100 Flowers Campaign Flashcards
When was the 100 Flowers launched?
1956
What was the aim of 100 flowers?
Intellectuals would help make the party more responsive to popular sentiment
Social grievances would be expressed safely
What did Mao say of the aim of the 100 Flowers?
“Let 100 flowers bloom, let 100 schools of thought contend”
Why did Mao and the CCP need to regain the confidence of the intelligentsia?
There was a shortage of technical expertise, making their industrial progress difficult
Why did Mao feel the need to let the people express their concerns?
- Hope that it would shake up party bureaucracy
- Vaccinate the masses against suppressed discontent
Why, according to a Democratic League Minister, were intellectuals not expressing their discontent?
“the basic cause lies in the fact that higher intellectuals are still suspicious”
Who supported Mao’s campaign in the CCP? Who didn’t?
Zhou Ennlai
Everyone else
When did Mao reinvigorate the 100 Flowers?
February 1957
How did Mao reinvigorate 100 Flowers?
In a speech called “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People” to the Supreme State Conference, consisting of scientists academics and writers
What was Mao saying in his speech at the Supreme State Conference?
Contradictions among the people could be resolved peacefully through unity-criticism-unity- contradictions were only harmful if they are allowed to aggravate the people
What was Mao expecting of the 100 Flowers?
“A gentle breeze and a fine rain”
When did the criticism begin?
May 1957
What kinds of things did intellectuals criticise? (5 pt)
- dissatisfaction with CCP monopoly on power
- CCP cadres meddling in intellectual matters
- research time wasted in political meetings
- corrupt work style of CCP officials
- Mao being arbitrary and reckless in character
Why was Mao shocked?
He had hoped for constructive criticism regarding the details of the communists within the ruling structure, not the structure itself
What criticisms were considered by Mao to be ‘poisonous weeds’?
‘antagonistic contradictions’- those which denounced the party- were bourgeois, and dangerously anti-revolutionary
What campaign came out of the 100 Flowers?
The Anti-Rightist Campaign
What did the Anti-Rightist Campaign entail? (4 pt)
Intellectuals were put through harsh denunciations and self-criticism meetings
Institutions which employed intellectuals were required to put forward a quota of 5% of their staff as rightists
300,000-400,000 were sent for re-education through labour in prison camps
40% of the GMD Left and Democratic League were found rightist
What were the ultimate consequences of the Anti-Rightist Campaign?
- Countless lives ruined
- Damage to China’s higher education system
- Discrediting of people with technical training and expertise
- Lesser influence of other parties in government
What did an intellectual say about the CCP’s regard of intellectuals?
“dog shit one moment and 10,000 ounces of gold the next”
What did Mao say about the poisonous weeds?
“any word or deed in variance with socialism is wrong”
What is Halliday’s opinion of the true intentions of the 110 Flowers?
“Mao was setting a trap”
What did Mao say about whether the 100 flowers was a trap?
“some say it was a secret scheme, we say it was open”
What did Li Zhisui say of the poisonous weeds?
“Mao had grossly miscalculated”
What did Short say of the nature of the 100 Flowers?
“The most ambitious attempt ever undertaken in any communist country to combine a totalitarian system with democratic checks and balances”
