaries precisely because they lacked bourgeois habits.

"More

faster

People's Commune

Massive collective units averaging 5000 households formed in 1958; replaced cooperatives and took control of all aspects of peasant life — farming eating housing and childcare.

Communal Kitchens

Free canteens set up in communes during the GLF; initially popular but led to rapid food depletion as peasants ate reserves — collapsed when famine struck.

Backyard Furnaces

Campaign ordering peasants to smelt steel in small homemade furnaces; diverted labor from harvest causing crops to rot and produced useless low-quality metal.

Peng's private letter to Mao

July 1959 letter from Defense Minister Peng Dehuai to Mao privately criticizing GLF excesses; Mao made it public and used it to purge Peng at the Lushan Conference.

Mao's Lushan speech 1958

Mao's response at the Lushan Conference to Peng's criticisms; Mao reframed Peng's letter as a factional attack and launched a new wave of radicalism despite mounting disaster.

Great Famine 1959–1962

Catastrophic famine caused by GLF policies and grain procurement; estimated 15–55 million deaths making it the deadliest famine in human history.

Sino-Soviet rift

Growing split between China and the USSR from the late 1950s; caused by ideological differences (de-Stalinization Mao's radicalism) and geopolitical rivalry — USSR withdrew technical advisors in 1960.

Socialist Education Campaign

1963–66 campaign to restore revolutionary values and combat "revisionism" in the countryside after GLF failures; precursor to the Cultural Revolution.

"Learn from Dazhai" & "Learn from Daqing"

Model campaigns promoting ideological commitment: Dazhai (agriculture) and Daqing (industry) were held up as examples — later exposed as heavily falsified.

Liu Shaoqi and wife Wang Guangmei

Liu as PRC President led pragmatic GLF recovery policies; he and Wang became prime targets during the Cultural Revolution — publicly humiliated and Liu died in detention.

Quotations from Chairman Mao / "The Little Red Book"

Compilation of Mao's sayings published by Lin Biao in 1964; became the defining text of the Cultural Revolution — carried by all Red Guards.

Diary of Lei Feng

Posthumously published diary of a young PLA soldier portraying selfless devotion to Mao; used as propaganda to promote the model revolutionary citizen.

Jiang Qing

Mao's wife and radical Cultural Revolution leader; controlled cultural policy and later led the Gang of Four — tried and convicted after Mao's death.

Kang Sheng

Head of the CCP secret police and key figure in persecuting "class enemies" during the Cultural Revolution; facilitated mass purges and terror.

Wu Han

Historian and Deputy Mayor of Beijing whose play "The Dismissal of Hai Rui from Office" was attacked as a veiled defense of Peng Dehuai — his persecution helped trigger the Cultural Revolution.

Three Family Village

Column written by Wu Han Deng Tuo and Liao Mosha in Beijing Evening News; attacked in 1966 as anti-Party — one of the opening salvos of the Cultural Revolution.

The Dismissal of Hai Rui from Office

Historical play by Wu Han (1961) depicting an honest official dismissed by a corrupt emperor; attacked by Yao Wenyuan as an allegory defending Peng Dehuai.

Yao Wenyuan

Shanghai radical who wrote the 1965 attack on Wu Han's play; his article is considered the opening shot of the Cultural Revolution — later part of the Gang of Four.

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966–76)

Mao's 1966 mass campaign to purge "revisionist" elements from the CCP and society; resulted in widespread violence persecution destruction of culture and political chaos.

Red Guards

Student militant groups mobilized by Mao to attack the "four olds" and purge Party officials; terrorized teachers intellectuals and cadres before the PLA eventually suppressed them.

Big Character Poster

Large handwritten wall posters (dazibao) used during the Cultural Revolution to denounce enemies; Mao endorsed one attacking the CCP leadership in August 1966.

"Four Olds"

Old ideas old culture old customs old habits — targeted for destruction by Red Guards; led to attacks on temples churches historical sites and traditional art.

Shanghai People's Commune / "Revolutionary Committee"

January 1967 worker takeover of Shanghai inspired by the Paris Commune; Mao quickly replaced it with a "Revolutionary Committee" combining radicals army and old cadres.

"February Adverse Current"

February 1967 — senior leaders including Tan Zhenlin Chen Yi and Ye Jianying openly criticized Cultural Revolution excesses; suppressed by Mao and labeled a "counter-current."

Campaign to Purify Class Ranks

1968 mass campaign to root out suspected spies saboteurs and class enemies; one of the most violent phases of the Cultural Revolution causing mass arrests and deaths.

May Seventh Cadre Schools

Rural re-education camps where purged Party officials were sent for physical labor and ideological study; based on Mao's May 7 1966 directive.

Lin Biao's Death

September 1971 — Lin Biao allegedly fled to the USSR after a failed coup against Mao; his plane crashed in Mongolia killing him — devastating blow to Mao's legitimacy.

Group of Five

CCP committee tasked with managing the Socialist Education Campaign; controlled by Peng Zhen who resisted radicalization — purged in 1966 as the Cultural Revolution began.