Monday, April 25, 2011

Life under Mao during the Cultural Revolution vs. Life under Lenin and Stalin in Russia





Chairman Mao himself believed that the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China was necessary because he felt that the government had become too bureaucratic. Essentially, Mao was fixated on mobilizing the masses. Mao and Lenin were very similar rulers, even though they were not huge fans of each other. Mao stated that "power grows from the barrel of a gun," whereas Lenin agrees that no progress can occur without violence. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao wanted all symbols of old China to disappear; Lenin was also very opposed to imperial Russia and wanted to make a change. The two leaders came to power in very similar ways. Both men laid low until the government was weak enough to be overthrown, after the government got overthrown the two men were waiting to be named leader of the new government.

Lenin was a pretty bad man, however his successor, Stalin, was even worse. Both Mao and Stalin saw everyone as a threat. Any person suspected of having counter-beliefs to one of the two men were either mysteriously murdered or exiled. Stalin liquefied the Kulaks, and Mao killed off party officials and intellectuals. Mao and Stalin were both power hungry. Both Mao and Stalin used manipulation to get power. Mao sent people to labor camps if they did not listen to him, whereas Stalin was very manipulative in his general rule. Neither men were very religious, however they portrayed themselves as gods. Stalin believed Mao to be an ignoramus, however they did many of the same things. Stalin merely believed Mao to be an idiot because he believed in the peasants, whereas Stalin followed a traditional Marxist belief that the proletariat had to overthrow the bourgeoisie.

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