Similarities between Mao Zedong and Josef Stalin
5-12 to 5-13-14
After winning the Chinese Civil War, Mao Zedong set out to
remake China into a modern Communist country. Much like
Stalin in the Soviet Union, he believed that China needed to
modernize at any cost. In order to do this, he instituted a number
of economic and social changes.
1. The Great Leap Forward – 1958-1963
The Great Leap Forward was Mao’s plan to modernize China in
five years. Mao believed that both agriculture and industry had to
grow in order to accomplish this. Industry could only prosper if the work force was well fed, while the
agricultural workers needed industry to produce the tools needed for modernization. Overnight, fertile rice
fields ploughed over, and factory construction work began.
China was reformed into a series of communes, or giant collective farms. People in a commune gave up
their ownership of tools, animals, etc. so that everything was owned by the commune. People now
worked for the commune and not for themselves. The life of an individual was controlled by the commune.
By the end of 1958, 700 million people had been placed into 26,578 communes. The speed with which
this was achieved was astounding.
The government did all that it could to whip up enthusiasm for the communes. Propaganda was
everywhere – including in the fields where the workers could listen to political speeches as they worked as
the communes provided public address systems. Everybody involved in communes was urged not only to
meet set targets but to beat them. If the communes lacked machinery, the workers used their bare hands.
Major constructions were built in record time – though the quality of many was not very good. Also, former
farmers had no idea how to actually use the new factories and what was once fertile crop land went to
waste on a disastrous scale.
Over just a few years, the Great Leap Forward caused massive environmental damage in China. The
steel production plan resulted in entire forests being burned to fuel factories, which left the land open to
erosion. Dense cropping and deep ploughing made farmland useless and unable to support any crops.
Anxious commune leaders vastly exaggerated their harvests, hoping to impress the Communist
leadership. As a result, Party officials carried off most of the food to serve as the cities' share of the
harvest, leaving the farmers with nothing to eat. People in the countryside began to starve.
The next year, the Yellow River flooded, killing 2 million people either by drowning or by starvation after
crop failures. In 1960, a wide-spread drought added to the nation's misery. In the end, through a
combination of disastrous economic policy and adverse weather conditions, an estimated 20 to 48 million
people died in China. Most starved to death in the countryside.
2. The Cultural Revolution
The “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” was a ten-year political campaign – the goal was to
cement Mao’s control of the Communist Party. After the failure of the Great Leap Forward, many
party members began to try and push Mao aside. The cultural revolution was about maintaining
Mao’s position of power. Mao Zedong and his wife, Jiang Qing, directed popular anger against other
members of the party leadership. Those who were not deemed loyal enough to Mao were subject to
beating, imprisonment, torture, and execution. While others were removed from office, Mao was
named supreme commander of the nation and army.
A major aspect of the cultural revolution was developing support among young people. Mao closed
schools and encouraged students to join Red Guard units, which denunciated and persecuted
Chinese teachers and intellectuals, engaged in widespread book burnings, facilitated mass
relocations, and enforced Mao's cult of personality.
However, the enthusiasm of the Red Guards nearly pushed China into chaos. The Red Guards
quickly got out of hand. Schools and colleges were closed and the economy started to suffer. Groups
of Red Guards fought Red Guards as each separate unit believed that it knew best how China should
proceed. Some Red Guard groups began to torture and execute people they didn’t believe were loyal
enough to Mao. Estimates of the death tolls from Red Guard and government purges are estimated
to be around 500,000 between 1966 and 1969.
Another aspect of the cultural revolution was
widespread use of propaganda. Propaganda
posters made Mao into a larger than life figure and
encouraged young people to inform on anyone
criticizing the government.
With regard to the great teacher Chairman
Mao, cherish the word 'Loyalty', 1968
Criticize the old world and build a
new one with Mao Zedong, 1966
ECONOMIC CHANGES
Russia under Josef Stalin
Five Year Plans: Stalin’s push
to industrialize Russia within five
years. The Five Year Plans
focused on heavy industry and
the military, but the people were
told that the quality of their life
would get better (it didn’t).
Propaganda posters encouraged
people to work hard.
China under Mao Zedong
What is similar about
Mao and Stalin’s
economic changes?
The Great Leap
Forward:
High quotas for production were
set, and failure to meet those
quotas were punished.
Communes:
Collectivization:
Stalin’s policy of confiscating
peasants’ lands and property and
forcing them to work and live on
giant collective farms.
Peasants who resisted this policy
were met with arrests,
imprisonments, and executions.
Collectivization was unsuccessful,
and millions die from starvation.
SOCIAL CHANGES
The Great Purge:
In the 1930’s, Stalin began a
campaign of terror to eliminate
any political opponents. Using
informants, the secret police
arrested and executed anybody
who was seen as a threat to
Stalin’s power.
Propaganda:
The Soviet Union also made
widespread use of propaganda to
encourage the people to work
harder and support Stalin. Soviet
propaganda glorified “Father
Stalin” and made him into a godlike figure.
What is similar about
Mao and Stalin’s
social changes?
Cultural Revolution:
Red Guards: