Mao Zedong Dbq

Chairman Mao Zedong’s Great Proletarian Revolution created scarring effects on the Chinese youth of the time. Chairman Mao’s propaganda encouraged the young population to revolt against the old systems, to give up their education and to support and participate in his revolution. Finally, Mao’s policies stripped the youth of their identities and created a generation of mindless and uneducated adults. These actions taken by Mao and his communist government failed to achieve their goals and forced the entire population to suffer through a decade of economic struggle.

The youth of China were directly targeted and encouraged by Mao and the Communist government to destroy all old ideas, culture and customs by taking a violent role in the revolution.

The Little Red Book became so regular in the young people's lives that it became all that they would believe, they were brainwashed to have an obsession with pleasing Chairman Mao and doing what they believed would help China (Doc 1). In 1966 at the very beginning of the cultural revolution the communist government created a policy that criticized the education system. Because, they believed that intellectuals had no place in communist society and that the proletariat is what fully supports a nation. The government demanded that there be less classes, that the material should be simplified and that the students should learn about industry work, farming, and military affairs. Eventually every student left their classes entirely and would even rise up against their teachers, beat and humiliate them. These students left to join the Red Guard or to be sent down to learn from the proletariat. The youth that did this were uneducated and only learned from Mao’s Red Book to become his nation of laborers (Doc 2). In the totalitarian, communist China the government controlled all forms of media and commonly used them for propaganda. For example an article

In August of 1966 the Red Guard had gotten out of hand, the widespread chaos and destruction they had caused even caught the attention of Mao. Mao had sent the Red guards on a mission to destroy “The Four Olds” , old customs, culture, habits, and ideas. In an attempt to call the nation he invited every Red Guard to go to Beijing on public transportation free of charge. Children swarmed to the city in masses to see tiananmen square, the memorial to the fallen heroes of the revolution and Mao’s mausoleum. They crowded into the square in identical uniforms to read quotations from the Little Red Book and to admire the massive image of Chairman Mao that had been placed on the front of the gates to the forbidden city. The Red Guards obsession with pleasing Mao and destroying “The Four Olds” had gotten so out of hand that he personally had to stop them (Doc 4). The Red Guards soon became a staple in China even though their task had been completed. They were kept as a sort of youth group for young revolutionaries to join and show their devotion to Mao and the communist government. The organization even had its own anthem which was played and sang all throughout China at school, rallies and on the radio. The song depicted the red Guards dedication to the success of