Communist China

When we discuss the reign of Chairman Mao in class, every time I find myself asking, was Mao Zedong a strong leader. There really is no simple answer to this question as Mr. Zedong has some pros going for him, but also has some serious cons. I guess we should start with the pros. Mao Zedong was responsible for the first five year plan in China (1953-58) , which is credited with getting the country off its feet and to an economically stable point. The first five year plan was so successful that China was able to take itself off the Soviet lifeline and support itself. Mao also upheld the traditional communist ideals that women are equal to men and should be treated as such. This lead to an increase in the population of women in the workplace. Unfortunately for Mao, the good things end there. After the success of the first five year plan, Mao was inspired to start the second one, more commonly known as the Great Leap Forward. It was this so called "Great leap" that was responsible for the deaths of millions. Mao was forcing people to meet impossible deadlines, in regards to agriculture production, so when it came time to collect the harvest, the peasants had to give it all away and had none for themselves. Mao is also responsible for the notorious re education through labour and his purging of his political enemies. This purging culminated during Mao's Cultural Revolution where millions more lost their lives. In my opinion, if a leader kills this many of his own people, no matter what he does to strengthen his country, he simply cannot be considered good.