Mao's dominant position within government

When did Mao become party leader?

Mao had become Party leader in 1943 as a direct result of the Rectification Campaign, which not only confirmed his reputation as the leading party theorist, but also demonstrated his ability to impose his will on others.

Mao as chair of the central peoples government

• In October 1949, Mao was made head of state as well as of the Party, by his appointment as chair of the Central People's Government

• However, although these posts gave him significant constitutional power because the collective leadership of the Party was theoretically responsible for policy, and key decisions were supposed to come out of debates in the Politouro

• Mao clearly expected to win these debates, and it was indeed Mao himself who set the pace and direction of policy, even in the early years - for example, over the decision to intervene in the Korean War in 1950, and then to attack the bourgeoisie in 1952 in the five antis' campaig

Mao’s difficulty with colleagues

• the 1956 Party Congress removed references to Mao Zedo thought as the guiding ideology of the Party while Mao was unwell it took him months to get the Party behind the Hundred Flowers campaign in 1956-57; and there were frequent disputes over the appropriate pace of introducing agricultural change

• However, Mao was, without doubt, a formidable political manipulator, who could play people on against each other to great effect

• He liked to think him self as the modern equivalent of the first Qin emperor who had united China back in the 3rd century BC, and as time passed he became increasingly difficult to challenge

Mao's main ideas:

Early Chinese Communist thinking had influenced by advice from Moscow, which urged the Chinese to focus on building up the industnal workforce in the cities areally ping it as the core of the future revolutonary party. Mao could see the futility of this in China, Dere only one percent of the population could ber to use ial workers, and he adapted Marxism to suit Chinese conditions, where exploited peasants offered far greater revolutionary potential. Forced by the GMD to relieat to remote rural areas alteie a I'ek turned on him in 1926, Mao had already begun to bulld strong links between the Communistsrort the peasantry, first in Jiangxi, then in Yanan. ine dasis or what became known as Mao Zedong Thought coment a essays that Mao wrote rong the ranan years, which eventually became accepted as official party doctrine. The key elements can be summarised as nationalism, continuing revolution. listening to the people and mass

• Nationalism: like the GMD, Mao wanted to free China from the foreign exploitation that had undermined stability since the 19th century. Even the relationship with fellow Communists in Russia was fragile, and Mao was determined not to follow the Russian model slavishly, only to use the frendship to his advantage. If China's national interest clashed with any other element of his ideology, Mao invariably put nationalism first.

• Continuing revolution: 1949 was the start, not the end, of the Chinese revolution. In the early years, Mao had to work with those supporters of the GMD who stayed behind in Communist China, because he needed their expertise in running the administration and economy. This is why he said that capitalism should be regulated, not destroyed, and only limited nationalisation was carned out in 1949. However, such compromises were only tactical, and Mao was anxious that stability should not lead to complacency and stagnation. Each generation must actively participate in the revolution so that their revolutionary zeal would not fade. It was everyone's duty to be on the lookout for enemies within who might be trying to betray the revolution; and to examine their own behaviour and way of thinking, confessing to any errors they might have accidentally made. This approach is what lay behind the periodic purges of the CCP and the frequent struggle sessions that people endured, and also major events such as the Hundred Flowers campaign anc the Cultural Revolution.

• Listening to the people: Mao believed the Russian Communists had gone wrong by failing to respond to people's concerns, thereby losing touch with them. In order to avoid this, he claimed h wanted people to get involved in discussing policy, so that the CCP could take people's views into account. Whether Mao genuinely believed this is debatable, as his behaviour during the Hundred Flowers campaign shows.

• Mass mobilisation: Mao argued that mass campaigns directed at achieving specific targets wer the way forward. Numbers and revolutionary enthusiasm mattered much more than experts wher it came to developing the economy, and China's huge population was its main asset.

After 1949, Mao left the details of making and implementing policy to others, but he made it clear what he thought the 'correct' ideological line should be. He periodically intervened to reinforce his position, by making people who had 'deviated' from the correct' path confront their errors in strugg

sessions.

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