The youth of the great Man Mao Zedong, like our youth today, pursued his life goals in the wandering, and after continuous experimentation and comparison, gradually grew up, and finally chose communism as his lifelong cause of struggle, and became a staunch Marxist.
Young Mao Zedong
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" >1, Mao Zedong's first trip to Beijing opened up a new world of cognition</h1>
In the summer of 1918, mao zedong graduated from the Hunan Provincial First Normal School after five and a half years of study, when he was 25 years old, and at this time, China was at a time when a storm was coming. On August 15, Mao Zedong, Xiao Zisheng, Zhang Kundi, Luo Zhanglong and 24 other young people left Changsha by train for the long-awaited Beijing, the first time Mao Zedong had left Hunan.
Earlier, Mao's most trusted and revered teacher, Yang Changji, was hired from Hunan to teach in the philosophy department of Peking University, and he told Mao zedong that he could go to France to work and study. Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen, and Xiao Zisheng all thought that this was a way out, so they mobilized members of the Xinmin Society to work and study in France. After Cai and Sen went to Beijing to play the front station, they twice wrote letters urging Mao Zedong to invite comrades who were willing to go to France to go north, and he also told Mao Zedong in the letter that his teacher Yang Changji very much wanted you to enter Peking University.
On August 19, as soon as Mao Zedong arrived in Beijing, he would devote himself to the preparations for work-study in France with Cai Hesen and others. After several trips and contacts, Mao Zedong and others finally arranged for these Hunan young people to study in the preparatory class for studying in France, and Mao Zedong, who stayed in Beijing, did not apply for the preparatory department of Peking University according to the wishes of his teacher Yang Changji, but was introduced by teacher Yang Changji and became an assistant in the library of Peking University, which Li Dazhao was responsible for.
At that time, most of the monthly salaries of Peking University professors were two or three hundred yuan, while Mao Zedong only had a monthly salary of 8 yuan, but he was very satisfied with the job, because he could read various newly published books and periodicals, and he could also meet many famous scholars and aspiring young people who had been famous for a long time. At that time, various ideas and scholarships were competing in Peking University, and the new cultural movement was gradually entering a climax, which made Mao Zedong feel very excited and stimulated, and he gained great gains that he had never had before.
At Peking University, Mao Zedong participated in the Journalism Research Association initiated by Shao Piaoping and the philosophical research society organized by Yang Changji, Liang Shuming, Hu Shi and others. He also organized more than a dozen members of the Xinmin Society to hold discussions with Cai Yuanpei and Hu Shi at Peking University, especially during this period when he was able to get acquainted with Chen Duxiu and was greatly influenced by Chen Duxiu. Most notably, Mao Zedong worked under Li Dazhao and, under the influence of Li Dazhao, began to understand the October Revolution and Marxism in detail.
The May Fourth Movement
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" >2, after the May Fourth Movement, Mao Zedong began to move toward historical materialism and observe social history in this way</h1>
The primary purpose of Mao Zedong's first trip to Beijing was to help many aspiring young people fulfill their wish to go to France to work and study, but Mao Zedong himself chose to stay in China. Mao Zedong's own consideration was that, first, it was easier to learn Western knowledge by looking at the translated version than reading the original work; second, Chinese civilization occupied half of the world's civilization, and should first study its own civilization; third, there was an urgent need to first conduct on-the-spot investigation and study of China's own situation.
In the spring of 1919, mao zedong rushed back to Hunan because his mother was seriously ill. A few months later, the May Fourth Movement broke out. The patriotic movement of Beijing students quickly spread to Hunan, and Deng Zhongxia was sent by the Beijing Students' Federation to Hunan to contact and support the patriotic movement of Beijing students. On May 25, after consulting with more than 20 student representatives from various schools, Mao Zedong established the new Hunan Students' Federation, organized a unified strike for students, and put forward six demands to the Beijing government, including the abolition of unequal treaties.
While leading the student movement, the May Fourth Movement caused some problems to arouse the deep thinking of Mao Zedong and others, who began to work hard to study and introduce various new ideas, and at Mao Zedong's suggestion, the Xiangjiang Review came into being, and the 25-year-old Mao Zedong devoted all his energy to the editing of the Xiangjiang Review. During this period, Mao Zedong's thinking underwent a great transformation and began to move towards historical materialism and to observe social history in this way.
At this time, Mao Zedong's attention began to jump out of the educational circle and pay more attention to the vast social reality. In particular, the October Revolution and the May Fourth Movement made him begin to see the great strength displayed by the masses of the people, and he also began to call on the peasants, who constituted the majority of the Chinese, to unite, and to call on students, teachers, and women from all walks of life to unite, and finally to realize the great unity of the people. After that, he no longer only valued the strength of the individual, but began to rely on the great unity of the people to realize the ideal of saving the country and saving the people.
But at this time, there were still contradictions in Mao Zedong's thinking: on the one hand, he affirmed and praised the October Revolution, and on the other hand, he did not approve of the use of violent revolution to overthrow the power, because he felt that if the power was used to overthrow the power, he would still get the power, and he still chose the path of moderate reform. In order for his thinking to undergo further drastic changes, he also needed to go through a complex process of transformation, in which the "power" of Zhang Jingyao, the overseer of Hunan, gave him a profound understanding of reality, and this understanding contributed to the drastic changes in his thinking.
Li Dazhao
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" >3, through experimentation and comparison, Mao Zedong finally chose to believe in Marxism</h1>
The Xiangjiang Review edited by Mao Zedong had a great impact in Hunan, and Ren Bishi, Guo Liang, and Xiao Jinguang all began to become enlightened under the influence of the Xiangjiang Review. Even outside the province, the Xiangjiang Review has also attracted great attention. Even the famous Hu Shi wrote an article in the Weekly Review affirming the Xiangjiang Review, believing that Mao Zedong's "The Great Union of the People" had a far-sighted vision and a very pleasant discussion, and it was indeed an important text today.
During this period, Mao Zedong even became interested in the experimentalism advocated by Hu Shi, and also drafted a "Charter" that proposed that many aspects of politics, economy, history, international, and technology needed to be studied. Mao Zedong was also influenced by anarchism, organized the "New Village" construction movement, liked and confused about the work-study mutual aid movement advocated by the Young Chinese Society, and even experimented with Peng Huang and others in 1920 on the life of the mutual aid work-study group. Through hands-on practice, Mao Zedong soon became aware of the drawbacks of this kind of work-study group and stopped it.
In 1919, Mao Zedong's "Xiangjiang Review", which was in full swing, was banned by Zhang Jingyao, the overseer of Hunan, and was forced to stop it, and coupled with Zhang Jingyao's many evil deeds during his reign in Hunan, the people of Hunan even issued a cry that "if Zhang Poison is not removed, Hunan has no hope" call. Therefore, in December, Mao Zedong led a huge exorcism campaign, and on the 18th, he led a delegation to Beijing to petition and solemnly demanded the expulsion of Zhang to Jin Yunpeng, the state premier of the Beiyang government. In June 1920, Zhang Jingyao finally left Hunan in ashes.
In 1920, under the influence of Li Dazhao, Mao Zedong became more and more interested in Bolshevism, and began to pay attention to the articles published in the press introducing Marxism, and paid special attention to searching for and reading the Chinese editions of Marxist books that could be found at that time. Although he had been exposed to various doctrines and doctrines in the past few years, through the practice of the Expulsion Movement and the further understanding of Marxism, he began to make further explorations.
After the victory of the Zhang-driving movement, Mao Zedong pinned his hopes on the Hunan autonomy movement and even envisioned a specific plan for the "Hunan Republic", but Hunan autonomy was opposed and suppressed by Tan Yanmin, the governor of Hunan Province and the overseer. In November, Zhao Hengti, the commander-in-chief of the Xiang Army, who replaced Tan Yanmin, directly suppressed the Hunan autonomy movement. The unforgiving reality calmed Mao Zedong down, and after deep reflection, on January 21, 1921, in a letter to Cai Hesen, Mao Zedong's attitude clearly expressed his belief in Marxism and communism, indicating that Mao Zedong had just celebrated his 27th birthday.