Propaganda played an important role in the emergence of an authoritarian state in China under Mao Zedong from 1949 to 1976. Mao established single-party rule under the Communist Party of China and used pervasive propaganda through various media to promote communist ideology, censor opposing views, and encourage support for mass campaigns. Propaganda portrayed Mao as the savior of China and established reverence for him. It was implemented across all aspects of life in China to ensure widespread acceptance of communist ideas and total control by the CPC.
Propaganda played an important role in the emergence of an authoritarian state in China under Mao Zedong from 1949 to 1976. Mao established single-party rule under the Communist Party of China and used pervasive propaganda through various media to promote communist ideology, censor opposing views, and encourage support for mass campaigns. Propaganda portrayed Mao as the savior of China and established reverence for him. It was implemented across all aspects of life in China to ensure widespread acceptance of communist ideas and total control by the CPC.
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IB paper 2 how mao uses propaganda to spread his influence
Propaganda played an important role in the emergence of an authoritarian state in China under Mao Zedong from 1949 to 1976. Mao established single-party rule under the Communist Party of China and used pervasive propaganda through various media to promote communist ideology, censor opposing views, and encourage support for mass campaigns. Propaganda portrayed Mao as the savior of China and established reverence for him. It was implemented across all aspects of life in China to ensure widespread acceptance of communist ideas and total control by the CPC.
Propaganda played an important role in the emergence of an authoritarian state in China under Mao Zedong from 1949 to 1976. Mao established single-party rule under the Communist Party of China and used pervasive propaganda through various media to promote communist ideology, censor opposing views, and encourage support for mass campaigns. Propaganda portrayed Mao as the savior of China and established reverence for him. It was implemented across all aspects of life in China to ensure widespread acceptance of communist ideas and total control by the CPC.
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HOW FAR PROPAGANDA PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE EMERGENCE OF AN
AUTHORITARIAN STATE IN CHINA IN THE PERIOD UPTO 1976?
After two years of the Chinese civil war, on 1 October 1949 Mao Zedong the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party proclaimed the formal establishment of the People’s Republic of China. He led the Chinese revolution and established an authoritarian rule, through a single party government which transformed Chinese political, economic and social system. One of the most controversial leaders in history, during his rule millions of lives were lost. An important tactic that helped him rise to power was the extremely powerful and influential spread of his propaganda. Communist Party of China used its propaganda to sway domestic and international opinion in favour of its policies. This included censorship of proscribed views and an active cultivation of views that favoured the government. Propaganda was fundamental to the operation of the CPC government.
Propaganda was pervasive in a variety of forms of media and used to satisfy a variety of goals of the CPC. It was used to stamp out ‘bourgeois individualism’ through four mass mobilisation campaigns between 1950 and 1952. This included the resist America and aid Korea campaign in 1950 which assisted to escalate the Chinese suspicion of foreigners, and resulted in the arrest of many foreigners. The country was closed to all foreigners, except Russians, and institutions with links to the West were watched or closed down. The second campaign was the suppression of counter-revolutionaries campaign from 1950–51, which focused on people with links to GMD and followed numbers of denunciations and public executions. This was followed by the three antis campaign and five antis campaign in 1951 and 1952, respectively. The third campaign was against corruption, and the fourth was against bribery, tax-evasion, theft of state property, cheating in government contracts and economic espionage. Those accused of any of these crimes faced fines, property confiscations and periods in labour camps.
Propaganda was also used to establish a Maoist control by the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department. It aimed for a ‘thought reform’ to encourage the population’s support for mass campaigns such as the Great Leap Forward of 1958 and the Cultural Revolution of 1966–76. Propaganda was implemented to spread Mao’s ideologies encourage activism and hold out examples of selfless model workers and soldiers. Lei Feng, a possibly fictitious soldier of the civil war was advertised to have a tremendous sense of duty and embodied the desired image of self-sacrifice. Moreover, highlights of the communist history were used as motivation. Propaganda was spread through every possible media outlet, from posters and films to music and even through the education system! A nationwide system of loudspeakers reached into every village, and reading newspapers was regarded as a ‘political obligation’ and anything criticising the moves of the CPC were censored. Mao was portrayed as the saviour of the nation and “Chairman Mao” was made a figure of reverence. His portrait appeared on public hoardings and in the newspapers. Peasants, industrial workers and soldiers were expected to learn Mao’s quotations by heart and, during the Cultural Revolution, to study The Little Red Book of Mao’s speeches and writings. In fact, the Chinese were persuaded that a careful study of ‘Mao Zedong Thought’ could solve their problems and enable them to carry out their tasks more effectively. Events like Mao’s swim down the Yangtze River in July 1966, were performed to symbolise his strength and purpose. There were also local groups and propaganda teams used to ensure the widespread of ideas.
To ensure their message was well understood, CPC realised the importance of having a literate population and therefore, encouraged educational facilities too every individual. The entire education system was evolved to reflect the communist ideas.
To conclude, Propaganda was a fundamental aspect of Mao’s China. It assisted him to
establish his control and rule over his state with tremendous amount of control.
