Would he have been able to take over China? And if he did, would his rule have been less unpleasant then OTL or just as bad?
Mao did read a lot of liberal philosophy and supported it at one point so he could have been a capitalist if he hadn't changed his views. But as a generic Kuomintang intellectual (I doubt he'd be a military figure) he's almost certainly going to be an absolute nobody in the RoC. He won't be president of China, Taiwan, or anywhere else.
Basically this.If Mao was a capitalist, you have fundamentally changed who he was as a person
Mao did read a lot of liberal philosophy and supported it at one point
Well, he could maneuver his way into a national ministry Post WWII, and from there, if he plays his cards right, he could be Prime Minister or Vice President...Mao did read a lot of liberal philosophy and supported it at one point so he could have been a capitalist if he hadn't changed his views. But as a generic Kuomintang intellectual (I doubt he'd be a military figure) he's almost certainly going to be an absolute nobody in the RoC. He won't be president of China, Taiwan, or anywhere else.
Perhaps also he could have become a lee kew, sixty years earlier.
Ayn Rand would probably learn Chinese and move there.Then he would've misunderstood capitalism like he misunderstood communism and do some insane shit while in power like having a Great Leap Forward equivalent where he turns the country into a parody of free-market principles where every tiniest country road gets privatised and someone installs a tollbooth, leading to a downfall of commerce and a nation-wide starvation he'd refuse to do anything about because he wouldn't want to interfere with the market.
When the US shows itself unwilling to nuke the USSR, he'd call Washingon out on being a bunch of socialists, claiming that he himself is the true leader of the "Free world". Of course, a few years down the line, he'd host the Soviet General Secretary and take him to see an opera, if there are opera houses left in his capital. After all, cinemas are far more profitable.
Not to mention, the security forces would've had their fun with the numerous "Socialist roaders" Mao would happen to stumble across as he safeguards China's free market.
Wouldn't be too different from OTL, though, since the Little Red Book reads like a '90s management self-help book as it is.Also, I doubt that "Quotations from Mao Zedong, CEO" would sell quite as well if it was left over to market forces.
Rule one for success: Don't get sold out by your child in the Red Guard from The Red Book, by Moa ZedongWouldn't be too different from OTL, though, since the Little Red Book reads like a '90s management self-help book as it is.