Extent+of+opposition+Mao+and+Nasser

Extent of Opposition: Nasser and Mao

1. An explanation for what this criterion means for the single party state leader A. Overt Opposition: relatively uncommon
 * assassination attempts
 * mass protests or marches
 * defection of prominent individuals

B. Degree of opposition: varies, but is influenced by:
 * degree of popularity of regime at any given time
 * political decisions
 * external factors
 * emergence of new ideas

C. Treatment of opposition: always repressive
 * depends on the insecurity of the regime
 * carried out by secret police, surveillance and informers
 * fear helps keep people from expressing opinions
 * state emphasizes loyalty through education and propaganda
 * harsh punishments

Nasser A. Overt Opposition B. Degree of Opposition C. Treatment of Opposition
 * Assassination Attempts
 * 1954 attempt on his life is used as a means to consolidate his leadership and push out General Naguib.
 * 1956 attempt on his life is used to justify banning the Muslim Brotherhood, jailing many of its members, and executing several of its leaders.
 * Mass Protests
 * When Nasser and the RCC sacked Naguib, there were protests demanding that Naguib be reinstated as the Egyptian president. These protests faded away quickly.
 * Defection of Prominent Individuals
 * There was one defection of a pilot from the UAR, although he was by birth a Syrian. Jordan used his defection as a propaganda coup, but this was a fairly insignificant event.
 * Degree of popularity of regime
 * Nasser's regime was quite popular with the Egyptians, thanks to the propaganda machine that kept churning out anti-Israeli rhetoric, pro-Palestinian rhetoric, and pan-Arab rhetoric.
 * Nasser won admiration both within Egypt and within the developing world following his "victory" in the Suez Crisis of 1956.
 * Nasser's land reforms helped his popularity increase among many peasants, but his repression of the Muslim Brotherhood hurt him.
 * Nasser's popularity declined as the economy soured under spending to support the Civil War in Yemen.
 * Nasser fell in popularity after the 1967 War fiasco, volunteering to give up the Presidency but called back by the Egyptian people.
 * Nasser's 1970 funeral was attended by 5 million people, reported by International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences to be the largest crowd to attend on person's funeral.
 * Political decisions
 * The support for Civil War in Yemen proved unpopular, thus creating opposition
 * The creation of Land Reform created opposition from landed elites, but he paid them with luxurious housing and other favors.
 * The nationalization of industries create opposition from bourgeoisie business owners, but he paid them with even greater contracts.
 * Emergence of new ideas
 * Nasser tried to socialize education, bringing it under state control and permitting free higher education for any student who sought it. This created a system that was unsustainable as well as graduates who lacked a quality education.
 * Nasser jailed all the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, and banned the organization. Upon his death, as a form of reconciliation, Anwar Sadat allowed the group to begin operating again. Members of this group were implicated in Sadat's assassination.
 * Many of the Muslim Brotherhood escaped to West Germany, which welcomed them since East Germany recognized fellow Soviet client states Egypt and Syria.
 * Thousands of members of the Muslim Brotherhood were held without trial over a 20-year period, and some of its leaders were executed. Egypt has paid restitution to the victims of torture.

Mao Zedong A. Overt Opposition B. Degree of Opposition C. Treatment of Opposition
 * Assassination Attempts
 * There was one in 1949 that was supposedly organized by supporters of Chaing Kai-Shek
 * There was another in the late 1960s that was supposedly organized by a member of the opposition from within the party.
 * Mass Protests
 * In terms of protest, the Cultural Revolution is a protest against those who did not join into Mao's ideology.
 * Defection of Prominent individuals
 * Mao grappled with Deng Xiaoping, who became leader of China in 1976. While Deng never defected, he was definitely part of the party opposition.
 * Degree of popularity of regime
 * The regime during the Great Leap Forward required factories to identify 5% of the population who were "rightists" and opposed Mao and his policies.
 * Within the party, Mao made enemies who opposed some of his market reforms. For example, he allowed some peasants to sell their excess on the open market for profit that they could keep, and this made the left (Deng Xiaoping) very unhappy.
 * Mao sometimes pulled back from political decisions, evaluating, which allowed discussion to emerge (Hundred Flowers Campaign and other policies), but then lashed out at those whose policies went against his own.
 * Political Decisions
 * Mao favored Stalin, and opposed the destalinisation of the USSR. Khrushchev became and opponent as he stopped aid in 1960 and recalled Soviet engineers and technicians.
 * Mao began to believe that the USSR and US were in collusion, and sought his own path. Yet, he did not want direct confrontation with the US, and also made sure he did not go too far from Soviet support.
 * In the Cultural Revolution he encouraged people to denounce each other, and as the fear emerged people looked for "monsters and demons and all counter-revolutionary revisionists of the Khrushchev type."
 * During the Cultural Revolution he also had to make sure the Army did not rise up against him. He used the army to put down both Red Guard and counterrevolutionaries, who were difficult to distinguish from one another. This emphasized the "dictatorship of the proletariat" that Marx envisioned.
 * In a pretty clear pattern, Mao's political decisions at one time would strike out against writers and intellectuals, then against bourgeoisie, then against rich landlords and peasants.
 * Emergence of New ideas
 * Mao very clearly had the government hunt down and either kill, relocate, remove from jobs, or force into labor people who opposed him.
 * China experienced millions of deaths during both the GLF and the Cultural Revolution, some deliberate and some a result of poor planning and economic policy.
 * Many people who were rightists or did not agree with is policies were denounced and forced into re-education and forced labor to change their attitudes.