Mao Zedong And Chinese Peasantry

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The Relationship between Mao Zedong and Chinese Peasantry “Whoever can win the hearts of the peasants, he can win the entire China; whoever can solve the land problems for the peasants, he would be able to win the Peasants’ hearts.” ----- Mao Zedong[1] Mao Zedong, the person who led one of the most successful revolutions in the world, has made enormous contributions to Chinese history. As the founder of China, he overcame the Nationalist party and liberated China with the great help of the Chinese peasantry. He effectively combined the Marxist theory to the Chinese social conditions and conceived a successful revolutionary strategy for China. Mao Zedong understood that since “the overwhelming majority of the Chinese proletariats are the peasants,” [2] the key to success was to appeal to the countryside. He spent his entire life working on the issue of the peasants’ welfare in China. On one hand, Mao unprecedentedly elevated Chinese Peasants politically, economically, and socially; especially through his superb policy --- land reform. Unlike leaders of peasant uprisings in China before, Mao not only motivated the peasants, but also formed a set of defined principles and consolidated his success with the implementation of them. Mao Zedong had a deep understanding of the Chinese peasantry. Unlike other communist leaders who considered China an industrial nation, Mao made accurate judgments over China’s national conditions in the twentieth century. He believed firmly that China was “a large agricultural nation”[3] and considered the Chinese peasantry as the strongest power in Chinese revolution, the most reliable ally of the proletariat, and the main contingent of China’s revolutionary forces[4]. Mao’s knowledge on both China’s national conditions
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