The Rise of Mao Zedong within the Communist Party in China, Essay

The Rise of Mao Zedong within the Communist Party in China, Culminating in the Proclamation of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949 - Essay Example He started his career as a teacher. In 1918 he left for Beijing and worked as assistant librarian at the Beijing University. There he became member of Marxist study group. In 1919, he returned to Changsha and became more attracted to the message of Russian revolution and Leninist version of Marxism. Mao was one of the thirteen delegates who attended the Chinese communist party's founding congress which was secretly convened in Shanghai in July 1921 (Mao, 2011). Mao was more attracted to countryside and peasants than cities and proletariats. He spent more time on studying the rural socio economic conditions and focused on organising the peasants. In fact, he discovered the great revolutionary potential of peasants. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has merged with the nationalist party of Kuomintang in 1923. However, this partnership did not last long. By 1927, it became clear that Mao and Chiang had different perceptions on Soviet interests in China. Mao supported Soviet Union while Chiang opposed it. As a result, the CCP- Kuomintang alliance broke. Both the leaders competed for domination of China. While Mao focused on rural areas, Chiang focused on urban areas. In 1927, Mao published the Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan. It contained the important ideas of Mao. He believed in the power of the peasants and described it as a tornado. In his opinion it is "so extraordinarily swift and violent that no power, however great, will be able to suppress it." (2011). He believed in the revolutionary creativity of peasants which Marxist-Leninists reserved for the Communist Party. According to Mao, it is not the party which has to determine the revolutionary capabilities of the peasants, but the peasants who has to judge the capability of the party for revolution. From April, 1927 onwards, Chiang Kai-shek focused on destroying communists and their organisational base in urban areas. Rise of Mao Mao had great admiration for sun Tzu and gave prior ity to maintaining an army. So he formed the Red Army. He knew that war against the powerful state will take years to win. He worked for gaining support for the red army among the peasants. He followed the tactic of sun Tzu, attack when stronger and retreat when weak (Seize the Night, 2010). Mao applied this strategy four times when confronted with the strong forces of Chiang. In 1930, a notable incident called the Futien incident occurred. That is, Mao suspected that a red army unit in Jiangxi is not supporting him and so ordered execution of 3000 officers and men. This shows Mao’s strict nature. Between December 1930 and September 1931, there were three guerrilla campaigns under the leadership of Mao, but failed. The fourth guerrilla campaign in 1932-33 was also a failure. But, the fifth one succeeded. In 1934, after series of defeats, the communists and three red armies were pinned down in the mountains of Jiangxi Province in southern China. The communist army became exhau sted as a result of harassment form the Kuomintang. As a result of the nationalist offensive, the communists and the red armies decided to flee their southern bases and retreat to meet Communist forces in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia in northern China (Hays, 2011). This retreat is known as the long march. It was a six thousand mile march. The long march began in Jiangxi on October 16, 1934 and crossed 24 rivers, 18 mountain ranges (5 covered with snow) and 11 provinces before it ended after 368 days at the caves of Yenan on the edge of the Gobi desert in northern China (Hays, 2011). On January 8, 1935, they met in Zunyi in Guizhou province. There, they discussed the future leadership of the communist party. The old leadership and generals of the red army supported Mao. He was made the