Transcript Was Mao Zedong a Hero or a Villain?

Who is a great leader?
1. How are great people in a society
commemorated?
2. Does everyone believe they are great
people/leaders?
3. Who is our greatest leader?
Lincoln Memorial
Parthenon - Athens
Was Mao Zedong a Hero or a
Villain?
Mao’s Mausoleum - Beijing
Rise of Communism in China
How does a group gain political
power?
• “A revolution is not a dinner party, or
writing an essay, or painting a picture, or
doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined,
so leisurely and gentle, so temperate,
kind, courteous, restrained and (noble). A
revolution is an insurrection, an act of
violence by which one class overthrows
another…Every Communist must grasp
the truth; Political power grows out of the
barrel of a gun.” – Mao Zedong
Communist Victory
• By 1949, the Communist had defeated the
U.S. backed Nationalist Party in a civil war
– The Nationalists retreated to Taiwan where
they still are today.
Mao in Power
• Propaganda made Mao a popular hero
– Spread of ideas to promote a cause or
damage an opposing cause
• Under Mao, China restored order and
ended foreign influence
• Helped to urbanize and industrialize China
• “I had been taught that Chairman Mao was
like the sun itself. At home, ‘Mao’ had
been by first word after ‘Mama,’ ‘Baba,’
and ‘Nai Nai’…Later I had learned to say,
‘I love Chairman Mao’ and ‘Long live
Chairman Mao.” – Liang Heng
The Great Leap Forward
• Mao’s first attempt to have China rapidly
urbanize.
• Divided China into commune’s
– Included several villages (20,000 people), thousands
of acres of land
• Commune controlled land and people’s lives
– Families split up: men, women, and children sleep
separately
• Told many farmers to stop farming and produce
steel, roads, and buildings
• Millions died of starvation
The Cultural Revolution
• Mao blamed for the disaster of the Great
Leap forward and was being pushed aside
by other leader’s of the Communist Party
• Mao’s attempt to regain control after the
failure of the Great Leap Forwards.
• Convinced young people to help find
“capitalist roaders” responsible for the GLF
failure
– They attacked people who were not fully
supportive of Mao
Mao Zedong