Cult Of Mao

What is a Personality Cult?

• Mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image

• Dictatorship• Heroic Worship

The Mao Cult

Why?

It can be viewed as a desire to reassert his influence over the Chinese Communist Party following the reduction in it that resulted from the disastrous failure of the Great Leap Forward; ideological concerns about the direction that Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping were leading the Party in the early-mid 1960s, particularly the reintroduced of (limited) capitalist incentives which Mao saw as pointing China down the ‘capitalist road’

Three Loyalties and Four Boundless Loves

• Loyalty to Chairman Mao• Mao Zedong Thought• Chairman Mao’s Proletarian Revolutionary

Lune• Boundless Love for Chairman Mao, the

Communist Party, Mao Zedong Thought, and Chairman Mao’s Proletarian Revolutionary Line.

Quote

• “The question is not whether or not there should be a cult of the individual, but rather whether or not the individual concerned represents the truth. If he does, then he should be worshipped.”- Chairman Mao

• Populist: The political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite

Rituals

• “Asking for instructions in the morning and reporting back in the evening”

• First practiced by 2000 female workers in the Beijing General Knitting Mill.

• Consisted of Four Separate Acts.• Mao’s Response led to millions practicing this

by early 1968.

• “I found the ritual pointless, humiliating and monotonous, but of course I couldn’t say so.”-A practioner. (One viewpoint)

• Expansion of the three loyalties activities. (Group events, loyalty dances etc)

Propaganda Posters

“Those who oppose Mao will have their heads crushed like dogs”

Fear

• Intimidation for those who did not follow rituals through means such as propaganda.

Little Red Book

• In October 1966, Mao's Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (also known as the "Little Red Book") was published. Party members were encouraged to carry a copy with them and possession was almost mandatory in order for membership. Over the years, Mao's image became displayed everywhere, in every home, office and shop.

Mao Today

• Images still seen nowadays.• Maintained his position and “admirable”

character.•

What image did Mao want to project for himself?

• Represents the truth• Magnificent, loyal character that would aid in

the well-being of China.

• Comparison to Stalin (Great Similarities): “Trotsky criticized the cult of personality built around Stalin. It reached new levels during World War II, with Stalin's name included in the new Soviet national anthem. Stalin became the focus of literature, poetry, music, paintings and film, exhibiting fawning devotion, crediting Stalin with almost god-like qualities, and suggesting he single-handedly won the Second World War. “