The Single-party States of Mao and Stalin

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The ideology of Mao and Stalin both sought to eliminate class differences and advance their nation. They both also used terror as a way of acquiring what they wanted. As Mao was born into a middle-class peasant family, he knew of hardship and constant dissatisfaction with the government. He became concerned with the future of his country after the failure of the 1911 revolution, and after much reading of western works, was convinced the only way to bring change to China was through military practices; that “all power grows out from the barrel of a gun.” His ideology was based on and formed mostly around Marxism-Leninism, as was Stalin’s, therefore both believed that the huge numbers of working class and peasants in their country would overthrow the bourgeoisie and rise and take over the government, leading to equality of all and abolishing the class system thereby creating a socialist society. However one difference in their ideologies was that where Mao believed in a ‘Continuous or Permanent Revolution’ (much like Stalin’s rival, Trovsky), Stalin believed in ‘Socialism in One Country’. Marx originally used the term “Continuous Revolution” to describe a strategy for the revolutionary class to continue to fight for their own interests regardless of the attentions of opposing political parties. While explaining that concept, Engels posed the question "Will it be possible for this revolution to take place in one country alone?” to which he answers “No. By creating the world market, big industry has already brought all the peoples of the Earth, and especially the civilized peoples, into such close relation with one another that none is independent of what happens to the others.” However, Stalin disagreed with Engels and made ‘Socialism in One Country’ his ultimate goal for Russia.

The economic status of both China and Russia were not as well as Mao and Stalin would have liked due to wars within and outside of their own country. They both turned to agriculture and industry to raise the economic status of their respective countries. Mao’s tactics included land redistribution, however in order to keep in accordance with his ideologies, Mao encouraged the peasants to turn on their landlords and lead the change themselves. Farms were operated cooperatively as individual plots of land were too small to produce sufficient crops, and the profits split among them. By 1952, grain production was 10% higher than in 1936. Later, farmers were encouraged to created Agricultural Producer’s Cooperatives (APC), where land was pooled and was not owned privately.

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