China: the cultural revolution and its aftermath Flashcards
Contenders for power after Mao stepped down from day to day politics 1962
- The left (ideologues)
Gang of four, extreme wing of the Shanghai forum, they were hardline Maoists and beleived in violent suppression of any opposition - Centre (pragmatists)
Group of five, a set of moderate party officials led by Peng, mayor of Beijing - The right (pragmatists)
Deng Xiapong and Lin Shaoqi
Gang of four
Jiang Qing
- Mao’s wife, led the gang of four, she controlled the arts during the cultural revolution and attacked anyone not loyal to Mao
Zhang Chunqiao
- Party secretary at shanghai, from 1965 Zhang attacked those who tried to restrict his influence, condemning them as revisionists
- Wang Hongwen
Helped to form the red guards during the cultural revolution and became a member of the politburo in 1969
- Yao Wenyuan
Yao became prominent after he wrote an article attacking Wu Han and his play which had criticised Mao.
Socialist Education Movement
- 1963
- preached a collective economy, Mao wanted this to work as another mass mobilisation campaign, encouraging peasants to unite against corrupt officials
Origins of the cultural revolution
- In July 1966 Mao swam in the Yangtse river, this was exaggerated by propaganda in order to portray Mao as a strong leader
- In August Mao directed the central committee to announce the “sixteen point directive on the cultural revolution”
- Mao believed that Liu and Deng were bringing capitalism back to china, he called on the red guard to purge them and their supporters
- He declared that in order to fix this they needed to destroy traditional chinese culture and replace it with a new communist one
- During the cultural revolution the red guard destroyed monuments, cultural buildings and ancient books
- “the borugeoise who have sneaked into ther party” - Mao’s justifrication for the campaigns
- Krushchev’s policy of destalinisation caused Mao to fear that his legacy wasnt strong enough
The red guard
- Made up of the younger generations
- As they hadn’t been a part of the civil war or the korean war Mao saw this as a way to build nationalism and commitment to the ideology among the younger generations
- They ahd been indoctrinated at school to beleive that Mao was like a G-d
- They were loyal to Mao not the CCP
- mass mobilisation
The 7000 cadre conference
- Summoned by Mao in 1962 with the intention of undermining the gradualists, by encouraging them not to drift from socialist values
- This made the divide between ideologues and pragmatists wider
- After the conference Mao officially stepped down from day to day politics
Deng and Liu’s view (the right)
- “it doesnt matter if a cat is white or black as long as it catches the mouse”
- They agreed in ideological compromise and a concilliatory foreign policy
- The socialist education movement was launched in retalliation to this
What were the four olds?
- ideas
- culture
- customs
- habits
Why was there conflict between the red guards
- There was conflict between the red guards who were form working class backgrounds and the ones from non-working class backgrounds
- The ones from non-working class backgrounds were desperate to prove their ideological committment
- they criticised the original red guards by accusing them of abusing their position and becoming over privileged, which is the anti-thesis of communism
What evidence is there of self interest playing a part in the activities of the red guard?
Proving ideological worth (self protection)
- In Heilingjiang a province in Manchuria one red guard member who had previously criticised the Great Leap Forward tried to seize power as a way of proving his ideological worth
Political advancement
- In Shanxi the provisional vice governor joined the red guard in order to purge his political opponents
Why did farmers and factory workers resent the Red Guard?
- The red guard would show up to their farms or factories and tell them what to do despite having no experience
- They would also demand food and lodgings
Why could the anarchy within the red guard not be controlled?
- Mao had encouraged the anarchy so much that that controlling it would undemrine his reputation and ideology
Why did Mao encourage the anarchy?
Mass mobilisation and a way to purge his political opponents
What anarchy went too far for Mao to tolerate?
Radicals in the commune in Shanghai called for the end to the communist party
The january storm
- January 1967
- Radical red guards in Shanghai, overthrew the party establishment and created their own commune to run the city
- 100,000 of these red guards, defeated 20,000 Scarlet guards (rival faction in the red guard) which had been formed to defend the party
The adverse current
- Febuary 1967
- Zhu, the former commander of the PLA and Chen Yi, the foreign minister protested against Mao’s policy of encouraging chaos
- Mao dismissed them as the “adverse current” - running against the tide of the correct revolutionary upheaval
April - August 1967 - conflict with the PLA
- Mao told the Red Guards ‘Have no fear of chaos’
- In areas where the PLA sided with the local party organisation, like Wuhan, the Red Guards came into conflict with it
- The PLA killed 1000 protestors against their treatment of the Red Guards
- When government ministers tried to negotiate with the PLA for the release of Red Guards, the ministers were kidnapped by PLA supporters
- Opposing Red Guard groups fought with each other and the PLA, all claiming to represent Mao Zedong Thought
- In August 1967 Red Guards seized the Foreign Ministry for two weeks and appointed radical new diplomats.
- Only the PLA prevented the Red Guards seizing military facilities where scientists were working on a hydrogen bomb
September 1967 - revolutionary current
- Mao was concerned not to let the Party itself be challenged as the ruling authority
- Mao called for a new form of organisation called ‘revolutionary committees’ to run the country, merging the Party, the PLA and the state, with the Party the dominant force. Red Guards were represented but never in control
- Many previous personnel from the old power structures pre-1966 returned to re-establish their power
1968 - restoring order
- Mao realised he needed to restore order or foreign countries might take advantage and invade
- He now ordered the PLA to crush the Red Guards, causing much bloodshed
- The Cultural Revolution Group under Jiang Qing launched a campaign at the same time to ‘cleanse the class ranks’
- The PLA used surveillance, mass rallies and struggle meetings to restore order. Thousands were imprisoned, killed or committed suicide
- It was particularly brutal in the south of China, where cannibalism was common in addition to the murder
April 1969 - the ninth party congress
- This marked the end of the violent phase of the Cultural Revolution
- Lin Biao was confirmed as Mao’s successor (no longer Liu Shaoqi)
- However, the violence left a long-lasting mark on its victims and the country as a whole
Liu Shaoqui - what did Mao do to him during the cultural revolution
- Liu’s pragmatic policies had helped rebuild China after the great leap forward, there was talk about hanging Liu’s portrait next to Mao’s, this would’ve made Mao jealous
- When Mao had encouraged students to be violent, Liu encouraged taking control of the violence by sending party work teams onto campuses to monitor the violence - this was used as evidence of his traitorous rightist sentiments
- Liu was the main target of the cultural revolution, he was subjected to struggle meetings and his family was also targeted, such as his wife in 1967 when she was sent to prison, his children were sent to work on farms
- August 1967 Liu sent Mao his formal resignment as head of state, mao did not reply
- Liu was kept in solitary confinement in his home and was not allowed to die as ordered by Jiang Qing
- October 1968, Jiang presented flimsy evidence to prove Liu’s treachery, such as colluding with USA secret agents. By 1969 he was officially a traitor
- He was replaced as successor to Mao by Lin Biao
- He was exiled to Kaifeng where he died
Deng Xiaoping - what did Mao do to him during the cultural revolution
- Mao felt that Deng had undermined his policies and ideologies with his irrelevance of the colour theory
- Mao also complained that Deng had never consulted Mao over his economic reforms
- He was accused of trying to establish his own “independent kingdom”
- Deng was exiled to Jiangxi to work in a tractor factory, his family also suffered
Purging of the party membership
- 70-80% of all party cadres were purged
- In Yunnan 14,000 party cadres were executed as “traitors”
- Only 9 out of 23 politburo members survived the cultural revolution
- 2/3 of the central committee had been purged
- An estimated 3 million beuraucrats and party cadres were sent to “productive labour and political study” in may seventh cadre schools, in reality they were forced to do back breaking labour often useless, and forced to study Mao’s writing
- Zhou Enlai’s plea to “denounce with words not violence” were ignored. Constant threats and intimidation caused the first secretaries of Shanxi and Yunnan to kill themselves, the coal minister was forced to wear an iron hat of 60 kg, Peng Dehuai was also subjected to torture
- At their trial the gang of four were charged with legitimising the death of over half a million CCP officials
Purges of capitalist roaders and foreigners
- Red guard attacked three embassies in Beijing, Burma, India and Indonesia
- Restaurants, shops and hotels put up signs saying they would not serve soviets
- The dutch charge d’affairs was imprisoned in the embassy by a mob for nearly 6 months, the women and children were not allowed exit visas
- Staff at the british embassy were beaten and the embassy was set on fire
Individuals:
- American Sidney Rottenberg was a devout communist who took part in struggle meeting and spread propaganda, but was still sent to a May seventh cadre school form 1968-77
- Michaelangelo Antonio, Italian film maker invited to China to create a film on the New China, his film was criticised for focusing too much on old traditions and life in China, the film was banned. Posters denouncing him was spread across China
What was Lin Biao’s role in the state?
- Had played a role in the victory of the civil war
- Replaced Peng Dehuai as defense minister in 1959
- Was the main architect in the personality cult, he used his power to increase political indoctrination in the PLA through “the little red book”
What evidence is there to suggest that Lin was “swept along by the tide of events”
- In 1966 he was forced to accept elevation, because if he didn’t it would end his career entirely
- Although he played a huge role in the Tiannemen square rallies and the cultural revolution by encouraging the red guards to attack the “four olds”, from 1966 he was much more reactive than proactive and did whatever Mao asked
- He had allowed military students to overthrow their military teachers during the radical period of the red guard movement, despite the obvious dangers to the stability of the PLA, he also failed to acknowledge the requests of PLA leaders who asked for a crackdown against the red guards in febuary 1967 - reactive rather than proactive
What evidence is there that Lin was a hypochondriac
- Fear of water
- Fear of commitment and responsibility, would often delegate tasks to other members
Why did Mao begin to move against Lin in 1969
- After the cultural revolution Lin’s role as commander in cheif of the PLA was less vital
- Lin was also becoming too popular for Mao, and he feared that he would use his political power and popularity to become a Chinese bonaparte
How did Mao degrade Lin’s importance
- First Mao undermined his allies, such as Chen Boda who was accused of forming a faction
- He then filled the military affairs commision with his own supporters and reorganised Lin’s supporters so they were posted elsewhere
- Lin and his son were planning a military coup to assassinate Mao and then seize power, though its unclear which of them instigated it
- The plot was discovered and they set off in a jet in a hurry, the plane crashed, most likely an accident due to flying low to not get detected
Consequences of Lin’s fall from power
- Mao fell into depression
- Lin’s fall from power undermined Mao’s regime, as Lin was regarded by the public as mao’s number one supporter, therefore his treachery casted doubts on the regime
- Due to this news of Lin’s fall was not released until the following year, this was a turning point in the people’s relation with Mao they were sceptical of him
- Jiang (mao’s wife) initiated a propaganda campaign criticising Lin and comparing him to confucian
When was the learn from the PLA campaign launched
1963
Who was Lei feng and what was his role
- He was a PLA soldier
- Presented as a hero in army propaganda
- “one of chairman Mao’s good warriors”
- When he died his diary was published and Jung Chang called it “a moral textbook” for the PLA
What was the message of the “learn from the PLA campaign”
- “it’s glorious to be a nameless hero”
- being committed to the ideology selflessly
How did the party ensure the loyalty of the army
- There was a PLA newspaper in 1961 which published quotes from Mao which soldiers were encouraged to cut out and keep
- They were told Mao could solve all their problems
Rustication movement
- “up the villages and down the mountains”
- for the red guards to learn from the peasants
- Compulsory movement of the red guards to farms
- 50 million moved between 1968-70
Why did Lin not want Mao to end the radicalisation
- It meant that he could keep delegating tasks
- It also meant he wouldn’t have nothing to do and therefore would stay necessary to Mao
Why was Deng called back to the politburo
Mao and his political allies health had been failing
“four modernisations”
- Supported by Deng
- movement to advance agriculture, industry, defence and science+technology
- Return to technological advancement and pragmatism which went against Mao’s idea of mass mobilisation
What did Jiang Qing do in retaliation to the “Four Modernisations” campaign
- Launched the “criticise Lin, criticise Confucius” campaign
- Campaign was actually directed and Zhou and Deng
- Failed due to lack of popular support
Zhou’s funeral
- died in January 1976
- People laid wreaths to honour him, Jiang misread the mood and criticised Deng
- The wreaths were seen as bourgaeoise and were removed
- thousand protested - “tiannemen square incident”
- Gang of Four blamed Deng for the upheaval and he was removed from political power once again
Mao’s death and aftermath
- Mao pick Hua Goefung, a little known beaurcrat to succeeed him - he was not seen as an enemy by either the ideologues or pragmatists
- Mao died 1976
- Hua announced the “two whatevers policy” - uphold whatever Mao did and whatever instructions he gave
- Jiang Qiang treated Hua with contempt, and it is rumoured she was planning a coup
- Hua imprisoned the gang of four for life
- Deng returned to Beijing, became China’s paramount leader, introducing economic reforms, giving more freedom and winning support of the people
- China started going down the capitalist road that Mao had despised
