Mao Zedong (1893-1976), Chinese statesman and politician.

Born December 26, 1893 in the village of Shaoshan (Hunan Province) in the family of a wealthy peasant. Graduated from school and pedagogical college (1913-1918); He worked as an assistant librarian at Peking University.

In 1919 he joined a Marxist circle, in 1921 he became one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 1921-1925. carried out the organizational tasks of the leadership of the CPC, then began active work on the creation of peasant unions in the villages. In April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek unleashed an anti-communist campaign, and the leadership of the CPC headed for armed uprisings.

In 1928-1934. Mao Zedong organized and led the Chinese Soviet Republic in rural areas in the south of Central China, and after its defeat led the communist detachments on the famous Long March to the north of China.

During the Japanese aggression in Northern China (1937-1945), the CCP led the resistance movement, and in 1945 resumed the civil war with Chiang Kai-shek. After the victory of the Communists (1949), Mao Zedong became the head of the People's Republic of China (PRC), while also remaining chairman of the CPC Central Committee (he held this post from 1943).

He pinned great hopes on the economic and technical assistance of the USSR. In 1950-1956 various kinds of “counter-revolutionaries” were subjected to repressions, while an agrarian revolution took place in the country, industry and trade were socialized.

In 1957-1958. Mao Zedong put forward a program of social economic development, known as the "Great Leap Forward": huge labor resources were thrown into the creation of agricultural communes and small industrial enterprises in the countryside. The principle of equal distribution of income was introduced, the remnants of private enterprises and the system of material incentives were liquidated. As a result, the Chinese economy fell into a deep depression.

In 1959, Mao Zedong resigned as head of state. He played a decisive role in the growing ideological strife between China and the USSR.

In the early 60s. Mao was preoccupied with certain economic and political trends: he believed that the retreat from the principles of the "Great Leap Forward" had gone too far and that some persons in the leadership of the CPC did not want to build socialism. In 1966, the world learned about the "cultural revolution" in China, with the help of which it was supposed to purge the CCP of all those who "took the capitalist path."

The "Cultural Revolution" ended in 1968 - Mao Zedong had fears that the USSR could take advantage of political instability and deliver a sudden blow to China. In 1971, he handed over the powers of the head of the CCP to Zhou Enlai, under whose leadership (and with the personal approval of Mao Zedong) China set a course for peaceful coexistence with the United States.

Founder of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and its leader until his own death in 1976. Holding the post of chairman of the PRC and other leadership positions, he transformed China into a socialist state, carried out reforms in all spheres of society. Adhering to Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong made his theoretical contribution to it, creating a new ideology - Maoism.

Born the son of a wealthy farmer in Shaoshan County, Hunan Province, Mao developed nationalist and anti-imperialist views as a young man under the influence of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and the May 4th Movement in 1919. While working at Peking University, he embraced the ideas of Marxism-Leninism and became one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921, and then advanced to leadership positions. After the conclusion of the alliance of the Communists and the Kuomintang in 1922, Mao Zedong was engaged in the formation of the peasant people's army and the implementation of rural land reform. When Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek broke the alliance in 1927 and launched anti-communist purges, the first stage began. civil war. Mao commanded one of the units of the Red Army, and, after a series of failures, having made the Long March of the Red Army, he left the encirclement and came to power in the party. Together with the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937 - 1945, the Kuomintang and the CCP signed a truce, and in 1945 - 1949 the second stage of the civil war began, during which Mao Zedong led the Communists to victory, and Chiang Kai-shek with the remnants of the Kuomintang army took refuge in Taiwan.

In 1949, Mao Zedong announced the creation of the People's Republic of China, a new socialist state under the control of the CCP. Under Mao's leadership, campaigns against counter-revolutionaries and land reforms began, aimed at seizing land from the landlords and transferring them to the people's communes. In 1958-1961, Mao pursued the Great Leap Forward policy - the modernization and industrialization of the country, but policy failures led to massive famine. In 1966, Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution, a massive bolba campaign with counter-revolutionary elements that continued until his death in 1976.

Mao Zedong is one of the most controversial, but at the same time important and influential personalities in modern history. Supporters praise him for modernizing China and turning it into a world power, improving the status of women, improving education and health, and life expectancy. During Mao's leadership, China's population almost doubled from 450 million to 900 million. In addition, Maoists consider him a prominent theorist, statesman, poet and visionary who inspired revolutionary movements around the world. At the same time, critics and opponents consider Mao Zedong a dictator who systematically violated human rights. During the years of Mao's rule, from starvation, executions and forced labor, according to various estimates, 40-70 million people died.

Biography

Youth and the Xinhai Revolution

Mao Zedong's father's house in Shaoshan

Mao Zedong was born on December 26, 1893 in the village of Shaoshanchong, Shaoshan County, Hunan Province, not far from the center of the province - the city of Changsha. His father, Mao Yichang, was born a poor farmer, but managed to rise up and become one of the wealthiest peasants in Shaoshan. The father kept his four children - the sons of Zedong, Zemin and Zetan, as well as the adopted daughter Zejian - in strict discipline, often beating. His wife and Mao's mother, Wen Qimei, was a devout Buddhist and tried to moderate her husband's strict attitude towards children. Zedong became a Buddhist but abandoned the faith in his mid-teens. When Mao reached the age of 8, his father sent him to Shaoshan primary school where he began receiving a traditional Confucian education. Mao later admitted that as a child he did not like classical texts that preached Confucian morality, but read popular novels such as The Three Kingdoms and Backwaters. At the age of 13, Mao Zedong graduated from elementary school and was arranged by his father to 17-year-old Luo Yigu to unite the two respected houses. Mao refused to recognize her as his wife, becoming a fierce critic of arranged marriages, and temporarily left his father's house. Lo Yigu died in 1910 of dysentery.

While working on his father's farm, Mao Zedong cultivated his political consciousness by reading Zheng Guanying's pamphlets, which complained about deteriorating power and advocated the adoption of representative democracy. Mao's political views were shaped, among other things, by protests against famine in the provincial capital, Changsha, led by the Gelaohui society. Mao supported the demands of the rebels, however military establishment suppressed dissent and executed the leaders of society. The famine also spread to Shaoshan, where hungry peasants seized Mao's father's grain. Disapproving of their actions as immoral, Mao nonetheless sympathized with them. At the age of 16, Mao Zedong was transferred to a higher elementary school in neighboring Dongshan, where his peasant background was mocked.

In 1911, Mao entered Changsha High School. The city at that time was a revolutionary center hostile to the ruling Manchurian house. Most of the revolutionaries were Republicans who followed secret society Tongmenghui and Sun Yatsen. At school, Changsha Mao read the newspaper "People's Independence" published by Sun Yat-sen, and dedicated his first political essay to him, which he posted in the school wall newspaper. In the essay, he urged Sun Yat-sen to take over as president of the country. Together with friends, Mao Zedong cut off his braids, a sign of submission to the Manchu dynasty.

During the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, the armies of South China sided with the Republicans, the governor of Changsha fled, leaving the city to them. Mao Zedong joined rebel army private, but did not take part in the hostilities. The northern provinces remained loyal to the emperor, and Sun Yat-sen, in order to avoid civil war, agreed with Yuan Shikai, the leader of the monarchists. The monarchy was abolished, a republic was established, and Yuan Shikai became president. The revolution ended and Mao Zedong, after six months of service, retired from the army. At the same time, Mao, reading the pamphlets of Jiang Kanghu, the founder of the Chinese Socialist Party, became acquainted with socialism.

Changsha City Fourth High School

Mao Zedong in 1913

Mao Zedong entered and left the police academy, soap making school, law school, economic school, and Changsha City First High School. Studying on his own, he spent a lot of time in the city library, where he read the works of Adam Smith, Montesquieu, Darwin, Rousseau, Mill and Spencer. Inspired by the work of Philip Paulsen, Mao came to believe that strong personalities should not be bound by moral codes and that the end justifies the means. Seeing no point in his son's intellectual pursuits, his father deprived him of his allowance, forcing him to move to a hostel for the disadvantaged.

Wishing to become a teacher, Mao entered the Fourth High School in Changsha, considered the best school in the city. Wishing to help Mao's political education, Professor Yang Changji recommended that he read the radical New Youth magazine, published by Yang's friend Chen Duxiu, dean of Peking University. Although a Chinese nationalist, Chen still believed that China should follow the example of the West in order to cleanse itself of superstition and autocracy. In April 1917, Mao Zedong published his first article in the New Youth, urging readers to increase physical strength to serve the revolution. Mao also joined the Wang Fuzhi Study Society, a revolutionary group whose members sought to imitate the medieval materialist philosopher Wang Fuzhi.

In his first year, Mao befriended an older student, Xiao Yu, and together they made a hiking tour of Hunan, earning their living along the way by begging and reciting poetry. Mao Zedong was popular at school, in 1915 he was elected secretary of the student society, creating the Student Government Association, he led the fight against objectionable school rules. And in the spring of 1917, he was elected commander of a military detachment assembled to protect the school from marauders. In April 1918, Mao Zedong, along with Xiao Yu and Cai Hesen, formed the Renewed People's Study Society to discuss Chen Duxiu's ideas. The society reached 70-80 members, many of whom later joined the Communist Party. In June 1919, Mao graduated from high school with a third result.

Beijing, anarchism and marxism

Mao Zedong moved to Beijing following his mentor Yang Changji, who got a job at Peking University. On Yang's recommendation, Mao became Li Dazhao's assistant at the university library. In Beijing, Mao Zedong spoke with Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, one of the first Chinese communists. Li Dazhao at that time became the author of several articles in the New Youth devoted to the October Revolution in Russia. Along with the success of the revolution in Russia, interest in Marxism and communism in China also grew, and by the winter of 1919 Mao Zedong had become a supporter of the ideas of Marx and Lenin, also fascinated by Kropotkin and radical anarchism.

On low wages, Mao lived in a cramped room with seven students from Hunan, but he felt that the beauty of Beijing provided a bright and lively compensation. At the university, Mao was treated with disdain due to his rural accent and low birth. Mao joined philosophical and journalistic societies and attended lectures and seminars by Chen Duxiu, Hu Shih, and Qian Xuantong. In the spring of 1919, Mao traveled to Shanghai with friends to prepare to be sent to France for training. Before Shanghai, he briefly returned to his native Shaoshan, where his mother was terminally ill. She died in October 1919, and in January 1920 Mao Zedong's father also died.

Student protests

May 4th movement

China became a victim of Japanese expansion, which, thanks to the support of Great Britain, France and the United States at the Versailles Peace Conference, managed to seize a large territory. The Chinese Beiyang government in Beijing, under the leadership of militarist Duan Qirui, agreed to comply with the Japanese "Twenty-One Demands". In May 1919, the "May 4th Movement" broke out in Beijing - protests by patriots and students against the venality of the Duan government and Japanese aggression. Duan Qirui sent troops to suppress the unrest, but they began to spread throughout China. During this time, Mao taught history at the Xuyue Elementary School in Changsha as an internship. Mao organized protests against the pro-Beiyang governor of Hunan, Zhang Jinghui, for his criminal ties, popularly known as "Poison Zhang." Together with He Shuheng and Deng Zhongxia, Mao Zedong organized a student association at the end of May, held a student strike in June, and in July began publishing the radical weekly Xianghe Review. Using vernacular language, he advocated a "Great Union of the Masses", the strengthening of trade unions, and a non-violent revolution. These ideas were not Marxist, but influenced by Kropotkin's idea of ​​mutual aid.

Zhang Jinghui banned the Student Association, but Mao continued publishing after becoming editor of the liberal New Hunan magazine and offering to write articles for Justice magazine. In December 1919, Mao Zedong organized a general strike in Hunan province, which led to some concessions. However, when Mao and the other strike leaders felt threatened by Zhang, he decided to return to Beijing, where he visited his terminally ill teacher, Yang Changji. In March 1920, Mao married his daughter Yang Kaihui. Over the next seven years, they had three sons. In Beijing, Mao discovered that his articles were popular among revolutionary movement, and decided to enlist support for the overthrow of Zhang Jinghui. New translations of Marxist literature by Thomas Kirkup, Karl Kautsky, Marx and Engels, especially the Communist Manifesto, big influence to the views of Mao, which, however, still remained eclectic.

In 1920, Mao Zedong visited Tianjin, Jinan and Qufu and then moved to Shanghai where he worked in a laundry and met Chen Duxiu. Chen's acceptance of Marxism made a deep impression on Mao. In Shanghai, he met Yi Peiji, his old teacher, a revolutionary and a member of the Kuomintang Party. With the assistance of Yi, Mao met General Tan Yankai, who commanded troops on the border of the provinces of Guangdong and Hunan. Tan wanted to overthrow Zhang in Hunan, and Mao promised to help him organize a student movement. In June 1920, Tan Yankai led his troops into Changsha, Zhang fled. And Mao Zedong, after the reorganization of the provincial government, was appointed head of the junior section at the First Elementary School.

Founding of the Chinese Communist Party

Museum of the First Congress of the Communist Party of China

In July 1921, the First Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Shanghai, where it was formed by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao. One of the twelve delegates at the congress, representing Hunan, was Mao Zedong. Mao created the Hunan branch of the party, as well as a cell of the Socialist Youth Union. A bookstore was opened under the control of the Society of Cultural Books, through which the distribution of revolutionary literature began. In the winter of 1920-1921, workers' strikes took place and a movement for Hunan autonomy began. Despite the movement's success, Mao later denied any involvement with it.

Mao became secretary of the Hunan branch of the party. He moved to Changsha, where he began a recruitment campaign for the party. In August 1921, he organized a self-education university, located on the premises of the Wang Fuzhi Study Society. Mao Zedong also opened a branch of the mass movement to combat illiteracy, replacing ordinary textbooks with revolutionary ones to promote Marxism among students. The organization of a strike movement among workers against the new provincial governor, Zhao Hengti, continued, especially after he ordered the execution of two anarchists. In July 1922, the Second Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Shanghai, in which Mao was unable to attend. The congress delegates agreed with Lenin's proposal to form an alliance with the Kuomintang. Mao Zedong received the news with enthusiasm, believing that an alliance between the revolutionary parties would benefit the fight against imperialism and feudalism. In his native province, Mao successfully led the strike of the Anyuan coal mines. Success was achieved thanks to the innovations of Liu Shaoqi and Li Lisan, who not only mobilized the miners, but also attracted schools and cooperatives to their side, involved local intelligentsia, minor nobles, officers, merchants and clergy.

Cooperation with the Kuomintang

Mao Zedong in 1927

At the Third Congress of the CPC, which was held in June 1923 in Gongzhou, a decision was made to ally with the Kuomintang and the Communists also join the Kuomintang Party. Mao Zedong, who supported the decision of the Comintern on the union, was elected to leading positions in the party: he became one of the nine members of the Central Executive Committee of the party and one of the five members of the Central Bureau, as well as the secretary of the CEC. In early 1924, Mao Zedong took part in the First National Congress of the Kuomintang. He was elected as one of the additional members of the Kuomintang CEC, and also put forward four resolutions to decentralize the power of urban and rural bureaus. He then returned to Shanghai, where he worked in the local branch of the Kuomintang. Constant disagreements between the Communists and the Kuomintang, as well as suspicions about Mao's excessive enthusiasm for the Kuomintang, led to his physical and moral exhaustion. At the end of 1924, Mao Zedong decided to return to his native Shaoshan to improve his health. He did not participate in the IV Congress of the CPC (held in January 1925 in Shanghai), he was removed from his posts and removed from the CEC. In Shaoshan, Mao, having seen the hardships of the peasants over the past ten years, their seizure of the lands of large landowners and the establishment of communes, became convinced of the revolutionary potential of the peasantry. As a result, he was appointed to organize the Training Institute of the Kuomintang Peasant Movement, director of the propaganda department, and editor of the Political Weekly (Zhengzhi Zhoubao). Actively participating in work educational institute peasant movement, Mao organized the revolutionary-minded Hunan peasants and prepared them for military operations. In the winter of 1925, Mao left for Guangzhou when his revolutionary activities caught the attention of the governor, Zhao Hengti.

The Communists dominated the left wing of the Kuomintang party, and competed for power with the right wing. But when Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Kuomintang, died in May 1925, he was succeeded by the leader of the right, Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek began a policy of marginalizing the Communists and squeezing them out of the party. Nevertheless, Mao Zedong supported Chiang's decision to fight decisively against the Beiyang government and foreign imperialism, and in 1926 launch the Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army. Following the march of the army, local peasants rebelled and took land from large landowners, sometimes killing them. Such uprisings irritated the leaders of the Kuomintang, who were often large landowners themselves, which led to a split in the revolutionary movement.

In March 1927, Mao Zedong took part in the third plenum of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, held in Wuhan, which deprived Chiang Kai-shek of power and handed it over to the leftist Wang Jingwei. Mao plays an active role in discussions on the peasant question, defending the "Rules for the Suppression of Local Hooliganism and Malicious Nobility", which established the death penalty or life imprisonment for those found guilty of counter-revolutionary activities, arguing that in a revolutionary situation, "peaceful methods may not be enough." In April 1927, Mao was appointed one of the five members of the Central Land Committee of the Kuomintang, which urged peasants not to pay rent. Mao created the "Draft Resolution on the Land Question" calling for the confiscation of land belonging to "local hooligans, malicious nobles, corrupt officials, militarists and all counter-revolutionary elements in the villages." He proposed to carry out land surveying, and all persons owning more than 30 mu of land (4.5 acres) (13% of the country's population) - counter-revolutionaries. At the enlarged meeting of the Land Committee, there was a heated debate: some felt that Mao was going too far, others that he was not going far enough. As a result, his proposals were only partially implemented.

Nanchang Uprising and Autumn Harvest Uprising

After the successful Northern Expedition and the victory over the militaristic groups, Chiang Kai-shek decided to deal with the communists, of whom there were already tens of thousands in China. Ignoring the orders of the government in Wuhan, he marched on Communist-controlled Shanghai. Although the communists welcomed him, he carried out a massacre involving the Green Gang, in which more than 5,000 people died. The army then turned to Wuhan to prevent Communist General Ye Ting and his troops from capturing it. In Beijing, 19 communist leaders were shot by order of Zhang Zuolin, and in Changsha, He Jian's troops shot hundreds of peasant militias. The Communist Party during May 1927 lost 15 of its 25,000 members.

The Communist Party initially supported the Wuhan government of the Kuomintang, but on July 15 it expelled all communists from its ranks. The CCP organized the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China. On August 1, 1927, troops under the command of Zhu De took Nanchang, but five days later, under pressure from the Kuomintang troops, they were forced to leave the city and retreat into the jungle of Fujian. At the same time, Mao Zedong was appointed commander of the Hunan troops. He led four regiments to capture the city of Changsha during the Autumn Harvest Uprising. On the eve of the attack, Mao composed the Changsha poem, the earliest surviving poem. Mao's plan was to attack the city on September 9 from three directions. However, the fourth aprolk went over to the side of the Kuomintang and attacked the third regiment. By September 15, Mao resigned himself to defeat, and with 1,000 survivors, he headed for the Jinggangshan Mountains in Jiangxi Province.

Base in Jinggangshan

Hiding in Shanghai, the CPC Central Committee expelled Mao Zedong from its ranks, as well as from the Hunan Committee, for military opportunism, his emphasis on the peasantry, and his too soft treatment of the nobility. Nevertheless, the committee adopted three decisions long advocated by Mao: the immediate formation of soviets, the confiscation of all land without exception, and a final break with the Kuomintang. Mao himself was more focused on establishing a revolutionary base in the city of Jinggangshan, in the mountains of Jinggangshan. Mao consolidated five villages into a self-governing state by confiscating land from wealthy landowners, who were re-educated and sometimes executed. Mao assured that there would be no massacres in his region, and held a softer position than the Central Committee demanded. Declaring that "Even the lame, deaf and blind - everyone can be useful for the revolutionary struggle," he increased the size of the army, including even two groups of bandits, and brought its strength to 1800 people. For the soldiers, he set rules: strictly follow orders, transfer everything confiscated to the government, and not confiscate anything from poor peasants. In this way he created an efficient and disciplined fighting force.

In the spring of 1928, the Central Committee ordered Mao to move to southern Hunan, hoping to ignite a peasant uprising there. Mao was skeptical of the order, but complied. Upon reaching the Hunan detachment, he was attacked by the Kuomintang troops, and, after suffering heavy losses, retreated. Meanwhile, Kuomintang units captured Jinggangshan, leaving Mao without a base. Wandering through the countryside, Mao came across a regiment of CCP forces led by General Zhu De and Lin Biao. With their combined forces, they tried to recapture Jinggangshan. After initial success, the Kuomintang launched a counterattack, pushing the communist forces back. The detachment spent the next few weeks waging a guerrilla war in the mountains. The Central Committee again ordered Mao to move to southern Hunan, this time Mao refused, wanting to stay in his base. Zhu De obeyed and withdrew his troops. The Kuomintang attacked Mao again, and although he was able to hold out under attack for 25 days, he was forced to leave the camp to gather reinforcements. Having reunited with the fairly thinned army of Zhu De, they were able to return Jinggangshan. However, after being replenished by Kuomintang defectors and Peng Dehuai's 5th Red Army, the mountainous region could not feed everyone, and food shortages were felt throughout the winter.

In January 1929, Mao Zedong and Zhu De evacuated their troops from Jingganshan. They had about 2,000 men in total, as well as 800 men provided by Peng Dehuai. The troops went south and established new base near the cities of Tonggu and Xinfeng in Jiangxi province. During the evacuation, morale and discipline fell, and theft began. This worried Li Lisan and the CPC Central Committee, who considered Mao's peasants to be lumpen proletariat incapable of revolutionary struggle. Li Lisan suggested that Mao disband the detachment, sending peasants to spread revolutionary messages. Mao refused to disband his army or leave the base. At the same time, Li Lisan disagreed with the Comintern, and was summoned to Moscow to investigate the circumstances of his "leftist mistakes." In order to gain control over the CPC, the Comintern returned to China a group of "28 Bolsheviks" who had been educated in Moscow. Two of them - Bo Gu and Zhang Wentian - took over the leadership of the party after the removal of Li Lisan. "28 Bolsheviks" became the main opponents of Mao Zedong within the party in the near future.

In February 1930, Mao Zedong created a Soviet region in the southwest of Jiangxi province under his control. And in November, he suffered a personal loss: his second wife, Yang Kaihui, and sister, Mao Zejian, were captured by Kuomintang General He Jian and then executed. Back in June 1928, Mao married He Zizhen, an 18-year-old revolutionary who bore him five children over the next nine years. Some members of the councils, taking into account internal problems, considered Mao too moderate, and therefore counter-revolutionary. In December 1930, the Futian Incident occurred when a battalion of disaffected people tried to arrest and overthrow Mao. During the suppression of the rebellion, 2-3 thousand people were shot, and then the persecution of another anti-Maoist group, the AB Tuan, began. On November 7, the Chinese Soviet Republic, the CPC Central Committee moved here from Shanghai. And although Mao was appointed chairman of the council of people's commissars, his influence waned as he no longer controlled the army. At this time, Mao recovered from tuberculosis.

In an attempt to defeat the Communists, the Kuomintang adopted the tactics of encirclement and annihilation. Outnumbered, Mao responded with tactics guerrilla war, however, Zhou Enlai, under whose control the army was, changed it to open confrontation. The Communists successfully repelled the first and second punitive campaigns of the Kuomintang, and then Chiang Kai-shek personally arrived to lead the next operation. Having also failed, Chiang Kai-shek departed north to confront Japanese aggression. The CCP took advantage of the success and expanded the territory of the Soviet Republic, which now covered a population of 3 million people. Mao continued his land reform as well as oversaw educational programs and increased women's participation in politics. Considering the Communists a more serious threat than the Japanese, Chiang Kai-shek returned to Jiangxi and began the fifth series of punitive campaigns. This time, concrete and barbed wire fortifications began to be erected around the Soviet regions, and attacks were accompanied by aerial bombardments. Zhou Enlai's tactics proved ineffective, the morale of the army fell, food and medicine became scarce, and the leadership decided to evacuate.

long march

On October 14, 1934, the Red Army broke through the defenses of the Kuomintang in the southwestern corner of the area near Xinfeng, and with 85,000 soldiers and 15,000 party members began the Long March of the Chinese Communists. The wounded and sick, as well as women and children, walked behind the army, covered by partisan detachments. 100,000 fled to the south of Hunan, where they first crossed the Xiang River with heavy fighting, and then, crossing the Wu River, in January 1935 captured the city of Zunyi in Guizhou province. The army rested in the city, and the party leadership held a conference. Mao Zedong was appointed chairman of the Politburo, leader of the party and the Red Army. Mao decided to switch to guerrilla tactics, and move to the Soviet area in Shaanxi province and focus on fighting the Japanese. Mao believed that by focusing on the anti-imperialist struggle, the communists would earn the trust of the Chinese people, and he would turn his back on the Kuomintang.

From Zunyi, Mao led troops to the Loushan Pass, where he crossed the Yangtze River. Despite the fact that Chiang Kai-shek flew out personally this time to lead the operation, he failed to prevent the Communists from crossing the Dadu River through the Ludin Bridge and passing through Sichuan Province. Passing through the hard-to-reach areas of the provinces of Sichuan and Gansu, the communists repulsed the attacks of the Kuomintang, local militarists, and troops of the Three Ma clique. In mid-October 1935, the main column of the Communists reached the Soviet region near Yan'an and completed the Long March. Only 7-8 thousand people reached the goal. The successful completion of the campaign secured the position of Mao Zedong as the leader of the party, in November 1935 he was appointed chairman of the Military Commission.

Yan'an

Arriving in yan'an, the communists settled in Pao An, and engaged in health care, education, and land reform programs. With the arrival of He Long's column from Hunan, and the return of the defeated troops of Zhu De and Zhang Guotao from Tibet, Mao had 15,000 men. In February 1936, the Northwestern Anti-Japanese University of the Red Army was opened in Yan'an, in which great amount recruits seeking to liberate the country from aggressors. And in January 1937, anti-Japanese operations began - sending partisans to the rear of the Japanese army.

During the Long March, Mao Zedong's wife, He Zizhen, received shrapnel wounds to the head and was sent to Moscow for treatment. At this time, Mao Zedong divorced her, and married the actress Jiang Qing - his fourth wife, who in 1940 gave birth to his daughter - Li Na. Mao lived in a cave house and spent most of his time reading and theoretical research. Despite the fact that Mao considered Chiang Kai-shek a traitor to the motherland, he sent him a telegram proposing an anti-Japanese alliance. Chiang Kai-shek, being a staunch anti-communist, ignored Mao and wanted to continue the civil war and destroy the communists. However, in December 1936, he was arrested by Zhang Xueliang, one of his generals, and forced into an alliance. On December 25, 1937, the United Anti-Japanese Front was created.

During the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945, the Japanese took Shanghai and Nanjing. The capture of Nanjing was followed by the Nanjing massacre - the beating of civilians. The atrocities of the Japanese brought everything to the ranks of the Red Army more recruits - its number increased from 50 to 500 thousand people. In August 1938, the Communists formed the 5th New and 8th Armies, and in August 1940 they participated in the "battle of a hundred regiments" - an attack on the Japanese in five provinces. Mao wrote many texts in Yan'an: on the philosophy of the revolution, on the conduct of guerrilla warfare, on democracy, and on other topics. These texts formed the future structure of China. Mao also led a campaign to "streamline the style" of the Party. Designed to convert most of the new party members and defectors to the Kuomintang into Communists, the campaign resulted in the removal of Mao's rivals in the party's leadership.

Second phase of the civil war

After the defeat of Japan, civil war broke out again. The Kuomintang launched an offensive against the Communists, and even took Yan'an on March 19, 1947, but was losing the war. The leadership of the Kuomintang made a number of mistakes: colossal corruption and hyperinflation practically paralyzed the economy of the entire country, and Chiang Kai-shek did not want democratization and refused to engage in dialogue with other forces in China. The Red Army launched a full-scale offensive, and by the end of 1949, most of mainland China had been cleared of Kuomintang troops, and Chiang Kai-shek had fled to Taiwan.

Creation of the People's Republic of China and socialist transformations

On October 1, 1949, when fighting was still going on in the south of the country, in Beijing on Tiananmen Square, Mao Zedong proclaimed the creation of a new state - the People's Republic of China. From that moment on, Mao became the head of state (he became the Chairman of the Party in 1943). Mao settled in the Zhongnanhai residence near the Forbidden City in Beijing, where a swimming pool was built for him.

In October 1950, Mao decided to send the People's Volunteer Army to Korea to help the DPRK forces. In the first years of the existence of the PRC, the Communists were mainly busy with the solution of pressing economic and social problems, the restoration of the country after many years of civil war. Mao Zedong paid special attention to land reform and the creation of heavy industry. The Soviet Union provided great assistance.

The political leader and figure of the People's Republic of China Mao Zedong was born in Hunan province in Shaoshan on December 26, 1893 in a peasant family. His parents were poor and illiterate, but they were able to give their son a primary education. His father was a simple rice merchant, and his mother worked in the field and did household chores. Mao's mother was a Buddhist, so the boy was initially completely imbued with this teaching, but having met with representatives of other movements, he decided to become an atheist. At school, the young man studied classical ancient Chinese literature and Confucianism.

In 1911, a revolution took place in China, during which the Qing dynasty fell. Mao had to quit his studies and join the army. Upon the return of the young man home, the father wanted to see him as his assistant. However, Mao avoided hard physical labor, preferring books to it. He decided to continue his studies and demanded money from his father. He could not refuse his son. Mao Zedong comes to the city of Changsha and receives a pedagogical education.

At the suggestion of his teacher, after receiving his education, Mao Zedong comes to Beijing and gets a job in the capital's library. The greatest interest for young man presented books from which he learns about the teachings of Marxism, communism and anarchism. Of the teachings presented and studied, communism attracted the most attention. Acquaintance with a prominent representative of this trend, Li Dazhao, influenced the formation of Mao Zedong as a communist.

Participation in the revolutionary struggle

Until 1920, Mao traveled around the country and became more and more convinced of the need for the teachings of communism. He is faced with class inequalities and infighting and decides to set up underground revolutionary cells in Changsha. Mao assumed that it was possible to change the situation in China along the lines of the October coup in Russia. Mao Zedong becomes the founder of the Socialist Youth League cell in Changsha, and then forms a small communist circle.

The victory of the Bolshevik Party in Russia convinced Mao of the correctness of the dissemination and development of the ideas of Leninism. In 1921, the young man became a member of the founding congress of the Communist Party of China, and then the secretary of the Hunan branch of the CPC. In order to save the people from class inequality, Mao becomes one of the organizers of the peasant uprising in 1927. However, government troops crushed the rebels, and Mao himself was forced to flee from persecution.

In 1928, after settling in Jiangxi province, Mao Zedong created a strong Soviet republic. The growth of Mao's influence was influenced by the support of his policies from the Soviet Union.

Political career of Mao Zedong

After becoming the leader of the first free Soviet republic, Mao Zedong carried out many reforms. It confiscates and redistributes land, implements social reforms, gives women the right to vote and work. All his reforms were based on the peasantry. He becomes a major leader of the Communist Party and, following the example of JV Stalin, carries out the first purge in the CPC.

Mao Zedong tried to quickly get rid of those who criticized the established political regime in China and the work of Stalin. At this time, the case of an underground spy organization was fabricated and many of its supporters were shot. Mao Zedong becomes dictator of the People's Republic of China.

From 1930 to 1949, there was a struggle between the Kuomintang and the CPC, as a result of which Mao was victorious. The Kuomintang party goes aside, and the communist regime is established in the country.

Personal life of Mao Zedong

The birth of the future leader of the PRC in a simple peasant family could predetermine his fate. His father married him to a second cousin. However, Mao did not take this marriage for granted. After the wedding, he ran away from home and lived with his friend for a year. The father had to come to terms with his son's decision.

The first official wife of Mao Zedong was the daughter of his beloved teacher Yang Kaihui. The woman bore him three children. The marriage ended tragically. Yang Kaihui was executed by agents of the Kuomintang. After Mao remarried. His choice fell on the girl who led the self-defense unit. But a few years later, Mao Zedong had a new passion in the face of actress Lang Ping. She committed suicide in 1991.

The great helmsman of China believed that any person should live to be 50 years old and open the way for a new young generation. However, over time, his views changed. Mao Zedong lived to be 83 years old. To maintain his health, the Chinese leader constantly chewed hot pepper, which helps to expand the blood vessels of the heart, gives a boost of vigor and strength.

Mao Zedong never brushed his teeth. Instead, he chewed tea leaves. His title "Great Pilot" is currently a commercial brand. Souvenirs depicting the leader of the CCP can be seen everywhere in China.

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong was born on December 26, 1893 in the village of Shaoshan, Hunan Province, in south-central China. Zedong's father, Mao Zhensheng is a wealthy landowner. gave the child the name Zedong, which means “Beneficent East”. According to Chinese traditions, he was given a second, unofficial name "Runzhi" or - "Water-irrigated orchid." The middle name is used in China as a dignified - respectful in special cases.
Biography of Mao Zedong - childhood
As a child, he worked in the fields and attended the local elementary school. His life was spent in constant conflicts with his father, while his tender and loving mother, a kind, generous and compassionate woman, a true Buddhist, was always on the side of her eldest son.
I must say that China at that time was a rather weak state, and the government of the country by dynasties was in decline. In the village where his family lived, the population was on the verge of starvation. Mao Zedong, like his peers, was not satisfied with this situation. Already at the age of 15, his character began to acquire political overtones.
In 1911 he moved to the provincial capital "Chang-sha" (Chang-sha). He serves in the army, works in the provincial library, is engaged in self-education. This habit remained with Mao Zedong for life
Biography of Mao Zedong - young years
After graduating from the Hunan First Normal School in 1918, he moved to Beijing, where he began working at Peking University as an assistant librarian. Mao's Consciousness in the Period 1919-1920 was formed in the conditions of nationalist and anti-imperialist speeches. At the University, Mao joins a Marxist circle organized by the chief librarian and Chinese Marxist Li Dazhao, and meets radical political intellectuals who were influenced by Marxism and subsequently joined the Chinese Communist Party. This period has gone down in history as the May 4th Movement. It was during this period that the path of a professional revolutionary, Mao Zedong, was outlined.
During this period, political and cultural changes took place in China. Returning to Hunan in 1919, Mao Zedong organized radical youth into groups, published political reviews, studied the works of Western philosophers and revolutionaries, and was keenly interested in events in Russia.
In July 1921, the Chinese Communist Party was founded at the Shanghai Congress. Mao Zedong becomes secretary of the Hunan branch of this party. At the same time, Mao marries Yang Kaihui, who bore him three sons.
In order to increase the influence of the CCP among the masses, the party allies itself with the Kuomintang (Koumintang) Party of Republican Followers led by Sun Yat-sen to carry out the party's policies with a united front. All the attention of the front was focused on labor and party organization, as well as propaganda of the peasant movement in the country.
Already in 1923, Mao Zedong was a member of the CPC Central Committee, and in 1926 he was nominated for the post of CPC secretary for the peasant movement. Due to his rural origin, Mao easily finds mutual understanding with the peasantry. He is convinced that the peasantry must become the main revolutionary force in China. In his "Report on the Peasant Movement in Hunan" (1927), Mao Zedong describes his idea of ​​the revolutionary potential of the peasantry. These thoughts, in the future, were reflected in his ideology (Maoism).
In 1927, San Yat-sen dies and Chiang Kai-shek becomes the leader of the Kuomintang Party, who, having gained control of national army and the national government, begins to free itself from the communists. Mao Zedong is forced to hide in the countryside, organizing a fight against the regime of Chiang Kai-shek. After the failed uprising, Mao's army retreats to the Jinggangshan Mountains on the border of Hunan and Jiangxi. However, the peasant movement is growing and getting stronger.
Biography of Mao Zedong - mature years
In 1928, Mao Zedong established a republic in Jiangxi Province. Carrying out reforms, he confiscates and redistributes land, liberalizes the rights of women. It was a difficult period for the CCP itself. The number of party members was reduced, and a split occurred in its leadership. Was expelled from the party and left his post as chairman former leader CCP Li Lisan. With the support of the peasant movement, Mao Zedong carried out the first "purge" of the party in the history of the CCP. As a result, his role and influence in the party increased dramatically.
In 1928, Mao experiences a personal loss. Chiang Kai-shek's agents managed to capture his wife, Yang Kai-hui, and execute her. In the same year, Mao married a second time to He Zizhen (1910-1984), with whom he lived until 1937 and who bore him 5 children.
In the autumn of 1931, in Central China, on the territory of 10 regions under the control of the Red Army and partisans, the Chinese Soviet Republic was formed. The republic was led by Mao Zedong.
The fight against Chiang Kai-shek continues. In 1934, the communists broke through the defenses of the Kuomendang and withdrew to the mountainous regions of Guizhou. Mao Zedong's army retreated with heavy fighting to the north through difficult mountainous areas, losing more than 90% of its personnel along the way. In October 1935, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region becomes a new outpost of the CCP.
In 1937 Mao Zedong divorces his second wife, He Zizhen (1910-1984) and marries Jiang Qing (1914-1991), with whom he had one child. From 1938 until the death of Mao Zedong, Jiang Qing remained his wife and companion. The biography of this woman requires special attention, since she contributed to the "Cultural Revolution".
Started in 1937 the war with Japan forced the CCP and Chiang Kai-shek to unite again to create a united patriotic front. In the midst of the struggle with Japan, Mao Zedong initiates a movement called "correction of morals" concentrating all power in his hands. .In 1943, he was elected secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and in 1945, chairman of the CPC Central Committee. From that moment, the personality cult of Mao Zedong began to form. Coming to power. he begins to carry out reforms in the PRC in the image of the USSR, which had a great influence on China in the early 50s.
In 1956, after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, in his speech “On the Just Resolution of Contradictions Within the People”, Mao throws out the slogan: “Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools compete.” In essence, this was a call for the fact that everyone could express their own point of view. Mao did not expect that this call would turn against him. Issues such as the style of government, lack of democracy, incompetent leadership, corruption, etc. were freely discussed. The Hundred Flowers Company failed and was liquidated in 1957. It was replaced by a campaign against right-wing deviators. All those who previously criticized the government and Mao during the Hundred Flowers were persecuted and repressed. There were 520,000 such people. Many committed suicide.
The Chinese economy was in decline in the late 1950s. To provide a "Great Leap Forward" in all areas National economy, in 1958 the "Three Red Banners" policy was announced in order to reach the volume of production in the UK in 15 years. To this end, "communes" are organized in the country, designed to provide themselves and the cities with food and manufactured goods. It was even planned to smelt steel in primitive furnaces installed in the courtyards of the members of the commune. The emphasis was on quantity. They tried to increase steel production by any means. This policy has failed. Within 2 years, agricultural production in China fell to a dangerous level. A famine began in the country, which claimed the lives of 10-30 million people.
In 1959, relations between China and the USSR were interrupted. The Soviet Union withdrew from China all the specialists who helped raise the country's economy and stopped financial assistance.
After the abandonment of the Three Red Banners policy, China's economy began to improve, but criticism of the government continued. The earlier "Cultural Revolution Committee" did not take any action against critics of the regime. In order to screw society into the bosom of "true socialism" and eliminate criticism, Mao Zedong decides to make the Chinese youth his ally. Students and pupils of secondary schools unite in detachments of "Hongweipings" - "Red Guards" or "Red Guards".
People's Army supports a new movement, which began to acquire a threatening character. Executives and professors are beaten and humiliated. Detachments of working youth "zaofani" - ("rebels") came to the aid of the "Hongweipings". Mao Zedong at a rally in August 1966 expressed his full support for the actions of the youth detachments.
Soon, the Terror in China reached a stage where there was a threat of civil war. Only then does Mao decide to end the revolutionary terror.
The Cultural Revolution is over, the country is in ruins, and relations with the USSR are interrupted. Mao Zedong sees a way out of this situation in the establishment of relations with the United States. Already in 1972, US President Nixon visited China.
In 1976, Mao practically retired from governing the country. Parkinson's disease bedridden the dictator. Having survived two severe heart attacks, Mao Zedong died on September 9, 1976 at 0:10 o'clock at the age of 83. His body was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum in Tiananmin Square.

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In a family of small landowners in 1893, on December 26, the Maoist theorist and future leader of China, Mao Zedong, was born. Father, according to Mao, saved up money during military service and became a merchant. He bought rice from the peasants and sold it to the city. According to religious beliefs, my father was a Confucian, he knew several hieroglyphs for keeping records. Mother was an illiterate Buddhist.

Mao received his primary education at a local school, but at the age of thirteen he left it because of a teacher who beat students for disobedience. In his father's house, he helped in the field, kept accounting books. But Mao's main hobby was reading books about great people: Peter the Great, Napoleon and Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The father, in order to somehow settle down his son, insisted on his marriage with a relative of the family. Zedong did not recognize this marriage and fled from home. Some bibliographers claim that Mao's father was intimate with the girl.

In China, according to custom, an agreement was reached between parents about the marriage of children even in childhood, so Mao was forced to marry so that his father would not lose respect. At times, in order to honor the marriage contract, the participants had to marry dead people, if someone did not live to see the marriage.

Mao lived with an unemployed student for about six months and then returned home. In vain did my father hope that Mao would take up his mind. After another conflict, Mao demanded money for further education, and his father promised to pay for his studies at the Dunshan School.

• born December 26, 1893 in Shaoshan village, Hunan province
• dropped out of school in 1906
• in the fall of 1910, young Mao Zedong demanded money from his parent to continue his education and went to study at the Dunshan Primary School of the highest level
• in 1911, the young Mao was caught by the Xinhai Revolution, where he joined the provincial governor's army
• six months later he left the army to continue his studies
• in the spring of 1913, he was forced to enroll as a student of the Fourth Provincial Normal School of Changsha
• in 1917 his first article appeared in the magazine "New Youth"
• in 1918 he moved to Beijing and worked as an assistant to Li Dazhao
• in March 1919 leaves Beijing and travels around the country
• in the winter of 1920 visits Beijing with a delegation to liberate Hunan province, and left without result

Mao left Beijing on April 11, 1920 and arrived in Shanghai on May 5 of the same year, intending to continue the struggle for the liberation of Hunan.

In mid-November 1920, he set about building underground cells in Changsha: first, he created a cell of the Socialist Youth Union, and a little later, on the advice of Chen Duxiu, a communist circle similar to that already existing in Shanghai

In July 1921, Mao attended the founding congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Two months later, upon returning to Changsha, he becomes secretary of the Hunan branch of the CCP and marries Yang Kaihui.

Over the next five years, they have three sons - Anying, Anqing and Anlong.

in July 1922, due to the extreme inefficiency of organizing workers and recruiting new party members, Mao was suspended from participation in the II Congress of the CPC

in 1923, returning to Hunan, Mao actively set about creating a local branch of the Kuomintang

at the end of 1924, Mao left the bustling political life of Shanghai and returned to his native village

in 1925, Mao resigned from the post of secretary of the organizational section and asked for leave due to illness

Mao really left his post a few weeks before the 4th Congress of the CPC and arrived in Shaoshan on February 6, 1925.

In April 1927, Mao Zedong organized the "Autumn Harvest" peasant uprising in the vicinity of Changsha.

In 1928, after long migrations, the Communists firmly established themselves in the west of Jiangxi province. There Mao creates a fairly strong Soviet republic

Mao dealt with his opponents at the local level in Jiangxi in 1930-31. through repression

At the same time, Mao suffered a personal loss: Kuomintang agents managed to capture his wife, Yang Kaihui. She was executed in 1930, and a little later Mao's youngest son Anlong died of dysentery. His second son by Kaihui, Mao Anying, died during the Korean War.

In the autumn of 1931, the Chinese Soviet Republic was established on the territory of 10 Soviet regions of Central China, controlled by the Chinese Red Army and partisans close to it. Mao Zedong became the head of the Provisional Central Soviet Government (Council of People's Commissars).

By 1934, Chiang Kai-shek's forces surround the communist areas in Jiangxi and begin to prepare for a massive attack. CCP leadership decides to withdraw from the area

A year after the start of the Long March, in October 1935, the Red Army reaches the communist region of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia (or, by name largest city, Yan'an), which it was decided to make a new outpost of the Communist Party

In 1943 he was elected Chairman of the Politburo and the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee.

in 1945 he became chairman of the CPC Central Committee. This period becomes the first stage in the formation of Mao's personality cult.

The Politics of Mao Zedong - The Path to Communists

At school, he was immediately treated with hostility, because Mao's height was 1 meter 77 centimeters , and this is unusual for southerners, and spoke the local Xiangtan dialect. But Mao was a diligent student, read a lot, wrote good essays and discovered a new subject - geography. At this school, he got acquainted with the history of the great people of Catherine the Great, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Lincoln.

The father was tired of spending such time with his son, and he stopped paying for tuition, which forced Mao to enroll in a teacher training college. In 1917, Mao publishes an article in the New Youth magazine. After moving to Beijing, he works at the university library under Li Dazhao, the founder of the Communist Party. From 1918 to 1920, Mao could not decide on political views. The final formation of the communist worldview took place in the autumn of the twentieth year.

In 1921, he participated in the Shanghai Congress, where the Communist Party of China was formed. Mao did not support the idea of ​​the Comintern to merge the Communist Party and the Kuomintang. Constant disagreements between the Kuomintang and the Communists led to a loss of interest, communist ideals. Mao is morally tired, leaves Beijing and leaves for the countryside.

Creation of the People's Republic

Mao Zedong could not stand aside during the war and upheavals in China. In 1927, he organized a peasant rebellion surrounded by Changsha, which was crushed by troops. Mao hides in the mountains with the rest of his comrades-in-arms. The constant attacks of the Kuomintang troops force the territory of Jiangxi province to move to the west. After carrying out reforms in the agrarian and social fields, Mao creates a republic. He managed to unite ten regions in the southern part of China.

It is the thirty-first year, the Communist Party is in a deep crisis. By 1934, the military units of Chiang Kai-shek surrounded the regions of the People's Republic of China and subjected them to attacks. The Communists with a breakthrough go to the mountains of Guizhou. In the mid-thirties, the communists suffer heavy losses due to illness, struggle and desertion. But by this time, the main task was already the war with imperialist Japan, which occupied Manchuria and the province of Shandong.

By 1937, on the recommendation of Moscow, the Communists entered into an alliance with the Kuomintang Party. The Red Army in the war against Japan acts better, during the struggle the leaders learned guerrilla tactics, moreover, the main blows were dealt to the armies of Chiang Kai-shek. By the mid-1940s, the form of government of the Kuomintang party was in the process of decay, including the army.

In 1947, the last attempt of Chiang Kai-shek's army was made, the capital of the communist republic was captured, but they failed in the final liquidation of the communist stronghold and the capture of the main base. With the help of the USSR, Mao's army occupied the entire territory of China in two years. Mao Zedong announced the establishment of a republic in October 1949. After the overthrow of the leader Chai Kaishi, Mao Zedong became the head of the PRC and remained the head of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

Politics of the Great Leap Forward and the Hundred Flowers

Mao Zedong focuses on industry and agriculture. For the development of internal and foreign policy China has a lot of influence Soviet Union. The main building model was Soviet authority with signs of Chinese culture. The first five-year plan was called, "Let a hundred flowers bloom."

The Maonists expropriate the land from the owners, and with the help of Soviet specialists implement several plans for the industrialization of the country. In foreign policy, China participates in military operations against Korea. Mao's call for freedom of speech and opinion caused a lot of condemnation of his work and the dictatorship of the party for not respecting rights and freedoms. The 100 Flowers project is terminated and repressions and arrests begin.

Economic development has marked itself with the name "Great Leap Forward". The goal is to reach the level of economic development of Britain in fifteen years by organizing the entire population in rural communes, up to the creation of common canteens.

Private property was abolished. The communes were given the goal of providing their families and nearby cities with food, as well as smelting steel in the yards of the participants. The calculation was made on enthusiasm, and not on the growth of a professional level. The Great Leap Forward Program failed and ended in failure.

Changes in political power in the early 1950s in the USSR led to a rupture of diplomatic ties. Mao openly expresses a negative attitude towards Khrushchev's policies. The Soviet Union recalls its specialists who worked in the industrial sector. Open conflicts arise on the borders of China and the Soviet Union

cultural revolution

The Chinese economy was in decline. Association in rural communes relied on quantity. This is the provision of food, clothing and weapons to the population. Rural communes did not materialize, and famine began in the country. The discontent of the masses and the opposition grew. Mao decided to liquidate the oppositionists with the help of young people, uniting them in the armed detachments of the Red Guards. The terror was called the "Cultural Revolution".

The Great Revolution lasted 10 years. From 1966 to 1976, it claimed the lives of 100 million people, destroyed the leading figures of culture, science and the party. The country stopped at the threshold of civil war, and the leader decided to stop the unsuccessful revolution. A completely contradictory policy consisted of allowing criticism of authority and the right to protest, while at the same time strengthening Mao's personality cult. Every adult had a book with quotes from Zedong, and a portrait of the leader hung in the houses.

Leader's personal life

First wife friend and comrade-in-arms

Once Mao said these words: "Our life is ruled either by hunger or by love."
According to historical data, Mao Zedong had four marriages. Mao did not consider his first wife, the first marriage was with Yang Kaihui, the daughter of a teacher. She gave birth to three sons and helped her husband in his activities, kept the cash desk of the party. Yang was captured by Chai Kaishi's soldiers.

She was forced to give up her communist husband, and was executed for refusing. Mao was very upset by the death of his wife. The youngest son from his first marriage died, and Mao sent two sons to Moscow. One of the sons graduated from college and fought during the Second World War. After the victory, he returned to China, where he participated in military operations in Korea and died.

The tragic fate of the second wife

He met He Zizhen in 1927. He was a member of the Komsomol and had a strong authority. He was the first to decide to get closer to Mao, sent geese and vodka. Mao thanked for the gift and invited him to visit. The night spent together turned out to last ten years. She bore him six children, but because of camping conditions children's lives were left in rural families. She was a friend, colleague and wife in the struggle for the formation of the republic.

Despite his wife's devotion, Mao was greedy for women. This caused scenes of jealousy of his wife. She became jealous of Mao for an American journalist and student to the point of threatening to kill her. Mao knew that it would be easy for his wife to shoot two women, and possibly even him, so he sent his pregnant wife to Moscow, where she gave birth to a son. The boy fell ill after birth and died.

Suffering away from her homeland, He Zizhen asked Mao for permission to return, but Mao remained adamant. He found Qiao Qiao's daughter in one of the rural families and sent him to his wife. One day, the girl fell ill and was mistakenly sent to the morgue. The mother made a scandal to the doctor when she found a living girl there. After that, she is sent to a psychiatric clinic, where she spent a long six years. So the wife of the leader He Zizhen, who supported Mao in difficult years, was consigned to oblivion. And the daughter of the Chinese leader was warmed by the new empress of the Chinese leader Jiang Qing.

Only in 1947, the official Wang Jiaxiang, who arrived in Moscow, inquired about the fate of Zedong's wife. After receiving Mao's permission to enter China, he accompanied He to Beijing, but his residence and movement within the country was restricted. Mao did not need a sick woman, withered from wars and upheavals, by her side. Lonely and forgotten, He hanged herself in one of the residences of the Chinese leader.

Empress of the Red Palace

Mao's new passion was an artist with the pseudonym Lan Ping, real name Jiang Qing. Mao met her at a concert where Lan sang an aria. Skin color, graceful flexible figure, plump lips and regular features struck Mao's heart. He made a decision to marry an artist.

Party comrades were against an alliance with a girl of a dubious past. This issue was even brought to the discussion of the party cell, where Mao received the consent. The years of family marriage lasted ten years. She bore him a daughter.

But Lan Ping, accustomed to all the attention, suffered as a housewife. She received complete freedom of action during the cultural revolution, for which she was subsequently held accountable. In 1980, a trial was initiated against the gang of four Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen and Yao Wenyuan and Lan Ping. However, the decision death penalty were replaced by imprisonment.

The last years of the leader's life, the love of Zhang Yufeng, the conductor of the special train team. She personally dealt with the supply of live goods, girls and boys, to the harem of Mao Zedong.

Death of Mao Zedong - Chinese leader

Since 1971, Mao began to get sick often and, after experiencing two heart attacks, died on the night of September 8-9, 1976. Mao Zedong, during his lifetime, signed an order for the burial of the remains of the leading leaders of the party, but this was forgotten and the body was embalmed.

In a mausoleum built in Beijing's main Tiananmen Square, his body was placed in a crystal coffin for all to see. It is said that many Chinese were in a state of shock after Mao's death and even cried.

Despite the negative aspects in the activities of the leader of China, there were positive trends. Having received an economically weak country, Mao managed to create a powerful and independent state with atomic weapons. The illiteracy rate was reduced to 7%, life expectancy doubled, and the country's industrialization tenfold.