How did Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu influence Mao Zedong?

While working as a library clerk at Peking University, Mao Zedong came under the significant influence of Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu, the principal figures in the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party.1

Li Dazhao, who served as Mao’s mentor, introduced him to Marxism following the Russian Revolution. Li’s focus on the revolutionary potential of China’s impoverished peasantry—rather than relying solely on an urban working class—formed a core component of Mao’s own political and military strategy.2

Chen Duxiu, a major leader in developing the cultural basis for revolution in China, influenced Mao through his role in the May Fourth Movement and his editorship of the influential journal Xinqingnian (“New Youth”). Chen’s advocacy for a vast intellectual and cultural revolution to rejuvenate the nation helped shape the radical environment in which Mao developed his early political commitments. Together, these two leaders provided the intellectual foundation that guided Mao toward Marxism as the philosophical basis for the Chinese revolution.31