Article: Reassessing Personality Cults: The Cases of Stalin and Mao

https://www.jstor.org/stable/45366874

1. How will this source help you answer your Research Question?

This source describes Mao's cult of personality in China.

2. What do you think this source will lack?

Even though it describes the cult of personality, it doesn't specifically explain too much about how the cultural revolution shaped Mao's personality, and the cultural revolution itself.

3. What kind of valuable content does this source contain?
   The source provides information about Mao's cult of personality and some content about how the cultural revolution affected his image.

The structure is good (although I want to reword the accusations part) but I htink the "foreign policy from 1917 (of course you mean 1919!) to 1933" is not quite the thing to connect it to. Too long a time period, too many things happening. Connect the racial eqality clause with something more limited....maybe the idea of a Japanese led Asia.

Source: NAVAL DIPLOMACY AND THE FAILURE OF BALANCED SECURITY IN THE FAR EAST—1921-1935

Johnson, William S. “NAVAL DIPLOMACY AND THE FAILURE OF BALANCED SECURITY IN THE FAR EAST—1921-1935.” Naval War College Review, vol. 24, no. 6, 1972, pp. 67–88. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44639690. Accessed 11 June 2024.

1. How will this source help?

Provides insights on efforts at achieving arms limitations among the great powers of the world and of constructing a new political order for Asia.

2. What might this source lack?

Lack of comment on racial issue which may not be as useful in answering my research question. Also, I don't know if its true but from how the author phrase it, I feel like he has a critical stance against Japan being too concentrated on its own national pride rather than the collective security among all nations.

3. What Valuable content does this source contain?

• Discussed how the effort of balanced security is essentially a failure to please far east nations (china and japan)

• Different perspectives of Japan's invasion of China (Shantung under Germany) preludes to the conference

• Details of the Four Power Treaty, Nine Power treaty, two naval conferences, Amau Doctrine

Its a very interesting question. Let's not stop at 1945, that's too soon. Also I think the changes in gender roles and societal perceptions is very challenging to provide evidence for. I think the topic of Soviet women in WW2 is good, but perhaps not towards proving how this changed gender and society....

Source: “Women’s Role in the Soviet Union: Ideology and Reality.”

• Schuster, Alice. “Women’s Role in the Soviet Union: Ideology and Reality.” The Russian Review, vol. 30, no. 3, 1971, pp. 260–67. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/128134. Accessed 11 June 2024.

1. How will this source help?

   • Outlines how the Bolshevik revolution laid the groundwork for gender equality. Passing legal restrictions involving letting women find jobs through policies like the 5 year plants.

   • How WW2 expanded on these efforts, with soviet women's role in taking male-dominated roles while managing domestic responsibilities.

2. what might this source lack?

   • It provides context on pre-war and wartime women's roles but lacks information on women's contributions during World War II.

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3. What valuable content does this source contain?

   • The Bolshevik Revolution liberated women→ 1917, removed all legal restrictions that placed women in inferior position.  

   • Lenin & Stalin intended to make use of womanpower on collective farms and factories → ‘There has not been in the history of mankind a single great movement of the oppressed in which women toilers have not participated.’ 

   • The 5 years plan increased the number of women in heavy industry, medicine, education and strenuous kinds of work. 

   • Soviet Union women have double tasks→ expected to work as hard as men in office, factories, and in the field. Then after coming home, they have to spend several hours a day shopping, cooking, and cleaning. 

   
   

   Liberating Women process

   • First: liberate women from ‘household bondage.’

   • Second: urging women to rally round the communist party.

   • Third:  transition to large scale socialized domestic services.

To what extent was Stalin's five-year plan successful in transforming agriculture and industry in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1941?

Source: The Overambitious First Soviet Five-Year Plan

MLA Citation:

Hunter, Holland. “The Overambitious First Soviet Five-Year Plan.” Slavic Review, vol. 32, no. 2, 1973, pp. 237–57. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2495959. Accessed 11 June 2024.

1. How will this source help?

The author compares real-life data with Stalin's intended outcomes, presenting a comprehensive analysis of the plan's shortcomings. The structure of this source is easy to follow and the author's stance is clear: "We find that its targets, taken together, simply could not be achieved, nor were they all achieved during the five years after 1928. But the actual shortfalls were due in part to serious economic difficulties not foreseen when the plan was formulated."

Moreover, the author explains the possible reasons why the overambitious targets were set too high: optimism and fear of military intervention.

2. What might this source lack?

This source may contain bias as the author shows a strong stance. The main focus of this paper is to use a certain test that the author has developed to show the feasibility of Stalin's plan. He seems to focus more on the possibility of succeeding and not on whether Stalin has succeeded in real life. However, this is simply a minor nitpick and this source is extremely valuable to me.

3. What Valuable content does this source contain?

This source provides data such as the prices, input-output quantities, and capital capacities. This quantitative information will be especially useful as it presents an objective view of the situation in the Soviet Union from 1928-1940s. He also provides a lot of graphs to show correlations, especially on the intended and actual output trends in agriculture, industry, transport, and construction in the USSR, 1928-34.

Perhaps a bit too basic as the general answer is well known. We need to find some twist to make it more specific and reveal something new...For example a comparison of Mao's writing on gender equality and how women were actually treated in the Party. Something like that....

Source:

Hooper, Beverley. “Women in China: Mao ‘v.’ Confucius.” Labour History, no. 29, 1975, pp. 132–45. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/27508202. Accessed 11 June 2024.

How will the source help?

This source explains how widespread gender equality had not yet been reached following the initial rise of feminism following the new culture movement, but had spread to the villages following Mao’s establishment of the People’s Republic of China after 1949 and explains how Mao’s policies work to oppose traditional Confucius views, aiding in the promotion of gender equality. 

What might this source lack?

A limitation to this source is the content as it discusses how pre-existing societal views hinder the effectiveness of policies promoting gender equality to some degree, but does not really consider how other policies proposed by Mao such as the one child policy work against gender equality. It also includes a large amount of discussion surrounding contrasts between western feminism and Chinese feminism, which is not particularly useful in addressing my research question.

What valuable content does this source contain?

The source is valuable as it provides specific examples of how Mao’s communist policies oppose traditional confucius views which perpetuate gender inequality and how new policies such as the 1950 marriage laws were introduced to overturn the patriarchal Confucianist family system. It also discusses how communist policies promoted women’s access to education to achieve equal participation in the workforce. 

Classic history question feel, I like it. Slightly risky as being a bit too "already answered". It could work though, depending on how you handle it. For example arguing that this decision WASNT that crucial to the failure of ROC....

Article: Chiang Kai-shek’s “secret deal” at Xian and the start of the Sino-Japanese War

https://www.nature.com/articles/palcomms20143

1. How will this source help you answer your research question?

   This source puts focus on the kidnapping of Chiang and can help me answer the question by investigating the motives behind cooperation with the Communists.

2. What do you think this source will lack?

   This source is an analysis on the event itself, but because it is an analysis, it may lack well-rounded information. The source takes a stance and provides evidences that support its stance. So in order to have a balanced research, I will also need to investigate many other sources to gain well-rounded knowledge on the event.

3. What kind of valuable content does this source contain?

   This source provides detailed information on what exactly happened at the Xian incident and analyses why that led to Chiang deciding to work with the Communist (CCP) instead of getting rid of them. Knowing this information will allow me to further evaluate and analyse (with reference to later events) whether this was a sufficient decision.

Article: Queer Identity and Socialist Realism: The Censorship of Queer Art and Life Under Stalin and Beyond

1. How will this source help you answer your RQ

This source focus on art expression of queer community under Stalin's government and focusing on multiple artist's perspective by analysing their work.

2. What do you think this source will lack

This source might be lacking of historical information on the anti-homosexual policy but only the artist perspective and censorship policy.

3. What kind of valuable content does this source contain

It provide names of artist that I can do further research and use art pieces to understand the connection of queer culture between 1930s to modern days, which show how their culture survive.

source: Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Great Leap Forward". Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 Feb. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Leap-Forward. Accessed 12 June 2024.

how will it help: it describes the aims and effects of the Great Leap Forward plan

what might this source lack: the relationship between Chinese economics plans to Soviet Unions’s model

valuable information: “Thereby, it was hoped, the country could bypass the slow, more typical process of industrialization through gradual accumulation of capital and purchase of heavy machinery”, “The Soviet model, which emphasized the conversion of capital gained from the sale of agricultural products into heavy machinery, was inapplicable in China because, unlike the Soviet Union, it had a very dense population and no large agricultural surplus with which to accumulate capital”

Source: https://hal.science/hal-04553718/document

How will the source help?

The above source gives a detailed report on the context and happenings of the 1970s Women's liberation movement in Japan including important feminist people that were involved.

What might this source lack?

There has been a lack of explanation on the the part where the "influence of legal and political equality". They focus more on the present of the movement rather than the consequences it led to afterwards. Therefore, the source can only be helpful to me to an extent.

What valuable content does this source contain?

This source is valuable as it provides prominent people who had a role in the movement and what they did in order to be heard. The author also includes opposing viewpoints and even contrasting feminism perspectives.