The Cultural Revolution Series: Mao Zedong, revolutionary

The period from 1966 to 1976 is known in Chinese history as the Cultural Revolution. A time of turbulence, violence and change, the Cultural Revolution has affected, if not defined, the course of China's development.

Who were calling the shots? What were the triggers? How were ordinary people's lives affected? How has China responded to the events of the Cultural Revolution? These are questions that The Cultural Revolution Series wants to find answers to by interviewing both Western and Chinese experts on the period.

In the second part of our series, Dr. Timothy Cheek, Louis Cha Chair of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia, talks about Mao Zedong.

The making of a revolutionary

“Mao's interest in revolutionary solutions came from his tempestuous home life. When he was 13, he got into a huge fight with his father. He ran away and threatened to drown himself in a pond. He only agreed to come home after his father promised to stop beating him,” Dr. Cheek begins. “Mao later recalled, 'Thus ended the war and from it I learned that when I defended my rights by open rebellion, my father relented but when I remained meek and submissive, he only cursed me and beat me the more.'”

It was a lesson that Mao Zedong would remember for the rest of his life. He would seek revolutionary answers to problems – social or political – that he encountered.

“Mao is but the most famous member of the May 4th generation. Like all the other students and intellectuals, he was radicalized by a number of things. One was the breakdown of government, The Qing dynasty had fallen and the Republic in 1910 had devolved into warlords. They could see bad government around them.”

“Second, they could see the impact of imperialism. On May 4, 1919, when the terms of the Treaty of Versailles became known and it became clear that China had been sold out, Chinese students held demonstrations. This was a mobilizing movement for nationalist sentiment”

“There are a combination of influences in any political movement. In the May 4th movement, it was the international and national level of anti-imperialism plus the personal level of the particular person. In Mao's case, it was the experience of being put down by the elite inside China.”

Mao's path into politics started in the early 1920s, when he joined the Communist Party, but he first rose to regional prominence in the United Front between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

“We always think of Mao as hating the Kuomintang, but his first big leadership position was in the Kuomintang. His life wasn't so simple,” Dr. Cheek points out. “During this time, he also discovered, as he said himself, that 'power flows out of the barrel of the gun.'”

The making of a leader

In the early 1930s, Mao, who had become head of the Jiangxi Soviets, was sidelined, following a series of bloody purges called the Futien incidents he was involved in. The experience taught him that building coalitions was important and that purges were self-destructive. These purges were Stalin-style purges – you pulled out people and shot them. Mao was not necessarily the instigator nor was he the only one involved, but he had blood on his hands. He was lucky. He didn't get shot.”

“Mao's rectification campaign, his inner-party education campaign, grew out of this. He learned that just killing people you disagreed with can't work. You have to convince them to change their minds.”

“He also learned guerrilla warfare and that you can't fight stronger armies toe-to-toe. They'll just kill you.”

How did Mao, the rural intellectual from Hunan, become China's Supreme Leader? Probably because he had all the right traits. “Dr. Rana Mitter mentioned in an earlier interview how charismatic Mao was, that he had this ability to make big political issues personal and motivating. He had political charisma.”

“He also was a good writer, which meant that he could put things down, tell political stories in a way that made people want to work with him. And people also forget to mention that he was worked hard. I've been working with Dr. Stuart R. Schram on translating Mao's work. There's a 10-volume series called Mao's Road to Power which is the English language translation of everything Mao wrote before 1949. I'm helping Dr. Schram with one volume only and the number of telegrams and letters...this was a busy executive!”

“He's a brilliant tactician. Whatever the struggle was, he could see how to move the chess pieces. And he was ruthless, which absolutely suited the time and place. People who were not ruthless did not survive in Chinese politics between 1900 and 1950.”

“He was practical. When he followed his own advice, he was a very effective leader. It doesn't mean he was always a nice guy. Innocent people got killed but it was part of an administration that pulled China back from chaos and fought off very bloody competitors.”