Michael Furgiuele

HIST 673 – Fall 2005

Mr. C. Vancil, Instructor

October 10, 2005

Review of Mao Zedong by Jonathan Spence

 

 

In analyzing Mao Zedong by Jonathan Spence, we see the author’s thesis to encapsulate Mao’s early ideology of education and reform within the dying Qing dynasty and view China’s emergence from indecisive leadership, colonialism, and a peasant-state into a powerhouse of reforms and a decisively distinct version of Marxism geared at China’s people and culture. Spence uses documented evidence from Mao and research to support his biography of Mao.  His interpretation is also supported by lectures, readings, and episodes of The People’s Century.

 

Mao’s early years dictate the leader’s original view of education and Spence identified China’s backward approach toward empowerment of the people outside of western ideology.  Early twentieth century political and military challenges brought with it western ideals.  Like the images of The Age of Hope[1], we see that China was not immune to growing western cultural.  As western cultural and business opportunities grew, China was urged to “adjust to the modern world of rapid change before it was too late” (Spence 1999, 5).  Spence uses personal interviews obtained by Edgar Snow[2] to identify Mao’s early years and the momentum he gained toward revolution. This evidence was propagated throughout his book and provided invaluable support for his discussion of Mao.

 

Like many colonies during the early twentieth-century, the impact of World War I brought with it a chance to distance themselves from colonial rule[3].  Like India, hundreds of thousands were transported via new railways to the battlefront in Europe. However, where Indians hoped to prove themselves on the field of battle as a means of supporting a nationalist pride[4], Chinese laborers worked in support of promised, “territory previously ceded to Germany in the late Qing” (Spence 1999, 32) but instead supported a corrupt Chinese endeavor with Japan. The collapse of Germany and continued involvement of subjugation enhanced Mao’s theories and supported demonstrations against corruption in the government. Many scholars have provided the basis for understanding colonialism. Spence gathered detailed premises from these works to support his biography of Mao and Chinese society, especially the works on Marilyn Levine[5].

 

Mao’s advance toward communism stemmed from the Russian Revolution and Marxist ideology.  Mao’s work reflected the growth of worker-based domination, and like Lenin and Stalin, included coordination of educational reform, distribution of wealth, and a support system of government[6].  However, Mao’s view of the Chinese Communist Manifesto developed in 1920, held “no roots of any king in the realities of Chinese society” (Spence 1999, 49).  Mao insisted that the pure Marxist view of communism did not fit the Chinese way of life and spent years in developing a cultural-based manifesto for China.  Stalin and Mao were continually at odds over the interpretation of communist doctrine[7] and tension between China and Russia eventually led to the disentanglement of ideology between the two communist nations. However, like Stalin, Mao became the interpreter of the Chinese doctrine and transformed political into religious, concluding that all maters of state must adhere to the premise of the Party[8].  Further, Mao and Stalin showed similar means of assuring their dominance, executing political rivals and eliminating those who would question their interpretation of communist life.  Spence’s critical review of collected papers, speeches, and notes authored on Mao and Chinese foreign policies adequately provided the supporting basis to understand political alliances and antagonisms within China.

 

Spence provides little interpretation of Chinese involvement in World War II, but does identify the lessons learned from war, especially military preparedness, issuing edicts to “fight no battle unprepared, fight no battle you are not sure of winning” (Spence 1999, 107). In addition, Spence summarizes China’s post-war environment as decayed, scattered and still engulfed with foreign subjugation (Spence 1999). China’s internal crises between Nationalist and Communist leaders in the wake of escalating Japanese conflicts brought cooperation between China and the United States only after the start of the war[9] and Mao fought against Nationalist leadership in post-war China by continuing to hold Japanese solders captured in Manchuria[10].

 

Throughout his political and social career, Mao “had been determined to play a leading role as a cultural critic and arbiter” (Spence 1999, 128).  His determination, peak organizational, and radical vision of Chinese society led to a wide scale use of propaganda to incorporate all areas of society – workers, students, farmers, and peasants – into Maoist China.  Like America, Russia, and Japan, China used films, books, and rhetoric to promote a nationalist ideology within everyday life[11].   Spence’s unique use of translated texts identified propaganda usage in China and supported Spence's view of the Cultural Revolution and the Red Guard.

 

Spence recounts Mao’s later years as one of complacency and retreat from the political games.  Like the accounts of the Qing dynasty 50 years earlier, Mao became a politician of personal gains, caught-up in his own rhetoric and absolute power.  Mao’s tight hold on his revolution “appears to have begun to weaken only after years of success, when megalomania, vanity and eventually age were taking their toll”[12]. Even during the Cultural Revolution, Mao continued his tactical approach of initiation and then retreat to watch the events unfold, never writing “a single, comprehensive analysis of what he intended to achieve by the Cultural Revolution, or how he expected it to proceed” but became a “case of allowing theory to grow out of practice” (Spence, 1999, 168).

 

Like many revolutionary leaders of the twentieth-century, Mao experienced the plight of his people at the hands of ineffectual leaders and amidst foreign domination.  In his novel, Spence identified the origins of revolution and how Mao utilized his personality and abilities, transforming China into one of the largest communist countries in the world.  Further, Spence defined the ideology of the man and his use of internal strife to secure his goals and his place in history. Spence’s use of primary and secondary sources to generate a biography of Mao provided sufficient support of his book and its direction.  His comprehensive study of China, Mao and the revolution from personal stories, notes, and interpretation of exhibits along with his own extensive background in Chinese history and effectively supports his work in Mao Zedong.