Mao Zedong (Early Career)

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) was the Chinese communist revolutionary who founded the People's Republic of China in 1949, ruling it until his death. His early career — from peasant origins in Hunan province to leadership of the Communist Party during the Long March and the war against Japan — was one of the most remarkable political journeys of the 20th century.

Mao came to communism through the intellectual ferment of China's May Fourth Movement (1919), which sought to modernize China after the humiliations of the late Qing era. He adapted Marxism to Chinese conditions, arguing — against orthodox Marxist theory — that revolution could be based on the peasantry rather than the urban proletariat. This insight reflected the reality of China, where peasants vastly outnumbered industrial workers.

The Long March (1934–1935), in which the Red Army retreated 6,000 miles through some of China's most forbidding terrain to escape Nationalist encirclement, became the founding myth of Chinese communism. Of the roughly 86,000 who began the march, fewer than 8,000 completed it — but Mao emerged as the undisputed leader. During the war against Japan (1937–1945), Mao's forces grew from a battered remnant to a formidable army of over a million, positioning the Communists for their victory in the civil war that followed.