Could Chairman Mao's belief that all you need for something to change is the mass of the people? What other revolutions have taken place at the will of the mass of the people. Lets Examine.
In Mao's article, The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains written in June 1945, he states, "First, we have decided on the line of our Party, which is boldly to mobilize the masses and expand the people's forces...If they stand up and dig with us, why can't these mountains be cleared away?" (The "three constantly read article" of Mao Zedong Handout) As you can see in this article Mao tells the story of an old man who wishes to dig up two mountains. An old wise man thinks this man is foolish and when he questions how he expects to dig up the mountains, the man replies, "When i die my sons will carry on; when they die, there will be my grandsons and then their sons and grandsons and so on to infinity." This logical in theory makes sense, enough man power and eventually after an incredible amount of time, the mountains could be dug up. This metaphor clearly expresses Mao's view on what mass movement can do. As we have seen studying his reign, it worked quite well for him. However can it be applied to all situations?
Tak world war two for example, Hitler had almost all of Germany behind him, he began a mass movement of people all nurtured under this one idea. He accomplished what most leaders dream of accomplishing. He conquered most of Europe and as well as parts of Asia. His masses took him great leaps and bounds however, this example is only one of two which occurred during this time. As a result of Hitler's regime, British, American, Russian(Soviet Union) as well as many other European country's forces joined to overthrow Hitler and save Europe. The masses under them successfully ousted most of Hitler's regime and successfully brought Europe back from the brink of total captivity.
This though only two examples clearly expresses Mao's view on how mass movement can truly accomplish all. Mao's thoughts i feel to be correct due to the outstanding record that leader's possess once gained the support of the masses.
I'm mostly struck by you combination of pictures--Obama as Maoist. Can mass mobilization theory be applied to democratic politics as well?
ReplyDeleteWhat about the Great Leap Forward, or the Cultural Revolution? They were mass mobilization in practice, and yet they weren't really good for China. And if I'm going to cure disease, would I rather have a skilled doctor, or a mass of enthusiastic Maoists? Maoist theory would say the latter (and in fact, we saw that in the film we saw in class, about curing blind children), but I'd rather have the doctors.