Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership

by Mao Zedong

Genres: Politics, Theory, China

6 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1965

About the author

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung, and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, statesman and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect and founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held control over the nation until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism–Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of policies, are collectively known as Maoism.

Mao rose to power by commanding the Long March, forming a Second United Front with Kuomintang (KMT) during the Second Sino-Japanese War to repel a Japanese invasion, and later led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's KMT in the Chinese Civil War. Mao established political and military control over most of the territory formerly contained within the Chinese Empire and launched a campaign to suppress counterrevolutionaries. He sent the Communist People's Liberation Army into Xinjiang and Tibet but was unable to oust the remnants of the Nationalist Party from Taiwan. He enacted sweeping land reform by using violence and terror to overthrow landlords before seizing their large estates and dividing the land into people's communes. The Communist Party's final victory came after decades of turmoil in China, which included the Great Depression, a brutal invasion by Japan and a protracted civil war. Mao's Communist Party ultimately achieved a measure of stability in China, though Mao's efforts to close China to trade and market commerce, and eradicate traditional Chinese culture, have been largely rejected by his successors.

Mao styled himself "The Great Helmsman" and supporters continue to contend that he was responsible for some positive changes which came to China during his three decade rule. These included doubling the school population, providing universal housing, abolishing unemployment and inflation, increasing health care access, and dramatically raising life expectancy. A cult of personality grew up around Mao, and community dissent was not permitted. His Communist Party still rules in mainland China, retains control of media and education there and officially celebrates his legacy. As a result, Mao is still officially held in high regard by many Chinese as a great political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Maoists promote his role as a theorist, statesman, poet, and visionary, and anti-revisionists continue to defend most of his policies.

Reviews

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly so good (one page long)

Combining the general with the particular... this is what life is all about

Amazing manual...

[Sinan Öner]

Chinese Philosopher, the Great Leader of 1949 Chinese Revolution, China Communist Party General Secretary, People's Republic of China President Mao Tse Tung's "Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership" can be very useful if we need to think about the leadership, the leadership in the most crowded country in the world. Mao Tse Tung, as a dialectician, thought simply, thought complex, about the social facts, about the natural objects, about the relations of society and nature in their simplicity, in their complexity. Mao Tse Tung, when he was thinking about his experiences in the China Communist Party he uses simple and complex thoughts or descriptions, his main goal is to explain his practical or theoretical views. Mao Tse Tung writes his socio-political leadership in China was related with the Chinese people who join the China Communist Party's works - he improves Lenin's thoughts in China, in the China Communist Party's work with the different classes of China. Mao Tse Tung is very brave to think about the methodological conditions of leadership in China, in the China Communist Party's development in the various branches of party work.

[Rocky · Rating 4 out of 5]

“All correct leadership is necessarily "from the masses, to the masses". This means: take the ideas of the masses (scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them (through study turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas), then go to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to them and translate them into action, and test the correctness of these ideas in such action.”