Mao Zedong
Topic: Paths to Modernisation: Japan, China, Korea · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Paths to Modernisation"
Meaning
Mao Zedong (1893–1976) was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. The Comintern, the international body of Communist parties, wanted revolution to be led by urban factory workers. Mao broke from this view and based the revolution on the peasantry, meaning farmers and villagers. He founded the People's Republic of China in 1949. He later launched the Great Leap Forward (1958) and the Cultural Revolution (1965/66).
Example
In the Jiangxi soviet (1928–34), Mao redistributed land and set up rural women's associations. In the Xunwu survey (1930), he studied everyday goods, traders, craftsmen and even the prices at which children were sold, and used this evidence to plan policies.
Don't confuse with
- Deng Xiaoping: He led the reforms that began in 1978, including the Four Modernisations and the socialist market economy. He was not the founder of the revolution.
Related concepts
- Communist Party of China
- Comintern
- Long March
- People's Republic of China
- Great Leap Forward
- People's communes
- Cultural Revolution
- Deng Xiaoping
- Four Modernisations
- Socialist market economy