This paper analyzes Mao Zedong's rise to power in China and destroys the myth that he was a savior. It discusses Mao's poor peasant background and how he manipulated peasants by claiming to help them while actually despising them. Mao created myths about himself through propaganda to portray himself as a hero and founder of communism when in reality he sabotaged movements and was not invited to found the party. The paper argues Mao's only goal was increasing his own power through terror and that he bears responsibility for at least 70 million deaths, making him one of the worst mass murderers in history.

1. Torossian1
Jérôme Torossian
Professor Hengda Yang
HIST 346
September 28, 2015
Mao Zedong: The Unknown Truth
Chairman Mao Zedong remains one of the well-known and most controversial characters
from the history of China, and more particularly from the twentieth-century. Indeed, the
Communist Party, as well as many people in the People’s Republic of China believe that Mao
Zedong has restored the unity and the national independence of the nation. In fact, they present
him as China’s “great savior”, especially for having put an end to imperialism, for pushing out
the Japanese invaders, and for making the country economically stable. He is also considered as
the one who has led a third world country in becoming a global power and having a voice in the
international arena. In addition, individuals who support Mao Zedong think that he was serving
his own people and wanted nothing but the best for them. In contrast, many famous occidental
historians, as well as writers view in his exercise of power a typical authoritarianism from
totalitarian leaders such as the soviet ruler, Joseph Stalin. These western intellectuals accuse Mao
Zedong not only for having created an authoritarian and anti-democratic regime, full of
propaganda, arrests and tortures, but also for making political policies in which he knew
perfectly that they would cause the death of millions of its countrymen. In truth, Mao is regarded
as one of the most murderous dictators in history, and that he was able to kill more people than
Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin together. In this essay, I will mainly talk about how Mao Zedong
has been successful in using propaganda in order to achieve his main purpose of conquering
China. In addition, I will also develop on his strategy to create myths, and prove that Chairman
Mao was anything but the “savior” of China and its own people.

2. Torossian2
In order to know this man well, an overview of his own beginning is necessary. Mao Zedong was
born in 1893 into a rich peasant family in the village of Shaoshan located in the Chinese
province of Hunan.1 He did little work in his parent’s farm, “gathering fodder for pigs and taking
the buffalo out of a stroll in the tea-oil camellia groves by a pond shaded by banana leaves.”2
Mao actually preferred to learn rather than farm, and reading became rapidly an obsession for
him at a very young age.3 Yi-chang, Mao’s father, paid for his son’s education, yet, he decided to
stop financing him after Mao was dismissed from his fourth tutor in 1907.4 However, thinking
that Mao would finally “behave responsibly”, Yi-chang had him married his niece who was four
years older than him a year later.5 Unfortunately, she died two years after their marriage. Mao
immediately asked his father to leave the village after knowing that there was a modern school
not far away, in which he could study subjects such as science, world history, and foreign
languages.6 In fact, these types of schools were his only chance to get out from his peasant life
and build a future. He later found out that there was another school in the provincial capital,
Changsha. He got enrolled into that educational institution after persuading a professor.7
When Mao arrived in Changsha in 1911, revolutionary sentiment was high among the
population. Indeed, people were especially tired of “over two thousand years of imperial rule”
from the Qing dynasty, and most of them were asking for a republic.8 After an armed uprising on
October 1912, the imperial system that ruled China for thousands of years disappeared to make
1 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. GlobalfareLtd, 2005, p.3
2 Ibid.,p5
3 Ibid.,p6
4 Ibid.,p7
5 Ibid.,p7
6 Ibid.,p7
7 Ibid.,p8
8 Ibid.,p10

3. Torossian3
room for a newly established government, the Republic of China.9 Yet, the power was still in the
hand of a former official from the Qing Dynasty. Once this official died, China was divided
between regional warlords, communists, and nationalists. On June 1918, Mao graduated from a
teacher-training college, and apparently it was common for graduates to go study abroad.10
Unlike some of his friends, Mao did not want to go study in France because he knew he would
have to study French. Therefore, his low linguistic abilities discouraged him.11 After a short trip
to Beijing, he returned to Changsha where people were unhappy about a deal that was made at
the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. At the time, some of the territories in China were controlled
by foreign powers, which most of the Chinese wanted back. The deal agreed in Paris “allowed
Japan to stay […] in Shandong,” which it had taken away from Germany during World War I.12
As a result, a big nationalist movement occurred on May 4th,1919, in which people protested
against their government’s failure to gain back its lost territories, now controlled by Japan.13
The idea of creating a Communist Party came from the Soviet Union when the latter
founded the Comintern, “to foment revolution and influence policy in Moscow’s interest”
abroad.14 The Communist Party of China was founded in Shanghai on August 1920, in which
Mao was actually not invited to be one of the founding fathers.15 However, the authors of the
book, Mao: The Unknown Story, declared that “Mao had become a Communist […] by being at
the right place in the right time,” and was given a mission that was important to him.16 He later
was able to set up a house in Hunan, which, in theory, became the office of the Hunan Party
9 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. GlobalfareLtd, 2005, p.10
10 Ibid.,p15
11 Ibid.,p16
12 Ibid.,p17
13 Ibid.,p17
14 Ibid.,p19
15 Ibid.,p19
16 Ibid.,p21

4. Torossian4
Branch.17 His primary goal was to find members who would accept to join his party, to build his
own army and get a territory under his control. Yet, the year 1927 was a difficult year for Mao
Zedong. Indeed, during that year the Nationalists led by Chiang-Kai-shek decided to launch an
anti-communist purge, in which more than 300 communists died in only a few days.18
After an investigation he had made on the peasants, Mao concluded that “the poor
peasants […] were the most revolutionary group,” and that he absolutely needed to mobilize
them.19 He took a smart decision for the reason that at that time China’s population was 90%
composed of peasants.20 Furthermore, in order to gain the support of the poor, Mao created a
class distinction among them so that a war between classes could emerge.21 The main objective
was to attack the rich peasants so that their wealth and lands could be distributed to the poor, as
well as to topple the feudal rule of the local tyrants and evil gentry.22 In fact, his strategy was to
show the poor peasants that he not only cared about them but that he also wanted to help them to
have a better life. Therefore, he led a peasant movement known as the Autumn Harvest Uprising
against the landlords, as well as the Nationalists.23 However, Mao was defeated and had to retreat
in the Jinggang Mountain, where he decided to establish his own base.24 According to the
authors of the book Mao: The Unknown Story, they argue that Mao “actually sabotaged the
movement and that he was not involved in any action.”25 He was later in control of 130,000
people and was able to live “by collecting rents and taxes from the locals.”26 In order to get the
17 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. GlobalfareLtd, 2005,p.29
18 Ibid.,p45
19 Zedong, Mao. Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan. 1927,p.7
20 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications,2005,p.84
21 Ibid.,p84
22 Ibid.,p86
23 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. GlobalfareLtd, 2005, p.54
24 Ibid.,p54-55
25 Ibid.,p54
26 Ibid.,p55

5. Torossian5
peasants join the revolution, the party announced that the only way was to “use Red terror to
prod them into doing things that leave them with no chance to make compromises later with the
gentry or the bourgeoisie.”27 Everyone had to work for the communists or be purged. They were
“like a cancer cell, feeding and spreading continuously.”28 Mao started to create an army with the
help of Zhu De and launched a campaign in order to destroy all his rivals.29 Those against him
were declared as being anti-Bolshevik or kulak. It seems that Mao tended to forget that he came
from a kulak family himself.
However, after the Chiang Kai-shek had defeated the government in Peking in 1928,
controlled much of China, and declared Nanjing as his capital, he led his troops to finish his anti-
communist purge.30 This was the beginning of what is known as the Long March, a huge
communist retreat, in which a series of events claimed by Mao were actually contested by many
historians. Yet, the war between China and Japan in 1937 stopped temporarily the communist’s
struggle against the nationalists.31 In fact, Japan helped tremendously Mao in achieving his goal
of conquering China. Indeed, after many atrocities were inflicted by the Japanese army on the
Chinese people, Mao understood that a high level of patriotism increased among the population.
He pretended that the communist’s goal was to drive out the Japanese and protect the Chinese,
but this was only propaganda. Mao had the idea of creating an autobiography that would present
him as a good man, and that the communist party was committed to fight the Japanese
invaders.32 Thanks to this Sino-Japanese War, the red army was allowed to keep its autonomy
27 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. GlobalfareLtd, 2005, p.63
28 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications,2005, p.123
29 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. GlobalfareLtd, 2005, p.64
30 Ibid.,p66
31 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications,2005, p.207
32 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. GlobalfareLtd, 2005, p.198

6. Torossian6
and increased significantly.33 Mao took the advantage that the nationalists were occupied in
attacking the Japanese to increase his supporters, army, and power. Mao was able to build an
army of 1.3 million soldiers while the nationalists were completely weakened.34 In 1945, when
the Japan capitulated, the truce between the communists and the nationalists did not last. The
power of the communists was too strong that the nationalists collapsed and had no choice than to
retreat in Taiwan. On October 1st, 1949, Mao announced in Beijing, its new capital, that the
“people have stood up,” and proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.35
The series of myths created by Mao himself were essential for him in order to gain his
status of China’s “great savior.” Many of these myths were discussed in the book Mao: The
Unknown Story, and the authors did a great job in helping me understand the real face of this
man. Indeed, Mao often described himself as to love the peasants and have the goal to help them
have a better life. In reality, Mao hated the peasants like he detested his own father.36 In addition,
he pretended to be at the service of the people; however, history has proven that Mao wanted
individuals to follow and agree with his thinking under the threat of being purged. Furthermore,
still nowadays, most of the Chinese people and the Communist Party believe that Mao Zedong is
the founder of the party. As a result, people think that he is the one who created a party that
liberated China and the Chinese from imperialism and misery. Once again, this was contested by
the authors of Mao: The Unknown Story, who declared that he was not even invited to be one of
the founding members, nor “was he told it was about to be formed.”37 Likewise, he invented a
battle that “occurred” on a burning bridge during the Long March period in order to be viewed as
33 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications,2005, p.210
34 Ibid.,p.210
35 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. GlobalfareLtd, 2005, p.335
36 Ibid.,p6
37 Ibid.,p19

7. Torossian7
a hero.38 In fact, the strongest evidence that this conflict was pure invention is that there were no
casualties.39 Moreover, the communist party argued to be dedicated to drive out the Japanese
from China, unlike the nationalists. The truth was that the more Chinese the Japanese killed the
better for the communist party. General Lu Cheng Ts’ao in the book The Enemy Within declared
that “The Japs killings and bayoneting encourage the Chinese people to hatred. That’s what we
want. That’s the way we can get every man who can walk into MY army!”40 This proves that
their main goal was not to defeat the Japanese, but to conquer China, and letting the nationalists
get weaken in the conflict. Lastly, his myth of loving the peasants was highly contradicted when
in 1958 he planned the Great Leap Forward, which attempted “to overtake Britain in less than
fifteen years.”41 Indeed, Mao robbed the people who led him into power by making a radical
collectivization of food and anything that was made of iron. The peasants were overexploited,
and it is believed that “at least 45 million people died unnecessarily between 1958 and 1962.”42
One particular quote from Mao that shocked me is when he said that distributing the “resources
evenly will ruin the Great Leap Forward. When there is not enough to eat, people starve to death.
It is better to let half the people die so that others can eat their fill.”43 This is the confirmation
that Mao Zedong was not a wise man, nor a hero of the oppressed, and not even a Marxist, but a
tyrant despising the peasants, a manipulator quest for absolute power.
Like any self-respecting dictator, Mao Zedong had only one goal, which was to
constantly increase its own power and gain the total control of China. Terror and manipulation
were its only modes of governance on the people he despised. He successfully rose to power
38 Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. GlobalfareLtd, 2005, p.158
39 Ibid.,p160
40 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications, 2005,p.79
41 Dikotter, Frank. Mao’s Great Famine. Walker PublishingCompany,Inc,2010, p.xi
42 Ibid.,p.xii
43
Branigan,Tania. China’sGreat Famine: the true story. The guardian.2013.Web. 26 Sep. 2015

8. Torossian8
through its long campaign of propaganda, terrorism, and particularly thanks to the Sino-Japanese
War, in which “If it hadn’t been for the Japanese invasion, communism would never have
succeeded in China.”44 Mao is somehow dedicated the leader in atrocities. He understood that
by terrorizing his own people, they will be automatically obedient to him and his ideas. He is the
man who bears the main responsibility “for well over 70 million deaths in peacetime, more than
any other twentieth-century leader.”45
A
This paper uses Mao’s own life as well as rich historical facts to destroy Mao’s great savior myth
with great persuasiveness. The analysis is based on reasonable logic and relies on reliable
material and sources. The paper gives us a real Mao.
44 De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications,2005, p.72
45 Dikotter, Frank. Mao’s Great Famine. Walker PublishingCompany,Inc,2010, p.1

9. Torossian9
Bibliography
Branigan, Tania. China’s Great Famine: the true story. The guardian. 2013. Web. 26 Sep. 2015.
Chang, Jung. Mao: The Unknown Story. Globalfare Ltd, 2005.Print.
De Jaegher, Raymond J. The Enemy Within. St, Paul Publications, 2005. Print.
Dikotter, Frank. Mao’s Great Famine. Walker Publishing Company, Inc, 2010. Print.
Zedong, Mao. Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan. 1927. Web.
25.Sep. 2015.