Nah. Because his primary goal was never to kill anyone if he could help it. His goal was to reeducate them into productive workers, and he was quite successful at doing that. Surprise surprise, the notion of “Mall killed every landlord aimlessly and without hesitation” is a complete fabrication by Western propaganda.
Most of the people outright killed by the PLA were not just landlords, but full-on warlords who committed atrocities far beyond just renting out land, and whom they were directly fighting in the revolution. Bit of a difference there. Think less just some guy who owns your downtown apartment and more like a medieval Europe “Lord”, you know, the asshole who lives in a castle and has knights and shit (not an inaccurate comparison either because China was essentially a feudal state before Mao).
My grandparents and great grandparents were former landlords in China who had their land collectivized. They weren’t treated very well because of their history but honestly really not that bad, it was actually re-education they went through, as in they were taught worker skills that they could use, not torture just for the hell of torturing them. They became normal workers and though they still don’t really think fondly socialism because of it (partly why my family moved to Canada when I was a kid but that’s a different story) even they can’t recall many people who were outright killed by the PLA, because they really didn’t kill that many people despite what the West says. They remember tons of people being killed by the Japanese though, not just gunned down either, sadistic methods the Japanese soldiers came up with for fun.
Like, people in the West say “the reeducation camps the Chinese/Soviets for landlords and the other bourgeoisie are just like the camps the Nazis and Japanese built! How can you denounce one and not the other?” Because they weren’t at all alike. For one, Stalin and Mao had a plan to let them back out later, which is a pretty damn big difference.
The treatment of Puyi (the last emperor) as well, he went from a former emperor and Japanese puppet who had his every need catered to (unable to brush his teeth or tie his shoes on his own) into a citizen working as a librarian in his later years.
The only thing Mao ever did wrong was not killing enough landlords
Nah. Because his primary goal was never to kill anyone if he could help it. His goal was to reeducate them into productive workers, and he was quite successful at doing that. Surprise surprise, the notion of “Mall killed every landlord aimlessly and without hesitation” is a complete fabrication by Western propaganda.
Most of the people outright killed by the PLA were not just landlords, but full-on warlords who committed atrocities far beyond just renting out land, and whom they were directly fighting in the revolution. Bit of a difference there. Think less just some guy who owns your downtown apartment and more like a medieval Europe “Lord”, you know, the asshole who lives in a castle and has knights and shit (not an inaccurate comparison either because China was essentially a feudal state before Mao).
My grandparents and great grandparents were former landlords in China who had their land collectivized. They weren’t treated very well because of their history but honestly really not that bad, it was actually re-education they went through, as in they were taught worker skills that they could use, not torture just for the hell of torturing them. They became normal workers and though they still don’t really think fondly socialism because of it (partly why my family moved to Canada when I was a kid but that’s a different story) even they can’t recall many people who were outright killed by the PLA, because they really didn’t kill that many people despite what the West says. They remember tons of people being killed by the Japanese though, not just gunned down either, sadistic methods the Japanese soldiers came up with for fun.
Like, people in the West say “the reeducation camps the Chinese/Soviets for landlords and the other bourgeoisie are just like the camps the Nazis and Japanese built! How can you denounce one and not the other?” Because they weren’t at all alike. For one, Stalin and Mao had a plan to let them back out later, which is a pretty damn big difference.
The treatment of Puyi (the last emperor) as well, he went from a former emperor and Japanese puppet who had his every need catered to (unable to brush his teeth or tie his shoes on his own) into a citizen working as a librarian in his later years.