Mao Zedong

Mao both used and disrupted the Communist Party-state. During the Cultural Revolution he mobilised Red Guards against officials and institutions, encouraging a struggle that produced persecution, public humiliation and widespread violence. The army subsequently helped suppress factions and restore administrative control. His rule is therefore not explained by an unchanging command structure: it also depended on campaigns that attacked established officials, shifted authority between organisations and made the leader's ideological approval decisive.