Mao – hero or villain

When the Communists battled with the nationalists Mao placed the rule about women’s rights in communist lands. Mao carried out the long march successfully into Yanan when Braun left him with 85,000 of their troops down. The troops under his command during the long march and the battles which followed acted with strict discipline towards peasants and received warm welcome from them. Once the warlords, Japanese and the Nationalists were defeated China was united under the Communists. Once they took over they distributed the land from the landlords to the peasants. Under his rule there was no corruption unlike the way the Nationalists ruled. The first five year plans brought up China as a more powerful industrial nation. He managed some social reforms such as the campaign about the “four olds”. This changed certain aspects of society instead of a very radical change. Even though China wasn’t able to afford certain developments, Mao found his way of using the “energy of the people”. The illiterate rate was high at that time but was tackled by Mao with the introduction to communist education.

On the other hand there have been many negative events which Mao’s plans led to (mainly after the communists took over) such as the hundred flowers campaign when he suddenly clamped down on those who wrote bad things about the communist during the hundred flowers bloom. The second five year plan (also known as the great leap forward) failed badly. Unlike the first five year plan the second five year plan (GLF) had targets which were way too high to achieve. This led to many commune leaders to lying about the amount of crops which their commune produced. Communes were too large. As well as agriculture failure there had been absolutely no success in the backyard steel campaign. The metals produced were too brittle and whatever was made out of it wouldn’t stand to do what they were made for. Some inspectors, who didn’t even specialise in their job, demanded the production of excess supply of steel which caused many steel factories to collapse. The Great Leap Forward was a huge failure which led to the three bitter years. After his downfall the moderates took over and started to heal China’s economy. Mao however considered the way which the moderates operated the economical system as capitalist and under the help of Lin Biao, Mao started the cultural revolution with his newly found red guards. The red guards dominated the streets and destroyed anything which was western or high class related. Mao’s comeback sent many people to re-education and the red guards brought down many of the innocents. Prison camps were formed and he brainwashed people which made education go backwards. The Cultural Revolution disunited China.

In conclusion I think that Mao was a hero when he united china under the communists but a villain once he had too much power and the events after the hundred flowers campaign.