100 flowers campaign: 1957

Question 1

Reasons that Mao established this campaign

Answer 1

de-Stalinisation
- China was influenced by events in the USSR
- New leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev launched an attack on Joseph Stalin
–> He denounced Stalin for his “cult of personality” (this could easily cause charges to be made against Mao in China)
Encouragement of criticism from within the party was a way of taking the sting out of a suggestion
Therefore, this campaign would prevent him from being compared to Stalin

Question 2

How the campaign was presented to the people

Answer 2

• Freedom of expression
• -> to those who might wish to comment constructively on how well communist China was achieving its aim of turning the nation into a proletarian
• Although Mao had a distaste for intellectuals, he allowed the intellectuals to have a greater say in debates
• Mao also invited critics from his own party

Question 3

How the campaign was in real life

Answer 3

• It was not freedom of expression, BUT it was fierce repression!!! –> campaign was abandoned and was replaced by an anti-rightist movement
• Intellectuals (teachers, Research Scientists etc) were obliged to abject confessions and submit themselves for re-education
• The party got rid of the people who had objections to the government and party orders
  Therefore, this campaign was to expose the intellectuals and the people who had objections against Mao. This would allow Mao to get rid of them.=.

Question 4

People’s reaction to the campaign

Answer 4

They overcame their fear of being labelled as anti-party-> members pointed out mistakes made
Complaints about individuals and policies on the grounds of corruption, inefficiency and lack of realism
Leading figures in govt, education and the arts were heavily criticised for their failures.

Question 5

what happens after

Answer 5

1. Replaced by an anti-rightist movement → those who had been foremost in responding to Mao’s call were now forced to retract their statements
   –> Many of the best minds and most able servants in China were obliged to abject confessions and submit themselves to ‘re-education’.
   –>Party was purged of those members who had been too free with their objections to govt and Party orders
   Even high-ranking members were vulnerable
   → Mao showed that nobody, no matter how prominent his position, was beyond investigation and criticism
   Only way to avoid suspicion was to conform absolutely to Mao’s wishes

Question 6

results of the anti-rightist movement

Answer 6

1. Mao silenced and got rid of potential opponents
2. instilled fear amongst the educated classes who were now less willing to stand up against him
3. prepared the ground for introducing the Great Leap reforms - communes, backyard furnaces, and an extreme form of communist society(cus no one is going to go against him)
4. 4 million lives might have been lost in the anti-rightist campaigns
5. Many students had their schooling interrupted due to the deaths of so many teachers