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View Full Version : Was Mao Zedong a "Monster"?



RedMarxist
10th May 2011, 00:00
Was Mao Zedong really a murderous monster as people say that he is/was. I've read much of his writings and he doesn't come off as a brutal dictator. In fact, I find his childhood/life autobiography very inspiring.

I read a great article on the Great Leap Forward(can't find it though) that briefly mentioned that when learing about the famine, he refused to eat meat and made sure his daughter got equal servings of food like everyone else. He also showed, or seemed to show, great concern for the wellbeing of his people. And not to mention the fact that he united mainland China, which many tried and failed to do.

If what the Black Book of Communism says is true(and I am skeptical of it's accuracy), then Mao is responsible for millions of millions of Chinese deaths. According to the book Mao is held directly responsible for the famine because of his policies, which the black book asserts justifies the claim that he killed tens of millions of his own people(but was it deliberate or error in judgment?)

Anyways, btw, if I had to decide what kind of communist I am, I'd, for better of for worse, have to say that I adhere to Maoism or at least recently, regardless of wheter Mao was "worse then Hitler" or not. His writings are so interesting, so revolutionary. :)

CommunityBeliever
10th May 2011, 00:48
No.

Tablo
10th May 2011, 00:58
A monster? No. A class collaborationist? Yeah.

The black book of communism includes deaths of those who died in famines and stuff. Plus it is well know that the figures in the black book are inflated. He did kill a lot of people, but the depiction of him by the western media is disgustingly inaccurate in most cases. I believe most Maoists would even argue those that were killed were done so to defend the Chinese revolution and are justified because of that. I don't like him at all to be honest.

Nolan
10th May 2011, 00:59
I don't know, maybe on Halloween. If they had that in China.

Robocommie
10th May 2011, 01:07
Mao Zedong was actually a Loch Ness monster.

Trigonometry
10th May 2011, 01:13
killed a lot of opposition/ caused famines

he's a multi facetted character who's been grossly villainised in the West and to an extent in the PRC

The Man
10th May 2011, 02:30
I'm pretty sure he was a human.

Proukunin
10th May 2011, 02:35
no, why would a real socialist fighting for socialism WANT to kill his people?

smk
10th May 2011, 03:09
He recognized his faults. I believe he said that the Great Leap Forward was only 70% right, but 30% wrong. I believe he was truly devoted to communism, but the conditions of his country made it a difficult task.

EDIT: He was definitely responsible for millions of deaths, but that doesn't necessarily make him a monster. he was inadequate for the job.

Agent Ducky
10th May 2011, 03:14
I dunno, some of his policies I don't agree with. He was definitely too harsh on the members of the Communist Party sometimes (over-investigating people who had family background associations with the nationalists, giving officials quotas for 'weeding out rightists', etc.)

Koba1917
10th May 2011, 03:15
Someone who doubles the life expectancy and doubles the population is sure a monster....

CommunityBeliever
10th May 2011, 03:22
Someone who doubles the life expectancy and doubles the population is sure a monster....

Giving women basic rights is also obviously something a monster would do.

Tablo
10th May 2011, 03:50
Someone who doubles the life expectancy and doubles the population is sure a monster....
The doubled life expectancy was largely in part due to a drop in infant mortality. Still very good though.

Commissar Rykov
10th May 2011, 03:56
Giving women basic rights is also obviously something a monster would do.

Women having rights is devastating to humanity. Also as Robocommie said Mao is the Loch Ness Monster there is even photographic evidence of such.