...Stalin and Mao Every country has experienced and needed one or two remarkable leaders at one point or another. Some countries are very lucky to have a great leader at an important time and make full use of the leaders; however, other countries are unfortunate to have the good leader become weak and powerless. Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin are two of the greatest leader of China and Soviet Union all over the world. A great leader can influence a country for a long period of time and the impact can ever last for generations, for instance Mao’s impact on China which lasts for years until now. As the leader of the World Communist Party and the leader of Communist Party in China, Stalin and Mao share very similar thought and concept about the path of developing and Communist revolution, however, there is more divergence between them. Some scholars believe that they are both partners and competitors and this can be proved through many evidences. Although Mao and Stalin were two legend leaders of the Communist Party, it could not be denied that there are merits and demerits through their entire life. In the beginning, Mao was not as infusive as Stalin in the world in many aspects and he made important and strategic decisions with listening to the Stalin’s advices. There are few records or letters recording the communications between Mao and Stalin, however the left ones show that they once had very close and frequent communication with each other. Some scholars also believe that Stalin...
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...I, Jane Cullen have a rough life. My father passed away when I was just an infant in war. My mother died from a brutal murder when I was 3 years of age or so I was told. I was in foster home care and I Hated it. I get treated like I am a slave with no good qualities in my life. After a while I thought that was my fault. But deep down I had a magnificent voice and personality towards acting that was poisoned with hate, harm, and stress I am only just becoming a teenager and I don’t have a good role model in my life that isn’t a drunk, so I have to go alone changing into an adult to be a role model myself. I would go to school in hand-me-downs that people had also used as hand-me-downs. I had no friends; I spent my lunchtimes in the toilet eating stuff that didn’t look like food. I dreamt at night on my bare spring bed that I was a princess in a better life, but sooner or later I would have to come back to reality. No one let me join in games they just laughed and yelled “are you stupid! One Monday I was feeling rather good about my day because there was a new girl coming to my class and I was assigned the job of touring her around the school. I was hoping that I might make a new friend .The new girl came to class late because she had to go to the store to buy a present for the first person that becomes her friend. I sat in my desk with nerves that I had never felt before. “Hello everyone my name is Sophie”. “Now where is the girl with the lovely name Jane?” I stood up and said...
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...To what extent did either Mao’s or Stalin’s domestic policies solve the problems they faced? Answers to this question should identify the problems and specific policies and assess the extent to which such policies addressed the stated problems. Stalin’s problems included the economy – with limited industrial development and food shortages. His solution was to adopt the policy of rapid industrialization at the expense of the peasants by implementing the Five Year Plans and Collectivization. Political problems included the need to fully establish the one-party state, to increase his own control of the party and control of all aspects of social and cultural life to ensure the population served the needs of the state. Policies to achieve this included purges of the party and other potential opponents, using coercion to control the population at large, issuing a new constitution in 1936, using the party and state to control arts, education and the Orthodox Church. Mao’s problems were: devastation of the country after the civil war and the war with Japan; to improve the conditions of the peasant masses that supported him; to organize the country; to eliminate opposition. The policies were: agrarian reform (redistribution of land and collectivization of farms); Five Year Plan to promote industry; the Hundred Flowers campaign in 1957 (calling for constructive criticism); the Great Leap Forward in 1958 (to meet China’s needs – a policy that was not based on Soviet experience and which...
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...Compare and contrast the economic policies of Stalin and Mao. In Russia and China, both Stalin and Mao emerged as almost god-like leaders despite making their respective countries endure harsh programs of reform all economically, politically and socially. Mao can be seen to have adopted the policies of Stalin, both inspired by the Marxist ideologies of Lenin. Both Stalin and Mao recognized the economic backwardness of their respective countries and wanted to use industrialization and collectivisation as the primary means of increasing their economies. Although the original plans were very similar, the actual undertaking of the plans in addition to the results and how it helped consolidate both leaders may slightly vary. Comparing and contrasting the economic policies of both Stalin and Mao provides great insights into two valuable leaders and their quest to success in Russia and China, respectively. The initial aims of both the leaders can be identified as similar since they both focused on industrialization and collectivisation within their countries. Starting off with the introduction of the first 5 Year Plan by Stalin in Russia in 1928, and the introduction of Mao’s first 5 Year Plan in China in 1952, both focused on state directed growth of heavy industry, predominantly the output of coal, steel and petro-chemicals. The result of Stalin’s first 5 Year Plan was that there was very little production of consumer goods as the population’s focus was solely on heavy industry...
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...When Stalin came to power in 1924 Russia was facing several economic problems. Firstly the industrial production was still very low after the hardships of WW1. Secondly a lot of food was needed for the growing industrial population and the export of food would also give an extra raise in economic growth. Stalin’s main policies to face these problems were the five year plans to increase industrial productivity and the collectivization of farms to increase agricultural productivity. In a speech 1931 he made the goals of his policies very clear, “We are 50 or 100 years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in 10 years. Either we do it or we will be crushed”. The first five year plans were a great success, and by 1940 the USSR was comparable to many of the more advanced western countries concerning the export of heavy industrial products. The collectivization however were less of a success, even if production and export increased it caused great suffering to the Russian farmers and many animals were killed resulting in great famine in parts of the USSR. This model of economic policies would become the way of Russia and China until the late 1970s. At this time China was in a civil war crisis where the KMT turned out to be the dominant figure at first. The leader of the party Chiang Kai-shek was right-winged and favored the landowners before the peasants and no great economic reforms were made. Although the country was officially under KMT rule the Warlords...
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...Logan 1 Emily Logan Mr. Sgrignoli CHY 4U1 6 June 2014 TITLE Although Adolf Hitler is often credited as the Twentieth Centuries most evil man, there are others who could easily be seen as equally sharing this assumption. Undoubtedly, Hitler was an extremely evil man and was responsible for the deaths of millions of people during his time in power in World War Two, however there are other past world leaders who were responsible for the deaths of many more people. Through examining Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1929-1953, and Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1945-1976, it is clear that Hitler cannot accurately hold the title of being the most evil man in history. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20 in the small Austrian town of Braunau. In his early years Hitler excelled at school and was admired for his leadership qualities (history.com), however when he reached high school he found the work to be much more difficult. When Hitler was fifteen years old he failed his exams and was informed he would need to repeat that school year. Stubbornly, Hitler refused to continue with his education and dropped out of school. When he was eighteen years old his father, Alois Hitler, passed away. Hitler used the money he Logan 2 inherited from his later father to move to Vienna in hopes of pursuing a career in the arts. He applied to the Vienna Academy of Art and the School of Architecture, to which he was both...
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...People were afraid of both. For example, some people were terrified of Mao that they fled the nation. Stalin greatest assets were his intimidation. He would intimidate individuals and instill fear. But there methods in dealing with opposition were different due to the circumstances present. Stalin had deceit and act shrewd in order to accomplish his goals while also exploiting individuals, but Mao did not. • Both Stalin and Mao had complete control in their Left wing communist states. • They tremendously affected the citizens and so were the different sectors in the nation. • Both had influence over financial, social and political events that transpired in the state. • While both did establish communism or socialism in either Russia or China, their influence or infrastructure was different. • Both had tried to gather support either through heinous means or through consent. They did so by utilizing their authority and increasing their power till they have complete control. Power came...
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...Chinese involvement in the Korean War was merely an instrument of Stalin’s foreign policy rather than as a force for spreading communist revolution. How far do you accept this interpretation? Chinese involvement in the Korean War was largely due to Stalin’s use of manipulation and encouragement towards Mao, convincing him to join the war. To a large extent, Stalin’s motivation behind encouraging Mao to join the war could be due to the possibility of increasing communist influence in Asia. China is a large and, in comparison to other Asian countries, powerful place. With their help, North Korea’s chances of winning the war and therefore increasing communism in Asia was much more likely. The other possibility is that Stalin encouraged China’s involvement due to his foreign policy which meant that communist countries such as China and the USSR should help other communist countries (i.e. North Korea) in disputes whereby Nationalists and Communists are fighting. The idea of Chinese involvement in the war seems possible, to a small extent, to be due to Stalin’s policy when we look at his involvement in the decision. The military campaign against South Korea was agreed between Stalin and Kim Il-Sung, showing Stalin’s genuine interest in helping North Korea in the dispute. Stalin’s enthusiasm in Chinese involvement also suggests that he was motivated by his foreign policy and helping a fellow communist state as he was aware of China’s power in Asia. He knew that China were much larger...
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...Josef Stalin (USSR) | Mao Zedong (China) | | | Conditions that produced authoritarian and single-party states | * Contenders (Left to right): Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Stalin, Rykov, Tomsky, Bukharin * Issues affecting power struggle: - Leadership (Collective vs Single) - NEP (End vs Continue) - Revolution (Permanent vs One Country) * Methods he used to come to power (pg103): Lenin’s early death; Lenin’s Secret Testament; Lenin Enrolment; Leninist Foundations; No Clear Successor; Stalin outwitted Trotsky; Changing Politburo members; War Scare; Scissors Crisis * Ban on factions in 1921 | * Mao & Enlai set up Jiangxi Soviet * GMD’s Northern Expedition (1926): Conquer warlords and CCP * CCP Opposition and Long March - Mao & Enlai set up Jiangxi Soviet - Jiang ignored Japanese, focus on CCP - Jiang destroyed Jiangxi Soviet - Long March: <20k survived out of 100k - Mao leads CCP * Jiang: Japanese “disease of the skin” while Communists were a “disease of the heart” * 2nd United Front: w/ CCP against Japanese * Post-War Mediation failed * Civil War (1946-9) | Emergence of leaders: aims, ideology, support | * Power Base: Party Secretary; Positions in Orgburo and Secretariat; Control of Party Organization and Membership * Power Struggle (Boxing Match Thingy): 1: Trotsky didn’t come to Lenin’s funeral, Stalin controlled the funeral 2: Krupskaya read Lenin’s Testament to Central Committee, Zinoviev/Kamenev stopped if...
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...The Origins of the Korean War a) Read the sources and answer the questions which follow: Source A “According to Stalin, one reason contributing to the Soviet Union’s new stance was the dishonest, perfidious and arrogant behaviour of the United States in Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East and especially its decision to form NATO. According to Stalin, ‘America was no longer a partner, but an adversary, and the Soviet Union could not bind itself any longer to agreements with [such] an adversary’. Another reason was the ‘aggressive designs of the South Koreans.’ As Stalin concluded, ‘the South was determined to launch an attack on the North sooner or later and it was important to forestall this aggression’.” Russian journalist summarizes Stalin’s conversations with Kim Il Sung at the Kremlin in April 1950. Source B Rather, it appears that Stalin manoeuvred Mao into a position in which the latter could hardly resist Kim’s plan or avoid coming to the aid of North Korea if it ran into difficulty with the Americans. Not only had Stalin recently granted Mao his wish for a new treaty, but Mao needed continued Soviet air and naval assistance in executing his plan to seize Taiwan, and Kim had assisted him with Korean troops in the Chinese civil war. [Stalin] also saw advantages in stepped-up Communist pressure in other parts of East Asia. Stalin had run into difficulties in Europe, where the Americans had drawn a clear line with the Greek-Turkish aid program, the Marshall...
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...its ruler Josef Stalin. The second is China and its ruler Mao Zedong. I will be talking about both of these rulers and their manner of the mass murders, how they justified the killings and the meanings of them. In the 1950s, directly after the Communists took control in China, the Soviets had a union with them and gave them a few weapons and innovation. This was a direct result of the Korean War, which included America against the Communist world, so Stalin consented to help Mao out a bit. Mao thus let the Korean war delay for longer than it needed to, with the goal that he could continue constraining the Soviets for help. By the beginning of the 1960s, however, the Soviets were treating China with utter disdain and by the mid 1960s the separation was finished. In many ways, he never really had to. If you look at the way he interacted with them at meetings, Stalin was constantly pushing to see what he could and couldn't get away with....
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...ideological differences further. * Khrushchev’s belief that Capitalism was doomed to fail and so expansionism and aggression were unnecessary (peaceful coexistence) was juxtaposed with Mao’s adherence creating a communist revolution and military involvement to protest communist comrades e.g. Korean War. * Mao also wanted to continue with Stalin’s Five Year Plans and devised his own version The Great Leap Forward campaign launched in 1958 to increase industrial and agricultural progress. The campaign involved building dams, reservoirs, roads and establishing communes and setting up small-scale steel and iron furnaces in country areas.- This policy was a disaster resulting in at least 17 million deaths and prompted, due to frustration, Soviet withdrawal of economic aid in 1960. Individuals * Stalin, being the leader of the first major Communist superpower could rightly claim the title of senior partner in the Treaty of Friendship. Mao admired Stalin, tried to emulate his policies, relied on him for funds, experts and aiding the establishment of China as a Communist state. The Korean War highlighted their ability to cooperate * However, it was clear to Mao that Stalin was...
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...What were the causes of the Sino-Soviet Split? P118-123 1. What was the relationship like between Stalin and Mao? * Feb 1950 Treaty of Friendship that seemed to confirm US perceptions that China was ready to do Stalin’s bidding in struggle against forces of capitalism and imperialism * Reality was to show much more complex relationship between 2 com powers * Treaty heavily favorable to USSR, reflection of relationship between 2 countries at time * USSR treated China as a junior partner in com alliance * 1 way China could improve standing in relationship was by proving loyalty to cause of world com. In this context it was to take active role in attempting to advance world com * Not easy relationship between S/M * S always cautious in providing help to CCP during civil war. To him Guomindang seemed to offer better bulwark against Jap expansion in China that occurred during 30s and WW2. As a result gave them aid * Only after CCP had taken over in Oct 49 that Stalin was prepared to place relations with M on firmer footing * Alliance with USSR was to be cornerstone of M fp. believed it was only though assistance of USSR that com CH could receive protection it needed against attack from USA and anti-com forces in CH. Also wanted help of Sov experts to ensure socialist society was developed within CH. * USSR agreed to help and Liu Shaoqi (2nd in command) visited Moscow summer 49 to start negotiations * Report to S, sov com party...
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...by the political rivalry of Khrushchev and Mao? The Sino Soviet split occurred largely due to the ideological issues that Mao and Khrushchev had, having vastly opposite ideas on the nature of Revolutions. However, through this you largely see the clash of their personalities and how they differed vastly seen through the Soviet speech in which Khrushchev seriously offended Mao by announcing de-Stalinisation. National security was the basis of much strain as neither country felt safe mainly due to the advancement of nuclear weapons. Both countries had many attempts in order to gain stability ahead of the other such as the Korean War, where the USSR forced Mao to pay a large sum of money in order to pay back the USSR for its aid. However, this caused further rifts in the relationship. Due to the shared border of China and the USSR, territorial disputes were not unheard of however, throughout the Cold War, this became a larger issue as each wanted to assert more power. Although relations with the US was a factor involved in the split, it did little but cause tension and demonstrate the further rift that was happening between the two countries through the various meetings with presidents. Ideological differences were pivotal in the breakdown of Sino-Soviet relations as they marked a significant flaw in the relationship; this was mainly due to their idea of the Nature of a Revolution. The Soviets believed in a Worker’s revolution whereas Mao was set on a peasant revolution, which can...
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...industrialized and the decisions that were made by Stalin would have devastating effects on the people of Russia. The main reason why Russian leaders had serious incentives to make their economy stronger was to rival Western economies, but unlike the West, Russia had forced its citizens to do what their told to make this a reality (Keefe, pg.1). At the time Stalin was in office he had proposed two five-year plans to transition Russia into a modern industrial economy, however, it came the expense of brutal oppression, forced labor, and millions of deaths to all which initially were spread through propaganda messages that incited national pride among many and was in a sense “successful” in achieving “increased production” but would come at the cost of devastating the Russian peoples’ living conditions (Keefe, pg.1). The process of collectivization from the 1927 to the 1930s and beyond lead to “cataclysmic “famines in Russia, killing anywhere from “five to six million” or more people per famine (Keefe, p.2). The Russian peasant class were severely oppressed as their rights, property, and work were taken away from them through fear and intimidation. In general, as with Zedong’s political decisions, Stalin’s decisions to make Russia an industrialized economy neglected certain aspects of the economy, which caused a shortage of food supplies that lead to famines. Notably, the government's reaction to the famines in Russia had been nothing as Stalin did not seek to aid those in need of...
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