Mao Zedong and the Chinese Revolution Essay Example

In 1949 a powerful communist leader by the name of Mao Zedong came to power based on his idea for a, “Great Leap Forward.” This idea was meant to bring China’s economy into the twentieth century. He had assembled a revolutionary government using traditional Chinese ideals of filial piety, harmony, and order. Mao's cult of personality, party purges, and political policies reflect Mao's esteem of these traditional Chinese ideals and history. However, the product of this revolution created a massive national shortage in vital materials and initiated a wide scale famine to China’s people (Gabriel). Mao Zedong was a powerful leader, who was able to insight action into his followers. The author of forty poems and a charismatic speaker, it is no mystery how he was able to win his office. Mao was born in a Hunan provenience, his father was a peasant farmer, and his mother was a devout Buddhist. With a teaching degree from Changsha, Mao went to work as a library assistant at the University of Bejing, this is where he was first introduced to Marxism. In 1921 Mao became the founder of the Chinese Communist party. It is interesting that Mao was one of only three peasants able to gain power of his country, the others are the founders of the Han, and Ming dynasties (Liukkonen). In 1923, after the Communists formed an alliance with the Guomingdang, the Chinese National People's Party, Mao became a leader in the combined party. He was sent in 1925 to organize the Peasants of Hunan province. This event and Mao's report of it became a pivotal point in documenting and disseminating Mao's hallmark of Chinese Communism.
Mao Zedong spent many years purging nationalists, and growing in political power. He was quoted at one time to say, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.(Dunster)" In 1927, the Guomingdang broke with the Communists. Chased from the urban areas, the Communists fled to the countryside.This proved to be a blessing. Throughout the 1930's, the Communists