Diego Vila Corts 12P

Fails and successes of Mao Zedong Mao Zedong wanted a new future for China, therefore he had to change many things in the countries policies. Many of this policies were successful but others were a failure and this had consequences. Mao always wanted to apply communism into the countries policies, he started affecting agriculture with the Land Reform in 1950. Peasants had to start with speak bitterness therefore land lords had to go through the process of self criticism and many lost their lands or executed till all the people had the same. Then, depending on the land or animals the peasants gave, they would receive more profits, consequently many of them contributed. Grain production increased 10% in 16 years, therefore this counts as a success. Mao wanted that peasants worked for APC, and at first he didn't achieve it, but then it was established. In 1957 90% of the peasant families were in the APC and China was a solitary grain producer and for that reason the CCP increased its control over the countryside (another success for Mao). Then Mao started with Collectivization and the Great Leap Forward. He believed that communes would make agriculture more efficient so he introduced it as the Great Leap Forward in 1958 (70000 were settled up, which represented 200 families). Small factories were settled up and many animals were killed but communes didn't work because CCP officials and peasants didn't know how to control farming in that scale; this was his first failure because many money and land was lost. Industry was also affected by Mao's policies. In the period between 1948 to 1953 China was allied with the USSR and with this alliance, China received 300 million dollars and 11000 soviet experts, although 280000 went to the USSR. With this change Mao gained another success because industry's profits doubled and 300 industrial buildings were made. In 1953 Mao introduced the First 5 Year Plan were private business were nationalised and its owners were given some profits. Roads and rails were built to join areas with resources such as Xinjiang. Heavy industries tripled and light industry increased in70%, and China's population increased in 43 millions in 8 years (this were other successes of Mao). Mao wanted to increase more industries, therefore he took control of factories, making the government the owner and providing money to the industries. This failed as the attempt to increase steel production which failed because of the bad quality of the metal. Equality between men and women wanted by the CCP was also a success. Many changes were made in favour of women: now they could go to school and work, they could vote (1953), had the same rights in divorce and had the same rights as men. Prostitutions was abolished. Mao created a Cultural Revolution which counts as a big failure because this revolution affected experts, and were sent to prison or executed, for that reason universities had to close; this gave him more power but culture in China decreased.

Diego Vila Corts 12P

In 1960, after the Great Leap Forward soviet experts left China and no more loans were exported because the Russian president (Nikita Khaushchev) thought it was a dangerous experiment. As China didn't receive more money, the factories were left half built and closed, so the Great Leap Forward became a problem and Mao's strong-minded personality made the problem even worse. Many millions of people died because of this failure, and 25 millions of people moved to the countryside because they didn't have job in urban areas, consequently the communes were reduced. Then oil and gas fields appeared but this didn't count as a success because the profits in industries decreased in general in 1960. Also, people died from floodings which affected the country during this period. Education improved during his regime, because by 1949 only 10% of the Chinese people knew how to read, so he increased literacy rates, schools were set up, language was simplified, textbooks and universities were introduced. This became a great success because literacy rates increased in 70% in 1976 and nearly all of the children went to schools. Finally, we can observe that Mao had many successes and many failures during his regime and both of them had good or bad consequences. His biggest successes were in education because culture in Chinese children increased, and equality for men and women. On the other hand, I would say that his biggest failure was The Great Leap Forward which caused the death of millions of people due to starvation and unemployment.