POL THEORY Reviewer (Communist Leaders)

CUBA

Fidel Castro (Fidel Alejandro Castro Cruz)

 political leader of Cuba (1959–2008) who transformed his country into the first
communist state in the Western Hemisphere
 became a symbol of communist revolution in Latin America
 after his graduation in 1950, Castro began to practice law and became a member
of the reformist Cuban People’s Party (called Ortodoxos)
 He and his brother Raúl were released in a political amnesty in 1955, and they
went to Mexico to continue their campaign against the Batista regime
 In Mexico, he organized Cuban exiles into a revolutionary group called the 26th
of July Movement
 On December 2, 1956, Castro and an armed expedition of 81 men landed on the
eastern coast of Cuba from the yacht Granma. All of them were killed or captured
except Fidel and Raúl Castro, Ernesto (“Che”) Guevara, and nine others
 had come to power with the support of most Cuban city dwellers on the basis of
his promises to restore the 1940 constitution, create an honest administration,
reinstate full civil and political liberties, and undertake moderate reforms
 once established as Cuba’s leader he began to pursue more radical policies:
Cuba’s private commerce and industry were nationalized; sweeping land reforms
were instituted; and American businesses and agricultural estates were
expropriated
 In 1960 most economic ties between Cuba and the United States were severed,
and the United States broke diplomatic relations with the island country in
January 1961. In April of that year the U.S. government secretly equipped
thousands of Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro’s government; their landing at
the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, however, was crushed by Castro’s armed forces.
 created a one-party government to exercise dictatorial control over all aspects of
Cuba’s political, economic, and cultural life, where all political dissent and
opposition were ruthlessly suppressed
  In the late 1980s, when the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev began to
undertake democratic reforms and eastern European countries were allowed to
slip out of the Soviet orbit, Castro retained a hard-line stance, espousing
the discipline of communism.
 In September, on the eve of the release of the first volume of his memoirs, The
Strategic Victory, he remarked to a reporter from the United States that “the
Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore.” Many took his comment as an
admission of the failure of communism
 In 2011 Fidel stepped down as secretary-general of the Communist Party of Cuba
and was succeeded by Raúl
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fidel-Castro
CUBA

Che Guevara (Ernesto Che Guevara) (Ernesto Guevara de la Serna)

 theoretician and tactician of guerrilla warfare
 prominent communist figure in the Cuban Revolution (1956–59)
 guerrilla leader in South America
 he was regarded as a martyred hero by generations of leftists worldwide, and his
image became an icon of leftist radicalism and anti-imperialism after his
execution by the Bolivian army
 The overthrow of the Arbenz regime in 1954 in a coup supported by the
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) persuaded Guevara that the United
States would always oppose progressive leftist governments, which became the
cornerstone of his plans to bring about socialism by means of a worldwide
revolution
 It was in Guatemala that Guevara became a dedicated Marxist
 became well known in the West for his opposition to all forms
of imperialism and neocolonialism and for his attacks on U.S. foreign policy
 expounded a vision of a new socialist citizen who would work for the good of
society rather than for personal profit, a notion he embodied through his own
hard work
 In Che's various roles for the communist government, Che exerted his influence
ruthlessly, imprisoning or killing thousands of Cubans
 ran the infamous La Cabaña prison—a firing-squad-turned-detention-center for
Castro's political enemies
 "We have shot, we shot, we will shoot and we will continue to shoot as long as
necessary." Oh my god
https://www.atlasnetwork.org/articles/demystifying-che-guevara-cold-
blooded-communist
VIETNAM

Ho Chi Minh (Nguyen Sinh Cung) “Uncle Ho”

 founder and leader of the Vietnamese communist movement
 led the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1945-69
 had embraced communism while living abroad in England and France from 1915-
23
 later moved to Hong Kong, where he founded the Indochinese Communist Party
 acted more as an arbiter of conflicts among the various factions, allowing the
organization of revolutionary action, rather than as an initiator
 stood for the essential unity of the divided Vietnamese family
 “nothing is as dear to the heart of the Vietnamese as independence and
liberation” – became the motto of North Vietnamese cause
 After adopting the name Ho Chi Minh, or "He Who Enlightens," he returned to
Vietnam in 1941 and declared the nation's independence from France
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/vietnam-whos-
who-north-vietnam/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ho-Chi-Minh/The-Geneva-
Accords-and-the-Second-Indochina-War
VIETNAM

Lê Duẩn (Ba = “Second Son”)

 founding member of the Indochina Communist Party
 served on North Vietnam's Central Committee under Ho Chi Minh
 directed the formation of an underground Communist organization in South
Vietnam
 Before and during World War I, he lived in the United States and London, then
moved to France, where he became a fervent believer in the socialist movement.
In the following years, his commitment to an independent, Communist Vietnam
took him to the Soviet Union and China.
 a life-long revolutionary, who used any and all means to achieve his ends
 after Ho's death, Le assumed leadership of North Vietnam
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/honor-ho-chi-
minh/#:~:text=Before%20and%20during%20World%20War,the%20Soviet%20Union
%20and%20China.
CHINA

Mao Zedong
 founder of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)
 layed a major role in the establishment of the Red Army and the development of a
defensible base area in Jiangxi province during the late 1920s and early 1930s
 formally assumed the post of Party Chairman in 1945
 reliance on the peasantry (a major departure from prevailing Soviet doctrine) and
dependence on guerrilla warfare in the revolution were essential to the
Communist triumph in China
 in 1966 initiated the “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”
 Until his death, a failing Mao refereed a struggle between those who benefited
from the Cultural Revolution and defended its policies, and rehabilitated veterans
who believed that the Cultural Revolution had done China serious harm
 ideologist of the Chinese Communist revolution
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1950_leaders.htm
CHINA

Zhou Enlai
 one of the most prominent and respected leaders of the Communist movement
 In 1920 he traveled to Europe on a work-study program in which he met a
number of future CCP leaders
 He was in charge of labor union activity in Shanghai when Chiang Kaishek
attacked the CCP in April 1927 and helped to plan the Nanchang Uprising against
the Nationalists in August — the event now celebrated as the founding of the
CCP's Red Army.
 headed the CCP liaison team when the Nationalists and CCP had formed a
second united front to oppose Japanese imperialism
 represented the CCP in negotiations with the Nationalists during the mediation
effort of U.S. General George Marshall
 became premier of the Government Affairs (later State) Council and foreign
minister after founding People’s Republic in 1949
 supported Mao Zedong in the latter's Cultural Revolution attack on the
entrenched Party bureaucracy, and subsequently played a critical role in
rebuilding political institutions and mediating numerous political quarrels
 strong advocate of modernization
CHINA

Deng Xiaoping
 one of the first generation of Chinese Communist Party leaders
 was removed from office and imprisoned during the years of the Cultural
Revolution (1966-76); family was persecuted
 reemerged as China's paramount leader shortly after the death of Mao Zedong in
1976
 set the course of reform by dismantling the communes set up under Mao and
replaced them with the Household Responsibility System (HRS), within which
each household must be held accountable to the state for only what it agrees to
produce, and is free to keep surplus output for private use
 encouraged farmers to engage in private entrepreneurship and sideline
businesses in order to supplement their incomes
 "Practice is the sole criterion of truth.”
 believed that only by experimenting with alternative forms of production and
entrepreneurial activity would China find the best path for economic
development, which began China’s experiments with capitalist methods of
production
 Deng said, "it does not matter if a cat is black or white so long as it catches the
mouse;" it no longer matters if an economic policy is capitalist or socialist, in
other words, as long as it results in economic growth.
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1950_leaders.htm
CHINA

Xi Jinping
 general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP; 2012– ), and president
of China (2013– )
 son of Xi Zhongxun, who once served as deputy prime minister of China and was
an early comrade-in-arms of Mao Zedong
 During the Cultural Revolution, when his father was purged and out of favour, Xi
Jinping was sent to the countryside in 1969 (he went to largely rural Shaanxi
province), where he worked for six years as a manual labourer on an agricultural
commune
 he developed an especially good relationship with the local peasantry, which
would aid the wellborn Xi’s credibility in his eventual rise through the ranks of
the CCP
 in October 2016 the CCP bestowed upon him the title of “core leader”
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Xi-Jinping
LAOS

Kaysone Phomvihane
 was the first leader of the Communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party from
1955 until his death in 1992
 the de facto leader of Laos from 1975 until his death after the Communists seized
power in the wake of the Laotian Civil War
 protested against Japanese occupation of his country during World War II
 while studying law at the University of Hanoi, he became involved with
the nascent Indochinese Communist Party
 helped found and became General Secretary of what was later called the Lao
People’s Revolutionary Party in 1955
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pathet-Lao
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kaysone-Phomvihan
LAOS

Souphanouvong
 leader of the revolutionary Pathet Lao movement
 first president of Communist-governed Laos
 opposed the reimposition of French rule in Laos and joined the nationalist
provisional government in Vientiane as defense minister after WWII
 after a period as foreign minister of the Free Lao government-in-exile in Bangkok
(1947–48), he broke with it to ally with the Viet Minh, with whose aid he formed the
Communist-oriented Pathet Lao in 1950
NORTH KOREA

Kim Il-Sung (Kim Song-Ju)

 communist leader of North Korea from 1948 until his death in 1994
 country’s premier from 1948 to 1972
 chairman of its dominant Korean Workers’ Party from 1949
 President and Head of state from 1972
 a Korean-born communist who had trained in China and volunteered with the
Red Army; he served with the USSR in WWII
 became a legend as a young man, when he led a group of communist guerillas in
fierce battles against the Japanese, who were occupying Korea
 North Korea became a Soviet-backed communist state after the end of World
War II ruled by him
 veteran of the Soviet Union’s Red Army
 one of the last surviving communist leaders of the Cold War
https://alphahistory.com/coldwar/north-korea/