The Braking Mechanism in Mao-Era Politics: Actions by Military Leaders After 1958

Abstract

This book offers a compelling re-examination of Mao Zedong’s political authority, giving readers a clear understanding and full picture of Mao, the politics of his era and the political life of the CCP. The widespread view holds that Mao was an authoritarian leader, enjoying what was called absolute leadership authority. This book reveals that in fact from the late 1950s onwards, the CCP leadership was deeply fractured, during a period when China’s internal political and economic dynamics and its external existential conditions were very complex. By analysing four major interconnected challenges to Mao’s governing decisions and leadership imposed by senior military leaders from the late 195..