In search of a new "Tao" for China, he destroyed tens of millions of his fellow citizens, but his appearance adorns Chinese currency banknotes. He ruled the Celestial Empire as an emperor. And they believed him, because Mao Zedong did something for them, for which they idolize him to this day.

Between Buddhism and Confucianism

Born on December 29, 1893 in the village of Shaoshan in Hunan Province, Mao belonged to a rather wealthy family. The Confucian father brought up his son in severity, and the Buddhist mother was a supporter of gentle treatment, so the son chose Buddhism. From childhood, Mao hated standing in line and working hard. The local school gave a good primary education, but the teacher thought it useful to reinforce it with a bamboo stick. Mao quits his studies and returns to his father's house, not to help his mother, but to lie on the stove and read books. The paradox is that the love of reading woke up in him after he left school to become one of the main hobbies, along with women and swimming. Family traditions in China are very strong. Not to fulfill the will of the father, and even more so to break with the parents, was considered a terrible crime. A Confucian miniature has been preserved, in which a naked boy warms the legs of his parents with the warmth of his body. It seems wild to us, but for China of that time it is quite a common and instructive image. In 1907, Mao's father marries his second cousin. The young man refuses to live with her and runs away from home. It was not an ordinary act, but Mao seems to imagine himself as Gautam Buddha, who also broke with his family in search of the truth. Whatever the relationship between father and son, old Mao Yijing still paid for his son's elementary school education. the highest degree in Dunshan. The capricious child has turned into a diligent student. His studies were complicated by the fact that the inhabitants of the southern provinces understand the northerners very poorly. Colloquial speech and Mao's tall stature did not fit well with local standards, not to mention social differences. But the young man shows diligence, gets acquainted with geography and foreign history. Even then, the great reformers of China and other countries inspire him.

Time for a change

“If you want to make a person unhappy, wish him to live in a time of change,” says Chinese wisdom. But young any sea is knee-deep. Mao Zedong was 18 years old when the Celestial Empire was cracking at the seams. After the overthrow of the emperor, the Kuomintang party led by Chiang Kai-shek comes to power. The young man joins the army of the governor of the province for a short time, and after six months he leaves it to continue his studies at the provincial school in Changsha. But here he lingers for a short while, preferring self-education. Geography, philosophy and history of Western Europe is comprehended by him at the library table. His father denies him funds until he becomes a student. So Mao Zedong becomes a student at Changsha Normal School. Following his beloved teacher, Yang Changji Mao moves to Beijing, where he works as an assistant to Li Dazhao, the future founder of the Communist Party of China. He is being prepared to be sent to France on a student exchange, but the study of foreign languages ​​​​and the need to earn money for his studies discourage the young man. He stays in Beijing, where he marries the daughter of his teacher, Yang Changji. In this fickle world, Mao is trying to find his place, adjoining one group, then another. By 1920, he makes his final choice in favor of the Marxist-Leninists. In July 1921, Mao took part in the Founding Congress of the Communist Party of China, and two months later became secretary of the Hunan branch of the CPC. At this time, the party is forced to cooperate with the Kuomintang, however, routine work is not for a lazy and ambitious young man. He dreams of leading a combat detachment, where everyone would unquestioningly obey him. In April 1927, he raised a peasant uprising in the vicinity of Changsha, which was quickly suppressed by the local authorities. With the remnants of his troops, Mao flees to the mountains located on the border of the provinces of Hunan and Jiangxi. The Kuomintang begins to persecute the communists, and the Maoists move to the west of Jiangxi province, where they create a fairly strong Soviet republic and carry out a series of reforms.

At this time, the CCP is losing its adherents. In Russia, Joseph Stalin is getting stronger, and the majority of the CPC were Trotskyists. Its leaders are removed from their posts, clearing the way for a new leader - Mao Zedong. Cruelty, composure and indifference to people have already manifested themselves in his character. On his side, he attracts "criminal authorities", with whom he mercilessly finishes off when he no longer needs them. Kuomintang members shoot his wife, and let his children go around the world. Mao doesn't care. He loves women, but even more he loves to change them. This habit will remain with him until the end of his days, when the already decrepit red emperor of China will be appeased by very young girls, trying to excite his "chi" (flow vital energy, according to traditional medicine). In skirmishes with government troops, the Communist Party and the Red People's Liberation Army of China formed their nucleus. The Kuomintang drives her from one region to another, but it is more profitable for Stalin to deal with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek than with some ragamuffins. Stalin is also trying to influence the leaders of the CPC, looking closely and singling out the most devoted. Mao was able to suppress free thought within the party and establish a personal cult by 1943. He already sees in Stalin not a teacher, but a rival and does not want to unquestioningly obey the leader and "father of all peoples." While the Kuomintang army sheds blood in the fight against the Japanese invaders, the Maoists hole up in Manchuria and dance. And only when the bloodless army of Chiang Kai-shek, with the help of the Soviet Union, expels the aggressor from the country, the tiger descends from the mountain and finishes off its victim. Everything worked out well for the Maoists. In the coming Cold War, Chiang Kai-shek takes the side of the Americans, and the "great helmsman" declares his allegiance to the USSR. A poster depicting Mao against the background of diverging rays is noteworthy. This is how emperors were depicted in Chinese iconography. The New Bogdykhan proclaims the formation of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949 in Tiananmen Square.

Red China

But before starting the transformation, he goes to the USSR. Stalin is in no hurry to receive the "great helmsman", anticipating a difficult conversation. He, as always, was not mistaken. When, finally, Mao was accepted, he proposed to unite China and the USSR in single state. Joseph Stalin was speechless for a moment, and then asked: “And who then will you be in this state?” “I will be your successor,” Mao Zedong replied. Stalin politely declined the offer, but his heart trembled. He realized that Mao was actually proposing to devour Russia in the name of the "Zemshar Republic of Soviets." However, back in China, Mao Zedong faithfully follows Stalin's instructions, not caring about the consequences. First of all, the Stalinist model of governance, the hierarchy of leaders and the system of camps are being built. Now any experiments can be carried out over the country. In 1958, the Great Leap Forward begins. Peasants are driven into communes by several thousand families, depriving them not only of the rights to land and crops, but also of the right to privacy. The monstrous famine that broke out in 1959-61 was the result of a loss of interest in labor and the result of an almost complete withdrawal of grain, going to pay the debt for equipment and specialists from the USSR. Wanting to catch up and overtake the advanced countries in steel production, Mao orders the construction of handicraft furnaces for smelting metal. Tons of low-grade steel never came in handy for the revolution, and tons of sparrows supposedly eating the crops were killed in yet another madness. Nikita Khrushchev, frightened by the revelry of Stalinism in China, demands to stop the "Great Leap Forward" and give people democratic freedoms. In response, Mao breaks with the USSR and starts the Cultural Revolution. Thousands of Red Guard thugs beat and kill anyone who does not agree with the party lines. Temples, monasteries, libraries and art monuments are desecrated and destroyed. A split begins within the new movement. Outrages lead to a clash with a regular army. The country is on the verge of a new civil war, and Mao suspends terror. The Red Guards are arrested and sent for re-education to the village.

Consequences

At the end of his life, Mao Zedong turns towards the United States. The country, which he has rallied with monstrous experiments, obeys his helmsman. Mao's successor, Deng Xiaoping, had only to lead the uncomplaining people along a new path. After the death of the "Great Pilot" on September 9, 1976, his body was embalmed and exhibited in a specially built mausoleum on Tiananmen Square. The greatness of this man is not questioned to this day, although the country has long ceased to be socialist. The Chinese themselves see the merit of Mao Zedong in the creation of a unified state and a disciplined army, always ready to come to the aid of the party and government. Modern China is called the workshop of the world. Now he is a great power that can afford to humiliate the President of the United States. This speaks volumes and makes you think.

Mao Zedong had everything in life: unlimited power, a huge country, millions of slaves, hundreds of beautiful concubines. In his life path, he strongly resembles Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, whom Mao admired and hated. And, as in the case of Stalin, contemporaries assess the activity of the leader in different ways. Some believe that Mao ruined the country, others - that he laid the foundations for the current economic prosperity. So how did a simple peasant son manage to achieve such an enviable position? Mao Zedong was born on December 26, 1893 (on the 19th day of the 11th moon of the 19th year of the imperial reign under the motto Guangxu) in southern China in the village of Shaoshan, Xiangtan County, Hunan Province. According to Mao, his father, Mao Rensheng, saved up some money over the years of military service, returned to his native village, and became a small merchant. He bought rice from the peasants, and then resold it to merchants in the city at a higher price.

Mao's father had only attended school for two years and knew only enough hieroglyphs to be able to keep a book of income and expenses. Mao's mother was an illiterate woman. She had a great influence on her son, instilling Buddhist beliefs in him. When the boy was five years old, he was given a middle name - Zedong, which meant that childhood was over, and he had to do what he could. Three years later, Mao began attending regular school. Education was based on memorization of the canonical Confucian books. At the age of 13, Mao left school to work in the fields and help his father keep the money accounts. A year later, his father married Mao to a girl six years older than him (about her future fate nothing is known).

The father hoped to eventually transfer his trading business into the hands of his son. But the son showed character. He ran away from home and began taking lessons from an unemployed legal scholar. This went on for six months. Then, under the guidance of the old scholar, he continued to study the Chinese classics, as well as to read modern literature.

In 1910, Mao entered a school in Dongshan, Xiangxiang County, Shunan Province. Teachers noted his abilities, knowledge of Chinese classics, canonical Confucian books. Mao recalls two books sent to him by his cousin, which told about the reform activities of Kang Youwei (a supporter of liberal reforms). He even learned one of them by heart. His favorite characters were the founder of the first unified Chinese empire, Qin Shi-Huangdi, robbers from the novel "River Backwaters", military and political figures of the Han era, bred in the novel "Three Kingdoms", then Napoleon, whom he learned about from the brochure "Great Heroes of World History ".

At 18, Mao joined the army. Here, reading the Xiangjiang Ribao and other newspapers, he first became acquainted with the ideas of socialism. Six months later, Mao left the army, lived for some time in his native village and helped his father. In 1913, Mao arrived in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, determined to continue his education. He entered the Pedagogical School, graduating in 1918. Mao Zedong reads Chinese philosophers and writers here too, outlining their thoughts in his diaries. His student essays were hung on the walls of the school as exemplary ones. Mao at that time was strongly influenced by the ideas of the new culture movement, which was preached by his beloved professor Yang Changji. This trend was looking for a way to combine the advanced ideas of the West with the great spiritual heritage of China itself.

Since 1918, Mao's passion for anarchism began, which was long and deep. He met active anarchists in Beijing, entered into correspondence with them, and then even tried to create an anarchist society in Hunan. He believes in the need for decentralization of government in China and generally leans towards anarchist methods of operation. Mao enthusiastically reads the works of P. Kropotkin and other anarcho-socialists. The October Revolution in Russia and the victory of Soviet power gave a powerful impetus not only to the liberation and democratic, but also to the socialist movement in China. The first revolutionary-democratic associations of students are being created in the country, from which many leaders of the Communist Party of China subsequently left. Arriving in Peking in 1918, on the recommendation of Professor Yang Changji, who was then lecturing at Peking University, Mao got a job as an assistant to Li Dach-zhao, head of the Peking University library. He was an educated Marxist and an outstanding figure, who in 1919 created a circle for the study of Marxism in Beijing. Mao participated in its work.

Mao Zedong was 27 years old when he joined the communist circle, and a year later became one of the founders of the CPC. He began to strengthen his position by discrediting the recognized leaders of the CCP, Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu, and at the same time organized the persecution of everyone who opposed his own nomination.

In July 1921, after several preliminary meetings, the Congress of the Communist Party of China met in Shanghai. The convention was attended by two delegates from each of the six groups. Mao represented the Hunan organization. At the Third Congress of the CCP, the focus was on the tactics of the Party, that is, on the attitude towards the Kuomintang. In June 1923, it was decided that the Kuomintang should act as the main organizing force in the national revolution. Mao turned out to be among the most active conductors of this line.

Speaking at the congress, he abandoned his previous position when he spoke in favor of the independence of trade unions. Mao advocated the transfer of trade unions under the leadership of the Kuomintang. His active and rapid transition to new positions ensured him a new position in both the CPC and the Kuomintang. At the III Congress, he was elected to the Central Committee, and soon after that (in January 1924) he was appointed head of the organizational department. At the First Congress of the Kuomintang, Mao was elected as a candidate member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. Chen Duxiu - one of the founders of the CCP

In 1924, the Kuomintang was reorganized on a more centralized basis into a political party. Mao took an active part in the forum of Kuomintang leaders who had come from all over China. And when in 1924 the Kuomintang created courses for the training of leaders of the peasant movement, no one was surprised that it was Mao, at the suggestion of the CPC, who became one of the leading leaders of these courses, although before that he had not been interested in the peasant movement.

In April 1927, Mao was appointed to the Standing Committee of the Provisional Executive Committee of the All China Peasant Association, which was under the influence of the Kuomintang. Even the pro-Maoist Shram notes that Mao at that time continued to insist on cooperation not only with the Kuomintang, but also with Chiang Kai-shek. Meanwhile, on April 12, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek carried out a counter-revolutionary coup in Shanghai. A few months later, representatives of the Communist Party were expelled from the Kuomintang. A wave of mass arrests of revolutionary workers and peasants swept across the country. The stage of the existence of a united national front was left behind. A civil war broke out.

At an emergency meeting of the CPC Central Committee on August 7, 1927, the leadership of the CPC set out to organize armed uprisings. The August meeting worked out a program for organizing a series of uprisings in the countryside. At this meeting, Mao was elected a member of the Central Committee and a candidate member of the Provisional Politburo of the CPC Central Committee. Representatives of the CPC Central Committee were sent to various provinces where the peasant movement reached its greatest extent during the revolution of 1925-1927 to organize the uprising, which went down in the history of the CCP as the "autumn harvest uprising". Mao went to his native province of Hunan.

The "autumn harvest" uprisings ended tragically everywhere. The November Plenum of the CPC Central Committee in 1927 excluded Mao Zedong from the list of candidates for the Provisional Politburo of the CPC Central Committee for the mistakes made by the Hunan Provincial Committee. The main installation is only on military force. This plenum is also famous for the fact that a new concept of "Mao Zedongism" was used at it. This new trend was characterized as "military adventurism".

The leftist approach was most clearly expressed in 1930-1931, when Mao sided with Li Lisan, who hoped to involve the USSR in a world war in order to accelerate the Chinese revolution. For leftist adventurism, Mao Zedong was repeatedly subjected to party penalties.

In January 1935, at a meeting in Zongyi, Mao Zedong, having played on the vanity of the military, who constituted the majority there, and criticized the chairman of the Military Council of the CPC Central Committee and political commissar Zhou Enlai, as well as the acting General Secretary of the CPC, Qin Bangxiang (Bo Gu), achieved the election of himself to the secretariat of the Central Committee.
After leading the CPC in 1935, Mao Zedong continued to use leftist tactics that could undermine the Chinese national united front. This was clearly shown during the so-called Xi'an incident in December 1936, when Mao advocated the liquidation of Chiang Kai-shek, who was taken prisoner by patriotic military men. But in 1937-1938, Mao Zedong turned sharply to the right, and in those areas controlled by the Chinese Red Army, the October (1937) directive prepared on his instructions by the propaganda department of the CPC Central Committee forbade the preaching of any class struggle, democracy and internationalism. And when in the late 1930s and early 1940s Mao and his supporters succeeded in pushing the internationalist communists out of the leadership of the CPC, nationalist propaganda was intensified in a number of documents intended for the party and the army.

To keep the power seized in the CCP, Mao Zedong began to instill a cult of his own personality. The main means to achieve this goal are mass political campaigns. In 1941-1945, when the attention and forces of the CPSU(b) were focused on the fight against German fascism, Mao conducted zhengfeng in Yan'an - a "campaign to streamline the style", during which he falsified the history of the CCP, presenting his own figure as its main character , seeking absolute authority and complete power in the party and in the areas controlled by the Red Army. This campaign was characterized by the presence of a well-thought-out plan with a diverse arsenal of means of implementation.

Mao Zedong put the media under control and created a strong base in the security agencies. The secret services (which were led by his confidant - Kang Sheng, a man with a suspicious past) launched arrests of persons "suspected" of having links with the Kuomintang and the Japanese. Honest communists were forced to repent of all sorts of anti-Party misdeeds, to praise Mao, almost all of his opponents in the CPC leadership were forced to publicly admit their views were "harmful" or simply to obey the decision of the CPC Central Committee that condemned them. Numerous ups and downs taught Mao Zedong to distrust.

He knew how to be gentle and courteous, but sometimes fell into a blind rage. skillfully manipulated mass consciousness, combining disregard for the masses (his saying is known: "The people are a blank sheet of paper on which you can write any hieroglyphs") with the thesis that it is the people who create history. Throughout his life, he sought to create his own cult. He stubbornly planted this cult, destroying all who made attempts to oppose. He was constantly aimed at eliminating his rivals from the political arena. Mao Zedong copied Stalin, admired him, feared and hated him.

Mao learned to use the entire arsenal of means known to him, covering the desire for personal power with calls to fight for the lofty ideals of the revolution. A distinctive feature of his character was the ability to attract some to his side, forcing others to serve him. He made extensive use of traditional promotion techniques, when someone was first punished and then unexpectedly promoted. Thus, personal devotion to the leader was brought up. Having won in the intra-party struggle against Li Lisan and Zhang Guotao, against Wo Gu and Wang Ming, Mao Zedong then concentrated his forces against the main opponent, Chiang Kai-shek. With this enemy (later - with his shadow in Taiwan), Mao had a chance to fight for the rest of his life, even after winning the 1949 revolution.

This is how the new regime was planted in the CCP. Its result was the complete submission of all leaders to the will of Mao Zedong. It was clearly revealed at the 7th Congress of the CPC in 1945. Mao's speech at the congress was typical. The congress as a whole passed under the sign of the triumph of the ideology and policy of Mao Zedong and his group. At the congress, a new charter of the CPC was adopted, which stated: "The Communist Party of China is guided in all its work by the ideas of Mao Zedong." Thus, the previous formulation of Marxism-Leninism as the basis of the ideology of the Communist Party was replaced.

Mao Zedong was elected to the post of Chairman of the CPC Central Committee specially established for him. This post was invented by Mao himself, who was now rising above the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party. And since Chiang Kai-shek was also the chairman of the weiyuanzhang (in the supreme state body) and the people called him “co-chairman”, then Mao, becoming the “chairman”, created his own image of the head of the nation.

The slogan "antiquity at the service of modernity" as an ideological attitude did not arise in Mao by chance. The ideas of the superiority of Chinese culture over others, which formed the basis of education in old China, formed the dogma of its Sino-centric foreign policy.

One of Mao Zedong's favorite works was The Book of the Governor of the Han Province. The ancient legist Shang Yang argued that “a state can achieve tranquility through agriculture and war. A state that loves strength is difficult to attack, and a state that is difficult to attack will certainly achieve prosperity ... enemy, it means that the country is strong ... If during the war the country performs actions that the enemy would be ashamed of, then it will win.
From his first steps in the journalistic field in April 1917, Mao Zedong spoke almost exclusively about the revival of the former greatness of the Chinese Empire. The path to this lay through "the revival of the spirit of military prowess." The creed of power struggle remained the main thing for him forever.

In October 1938, at the VI Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPC of the 6th convocation, Mao Zedong delivered a report "The Place of the Communist Party of China in the National War" and formulated the theory of the application of Marxism in Chinese conditions: "The Communists are supporters of the international doctrine - Marxism, but we will be able to implement Marxism only taking into account the specific characteristics of our country and through a certain national form.The great strength of Marxism-Leninism lies precisely in the fact that it is inextricably linked with the specific revolutionary practice of each given country.For the Communist Party of China, this means that one must learn to apply the Marxist-Leninist Leninist theory to the concrete conditions of China..."

In 1946-1949, the People's Revolution in China ended in a civil war. On September 21, 1949, the first session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was convened in Beiping. It fixed the organization of the new state and elected the composition of its leaders. The new coalition government included representatives of eight parties and groups, as well as "independent individuals with democratic convictions." Mao, as chairman of the Central People's Government, had several deputies. In those years, he paid great attention to outward appearances. political activity.

A major wave of repression began in 1951, when, at the suggestion of Mao, the "Regulation on Punishment for Counter-Revolutionary Activities" (May 20, 1951) was adopted. This law provided for, among other types of punishment, the death penalty or long-term imprisonment for various kinds of political and ideological crimes.

In 1951 in big cities In China, open show trials were held, in which, after the public announcement of crimes, "dangerous counter-revolutionaries" were sentenced to death. In Beijing alone, some 30,000 rallies took place within a few months; they were attended by more than three million people in total. Long lists of executed "counter-revolutionaries" constantly appeared in the newspapers.

As for the number of victims, in October 1951 it was officially stated that 800,000 cases of "counter-revolutionaries" had been examined in 6 months of that year.
Zhou Enlai later reported that 16.8 percent of the "counter-revolutionaries" on trial were sentenced to death.

After the victory of the people's revolution, Mao Zedong constantly tried, stepping over objective factors, to speed up the development of China. The thirst for greatness and national superiority led him to a naive dream: in a short time to surpass the USSR and the USA economically and militarily, and therefore all countries of the world. The country has turned into a grandiose testing ground for experiment, testing his ideas in practice. In December 1953, the CPC Central Committee set the task of creating by 1957 agricultural production cooperatives of the semi-socialist type, which would unite 20 percent of the peasants. This was taken, of course, as an indication, and co-operation went into full swing. If in July 1955 there were 16.9 million peasant families (14%) in cooperatives, then by June 1956 there were already more than 108 million families (90.4%). The planned gradual development of forms of cooperation was abandoned.

In 1958, another nationwide campaign began in China. This time it was flies, mosquitoes, sparrows and rats. Each Chinese family had to demonstrate their participation in the campaign and collect a large bag filled to the brim with these pests. The attack on sparrows was especially intense. The strategy was to keep the sparrows from landing, to keep them in the air all the time, in flight, until they collapsed in exhaustion. Then they were killed.

But all of a sudden it turned into an environmental disaster. The inhabitants of China began to observe something incredible: the trees were covered with a white cobweb produced by some kind of worms and caterpillars. Soon, millions of disgusting insects filled everything: they climbed into people's hair, under clothes. Workers in the factory canteen, getting lunch, found caterpillars and other insects floating there in their plates. And although the Chinese are not very spoiled, but they were disgusted by it.

Nature has avenged her barbarous treatment of herself. The campaign against sparrows and insects had to be curtailed. But another campaign was in full swing. Its object was people - 500 million Chinese peasants, who were subjected to an unprecedented experiment of familiarization with new forms of existence unknown to them. They decided to try out an idea that had sunk into the mind of the leader. It was the idea of ​​the Great Leap Forward and the People's Communes. On his initiative, in May 1958, the 2nd session of the 8th Congress of the CPC approved the so-called course of the "three red banners" ("general line", "big leap", "people's communes").

Its essence was formulated as follows: to fight hard for three years and achieve a change in the basic appearance of large areas of the country. "Three years of hard work - 10,000 years of happiness."

In August 1958, at the suggestion of Mao, a decision was made by the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee to establish "people's communes", and after 45 days an official announcement appeared that almost the entire peasantry had joined the communes. The organizers of the communes set themselves the task of introducing the people of China to completely new forms of labor relations, social life, everyday life, family, morality, which they passed off as communist forms. It was assumed that the commune, which was subsequently to spread to the urban population, would become a universal production and household unit of the existence of each person. All pre-existing society and personal forms of relationships were doomed to destruction. Even the family - this highly respected institution in China from time immemorial - must be destroyed, and the relationships within it must be subjected to cruel control by the authorities. But this idea also failed.

Sometimes Mao Zedong was overcome by doubts about the correctness and effectiveness of his plans, but he believed that they should continue their propaganda so as not to cool the enthusiasm of the masses. And the worse the situation in the country became, the more the cult of Mao Zedong swelled, the louder the words about his wisdom sounded. Mao followed the tradition that the emperor never made a mistake. He may be deceived by officials, who should have been blamed if the emperor's wise advice failed.

In July-August 1959, Mao Zedong's course was criticized at a conference of Communists in Baidaihe and at the VIII Plenum of the CPC Central Committee in Lushan. A number of prominent figures have criticized the Great Leap Forward. Mao sharply rejected the criticism, and Defense Minister Marshal Peng Dehuai and his supporters were repressed. The year 1959 brought another amazing shock to the Chinese people. At the session of the National People's Congress of the 2nd convocation, the delegates were to re-elect the Chairman of the People's Republic of China - Mao Zedong. He ceded his high post to Liu Shaoqi, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee.

Mao left on his own, but under the pressure of unfavorable circumstances. It was a maneuver, a forced concession in order to calm the passions that had reached great intensity. After the failure of the Great Leap Forward and the People's Communes, Mao remained not only the chairman of the party, but also the charismatic leader of the Chinese revolution.

Mao had no intention of ceding the realm of domestic politics to Liu Shaoqi or other leaders. He was not going to give up a special position in the party and the state. Mao wanted to rise even more, to become an emperor. Having ceded his post to Liu Shaoqi, he hated the latter for the fact that he really began to behave like a head of state and less and less turned to Mao for advice and guidance. He could not accept that China had a second chairman.

Mao Zedong's economic thinking was characterized by the "sea of ​​people" strategy - solving problems by using the masses of the able-bodied population. He also owned the idea of ​​a significant increase in the population of China. He believed that only a huge number of inhabitants could ensure survival in the nuclear age. The strategy of the "sea of ​​people" was used by him both in domestic and foreign policy. In doing so, he exploited the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses and the people's faith in the CCP.

True, in 1960-1965, measures were taken to eliminate the consequences of the Great Leap Forward. Famine and shortages of goods were generally put an end to, industrial production began to be restored and Agriculture, rehabilitated 3.6 million party workers who suffered after the Lushan Plenum.

Interesting facts are reported by the personal physician of the leader, Li Zhisui, about the famous meeting of seven thousand personnel workers, held in Beijing in January 1962. The doctor tells how Mao Zedong was literally furious when he heard that in his report, Liu Shaoqi placed most of the blame for economic difficulties and troubles not on natural conditions, but on the human factor, that is, on the policy of which Mao Zedong was the author. And although Mao Zedong spoke at this meeting with some self-criticism, he did not consider himself guilty in his heart. According to the doctor, to whom Mao Zedong expressed his true feelings, this was another tactical ploy to keep the leadership of the party in his hands. He angrily took the attempts of the meeting participants to objectively analyze the consequences of the "Great Leap Forward", and, on the contrary, was delighted with the speech of Lin Biao, who explained the difficulties by the fact that local party workers did not implement the leader's instructions and did not listen to his advice.

That is why Mao Zedong chose Lin Biao as a tool to carry out his plans to defeat the party leadership and the party apparatus, which tried to improve things and thereby deviate from his leftist guidelines.

In the fall of 1962, Mao launched a new offensive against opposition forces within the ranks of the CCP. This time the slogan was to overcome "revisionism". Again, mass campaigns were launched as a means of struggle. This time the blow fell on the party cadres. Intra-Party democracy was curtailed, the Charter of the CPC was violated. As noted later, Mao's autocratic style of work "gradually violated democratic centralism in the party, the cult of his personality was growing." It was the prologue of the "cultural revolution".

In 1965, the circulation of publications of Mao Zedong's works increased sharply throughout the country, and in some provinces by 20-40 times compared with 1963. In 1966 alone, 3 billion "citations" of Mao Zedong were published in many languages ​​of the world.

From the second half of 1962, as soon as the first signs of stabilization of the economic situation in the country appeared and the threat of famine hanging over China weakened, Mao Zedong and his supporters launched a whole series of anti-democratic campaigns aimed at inflating the cult of the "leader" and militarizing the life of the country, which from the beginning of 1964, they took especially widespread and were held under the common slogan of learning from the People's Liberation Army of China. In order to propagate the cult of Mao, in 1963-1965, one after another, movements "for socialist education", "for revolutionization", "for the study of the works of Mao Zedong" were launched, during which Lin Biao's instructions that reading or studying this or that another work of Mao Zedong is the sacred duty of all military cadres.

In July 1964, Mao Zedong's instructions were circulated about the need to revolutionize the creative unions of the Chinese intelligentsia, which in recent years has been "on the verge of degenerating into revisionists." In 1964-1965, a "shake-up" of the leadership of all creative unions that were part of the All-China Union of Literature and Art Workers was carried out. Information has penetrated into the foreign press that already at a secret meeting of the CPC Central Committee in September 1965, Mao Zedong proclaimed a program to launch a "cultural revolution" that consisted of several stages. The first of them was supposed to strike at a certain part of the figures of literature and art. At the second stage, it was planned to carry out a purge in the party, the state apparatus and other levels of government. At the third stage, it was supposed to fully approve the "ideas of Mao Zedong" in the CPC, and possibly resume the "great leap forward" policy in the economy, as well as strengthen the extremist foreign policy.

The peculiarity of the "cultural revolution" was that it was carried out by a minority, albeit led by a party leader, against the majority in the leadership of the CPC Central Committee. It was not until August 1966 that the 11th Plenum of the CPC Central Committee was convened to consider the question of the "cultural revolution." During the work of the plenum, Mao Zedong published his dojibao entitled "Fire on Headquarters." In it, in fact, he called for the destruction of the central and local party organs, declared to be bourgeois headquarters. The resolution of the congress contained a provision, unprecedented even for the morals of the CPC, according to which revolutionary students are exempted from responsibility for all crimes and offenses committed in the course of the movement, except for murders, poisonings, arson, sabotage, theft of state secrets and counter-revolutionary crimes.

In 1966, the "great cultural revolution" unfolded, which lasted 10 years. Many old cadres became the object of persecution and attacks. From 1966 to 1976, about 100 million people were repressed, many old communists and cultural figures were destroyed. Repressions were carried out according to lists compiled by state security agencies.

On August 18, 1966, speaking at a rally, Mao Zedong announced the creation of an organization of the Red Guards in front of hundreds of young people. In just a few days, hundreds of thousands of young members of the organization literally flooded the whole country, declaring a merciless war on the "old world". The Red Guards wrote in their manifesto: "We are the red guards of Chairman Mao, we make the country writhing in convulsions. We tear and destroy calendars, precious vases, records from the USA and England, amulets, ancient drawings and raise the portrait of Chairman Mao above all this." The Red Guards destroyed many bookstores in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities; henceforth they could trade exclusively in the works of Mao Zedong. Destroying the families and homes of opponents of the "ideas of Mao Zedong", the Red Guards marked the houses of the "criminals" with a special sign, just like during the infamous Bartholomew's Night.

Soon the phrases about the "socialist education of the working people", about the "new proletarian culture" were thrown aside. It was stated with the utmost frankness that "the great cultural revolution has entered the stage of struggle for the all-round seizure of power." Party committees, the governing bodies of the Komsomol, and the All-Chinese Federal Trade Union were dispersed. Then the Maoists began to seize leadership in the central and local press, in the provincial government. Finally, it came to the Central Committee of the CPC.

In early 1967, when it was officially announced the establishment of military control over the party and government bodies, the era of the Red Guards has come to an end. Their mission was accomplished, and they were quickly and ruthlessly dealt with. What happened to the 25 million Red Guards who served as Mao's loyal support in 1966? The activists, about 7 million people, were exiled to physical work to outlying provinces in accordance with Mao's following instruction: it is imperative that educated young people be sent to the countryside so that the poor peasants and the lower middle peasants can re-educate them.

Since taking over the leadership in 1935, Mao has become increasingly superior to other leaders, so that in the end he was able to ignore the will of the majority of the CPC Central Committee, the will of the Party and the people with impunity. It was only in this situation that Mao was able during the period of the "cultural revolution" to remove not only the Central Committee of the CPC, but the entire Party, Komsomol, trade unions and other organizations from solving the fundamental problems of politics.

Mao Zedong's regime of personal power did not exist in a vacuum. He had a broad social support, primarily in the person of "ganbu" - functionaries employed in the party, state, economic, military apparatus of government. This group included approximately 20-30 million people. They were appointed exclusively from above on the basis of strict selection, and the main selection criterion was loyalty to the ideas of Mao Zedong. Among the "ganbu" the main place belonged to the military, as well as technocrats who came out of the military environment.

In April 1969, at the 9th Congress of the CPC, a new charter was adopted, in which the "ideas of Mao Zedong" were again proclaimed the theoretical basis of the Communist Party's activities.

Mao's suspicions took on manic forms. He was afraid of conspiracies, assassination attempts, he was afraid that he would be poisoned, and therefore, during his trips, he stayed in houses specially built for him. More than once he, with his large retinue, with concubines and guards, unexpectedly left the residence allotted to him, if she seemed suspicious to him. Mao was wary of swimming in the local pools built for him, fearing that the water in them might be poisoned. The exception was the pool in Zhongnan-hai. During his trips, he often changed the route, confusing the railway authorities and confusing train schedules. Numerous guards were posted along its route, and no one was allowed into the station except for local bosses and security personnel.

Official propaganda strongly promotes the idea that Mao Tse-tung repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the activities of his wife and other henchmen, known as the "gang of four", that he allegedly prepared their arrest and removal from responsible posts after his death. And here the hypocrisy of Mao Zedong was manifested, who, criticizing individual actions of Jiang Qik, tried to save her and her associates, strengthen their power in the party and the state.

Preaching asceticism, modesty and moderation, he did not deny himself anything. Mao led a particularly depraved lifestyle in the following years. During trips around the country, which were costly to the state-party treasury, he did not know how to keep his carnal desires satisfied, and local cadres, in order to please the leader, picked up young girls. After his death, a large number of women applied to the CCP Central Committee with a request to give them allowances for raising children whose father was Mao Zedong. The creation of a special commission to consider these petitions indicates that the women's statements about their closeness with the leader were true.

The immorality of Mao Zedong's nature was also expressed in indifference to the fate of people, in the absence of pity and compassion. The doctor tells how in the Shanghai circus, when during the performance a young gymnast fell and crashed to death, all the spectators screamed in horror, and nothing was reflected only on Mao Zedong's face. Rough cynicism was also distinguished by his treatment of his concubines.

Mao's hallmark was hypocrisy. He constantly urged his subordinates to honesty, truthfulness, stressed that he was opposed to lies and deceit. In practice, Mao Zedong viciously attacked those who tried to open his eyes to the true state of affairs in the country, to tell truthfully about the terrible consequences of his policy, about the starvation of millions of peasants. And, on the contrary, those who, wanting to please the leader, embellished reality, shamelessly lied, reporting to him about great successes, he encouraged, promoted, set as an example to others. Mao achieved that the lie began to dominate in all links of the party. One of Mao Zedong's assistants noticed that a multi-act Chinese opera was being played in the country, staged for one audience, who was delighted with fictitious heroic scenes.

Mao Zedong died on September 9, 1976 at 00:10. His death was not unexpected. For more than three months, Mao has not appeared in public. In the afternoon, an official message was received, and the funeral ceremony began. It lasted nine days and ended on September 18 at Tiananmen Square in front of the former residence of the emperors.

The years of his reign were marked by continuous riots, the death of millions of people from starvation and repression (the "Great Leap Forward" took over 50 million people to the grave, and the "cultural revolution" - more than 20 million), turning China into a big prison. A merciless verdict is passed on Mao Zedong by many Chinese democrats. Some of them are inclined to recognize his merits in the liquidation of the Kuomintang regime, but all are unanimous that he was unable to govern the country after the victory and committed the greatest crime, unleashing the "cultural revolution". In this regard, Chinese publicists recall that Mao Zedong liked to show off his ability to fight Heaven, Earth and Man. "How can 800 million people live without fighting?" Mao said. He said that he felt joyful satisfaction from this struggle. One of the Chinese authors notes on this occasion that because of this struggle China did not become either a strong or rich country, was unable to take advantage of the fruits of the scientific and technological revolution and lagged behind many countries in its development.

Great statesman, the founder of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong is considered one of the theorists of communism of the 20th century, in particular, its offshoot of Maoism.

The future politician was born at the end of 1893 in the southern province of China, Hunan, in the town of Shaoshan. The boy's parents were illiterate peasants. Mao Shunsheng's father was a small trader who resold the rice that was harvested in the countryside in the city. Wen Qimei's mother was a Buddhist believer. From her, the boy took a craving for Buddhism, but soon after becoming acquainted with the works of leading political figures of the past, he became an atheist. As a child, he attended school, where he studied the basics Chinese as well as Confucianism.

At the age of 13, the boy dropped out of school and returned to his father's house. But his stay with his parents did not last long. Three years later, due to a disagreement with his father about an unwanted marriage, the young man leaves the house. The revolutionary movement of 1911, during which the Qing dynasty was overthrown, made its own adjustments to the life of a young man. He spent six months in the army serving as a signalman.

After the establishment of peace, Mao Zedong continued his studies, first at a private school, and then at a teacher training college. During these years, he studied the works of European philosophers and great politicians. New knowledge greatly influenced the change in the outlook of the young man. He creates a society to renew the life of the people, based on the ideology of Confucianism and Kantianism.

In 1918, at the invitation of his teacher, a talented young man moved to Beijing to work in the capital's library and continue his education. There he met the founder of the Communist Party of China, Li Dazhao, and became a follower of the ideas of communism and Marxism. In addition to classical works on the ideology of the masses, the young man also gets acquainted with the radical works of P. A. Kropotkin, in which the essence of anarchism is revealed.

There are also changes in his personal life: young Mao meets a girl named Yang Kaihui, who later becomes his first wife.

revolutionary struggle

The next few years, Mao travels around the country. Everywhere he encounters class injustice, but he finally establishes himself in communist ideas only towards the end of 1920. Mao comes to the conclusion that to change the situation in the country, a revolution like the Russian October coup will be required.

After the victory of the Bolsheviks in Russia, Mao becomes a follower of the ideas of Leninism. He creates resistance cells in many cities in China and becomes the secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. At this time, the Communists are actively moving closer to the Kuomintang Party, which is engaged in the propaganda of nationalism. But after a few years, the CCP and the Kuomintang became irreconcilable enemies.

In 1927, in the Changsha area, Mao organized the first coup and created the Communist Republic. The leader of the first free territory relies primarily on the peasantry. He reforms property, destroying private property, and gives women the right to vote and work. Mao Zedong becomes a great authority among the communists and, taking advantage of his position, arranges the first purge three years later.

His associates who criticize the activities of the party, as well as the rule of the Soviet leader, are subjected to repression. The case of an underground spy organization was fabricated and many of its imaginary members were shot. After that, Mao Zedong becomes the head of the first Chinese Soviet Republic. The goal of the dictator is now to establish Soviet order throughout China.

Great transition

A real civil war unfolded throughout the entire state and lasted more than 10 years until the complete victory of the communists. The opponents in it were supporters of nationalism, which was promoted by the Kuomintang party headed by Chiang Kai-shek, and adherents of communism, relying on large ranks of the peasantry.

Several skirmishes took place between military detachments of ideological opponents in Jingang. But in 1934, after the defeat of Mao Zedong, he had to leave this area along with a hundred thousandth detachment of communists.

They made an unprecedented journey in its length, which amounted to more than 10 thousand kilometers. During the journey through the mountains, more than 90% of the entire detachment died. Stopping in Shanxi province, Mao and his surviving associates created a new department of the CPC.

Formation of the PRC

Having survived the military campaign of Japan against China, in the fight against which the armies of the CPC and the Kuomintang had to unite their efforts, they again continued the war between themselves. Over time, having gained strength, the communist army defeated the party of Chiang Kai-shek and pushed them back to Taiwan.

This happened in the late forties, and already in 1949, the People's Republic of China was proclaimed throughout China, headed by Mao Zedong. At this time, there is a rapprochement between two communist leaders: Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin. The leader of the USSR gives all kinds of support to his Chinese comrades, sending the best engineers, builders, and military equipment to the PRC.

Mao's reforms

Mao Zedong began his reign with theoretical substantiation ideology of Maoism, of which he was the founder. In his writings, the leader of the state describes the Chinese model of communism as a system that relies primarily on the peasants and on the ideology of great Chinese nationalism.

In the early years of the PRC, the most popular slogans were "Three years of labor and ten thousand years of prosperity", "In fifteen years to catch up and overtake England." This era was called "Hundred Flowers".

In his policy, Mao adhered to the total nationalization of all private property. He called for organizing communes in which everything was common, from clothing to food. Promoting the rapid industrialization of the country, China is creating home-made blast furnaces for metal smelting. But such activity turned out to be a failure: the agricultural economy began to suffer losses, which led to total famine in the country. And low-quality metal, which was made in home blast furnaces, often caused major breakdowns. This resulted in the death of a large number of people.

But the real state of affairs in the country was carefully concealed from the Chinese leader.

cold war

A split in the highest echelons of power begins, which is aggravated by the death of Joseph Stalin and a chill in China's relations with the Soviet Union. Mao Zedong sharply criticizes the activities of the government, accusing the latter of manifestations of chauvinism and deviation from the course communist movement. And the Soviet leader, in turn, withdraws all scientific personnel from China and ceases financial support for the CCP.

In the same years, the PRC got involved in the Korean conflict in order to support the leader of the Communist Party North Korea Kim Il Sung, thereby provoking US aggression against itself.

"Big Leap"

After the completion of the Hundred Flowers program, which led to the collapse of agriculture and the death of more than 20 million people from starvation, Mao Zedong begins a large purge in the ranks of disaffected political and cultural figures. In the 1950s, another wave of terror swept across China. The second stage of the reorganization of the state began, which was called the "Great Leap Forward". It consisted in increasing yields by all possible means.

The people were urged to destroy rodents, insects and small birds, which had a negative impact on the safety of crops. But the mass destruction of sparrows led to back effect: the next crop was completely eaten away by caterpillars, which led to even greater food losses.

nuclear superpower

In 1959, under the influence of the disaffected masses, Mao Zedong gave way to Liu Shaoqi as leader of the country, while remaining the head of the CPC. The country began a rollback to private property, to the destruction of the developments of the former leader. Mao endured all this without interfering in the process. He was still popular among the common people of the country.

During cold war Tension between China and the USSR is intensifying, despite the presence of a common enemy - the United States. In 1964, the People's Republic of China announces to the whole world that it has created an atomic bomb. And the numerous Chinese units that are being formed on the borders with the USSR are causing great concern to the Soviet Union.

Even after the USSR gave the Republic of China Port Arthur and a number of other territories, at the end of the 60s Mao started a military campaign against Damansky Island. Tension on the border increased on both sides, which led to battles not only in the Far East, but also on the border with the Semipalatinsk region.

The conflict was soon settled, limiting itself to a few hundred casualties on both sides. But this state of affairs was the reason for the creation in the USSR of fortified military units along the entire border with China. In addition, the USSR provided all kinds of support to Vietnam, which, with the help of the Soviet Union, won the war with the United States and now opposed China from the south.

cultural revolution

Gradually, liberal reforms lead to the stabilization of the economic situation in the country, but Mao does not share the aspirations of his opponents. His authority is still high among the population, and at the end of the 60s he carried out a new round of communist propaganda, called the "Cultural Revolution".

The combat effectiveness of his units is still at high level, Mao returns to Beijing. The leader of the Communist Party stakes on familiarizing the youth with the theses of the new movement. His third wife, Jiang Qing, is also on the side of Mao in the fight against the bourgeois moods of a part of society. She takes over the organization of the activities of the Red Guard detachments.

During the years of the "cultural revolution" several million people were killed, ranging from ordinary workers and peasants to the party and cultural elite of the country. Detachments of young rebels smashed everything, life in the cities froze. Paintings, books, works of art, furniture were burned.

Mao soon realized the consequences of his activities, but hastened to place all responsibility for what had happened on his wife, thereby preventing the debunking of his personality cult. Mao Zedong, in particular, rehabilitates his former party comrade Deng Xiaoping and makes him his right hand. In the future, after the death of the dictator, this politician will play a big role in the development of the state.

In the early 1970s, Mao Zedong, being in a confrontation with the USSR, moved closer to the United States, and already in 1972 held his first meeting with American President R. Nixon.

Personal life

The biography of the Chinese leader is replete with abundance romance novels and official marriages. Mao Zedong promoted free love and abandoned the ideals of the traditional family. But this did not prevent him from marrying four times and having a large number of children, many of whom died in childhood.

The first wife of young Mao was his second cousin Lo Yigu, who at 18 was 4 years older than the young man. He opposed the choice of his parents and at first wedding night ran away from home, thereby disgracing his fiancee.

Mao met his second wife 10 years later while studying in Beijing. The beloved of the young man was the daughter of his teacher Yang Changji Yang Kaihui. She reciprocated his feelings, and soon after she joined the CCP, they got married. Mao's party comrades considered this marriage an ideal revolutionary union, since young people went against the wishes of their parents, which at that time was still considered unacceptable.

Yang Kaihui not only bore the communist three sons Anying, Anqing and Anlong. She was his assistant in party affairs, and during the military conflicts between the CCP and the Kuomintang in 1930, she showed great courage and loyalty to her husband. She, along with her children, was captured by a detachment of opponents and, after torture, without abandoning her husband, was executed in front of her sons.

Perhaps the suffering and death of this woman were in vain, since for more than a year her faithful had been living in a free marriage with a new passion, He Zizhen, who was 17 years younger than him and served in the communist army as the head of a small intelligence unit. The brave woman won the heart of the windy Zedong, and soon after the death of his wife, he announced her as his new wife.

During several years of living together, which took place in difficult conditions, He gave birth to Mao five children. The couple were forced to give two babies to strangers during fierce battles for power. The difficult life and betrayal of her husband undermined the woman's health, and in 1937 the Chinese leader of the CCP sent her to the USSR for treatment. There she was kept in a psychiatric clinic for several years. After that, the woman remained in the Soviet Union and even made a good career, and then moved to Shanghai.

The last of Mao's wives was Lang Ping, a Shanghai artist with a dubious reputation. In addition to several marriages, by the age of 24 she had countless lovers among directors and actors. The young beauty conquered Mao by performing in Chinese opera, where she played one of the leading roles. In turn, the leader of the Communist Party called her to his speeches, where she proved herself diligent student great leader. Soon they began to live together and the actress had to change not only the name of Lan Ping to Jiang Qing, but also her role as a fatal beauty to the image of a diligent quiet housewife.

In 1940, the young wife gave birth to a daughter of the CCP leader. Jiang Qing sincerely loved her husband, she accepted his two children from a previous marriage into her family and never complained about the difficult living conditions.

Death

The 70s were overshadowed by the illness of the "great helmsman". His heart began to falter. Ultimately, the cause of Zedong's death was two heart attacks, which significantly undermined his health.

The weakness of the leader of the Communist Party no longer gave him the opportunity to control the events taking place in power. Two factions of Chinese politicians launched a struggle for the right to stand at the helm. The radicals were controlled by the so-called "Gang of Four", which included Mao's wife. The leader of the opposite camp was Deng Xiaoping.

After the death of Mao Zedong, which occurred in early autumn 1976, China unfolded political movement against Mao's wife and her accomplices. They were sentenced to death, but Jiang Qing was given an indulgence by placing her in a hospital. There she committed suicide a few years later.

Despite the fact that the image of Mao's wife was tarnished by terror, the name of Mao Zedong remained bright in the memory of the people. More than a million Chinese citizens attended his funeral, and the body of the "pilot" was subject to embalming. A year after his death, the mausoleum was opened, which became the last refuge for Mao Zedong. For more than 20 years of the existence of the tomb of Mao Zedong, about 200 million Chinese citizens and tourists have visited it.

Of the surviving descendants of the CCP leader, one child remained from each of his spouses: Mao Anqing, Li Ming and Li Na. Zedong kept his children strict and did not allow the use of a famous surname. His grandchildren do not occupy high government positions, but one of them, Mao Xinyu, became the youngest general in the Chinese army.

Kong Dongmei's granddaughter was included in the list of the richest women in China, but this was partly due to her wealthy husband, whom Kong Dongmei married in 2011.

The name Tse-tung, consisting of two hieroglyphs, was translated as "Grace to the East." Naming such a name for their son, the parents wished him the best fate. They hoped that their offspring would become a necessary person for the country. This eventually came true.

The assessment of Mao Zedong's activities for the Chinese people is ambiguous. On the one hand, the percentage of literate Chinese has become more than at the beginning of the century. This number increased from 20% to 93%. But mass repressions, the destruction of cultural and material values, as well as the ill-conceived policy of the agrarian revolution of the 50s cast doubt on Mao's merits.

Thanks to the Cultural Revolution, the cult of Mao Zedong's personality grew to its maximum. Each citizen of the People's Republic of China had a small red book of sayings and quotes of the leader of the people. In each room, a portrait of Mao Zedong was to hang on the wall. Historians often link the cult of the Chinese dictator to the personality cult of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

The fight against sparrows, launched in the late 50s, left in history the sad experience of the imaginary victory of man over nature. Small birds were prevented from landing on the ground with the help of special devices, forcing them to fly for more than 20 minutes. After which they fell exhausted. A year after the destruction of all sparrows, a large number of people died of starvation. The entire crop was now destroyed by insects that birds had dealt with before. I had to urgently import them from abroad to restore balance in nature.

Mao Zedong never brushed his teeth. His method of maintaining hygiene oral cavity was mouthwash green tea and eating after that all the tea leaves. This folk way led to the fact that all the teeth of the dictator were covered with a green coating, but this did not stop him from smiling in all the photos with his mouth closed.

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong was born on December 26, 1893 in the village of Shaoshan, Hunan Province, in south-central China. Zedong's father, Mao Zhensheng is a wealthy landowner. gave the child the name Zedong, which means “Beneficent East”. According to Chinese traditions, he was given a second, unofficial name "Runzhi" or - "Water-irrigated orchid." The middle name is used in China as a dignified - respectful in special cases.
Biography of Mao Zedong - childhood
As a child, he worked in the fields and attended the local elementary school. His life was spent in constant conflicts with his father, while his tender and loving mother, a kind, generous and compassionate woman, a true Buddhist, was always on the side of her eldest son.
I must say that China at that time was a rather weak state, and the government of the country by dynasties was in decline. In the village where his family lived, the population was on the verge of starvation. Mao Zedong, like his peers, was not satisfied with this situation. Already at the age of 15, his character began to acquire political overtones.
In 1911 he moved to the provincial capital "Chang-sha" (Chang-sha). He serves in the army, works in the provincial library, is engaged in self-education. This habit remained with Mao Zedong for life
Biography of Mao Zedong - young years
After graduating from the Hunan First Normal School in 1918, he moved to Beijing, where he began working at Peking University as an assistant librarian. Mao's Consciousness in the Period 1919-1920 was formed in the conditions of nationalist and anti-imperialist speeches. At the University, Mao joins a Marxist circle organized by the chief librarian and Chinese Marxist Li Dazhao, and meets radical political intellectuals who were influenced by Marxism and subsequently joined the Chinese Communist Party. This period has gone down in history as the May 4th Movement. It was during this period that the path of a professional revolutionary, Mao Zedong, was outlined.
During this period, political and cultural changes took place in China. Returning to Hunan in 1919, Mao Zedong organized radical youth into groups, published political reviews, studied the works of Western philosophers and revolutionaries, and was keenly interested in events in Russia.
In July 1921, the Chinese Communist Party was founded at the Shanghai Congress. Mao Zedong becomes secretary of the Hunan branch of this party. At the same time, Mao marries Yang Kaihui, who bore him three sons.
In order to strengthen the influence of the CCP among the masses, the party allies itself with the Kuomintang (Koumintang) Party of Republican Followers led by Sun Yat-sen to carry out the party's policies with a united front. All the attention of the front was focused on labor and party organization, as well as propaganda of the peasant movement in the country.
Already in 1923, Mao Zedong was a member of the CPC Central Committee, and in 1926 he was nominated for the post of CPC secretary for the peasant movement. Due to his rural origin, Mao easily finds mutual understanding with the peasantry. He is convinced that the main revolutionary force the peasantry must become in China. In his "Report on the Peasant Movement in Hunan" (1927), Mao Zedong describes his idea of ​​the revolutionary potential of the peasantry. These thoughts, in the future, were reflected in his ideology (Maoism).
In 1927, San Yatsen dies and Chiang Kai-shek becomes the leader of the Kuomintang Party, who, having gained control of the national army and the national government, begins to free himself from the communists. Mao Zedong is forced to hide in the countryside, organizing a fight against the regime of Chiang Kai-shek. After the failed uprising, Mao's army retreats to the Jinggangshan Mountains on the border of Hunan and Jiangxi. However, the peasant movement is growing and getting stronger.
Biography of Mao Zedong - mature years
In 1928, Mao Zedong established a republic in Jiangxi Province. Carrying out reforms, he confiscates and redistributes land, liberalizes the rights of women. It was a difficult period for the CCP itself. The number of party members was reduced, and a split occurred in its leadership. Former CCP leader Li Lisan was expelled from the party and left his post as chairman. With the support of the peasant movement, Mao Zedong carried out the first "purge" of the party in the history of the CCP. As a result, his role and influence in the party increased dramatically.
In 1928, Mao experiences a personal loss. Chiang Kai-shek's agents managed to capture his wife, Yang Kai-hui, and execute her. In the same year, Mao married a second time to He Zizhen (1910-1984), with whom he lived until 1937 and who bore him 5 children.
In the autumn of 1931, in Central China, on the territory of 10 regions under the control of the Red Army and partisans, the Chinese Soviet Republic was formed. The republic was led by Mao Zedong.
The fight against Chiang Kai-shek continues. In 1934, the communists broke through the defenses of the Kuomendang and withdrew to the mountainous regions of Guizhou. Mao Zedong's army retreated with heavy fighting to the north through difficult mountainous areas, losing more than 90% of its personnel along the way. In October 1935, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region becomes a new outpost of the CCP.
In 1937 Mao Zedong divorces his second wife, He Zizhen (1910-1984) and marries Jiang Qing (1914-1991), with whom he had one child. From 1938 until the death of Mao Zedong, Jiang Qing remained his wife and companion. The biography of this woman requires special attention, since she contributed to the "Cultural Revolution".
Started in 1937 the war with Japan forced the CCP and Chiang Kai-shek to unite again to create a united patriotic front. In the midst of the struggle with Japan, Mao Zedong initiates a movement called "correction of morals" concentrating all power in his hands. .In 1943, he was elected secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and in 1945, chairman of the CPC Central Committee. From that moment, the personality cult of Mao Zedong began to form. Coming to power. he begins to carry out reforms in the PRC in the image of the USSR, which had a great influence on China in the early 50s.
In 1956, after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, in his speech “On the Just Resolution of Contradictions Within the People”, Mao throws the slogan: “Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools compete.” In essence, this was a call for the fact that everyone could express their own point of view. Mao did not expect that this call would turn against him. Issues such as the style of government, lack of democracy, incompetent leadership, corruption, etc. were freely discussed. The Hundred Flowers Company failed and was liquidated in 1957. It was replaced by a campaign against right-wing deviators. All those who previously criticized the government and Mao during the Hundred Flowers were persecuted and repressed. There were 520,000 such people. Many committed suicide.
The Chinese economy was in decline in the late 1950s. In order to ensure the "Great Leap Forward" in all areas of the national economy, in 1958 the "Three Red Banners" policy was announced in order to reach the output of Great Britain in 15 years. To this end, "communes" are organized in the country, designed to provide themselves and the cities with food and manufactured goods. It was even planned to smelt steel in primitive furnaces installed in the courtyards of the members of the commune. The emphasis was on quantity. They tried to increase steel production by any means. This policy has failed. Within 2 years, agricultural production in China fell to a dangerous level. A famine began in the country, which claimed the lives of 10-30 million people.
In 1959, relations between China and the USSR were interrupted. The Soviet Union withdrew from China all the specialists who helped raise the country's economy and stopped financial assistance.
After the abandonment of the Three Red Banners policy, China's economy began to improve, but criticism of the government continued. The earlier "Cultural Revolution Committee" did not take any action against critics of the regime. In order to screw society into the bosom of "true socialism" and eliminate criticism, Mao Zedong decides to make the Chinese youth his ally. Students and pupils of secondary schools unite in detachments of "Hongweipings" - "Red Guards" or "Red Guards".
The People's Army supports the new movement, which has begun to take on a threatening character. Managers and professors are beaten and humiliated. Detachments of working youth "zaofani" - ("rebels") came to the aid of the "Hongweipings". Mao Zedong at a rally in August 1966 expressed his full support for the actions of the youth detachments.
Soon, the Terror in China reached a stage where there was a threat of civil war. Only then does Mao decide to end the revolutionary terror.
The Cultural Revolution is over, the country is in ruins, and relations with the USSR are interrupted. Mao Zedong sees a way out of this situation in the establishment of relations with the United States. Already in 1972, US President Nixon visited China.
In 1976, Mao practically retired from governing the country. Parkinson's disease bedridden the dictator. Having survived two severe heart attacks, Mao Zedong died on September 9, 1976 at 0:10 o'clock at the age of 83. His body was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum in Tiananmin Square.

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Mao Zedong (1883 - 1976)
Biography of Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong (1883 - 1976) founded the People's Republic of China in 1949. He was also one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921 and is regarded, along with Karl Marx and V. I. Lenin, as one of the three great theorists of Marxist communism. Mao Zedong was born on December 26, 1893 into a wealthy peasant family in Shao-shan, Hunan province. As a child, he worked in the fields and attended the local elementary school, where he studied traditional Confucian classics. He often clashed with his strict father, whom Mao learned well to confront him with the support of his gentle and loving mother, who was a true Buddhist.

Since 1911, when the Republican forces of Sun Yat-Sen began the overthrow of the Ch "ing (or Manchu) dynasty, Mao spent more than 10 years in Chang-sha (Chang-sha) - a provincial capital. He was influenced by the rapid political and cultural changes that were sweeping the country at the time. He briefly served in the Republican Army and then spent half a year self-taught at the provincial library. This helped him get into the habit of self-education.

By 1918, Mao graduated from the Hunan First Normal School and moved to Beijing, the national capital, where he briefly worked as an assistant librarian at Peking University. Mao did not have enough money for his studies and, unlike many of his classmates, he did not study any foreign language or travel abroad to study. Due to his relative poverty during his university years, he was never fully identified with the cosmopolitan bourgeois intellectuals who dominated Chinese student life. At university, he made friends with radical intellectuals who later joined the Chinese Communist Party. In 1919, Mao returned to Hunan, where he engaged in radical political activities, organizing groups and publishing political reviews with the direct support of the leader. elementary school. In 1920, Mao married Yang Kyai-hui (Yang K "ai-hui), the daughter of one of his teachers. Yang Kyai-hui was executed by the Chinese nationalists in 1930. In the same year, Mao married Ho Tsu-chen (Ho Tzu -chen), who accompanied him during the Long March. In 1937, Mao divorced her and in 1939 married Chiang Ch'ing.

When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was organized in Shanghai in 1921, Mao became one of the founders and leaders of its Hunan branch. At this stage, the new party formed a united front with the Koumintang Party of Republican followers of Sun Yat-sen. Mao worked within the united front in Shanghai, Hunan, and Canton, focusing on labor organization, party organization, propaganda, and the Peasant Movement Training Institute. His "Report on the Movement of the Peasantry in Hunan" (1927) expressed his view of the revolutionary potential of the peasantry, but this view was not yet formulated in the proper Marxist form.

In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek gained control of the Koumingtang Party after the death of San Yat-sen and reversed the policy of cooperation with the Communists. A year later, after gaining control of the Nationalist army as well as the Nationalist government, Chiang purges the movement of communists. As a result, Mao was forced to hide in the countryside. In the mountains of southern China, he settled with Chu Teh under the protection of a guerrilla army. It was almost an accidental innovation - the fusion of the Communist leadership with a guerrilla force operating in rural areas with the support of the peasants, which was to make Mao the leader of the CCP. Their ever-increasing military power was soon enough for Mao and Chu to be able, by 1930, to defy the order set by the Soviet CCP leadership, which ordered them to try to capture the cities. Later, despite the fact that his position in the party was weak and his policies were criticized, Chinese councils were established in Juichin, Kiangsi Province, with Mao as chairman. A series of extermination campaigns led by the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek forced the CCCP to leave Yuichin in October 1934 and begin the "Long March". At Tsun-i in Kweichow, Mao first gained effective control of the CCP. This ended the era of Soviet control over the leadership of the CCP.

The remnants of the Communist forces reached Shensi in October 1935, after a 10,000 km (6,000 mi) march. They then set up a new party headquarters in Yen-an. When the Japanese invasion of 1937 forced the CCP and Kuomintang to once again form a united front, the Communists were given legal status and Mao became the national leader. During this period he established himself as a military theorist, and the essays "On Contradiction" and "On Practice" published in 1937 allowed him to be ranked among the most important Marxist thinkers. Mao's essay "On New Democracy" (1940) highlighted a unique national form of Marxism suited to China; his "Talks at the Yen-an Forum on Literature and Art" (1942) provided a basis for the party to control cultural affairs.

The validity of Mao's self-confidence and rural guerrilla strategies was proven by the rapid growth of the CCP during the Yong-an period, from 40,000 members in 1937 to 1,200,000 members in 1945. The shaky truce between the Communists and the Nationalists was broken at the end of the war. The US took steps to lead a coalition government. Civil War broke through, however, in the next 3 years (1946-49) there was a noticeable rapid defeat of Kuomintang. Chiang's government was forced to flee to Taiwan, leaving the People's Republic of China, formed by the Communists in late 1949, to control most of mainland China.

When Mao's efforts to improve relations with the United States failed in the late 1940s, he decided that China would have to "lean to one side" and a period of closed cooperation with the USSR ensued. Hostility towards the United States was exacerbated by the Korean War. In the early 1950s, Mao was chairman of the Communist Party, head of state, and chairman of the military commission. His international status as a Marxist leader rose after the death of Soviet leader Stalin in 1953.

Mao's uniqueness as a leader is evident from his commitment to continue the class struggle in the name of socialism, which is confirmed in his theoretical treatise On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People (1957). Dissatisfaction with the slowness of development, the loss of revolutionary momentum in the countryside, and the CCP members' tendency to behave like a privileged class led Mao to take unusual initiatives in the late 1950s. He encouraged constructive criticism of party management from the 1956-57 Hundred Flowers movement. This criticism showed a deep hostility towards the leadership of the KCP. Around the same time, Mao began to accelerate rural property reforms, calling for the removal of the last remnants of rural private property and the formation of people's communes to initiate rapid industrial growth in a program known as the Great Leap Forward. The haste of these steps led to administrative unrest and popular resistance. In addition, adverse weather conditions led to poor harvests and severe food shortages. As a result of all these changes, Mao lost his position as head of state, his influence in the party was greatly undermined. This led to the fact that by the end of the 50s there were strong differences between the Mao government and the USSR.

During the 1960s, Mao counterattacked against party leaders and the new head of state, Liu Shao-Chi (Liu Shao-Ch "i), through the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which reached its climax between 1966 and 1969 The Cultural Revolution was largely orchestrated by Mao's wife, Chiang Ch'ing. It was arguably Mao's biggest innovation, and became essentially an ideological struggle for public opinion in the form of fierce national disputes. Mao turned out to be a good tactician "When he lost the opportunity to publish his ideas in Beijing, he used the Shanghai press to attack the Beijing leaders. The student militia, known as the Red Guards, became his mainstay. As the situation escalated and the situation threatened to break out out of control, Mao was required to rely on the military under Lin Piao.In return for this military support, Ling's party was recognized as Mao's successor in the 1969 constitution. By 1971, however, Lin was reported to have died in a plane crash after attempting to plot the assassination of Mao, who was back in firm control of power. The impulse of the Cultural Revolution was transferred to the Chinese masses, and the people realized that they had the "right to rebel", that it was their privilege to criticize the authorities and take an active part in the development of decisions. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao's sayings were printed in a small red book that was distributed to the people; his words were regarded as the final guide, and his person as the object of enthusiastic flattery. Despite how Mao might appear to have had more power than the CCP, he showed a true conviction in Leninist ideas about the collective leadership of the party. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the "cult of personality", apparently asking to reduce the number of his monuments.

Towards the end of his life, Mao puts forward new analysis international situation in which world states divided into three groups: the underdeveloped nations, the developed nations, and the two superpowers (the United States and the USSR), both of which seek world hegemony. This analysis highlighted China's position as the leader of the Third World (that is, an underdeveloped group) and helped to arrive at a rationalized rapprochement with the United States. Building closer relations with the United States was seen as a way to reduce the influence of the USSR, whose relations with China continued to deteriorate. In 1972, Mao, using his prestige to reverse this policy, hosted US President Richard M. Nixon in Beijing.

Mao died in Beijing on September 9, 1976. Over the next month, Ch'ing and his radical associates, known as the Gang of Four, were arrested. Mao's successor Hua-Feng was stripped of his positions of influence because the party was under the control of Teng Hsio-P'ing, who pursued a softening policy. In 1981, the party criticized the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, which was praised during Mao's rule The 1982 constitution stated that economic cooperation and progress were more important issues than class struggles, and banned all forms of personality cults. During the 1980s, the divergence from Mao's ideas became so great that monuments to Mao began to be removed in some areas. In February 1989, a member of the Central Consultative Commission of the Communist Party wrote to the official Beijing newspaper Guangming Daily that "Mao was big man, which represents the disasters of the Chinese people, but later he made big mistakes for a long period, and the result was even greater disasters for the people and the country. He created a historical tragedy." Along with the founders of the Han and Ming dynasties, Mao Zedong was one of the three rulers of China who came from peasant origins and achieved their power from scratch within only their lifetime. Mao's greatest achievements include the unification of China through destroying the Nationalist power, creating a unified People's Republic, and leading the biggest social revolution in human history.This revolution included the collectivization of land and property, the destruction of the property-owning class, the weakening of the urban bourgeoisie, and the elevation of the status of peasants and workers.As a Marxist thinker and leader of the socialist state, Mao gave theoretical legitimacy to the continuation of class struggle in the socialist and communist stages of development, he emphasized the importance of land redistribution for the benefit of the peasantry, and his theories greatly influenced the non-industrial third world.