Elimination+of+the+opposition+Mao+and+Nasser

Tess Galantowicz April 19, 2010 **Single Party State Leader- Elimination of the Opposition** a. The elimination of the opposition is important in possessing power b. May be the result of an indecisive leader, unpopular policies, insensitive attitude towards certain sectors of the population or divided leadership c. Weakness in government creates a window of opportunity for opposition to capitalize and gain power a. Mao 1. Founded the Chinese Communist Party 2. Encouraged a rural revolution and participated in guerrilla warfare tactic against Chiang’s Nationalist Party 3. Chiang pursued a bloody campaign to exterminate Chinese communists, hence one of the criteria that would cause the ruling government to become unpopular 4. By surviving the Long March, Mao was perceived as a revolutionary hero and earned credibility as a leader b. Nasser 1. Founded the Free Officers, a secret revolutionary organization 2. Opposed British occupation in Egypt and felt Egypt was currently ruled by a royal family(King Farouk) that allowed a small group of land owners to prosper both politically and economically but did not look out for the commoners 3. Seen as a war hero after fighting in the war against Israel 4. 1952 his Free Officers overthrew the king and took power a. Platform focused around the common people 1. Nasser and Mao both came from a common background and pledged to have revolutions that would benefit the common man. Mao’s was centered around the ideals of communism whereas Nasser wanted to free the government from the corrupt King Farouk. 2. Both Nasser and Mao began their protesting while students and progressed their revolutionary ideologies from there b. Poor economic policies and unpopular government created opportunity to gain power 1. In Egypt King Farouk established an economic policy where landowners, most of which were related or associated with Farouk, were the only ones to prosper. Therefore most of the country’s wealth was going to a small group, creating a large gap between the rich and the poor, consequently creating tension and frustration for the common people of the country. 2. In China the National People’s Party, led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen and later Chiang Kai-shek, wanted China to be a modern, democratic state. Under the National People’s Party rule little was done to improve peasant poverty even though one of their principles was land reform. Therefore Mao Zedong and his communist ideology was able to gain support due to the promise of equality.
 * I.** **Meaning of this criterion for the single party state leader**
 * II.** **How this criterion applies to Mao and Nasser**
 * III.** **An analysis of how similar these two are to one another based on this criterion**