Mao Ze Dong

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Relation to China

Hua Guofeng was the chairman of China for a period of time before being succeeded by Hu Yaobang. His political stance was in between the pragmatists and the Gang of Four. His succession was not met with controversy as his point of view was moderate. Furthermore, his political policy, the "two whatevers," was again moderate - it did not lean towards any of the two sides. Although he failed to acknowledge that the people no longer wanted to follow Mao's policies and thoughts, his overall political stance was moderate and un-controversial. This parallels how, most of the times, when there is a controversial issue (unless its very close to my heart), I take a moderate stance to avoid criticisms. 

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Mao was a great visionary. 

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The Great Leap Forward

"Mao's weakness as an economic planner is the main reason why the Great Leap Forward failed." To what extent do you agree?

Mao's weakness as an economic planner was the main reason why the Great Leap Forward failed to the extent when regarding Mao's four nos, his anti-rightist campaigns and his idea of mass mobilization. However, when regarding the weather conditions of China, it may not have been Mao's weakness that caused the Great Leap Forward to fail. Mao's four nos had enabled pests to grow, and thus cause the agriculture industry to suffer. Furthermore, as Lee Feigon says "lower-level officials ... [showed] exaggerated their figures," which, therefore, caused higher level officials to set higher targets. However, due to Mao's anti-rightist campaigns no one was willing to speak up ("conspiracy of silence"). People like Peng Dehaui who spoke up were sent into labor camps. Additionally, Mao's idea of mass mobilization, which required peasants to throw all of their iron into backyard furnaces  was a complete failure. The steel produced, although sufficient in quantity, was useless. Jung Chang described that "Mao knowingly starved and worked ... tens of millions of people." On the other hand, we also have to consider how the weather conditions did affect the agricultural industry, it was not only Mao's decisions that led to the failure of the Great Leap Forward. The bad weather conditions also played a part as well. 

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Hundreds Flower Campaign

"The Hundred Flowers Campaign was a trick designed to trap his opponents." To what extent do you agree?

To the extent when considering Mao's past actions and paranoia. However, when regarding Mao's admiration towards Stalin and the revolts that were happening in Hungary, Mao could be genuinely trying to help his reputation. Even though some may claim that Mao had in fact introduced the Hundreds Flower Campaign to truly help China, others believe that this was all along a trap. Mao's past actions, such as the Futian Incident, included violent purges to keep the CCP free of opposition and "pure." This sort of attitude led many historians, such as Jung Chang and John Halliday, to believe that "Mao was setting a trap." He was persecuting the intellectuals by finding out who opposed him first. Additionally, Mao's paranoia behavior,  demonstrated when he removed Gao Gang and Rao Rashi from their respective offices due to suspicion (there was no concrete evidence that they were disloyal to Mao), further adds to the fact that he was setting up a trap. It was indeed a trap that worked quite well, for example a student leader openly claimed that "the socialism we have here is not democratic," indicating how much that leader believed in this campaign. On the other hand, when regarding Mao's admiration towards Stalin, Mao could, in fact, be trying to help his own reputation. After Stalin died, his successor, Khrushchev, initiated a De-Stalinization campaign that criticized Stalin. It could be that Mao, unwilling to end up and be compared to Stalin, launched the Hundred Flowers Campaign. The reason why he decided to reverse the Hundred Flowers Campaign could be due to the Hungarian revolts happening when Khrushchev introduced more liberal policies. Mao, seeking to prevent revolt, had to cancel the Hundred Flowers Campaign. In conclusion, when considering Mao's past it may seem as if the campaign was a trap, but when considering foreign factors, Mao may have been genuinely trying to help.