How Did Mao Zedong Change

Mao Zedong was a scholar with a mind set on the idea of Marxism and revolution, up to the point when Chiang Kaishek and the GMD (the nationalist party) turned on their provisional allies, the CCP (Chinese communist party), after the northern expedition in which was became known as the “white terror” (Karl, 32). Essentially, what I mean by this is that there is a distinct shift in how Mao Zedong views the world and especially how he tries to achieve his goals from before the “white terror” and after. There is no doubt that his views of how communism is to take shape and what communism is stays the same. He was vocally active in promoting an organic revolution, with focus on the peasantry before the “white terror” and this also stays the same

Mao Zedong changed from a scholar with focus on the ideas revolving social reform and revolution into a military leader of action with a rather disturbing view of how to deal with problems, such as purges. The subsequent events following the “white terror” of course contributed to this change, such as having to flee to Jiangxi and having to fight for survival. This would most certainly harden most people, especially those in difficult social and political situations such as Mao. However, there is no doubt that there is an inherent change in the person Mao Zedong and his practices. The “Futian Incident” is a very good example of how problems are addressed. Basically just to be sure, Mao ordered the arrest nearly four thousand soldier and had approximately half of those people give a forced “confession” and executed (Karl,

A perfect example of a change in rhetoric and the abandonment of the idea of “organic revolution” is the recruitment process during the “Long March” when people tasked with finding recruits for the war against the Nationalists could lose their life’s if they didn’t match the quota. This is most certainly the traits of an “organic revolution” as that would involve a voluntary participation (Sun, p.14-17). Mao might not himself have viewed this as contrary to his own ideology but this only further increases the case for the change of “Mao the scholar”. Mao may not even have been the central figure in this specific recruitment process, as Sun Shuyun actually refers to the recruitment order of fifty thousand people as an order from the central committee of the party. He is however the leader of the “long march” and a central figure in that specific historic event, and based on his determination and strong convictions as described by Rebecca Karl and the view we get from Mao’s early writing, this is something Mao would’ve