MAO ZEDONG (COMMUNIST REVOLUTIONARY)

Mao Zedong was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect and founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949. His theoretical contribution to Marxism–Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of policies, are collectively known as Maoism. Mao was leading the Chinese Communist Party to repel a Japanese invasion and to victory against Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's in the Chinese Civil War. Mao reestablished central control over China's fractured territories, and successfully suppressed opponents of the new order. He enacted sweeping land reform by using violence and terror to overthrow landlords before seizing their large estates and dividing the land into people's communes. Mao styled himself "The Great Helmsman" and supporters continue to contend that he was responsible for a range of positive changes which came to China during his three decade rule. Mao remains a controversial figure. Although Mao encouraged population growth and China's population almost doubled during the period of his leadership (from around 550 to over 900 million),his rule from 1949 to 1976 is believed to have caused the deaths of 40 to 70 million people. Severe starvation during the Great Chinese Famine, mass suicide as a result of the Three-anti and Five-anti campaigns, and political persecution during both the Anti-Rightist Movement purges and struggle sessions all resulted from these programs.