MAO’S RISE TO POWER

1. MAO’S RISE TO POWER

2. Introducing Mao Long detailed Video- Mao Zedong’s Early Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnudA5M9l_w ***Russel Tarr Mao Zedong- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjkZb90Os94

3. Introduction to Mao • Born in Hunan, Southern China: Poorer part of China • Considered wealthy by peasant standards (rich peasants) • Farming background • Father: The Ruling Power • “United front against father” • Fascination with education • Fought with anti-Qing forces during 1911 Revolution • He was an academic under the tutelage (authority) of his future father-in-law • Received teacher training in 1912, later became a librarian, then primary school principal • He travelled to Beijing in 1919, inspired by the May Fourth Movement, writing about his support for trade unionism and women’s rights • 1920, he moved to Shanghai attending literary groups for CCP + gaining interest in Marxism, attending the first CCP congress in 1921

4. The Opium Wars between Britain and China: Treaty of Nanjing Following Britain’s example, France, Germany, Japan and Russia forced China to sign similar treaties granting exclusive trading rights for each nation. = “Spheres of Influence” China = taken advantage of/ exploited Reveals weakness of chinese emperors From Mme Smith’s Presentation - Mao’s Frame of Reference

5. corruption Weakness of China to foreign powers AND INTERNALLY

7. From Mme Smith’s Presentation • 1893 - Born in Hunan province, rich peasant family • 1901-6 – Attended primary school • 1912 – Joined anti-Qing army in Hunan • 1912-8 – Trained as a teacher • 1918 – Joined the Hunan independence movement • 1919 – Worked as librarian at Beijing Uni. Organised strikes in Hunan. • 1921 – Became a founding member of CCP. • 1923 – Joined the KMT. • 1924-7 – Involved in planning CCP/KMT alliance against Warlords. • 1927-34 – Created the Jiangxi Soviet. • 1930 – Suppressed a mutiny in Red Army at Futian 10,000+ killed • 1934-5 – Led the Long March to Yanan • 1935-45 – Created the Yanan Soviet • 1942 – Crushed opposition within the CCP using torture. • 1945-49 – Led the CCP to victory over KMT • 1949 – Declaration of the creation of the People’s Republic of China

8. The Warlord Era (1916-1927) 3 Minute History Video: on the Warlord Era: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilDDvJarwpE

9. What is Warlordism? ~ Leaders who had their own militias and controlled different regions in the manner of feudal overlords. ~Autocrats who administered their own legal, financial and taxation systems and invariably became a terror to the local people ~ They fought each other ‘for power and self-aggrandisement without any sense, logic or reason” (Hsu, The Rise of Modern China, 1995, p. 482) What does this mean for China as a whole? • A lack of central control • Exploitation of the weakness of the central government (... similar to weaknesses of the Provisional Gov’t with Lenin) • Fragmentation/division, Internal conflicts + Lack of unification Militarism!

10. Why Did the Warlord Era Rise? Short Answer:Yuan Shikai’s death. Long Answer: The Double Tenth (tenth day of the tenth month) 1911 (End of the Qing Dynasty) After the revolution, in 1912, Yuan Shikai was the President of the Chinese Republic... • Product of old imperial China • Power base = Beiyang Army • Sun Yat-Sen surrenders his presidency to Yuan • His forces can’t compete against Yuan’s • Closed Parliament, started to rule as if he were Emperor “Cleavage” between North and South of China

11. Impact of Warlordism: • There was a gov’t in Beijing which was only recognized by foreign powers but not extended internally • The conditions were terrible; Peasants were heavily taxed • Historian Hsi-Sheng Chi: this economic desperation fuelled a rapid growth in the size of warlord armies: from around 500,000 in late 1916 to more than one million in 1918 and two million in 1928. • Warlords paid their soldiers well which enticed young single men to join; especially in impoverished areas where treatment was significantly worse • One warlord: Anhui (or Wan) Clique founded by Duan Qirui, made a failed attempt to restore the Qing dynasty Yuan Shikai’s death brought a period of chaos by causing a struggle of many generals fighting for power which caused China to divide into sub-kingdoms …. A national power vacuumthat the warlords ‘filled’

12. Warlordism = Instigator for Mao’s engagement Where Was Mao During This? Mao lived in the province of Hunan, this was a formative period as Hunan was ruled by one of the most brutal warlords, Zhang ‘the Venomous’ Jinghui An estimated 21,000 people were executed in Hunan for offences against the regime and Mao became instrumental in organizing a student movement to demand the removal of Zhang. • Mao became more active politically… • Interpretation of Historian Russel Tarr : Stalin was always apart of the picture through his role as commissar of nationalities and he always had some sort of power whereas Mao started from scratch While Mao was organizing protest movements in Hunan, the May Fourth Movement of 1919 emerged in Beijing.

13. “The widespread disorder and violence of the warlord period disrupted foreign trade as well as endangering foreigners. At the same time, the impotence of the central government during the warlord years served as an open invitation to foreigners to fish in China’s troubled waters. Foreign influence occurred in several ways and at several levels, but the two most important involved further control over China’s economic resources and supplying aid to selected warlords. Japan was by far the worst offender in using warlord disunity to force new concessions from China. The other powers were satisfied to wring the maximum profit from the privileges already permitted under treaties from the Qing era.” James E. Sheridan, British historian Continuity of Qing Dynasty Shows Chinese weakness to foreign powers + Weakness of Qing Dynasty 1916-1927: Almost 10 years of warlordism… commentary on the republic's inability to establish a strong central government Historiography: The Warlord Era

14. Fragmentation!!

15. The May Fourth Movement- 1919 “Intellectual revolution”

16. May Fourth Movement Led by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, professors of Peking University encouraging students to challenge the Confucian and traditional chinese ideology (Socio-political reform) • Intellectual + reformist movement • Anger at China’s treatment by Western powers after World War I (spheres of influence) • Passing of German imperial interests in Shandong province over to the Japanese (Treaty of Versailles = humiliation… similar to Mussolini) • Attempt at national renewal…..Betrayal of China • Good for support of Kuomintang/ KMT! • The May Fourth upheavals strengthened the support base of the Kuomintang. (Sun Yat Sen renamed his Revolutionary Alliance the Kuomintang) • May Fourth Movement = Branch of New Cultural Revolution British Historian- Rana Mitter: Argues that the May the Fourth movement was the birth of Chinese modern nationalism

17. Treaty of Versailles (Mme Smith’s Presentation) China has high hopes 30th April 1919 - German concessions to be given to Japan instead of China following a secret Treaty of 1917 Plus Chinese premier Duan Qirui (resigned Oct 1918) had made a deal with Japan Triggers mass protest from Chinese around the world Disgusted at double dealing West 3000 students from Beijing University and others march to the Imperial Palace Demonstrate against foreign powers especially Japan Set fire to Minister of Communications’ house

18. cont’d 3000 students from Beijing University and others march to the Imperial Palace Demonstrate against foreign powers especially Japan Set fire to Minister of Communications’ house Beat up foreigners and government minister 32 students arrested, 1 student died Protests spread to Shanghai and other cities 14th May Government bans meetings of students 19th May students in universities and schools call a General strike and boycott of Japanese goods 5th June strikes spread to Wuhan, Ji’nan and other cities and includes businessmen and workers showing support for students 28th June – Treaty of Versailles signed. Shandong provinces given to Japan

19. Chinese students burn Japanese books during the protests of May 1919

20. *Japanese were predators (unilateral perspective) wanted to colonize china

21. Develop the revolutionary spirit of the May Fourth Movement, be a civilized worker with socialist awareness Remember the 40th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, the youth has to become vanguards of establishing socialism! “INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION”

22. "Patriotic demonstrations by students in Beijing on ‘May Fourth’ became symbolic of a wider feeling of national outrage that China was being weakened internally by its unstable, militarist governments, and externally by the continuing presence of foreign imperialism." Rana Mitter “May Fourth has become an extremely important but ambiguous notion in all discussions of modern Chinese history. The Communists have sometimes gone so far as to trace the origins of their Party to May Fourth – they saw May Fourth as representing progressive, patriotic elements, as marking the emergence of the working class and as leading to ‘cultural revolution’ – then they treated May Fourth as the necessary condition for the appearance of the CCP. The Nationalists held ambivalent feelings about May Fourth, but the more reformist elements of the GMD identified with its themes of ‘enlightenment’.” Peter Gue Zarrow, American Historian China was being weakened internally AND externally

23. The Manifesto of the Students of Beijing 1919 The ‘Manifesto of All the Students of Beijing’ was written by Luo Jialun, a Beijing University student, and shared with other students during the May Fourth demonstration in 1919: “Japan’s demand for the possession of Qingdao and other rights in Shandong is now going to be acceded to in the Paris Peace Conference. Her diplomacy(Japan) has secured a great victory – and ours has led to a great failure (China). The loss of Shandong means the destruction of the integrity of China’s territory. Once the integrity of her territory is destroyed, China will soon be annihilated (already weak… easy to take advantage of). Accordingly, we students today are making a demonstration march to the Allied legations, asking the Allies to support justice. We earnestly hope that all agricultural, industrial, commercial, and other groups of the whole nation will rise and hold citizens’ meetings to strive to secure our sovereignty in foreign affairs and to get rid of the traitors at home. This is the last chance for China in her life and death struggle. Today we swear two solemn oaths with all our fellow countrymen. First, China’s territory may be conquered, but it cannot be given away. Second, the Chinese people may be massacred but they will not surrender. Our country is about to be annihilated. Up, brethren!”

24. Primary Source Account of a student who had attended a meeting on 3 May 1919, held at Peking (Beijing) University. The students wanted to send telegrams to Paris begging the Chinese delegates not to sign the Treaty of Versailles When the news of the Paris Peace Conference finally reached us we were greatly shocked. We at once awoke to the fact that foreign nations were still selfish and militaristic and that they were all great liars. I remember the night of May 2nd and very few of us slept. A group of my friends and I talked almost the whole night. We came to the conclusion that a greater world war would be coming sooner or later, and that this great war would be fought in the East. We had nothing to do with our Government, that we knew very well, and at the same time we could no longer depend upon the principles of any so-called great leader like Woodrow Wilson, for example. Looking at our people and at the pitiful ignorant masses, we couldn’t help but feel that we must struggle. From Tse-Tsung Chow, The May 4th Movement: Intellectual Revolution in Modern China

25. Effects... • Failed to halt the Japanese takeover of Shandong • More cultural and ideological impacts of May Fourth movement • The Treaty of Versailles demonstrated clearly that China could not wait for Western nations to guide it into modernity • China was responsible for its own political development and its own fate… (china is partially to blame for being taken advantage of) • Mao was one of the founding members but his influence was limited at this stage

26. Mao Zedong • He was inspired by the May Fourth protests • Impressed by Sun Yat Sen • A lot of violence in his home province as republican factions fought for supremacy • His conclusion: to gain success politically/militarily… you must have total commitment and willingness to use extreme methods • “All power grows out of the barrel of a gun” • 'a new stage in China's revolution against imperialism and feudalism.”

27. 5 guiding posts of the May 4th Movement 1. The May Fourth Movement was a protest by thousands of students in May 1919, in response to China’s treatment in the Treaty of Versailles and the cession of Shandong to the Japanese. 2. The intellectual origins of this movement can be found in the New Culture Movement, a campaign of the 1910s that challenged the role of Confucianism and traditionalism in 20th century China. 3. The writers of the New Culture Movement argued that China could not modernise by clinging to Confucian values and old hierarchies. It had to embrace liberalism, democracy and science. 4. The May Fourth Movement of 1919 started as student protests against the terms of the Versailles treaty. It quickly expanded into a series of nationwide protests and strikes, leading to a backdown by the Beiyang government. 5. The New Culture and May Fourth Movements had a significant impact on Chinese political movements, which stopped looking for Western guidance and became more radical in their outlook and methods.

28. The First United Front (1923-7) \

29. “Alliance b/w KMT + CCP” • NO centralized government, warlords still dominated • government under the leadership of Sun Yat Sen had growing ties with the Comintern and the Soviet Union • Sun’s Three Principles… 1. Nationalism 2. Democracy 3. Social Advances Until 1926 KMT’s main support = Southern China (poor) were not strong enough to take full control of China In 1923, the KMT formed an alliance with the small Chinese Communist Party. The Russian Comintern helped arrange this agreement. In 1926-27, the KMT launched the Northern Expedition aimed at defeating the warlords and creating an effective national government for the whole of China organized by Chiang Kai Shek CCP benefited from KMT’s superiority in numbers… results : As part of the United Front, the CPC grew significantly in popularity, its membership number increasing from 57 in 1921 to 58,000 in 1927, with an additional 30,000 in the Communist Youth League.

30. Why did the First United Front Occur? 1921-1922 → CCP had some success in organising strikes and boycotts in Shanghai and Hong Kong Failed attempt in 1923 to organise railway stop in Beijing...the area is under control of warlord Zhang Zuolin Result? CCP's ineffectiveness in the face of warlord power proved to the Comintern that the Chinese Communists were incapable of being a genuinely revolutionary force on their own Solution? CCP must ally itself with the other major revolutionary party in China, KMT In 1923, the Comintern agents Adolf Joffe and Michael Borodin made direct contact with the KMT, offering to assist with money and military supplies MUST KEEP “ENDS” IN MIND : national unity against the warlords and imperialists.

31. Why did Sun Yat Sen Comply with the Comintern Demand to Allow CCP to Ally w/KMT? He genuinely admired the structure and discipline of the Russian Bolshevik Party and saw common ground between their revolutionary programme and his own Three People's Principles. He accepted the requests of the Comintern that the members of the young CCP be allowed to join the GMD Sun hoped that such cooperation would encourage Moscow to continue supplying the GMD with money and ammunition. The outcome was a pact of friendship between Moscow and the GMD in 1923. This prompted the Comintern advisers in China to renew their call to the CCP to throw in their lot with the Nationalists in advancing a broad-front revolutionary force in China.

32. Why did the USSR Seem Keen to Help China? USSR considered that cooperation with the KMT was more likely to secure Russian interests in Mongolia...preserve it as a buffer against Japan’s growing power (allowed Soviet Union's seizure of Outer Mongolia in 1924 from China) Demand that the Chinese Communists form an alliance with them = broader international concerns 1924- Borodin drafted new KMT constitution based on three people’s principles BUT Leninist in character… democratic centralism (truly revolutionary party the members owed absolute loyalty and obedience to the leaders) Comintern argued that, without a similar military organisation to their RED ARMY, the Chinese revolutionaries would be incapable of overcoming either the warlords or the imperialist occupiers USSR imposes China’s dependency on them… however its USSR that is dependent on China for their own personal interests (continuity of Spheres of Influence… China is still being taken advantage of ...“helpless” )

33. Communist Doubts on USSR’s “help” Chen Duxiu was worried that the Russian advice derived from an incomplete understanding of the situation in China He was also disturbed that so many of the GMD's members came from the bourgeoisie 90 per cent of the GMD's funding came from one city alone - Shanghai. A lot of CCP members swallowed their opinions and doubts and followed as they were told by USSR (obedience character)

34. SOURCE A: DIANA LARY "By the end of the first stage of the Northern Expedition the revolutionary armies had quadrupled in size, to about 250,000 soldiers, almost all of them armies of recently converted warlords. In the midst of success, the revolutionary zeal suddenly eroded, from the top down, the GMD was acquiring military allies, its politics were increasingly fractured. In the spring of 1927 a dramatic split took place. Chiang Kai-shek and his (largely military) supporters decided to get rid of key parts of the revolutionary movement, the Soviet advisors, the left wing of the GMD, and the Communists. They won the day, and China's revolution turned in a militarist, authoritarian direction. The Soviet advisors fled back to the Soviet Union, the CCP was decimated in a savage purge that started in April and continued for much of the year - the white terror. The great promise of radical revolution was dead." SOURCE B: JONATHAN FENBY "The attack on the united front by the KMT right was inevitable, given the competing ambitions on either side, transforming the ‘awakening’ of China into a bloody settling of scores in the latest upsurge of reaction and force. The repression in Shanghai on 12 April 1927 began a violent power struggle between left and right that would take millions of lives in twenty-two years of national dislocation."

35. The Northern Expedition (1926-7) and the White Terror (1927)

36. 1st United Front... United Front's strategy was to surround the individual warlord armies, cut their supply lines and steadily crush them...brutal warfare with heavy casualties. By Summer of 1927, United Front forces had captured the key cities of Wuhan and Shanghai 1928 defeat of Zhang Zuolin, the warlord of the Beijing area, the Front had achieved its major objective. Not all the warlords had been overcome, but central China = freed from warlord control The KMT was in a position to announce that it was now the legitimate government of China and that it would rule from the new capital of Nanjing The United Front was able to unify China’s fragmented population through the universal hatred of oppressive warlords (similar to Mussolini with hatred towards Treaty of Versailles… national identity)

37. cont’d Jiang had launched the Northern Expedition with two aims: • the declared one of breaking the warlords • the undeclared one of destroying his allies in the United Front, the Communists. He no longer needed Communist support after warlords were defeated. • He purged his party of Communist sympathisers • During 1926 he had dismissed a number of CCP officials from their posts in the KMT • He arrested several Comintern advisers, and removed his greatest oppositions from power Chinese communists = slow to react … they were illusioned by the “obedience” towards Comntern

38. Effects of the Northern Expedition

39. Mao... • United Front organiser in Hunan • His links with the peasant associations in the province proved invaluable in enabling the United Front's units to drive through Guanxi and Hunan and outflank the warlord armies • In 1926, Mao's endeavours earned him the official accolade 'son of Hunan'. • Mao himself attributed the United Front's successes to the cooperation between the Nationalist and Communist forces: 'there was unity between officers and men and between the army and the people, and the army was filled with a revolutionary militancy'.

40. “The combination of the NRA and the promise of modernization and land reform gave the Northern Expedition an appeal of a kind that proved irresistible.” – Diana Lary ... (desperation) “Militarily, the Northern Expedition solved little… Warlordism was not vanquished” - Hans J Van De Ven Historiography

41. The Long March/ The Journey to Yenan

42. October 18, 1934… • Conditions = unfavourable for Mao Mao’s Perspective: • “Revolutionary manifesto” • “Agitation corps” • “Seeding machine” 85000 soldiers were under Chiang Kai Shek’s scrutiny

43. = the relocation of the CCP and Red Army, from their base in Jiangxi to the northern province of Shaanxi in 1934-35 Approximately 160,000 Red Army soldiers and CCP members were involved • Fewer than 15,000 made it safely to Shaanxi Suggests that the Long March was a failure… HOWEVER...

44. Propaganda and the Long March CCP propagandists manufactured their own account of the Long March • heroism, human endeavour and self sacrifice • Long March as a victory rather than a defeat • They attributed its strategic and military successes to Mao Zedong • seized control of the expedition from Bolshevik loyalists • the beginning of Mao’s ascendancy to the party’s national leadership Historian Edward Stourton: “the long march did not reflect reality” Propaganda to Mao meant “evangelisation”

45. The chairman in Yenan cave In October 1935, Mao’s column reached Pao An • 25% of his force survived • Mao was forced to sleep in a cave “The Long March is propaganda,” declared Mao Zedong in a speech in December 1935. “It has announced to some 200 million people in 11 provinces that the road of the Red Army is their only road to liberation.”

46. Historiography Harrison Salisbury, an American journalist and historian who wrote an account of the Long March (with official Chinese Communist Party backing) in the mid-1980s, quotes an estimate that the communists lost 60,000 men in the last of the defensive campaigns against the Guomindang. Their only option was to run away.

47. Why was Mao considered an alchemist? • ability to turn the base metal of defeat into political gold (true failure of Long March to propaganda) • Enlarged his support base In schools it was taught as “physical toughness, self-sufficiency, endurance and a strong bond between the Communist Party and peasantry”

48. Medium-term Conditions That Gave Rise to the Authoritarian State In China

49. Warlord Era Ended • Industrial Output grew an average of 6% per year • The Railway network grew from Beijing to Hong Kong (18000 miles- 69000 miles) • Financial institutions were reformed: Central Bank was put into place, abolish tax on trade • Educated population grew: school children - 86%, university students 94% • Focus on science in establishment of National Research Institute, Academia Sinica • Limited power in ending domination of foreign powers

50. KMT had superficial support of China • Japan = disease of the skin • Communists = disease of the heart • Failed to destroy CCP • White Terror (Shanghai Massacre) did however cause CCP membership to drop by 80% • Mao led the remainders