MAOS CONTRIBUTION TO THE CHINESE REVOLUTION 1949-1976 Essay

MAOS CONTRIBUTION TO THE CHINESE REVOLUTION 1949-1976 - Essay Example Two wars were fought against the nationalist Chinese rivals and against the Japanese. Up to today, the relationship present between the army and the Chinese people has managed to remain complicated and closely entwined. The late 1960’s was the worst time in the Cultural Revolution. The leadership of the party over and army gave way to a military rule. This paper assesses Mao’s contribution to the Chinese revolution 1949-1976. Mao Zedong is counted among the most momentous political actors of the modern world history. He was an acknowledged leader of the world’s most popular revolution. He remained a dominant figure even in the post revolutionary regime for almost half a century. He presided over the beginning of the modern industry transformation of the most populous land in the world. He influenced the lives of many people through his virtues, power, personality, thought and policies (Lynch, 2002 p12). Mao’s father was a rich peasant; he was born in Hunan province in the village of Shaoshan on the 28th of December 1893. In his early years, there was the rapid disintegration of the old imperial Chinese order; revolutionary movements and radical, reformist movements were on the rise. Ideologies and ideas that were being introduced were undermining the faith that Chinese people had on their beliefs and traditional values. As a young man, Mao studied deeply classical Chinese texts. However, he also became caught up in the iconoclastic intellectual and radical political currents that were sweeping the Chinese cities in the years that preceded and followed the revolution of the year 1911 in which the imperial system was overthrown. He was a student at the normal and middle schools in the capital province of Changsha in the years from 1913 to the year 1918. He eagerly assimilated a broad range of ideas from the west; he briefly pursued a career as a teacher before embarking on his lifelong career as a political organizer (Dittmer, 1996 p23). He established the â€Å" new people’s study society†, which was one of the most important groups found locally, these groups proved to be so ideologically and politically instrumental in the making of â€Å"May fourth† radical movement of the year 1919. While, in Changsha, Mao became involved with a magazine called the â€Å"new youth†. This magazine was very critical in molding of ideas of a whole generation of the modern Chinese intellectual and political leaders. Mao became deeply involved in this magazine to the extent that he first published an article, which appeared in the year 1917 (Spence, 1999 p90). Late in the year 1918, he left Changsha for Beijing. University in Beijing had become the center for radical Chinese political and intellectual life. Mao became extremely politicized following the influence of the radical intellectuals and the group of activist student followers. He was n ot able to enroll as a regular student; he found work as an assistant librarian at the university and was introduced to Marxist theory during the winter of the years 1918-1919. He later became a member of the loosely organized Marxist group. However, he did not immediately convert to Marxism. He returned to Changsha in the summer of 1919 this was under the influence of radical and fierce nationalistic currents that were rising in china. He began to gain interest in the political messages of the Russian