The synthesis of confucian and marxist thought and its use by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the history of Confucianism in China and its relation to the Chinese Communist Party in particular as it relates to its first Chairman, Mao Zedong. It is the intention of this thesis to prove that the Chinese Communist Party, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, used Confucianism in its philosophy while denying that Confucianism had any part in the new Chinese Communist society. Furthermore, this thesis will show how the systems of Marxist/Communism and Confucianism are actually compatible in style, and the introduction of Marxism in China is a somewhat natural outgrowth of Confucianism. Therefore, the synthesis of Confucian and Marxist thought and its use by the Chinese Communist Party and Mao Zedong is the major focus of this paper. In preparing to write this thesis, a lengthy study on Confucianism was completed. Since Confucianism has changed so much over the thousands of years it has existed, it was necessary to study the major changes in its history. A focus of this research was based on the work of Zhu Xi, a philosopher from the Sung dynasty in China, who synthesized the thoughts of Confucius with those of the Buddhists whose influence was felt in China just prior to the Sung dynasty. This synthesis resulted in the formation of the term "NeoConfucianism." After completing this stage of research, materials on the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese Communist Revolution, and the life of Mao Zedong were researched for further information on the subject. After extensive research on the subject which surveyed scholarship over several thousand years, the basic assumption of this thesis has been proven to be correct. The Chinese Communist Party did use Confucianism in its philosophy. This was done consciously and unconsciously. It was consciously done by people in charge including Mao Zedong. It was unconsciously used by all the people in China since the traditions of the past did not die with the Communist Revolution of 1949. Furthermore, it has been shown that the Chinese only accepted Marxism after they sinified its thought. Whenever the Chinese incorporate anything into their society that has its roots outside China, such as Marxism, society will usually modify the concept to fit into the Chinese framework of thinking. The process of this sinification of Marxism is thoroughly discussed. Therefore the basic thesis discussing the sinification of Marxist thought and traditional Confucian thought has been shown.