Mao's dominant position within government

what kind of family did Mao come from?

a peasant family

what did Mao qualify as in 1918?

as a teacher

what did Mao do in the 1920s?

he helped to organise the United Front against the warlords

when did Mao develop his reputation within the Party?

after helping to create the first Chinese soviet at Jiangxi

when did Mao become Party leader?

1943

why did Mao become a 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

what was the Rectification Campaign of 1941-44?

a purge of Mao's enemies, real and imagine, inside the Party. Its success helped to cement his position as leader

where did the Rectification Campaign start with?

top officials such as Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai and Chen Yi had to produce self-criticisms and confess to their mistakes

why did members denounce each other during the Rectification Campaign?

so they could do so before anyone else could denounce them

by 1942, how many alleged agents and spies had been unmasked and jailed?

over 15,000

when was Mao made head of state as well as of the Party, by his appointment as chair of the Central People's Government?

October 1949

what evidence is there of Mao himself setting the pace and direction of policy in the early years?

his decision to intervene in the Korean War in 1950, and then to attack the bourgeoisie in 1952 in the 'five antis' campaign

what did the 1956 Party Congress remove?

references to Mao Zedong Thought as the guiding ideology of the Party while Mao was unwell

what evidence is there of Mao being in dispute with the party?

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

what had early Chinese Communist thinking been heavily influenced by?

advice from Moscow, which urged the Chinese to focus on building up the industrial workforce in the cities and developing it as the core of the future revolutionary party

how did Mao adapt Marxism to suit Chinese conditions?

he exploited peasants who offered far greater revolutionary potential

where did the basis of what became known as Mao Zedong Thought come from?

essays that Mao wrote during the Yanan years, which eventually became accepted as official party doctrine

what were the 4 key elements of Mao's party doctrine?

Nationalism, Continuing revolution, Listening to the people and Mass mobilisation

nationalism: what did Mao want to free China from?

like the GMD, he wanted China to be free from the foreign exploitation that had undermined stability since the 19th century

nationalism: links to the Russian model?

the relationship with fellow Communists in Russia was fragile, and Mao was determined not to follow the Russian model slavishly, only to use the friendship to his advantage

nationalism: clashes with ideology?

if China's national interest clashed with any other element of his ideology, Mao put nationalism first

continuing revolution: why did Mao work with supporters of the GMD who stayed behind in Communist China?

because he needed their expertise in running the administration and economy. 1949 was the start, not the end, of the Chinese revolution

continuing revolution: how did Mao justify working with supporters of the GMD who stayed behind in Communist China?

he said that capitalism should be regulated, not destroyed, and only limited nationalisation was carried out in 1949

continuing revolution: what were Mao's concerns over capitalism?

he was anxious that capitalism stability should not lead to complacency and stagnation

continuing revolution: how did Mao go about making sure there was no complacency and stagnation?

each generation was required to actively participated in the revolution so that their revolutionary zeal would not fade

continuing revolution: what 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 accidently made

continuing revolution: what did the approach of looking out for enemies and examining individual behaviour lead to?

the periodic purges of the CCP and the frequent struggle sessions that people endured, such as the Hundred Flowers campaign and the Cultural Revolution

what were struggle sessions?

organised to humiliate opponents and to frighten people into conforming

what happened to victims during struggle sessions?

victims who had been denounced by colleagues or neighbours had to make full confessions and self-criticisms, and were frequently beaten viciously in the process

listening to the people: where did Mao believe the Russian Communists had gone wrong?

by failing to respond to people's concerns, thereby losing touch with them

listening to the people: how did Mao go about listening to the people's concerns?

he claimed he 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: what did Mao argue mass campaigns were?

that mass campaigns directed at achieving specific targets were the way forward

mass mobilisation: what was important when it came to developing the economy?

numbers and revolutionary enthusiasm mattered much more than experts, therefore, China's huge population was its main asset