Although both Mao Zedong and Mohandas Gandhi were strong and successful
rulers, their strategies towards such positions of prestige were quite different. Even their
favoring views on socialism were different: Mao leaning towards a capitalistic form of
socialism while Gandhi praised manual labor for all. Mao took the road of propaganda
and force, while Gandhi emphasized passive resistance and worked to achieve the love of
Industrialization brought forth powerful feelings from both rulers: Gandhi
detested it while Mao clung to it. Gandhi, the "little brown saint," placed his emphasis
on manual labor, hoping to unify all the castes in India and humble the people of his
country. After all, Gandhi did make his own clothes and adapted to the dress of peasants
in his later years. In this way, he wanted his followers to see he was just like them,
unlike Mao, who taught the people of his country to replace their thoughts with his own.
Mao's Little Red Book was required reading to all citizens of China, especially the
military forces. It was believed that everyone should think like Mao to enforce unity
Mao's Cultural Revolution hoped to accomplish four goals: to replace party
members with leaders more supportive of his thinking; to provide opportunities for all
classes to engage in the rights of healthcare, education, and opera; and to energize the
communist party. His Great Leap Forward of 1958, bringing forth people's communes,
was intended to mobilize the people for a massive effort to speed up economic growth
and reach a classless society, but it proved to be a disaster. Although Mao's slogan,
"Hard work for a few years, happiness for a thousand," would suggest rewarding years to
come, a bad harvest devastated food production, causing it to go spiraling downward.
Over fifteen million people died of starvation
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