The Resolution of Revolutions

In the text book we read about two particular instances where the people of china were starting a revolution against those who are in power.  One thing that struck me while I was reading was how much the past affected the revolution.  For instance in one, the people were afraid to rebel because they thought the government (which at the time were just figure heads), was still backed my military force like it was in the past.  In the other revolution it was interesting how the chinese Red Guards felt that in order to move forward and start a revolution, something new, you must first destroy everything old.  This makes no logical sense if the history you are destroying is porcelain cups.  cups hold virtually no historical value at all so why would they think its important to destroy there history which they spent so much time making in the first place.  Another thing that I began to notice was how unique Martin Luther King actually was, coming up with a non violent way of protesting, and starting his own revolution.  Revolutions thrive of feelings, anger being the strongest a human has, so to have a revolution without anger and in turn without violence is a crazy idea.  The reason this came to mind was because both of the stories of revolutions displayed anger.

Hmmmm.........

Both of these cases seem to have the same end goal: achieve a new form of governement by overthrowing the old. But although this is the case for both of them, the means are very different. The first case begins with a non-violent judicial way to change the way land is distributed, but through coaxing from the soon-to-be government, it soon turns violent. The second case begins as a violent act, much like the ending of the first act. The students, rifled up by the government's propaganda, seek to not only get rid of the past government, but also the culture. They view the destruction of the past culture as the only way to move forward, making the end justify the means.

Hidden Agenda

During the rise of Communism in China, the ideas and rhetoric that sounded beneficial to the country held a hidden agenda that created a corrupt society.  Communism's ideals of trying to create complete equality do not appear to be bad.  However, in practice, the rules and regulations lead to a mob like mentality that caused chaos and a reversal of power, rather than equality.  For example, the first excerpt clearly shows the reversal of power.  Instead of treating everyone equally, there is a complete switch, in which the peasants and government are abusing the former people who held power.  Although the communists say they are just trying to enforce equality and redistribute land, they are in fact creating an extreme imbalance of power in which one group holds complete control over the other.  The excerpt on page 769 also demonstrated the destruction of lives that happened through the rise of the Red Guards.  The Red Guards had a mob mentality - acting impulsively and taking the law into their own hands.  The excerpt reminded me of The Red Scarf Girl, a novel that I read in 8th grade.  In this book, a girl grows up through the time of the cultural revolution in China.  As the Red Guards gain more and more power, a sense of fear is instilled in the society. 

Communism in China is really not anything like the ideals of communism.  It created a way to change the mindset of  the proletarian population, flipping the positions of power.  It also created much chaos, anger, and destruction of social norms, making China dependent on other forms of government.  This gave the Red Guards along with Chairman Mao a chance to assume complete control, taking advantage of the chaotic situation.

In my opinion, although both stories are different situations, they both have the same intentions and outcomes. The first story was of peasants rising up against crime and throwing out the new order. They began with somewhat of a trial, asking for the evidence of the crimes committed by the person in question. However, as the meeting went on, it turned to violence. This is the same as in the second story, except that the red guards started with violence. They were both fighting against the oppression of the previous rule, and they both did so with violence (eventually).
The end goal is the same, which is that the previous rule will be abolished, and the ones responsible will be punished. The second one seemed harsher, because they stormed into a wife of an oppressors house, with no questions asked, and started to tear down her house. The first story was much more civil at first, even though it eventually turned to violence (it ends with the men charging at the ruler, ready to fight).

Communist Manipulation

The two excerpts in our textbook represent the consecutive stages of Communist policy implementation upon the peasant class of China. In a savvy move, Mao took advantage of the peasants' imminent hardships as the lowest class on the Chinese social pyramid. He introduced the Red Guard as an auxiliary force used to oust authority figures who were caught in a catch-22 that inevitably squeezed them out of the new communist equation. Mao realized that power laid in his ability to unify the majority of China by aligning them politically in his scheme of massive collectivization, whether or not he achieve this through deception or force. It is clear that the chairman was aware of his initial plan of social manipulation, yet it seems he became misguided in his second, more destructive phase of "The Great Leap Forward." As Mao grasped his new found power, gained from his control over the lower social classes, he could officially establish his movement as a nationally backed force in greater China. It seemed he ultimately used this as an excuse to target components of capitalism and traditionalist values that were destroying the integrity of China's new identity. After mishandling his "experiment" in communist collectivization, Mao was left with a disgruntled majority and and officials  with a bad taste in their mouth from the Red Guard's brutality. Mao's plan certainly worked to some effect in garnering support from those he wished to exploit, but the obsolete Communist machine combined with abuses of power caused the downfall of the era of Mao.

Cold War

Neither of my parents had much to say about the Cold War.  My mom was living in Canada at the time and my dad didn't really remember being effected all that much by it.  Although I couldn't find much oral history for this time period, my mom did have an interesting story about how my grandparents escaped from China during the rise of communism.  My grandparents were very, very lucky.  They escaped just before it was too late.  At that time the idea of communism was subtly starting to gain influence in the society.  People were really buying into the propaganda and supporting the idea.  My grandfather, however, was getting scared.  He owned a gold fountain pen tip making factory.  He also had a street named after him, and was worried that he may be one of the first targets if communism took off.  The times were getting scarier by the second.  My grandmother is Chinese, but she was friends with a Japanese family.  When they fled, they left behind a few brick of gold that they said she could have.  My grandmother could not take it though, because she realized there was Japanese print on the gold, and she could be arrested or killed if she were caught with it.  My grandparents agreed that it was time to leave.  My grandfather decided to use his gold pen tips as currency, as they escaped out of the country and then flew to Canada.  They were lucky to have made it, but a few of my grandfathers friends were not so lucky.  They tried to escape a few days later, but were stopped at the border and arrested.  

The comparison of two primary sources

To me it seems that in both these primary sources we see the fall of the old ways, and the reconstruction of new communistic ways. In Land Reform In Action, the people are encouraged to stand up to all enemies, as well as their supporters and turn them into the authorities. What makes these actions shocking is that normally their was a social hierarchy, but as we see at the end of this primary source. There is an massive change in the sense that hierarchy is ripped apart when a peasant stands up to an official. After this peasant stood up to an official, the rest of the peasants followed illuminating the power, of the people and how easily they will become followers. The other primary source we read, which was Make Revolution, had a similar idea of overriding the norm. Here the Red Guards who were also people of all classes, especially lower class, entered a man's house without a search warrant, which was against the constitution. Their motto was "if we do not destroy, we cannot establish," which is essentially the same idea that I found in Land Reform and Action. The idea of destroying the old, and creating a new norm that is completely against the old ways.