Ethan Evans "The Legacy of Mao Zedong is Mass Murder" Article Critique

Civil war.Famine.Genocide.These are all products of Mao Zedong rule. He led his own people into their darkest times. Mao Zedong used his power to force his opinions and policies on his own people. Mao Zedong, the chairman of the communist party of china, is responsible for one of the largest genocides in history. Mao, in his time as chairman he killed 65 million of his own people, and started “The worst famine in human history” stated in the article “The Legacy of Mao Zedong is Mass Murder”. The article states that Mao’s legacy will be the truth, that he was one of the worst people of power in history. The events of Mao Zedong would thought to have happened sometime earlier, in an earlier more civilized era, but in fact it happened from 1958-1962. Well after Holodomor and the Holocaust, the two most well known genocides. Mao was so Influential because he started the rise of communism that gave him power to start such things as “ The Great Leap Forward” and the “Cultural Revolution”. The most disastrous idea Mao had was “The Great Leap Forward”, this movement he created launched his country into “... the worst famine in human history”. The famine was the biggest factor in his Genocide, it killed 45 million in four years, that is the population of California. Together with the equally horrid and as equally devastating, the “Cultural Revolution” was used to kill the Intelligence of his people. Mao formed the “Red Guards” who consist of highschool and college students going around and beating, humiliating, and murdering their professors and teachers. Turning China into a “...great House of Fear.” giving Mao a chance to use this fear and exploit it. Mao as stated in this article “Political power grows out of the end of a gun.”This quote perfectly aligns with how he had kept his country under such strict and merciless conditions.Cultural Revolution caused China to usher in a generation of uneducated adults that were even easier to manipulate, this is what allowed Mao to blindly lead his country to the edge of its existence. Since then, China had to reteach and rebuild what was torn and left behind by Mao Zedong. The “Cultural Revolution” left millions of uneducated workers to fill in hard manual labor jobs the country bounced back using the growing super powers need for factories and mass production of goods, like the United States. China is still relying on manual laborers and factories, as well as they still experience little self expression and free will, but as for the Genocide it ended in 1962. This genocide was known to other countries, but no country intervened. My personal reaction is horrified and awestruck at how a man given power by his people could be so cold and do everything in his power to make it worse. As well as dumbfoundedness at how the people that followed him could turn on each other and essentially kill each other by betral. Not to mention the mass famine, i couldn't imagine going a day without food let alone weeks and even months. The amount of pain and struggle the chinese went through is unimaginable but the fact that they were able to bounce back with a flourishing economy that most of the world depends on, is amazing. Source of the information is Lee Edwards, PhD with the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. He is a distinguished conservative who was not directly affected or had experienced this event, but was curious on what happened and what could have been done to prevent or end this Genocide.