Compare and Contrast the Chinese and Russian Revolutions

China and Russia had various similarities and differences during the early 20th century. They were different in the aspect of goals as Russia was highly concerned in making everyone literate to experience the works of Marx, Lenin and Stalin personally while neither the Chinese communist party nor the Kuomintang cared much about literacy for the masses. Another differences was the characterization of the Russian revolution by World war 1 leading to the revolt against a ruling Tsar while China, was not affected by the war was more of a civil war between the nationalists and Mao’s peasants.

Even so, both nations ended up with Communist revolutions, following the proletariat ruling belief. During the early 20th century, the Russian revolutionaries wanted all its people to be literate as to experience by reading the works of Karl Marx, Lenin and Stain first hand. Overall they were very successful in increasing the literacy rate in general. This was possible because immediately after the revolution, education was greatly overhauled in the spending on popular education.

Free eduction was ordered for all children from the ages of three to sixteen years old as well as the duplication of schools within the first two years. Coeducation was also imposed as to get rid of sex discrimination and for the welfare of the whole society. However in China, the revolution did not really care about teaching and education for their citizens but rather focused primarily on replacing the existing system of government and its ruler with one headed up by the leader of the revolution, Mao Ze Dong.

Another difference between the Russian and Chinese revolution was that the Russian revolution was influenced a lot by the first world war, while the Chinese revolution was untouched by it and still fought for the same beliefs as the Russian revolution. The Russian revolution was highlighted by the overthrow of Nicholas II which was brought on by the end of the first world war. Differently, the Chinese revolution was not affected by the first world war and was sparked by the Marxist ideas of the working class being able to rule.

Even though the first world war was not a cause of the revolution, Mao Ze Dong’s peasant army and Chiang Kai’s nationalist army still fought until Mao’s forces defeated the nationalists in 1949. The major similarity between the Russian revolution and the Chinese revolution would be that both revolutions made the path for the nations to become Communists. They were both led by charismatic leaders Lenin and Mao Ze Dong, who were able to unite the people into the revolution.

Both had similar goals and outcomes as they both aimed for the working class, Proletariats, to rule against the ruling class. Both revolutions also aimed to establishing a state ownership in their countries as well as removing any kind of inequalities within the nation. Both ending up as communist nations, the Russian revolution and the Chinese revolution were shaped by different sparks and aimed to reach its goals through different methods but strived for a similar goal inspired by the Marxist ideas of the Proletariat class to rule.