Was Mao’s China an authoritarian state and Mao its undisputed authoritarian leader?
Mao Zedong was a Chinese communist revolutionary who founded the People’s Republic of
China which he was the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from the establishment of
the PRC in 1949. His goal as a leader was to preserve communist ideals by removing any
remnants of capitalistic features and traditional features from society, whilst imposing Mao
Zedong Thought. In order to evaluate if Mao managed to impose his ideals and achieve his
aims which an authoritarian leader should be able to do, I will be looking at the following
principles; propaganda and censorship, coercion and terror as well as the use of ideology.
In the first paragraph, the focus is religious freedom to investigate if Mao had achieved
authoritarian control. Then I will look at policies the leader used to create an authoritarian state,
and lastly ……....
Mao China is an authoritarian state as it lacked civil liberties such as freedom of religion. Mao
as an undisputed leader used propaganda and terror to ban all religions as the religious
authority is a threat to his leadership. Religious clothing and practice were illegal and there was
also use of propaganda through public loudspeakers which denounced religion to ensure that
China would be an atheist state and that everyone devoted themselves to Maoism with loyalty
to CCP. Mao as an undisputed authoritarian leader is shown to have full control as the public
stripped clothes off the clergy who dared to walk abroad in their traditional distinctive clothing
As well as that people helped to destroy monasteries and shrines whilst priests were banned.
The fact that Mao even managed to form his own followership which people worship which is
seen by people bowing 3 times, reading passages from 'Little Red Book', wishing Mao 'ten
thousand years'. As China lacked civil liberties such as religious freedom which is resultant of
Mao’s undisputed leadership shows how much power and control Mao has achieved with the
use of propaganda and support.
Furthermore, Mao’s China is an authoritarian state and an undisputed authoritarian leader as
people followed his social policies blindly. Social policies are the following as that everyone was
'Loyalty to the state and party' thus children tended to speak out against parents if they were
unloyal to Mao whilst they were also taking revolutionary action against the older generation. In
addition, education was completely reformed to follow Mao’s ideology which was that
experience is more important than reading books. From 1966-1976, 12 million young people
were sent to the countryside to experience peasant work, instead of attending school. Manual
labour which peasants used to do was now done by all children as in 1966 all universities
closed the idea was that (1965) 'The more books you read, the more stupid you become” thus
they worked in in the countryside rather than having a formal education. These ideas also got
130 million people to stop attending school/university in 1966-1970. The fact that many
complied with these policies and ideals, dropped out of school or harassed and vandalised
universities to the point that they closed down and many children worked in the countryside
shows how everyone blindly obeys Mao as a leader, whilst the fact that universities were forced
to close down shows the lack of freedom to make choices in education thus showing how CHina
was an authoritarian state.
Achieved
The way he achieved power, he expected everyone to blindly obey him and
power was concentrated in a party that was dictated by Mao
Exercised
power
According to his ideological beliefs, political and civil rights were non existent
and those who did not comply were forced to undergo struggle sessions
Not achieved Mao tolerated some pluralism from ethnic and religious minority groups