MAO - GREAT LEAP FORWARD


Revolutionary and Chairman of the Communist Party Mao Zedong started the "Great Leap Forward" Movement in China on 23 May 1958. 

One of the most important, controversial, and powerful figures in modern history, Mao was the founding father of the People's Republic of China and led the country from its establishment in 1949 till his death in 1976. In 1921, Mao became a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party and the most important communist leader during the Chinese Civil War. He fought the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek until Japan invaded China in 1937. The two sides united during the war. After Japan was defeated, Mao achieved victory in the civil war and proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949. During his rule, China experienced constant periods of upheaval. In the 1950s, he instituted the Great Leap Forward to modernize the country's economy. This was a disaster that led to an enormous famine, costing the lives of 1.5 crore people. Sidelined in the party after this, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966. In the next decade, bourgeoisie elements were removed from the society. Mao's personality cult grew to enormous proportions in this period. Mao shunted the Soviet Union after the Sino-Soviet split and opened up relations with America after a visit by American President Richard Nixon in 1972. At his death in 1976, China had rapidly developed to become a global power. During his rule, some 4 to 7 crore people died, ranking as the top incidence of excess mortality in human history. Mao's peasant-focused Marxist-Leninist theories, military strategies, and political policies, developed during the long struggle against Chinese Nationalists, are collectively known as Maoism. Mao was born in Shaoshan, China on 26 December 1893 and died on 9 September 1976 at 82 due to heart attack.

 

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