China theme 3: the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath 1966-76 Flashcards
what was the cult of mao?
THE CULT OF MAO
1959 – Mao played decreasing role in govt – remote and distant figure. He became disturbed by efforts of the Party leadership to resurrect the battered Chinese economy. He believed the Party was straying off the socialist path.
1962 - Mao started a new campaign to prevent the de-railing of the revolution & to ensure a new generation of revolutionary successors – it was called the ‘Socialist Education Campaign’ – its goal was to rekindle revolutionary fervour by making workers/farmers recite Mao’s words/slogans.
Mao was dissatisfied with the lacklustre campaign & the political climate in general in the early 60s.
It was this situation which led to some in the Party seeking to bolster their own position – through zealous support of the country’s ‘Great Helmsman’. Lin Biao (Minister of Defense) catered to image of Mao by publishing a book – ‘Quotations of Chairman Mao’ – popularly referred to as the ‘Little Red Book’ – PLA required to read and memorise the quotes. PLA became a stronghold of Maoist teachings.
During 1960s CCP’s propaganda dept deliberately created a cult of Mao – a cult of personality around him. The cult of personality had been present in the 1950s but in a much more low-key way.
Using political education classes in schools, colleges , workplaces and military units, the CCP promoted ‘Quotations from Chairman Mao’ as the source of all truth – Mao was promoted as the ‘Great Helmsman’ who had led China out of the evils of feudalism, landlordism and subservience to foreign powers into the promised land of Communism. Mao was the hero who had freed China from a century of humiliation at the hands of foreigners.
He was the embodiment of the revolution – the revolution was Mao. In creating this cult of personality the Party leadership were accepting a situation in which people were more loyal to Mao than they were to the Party itself.
Anthony Grey – a British correspondent for Reuters (imprisoned by the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution) suggested that the worship of Mao illustrated the persistence of two remarkable features of Chinese society – emperor worship and the power of conformity.
‘I think he used the old admiration for China’s emperors and the son of heaven idea which was very strong – inculcated almost into the Chinese nature’.
what were the main features of the cultural revolution?
THE GREAT PROLETARIAN CULTURAL REVOLUTION - 1966
Mao initiated a violent and destructive campaign that set Party member against Party member and generation against generation. This was an effort to destroy the old society and replace it with a new, socialist order led by the generation born and raised under the communist system. This new generation of ‘revolutionary successors’ to become the vanguard of the new radical campaign led by Mao and his wife.
Why did he launch this horrific campaign?
To re-impose his authority on the party and country after a period of withdrawal
To permanently remove his opposition
To obliterate the damaging record of the Great Leap Forward (a diversion)
To break the power of urban bureaucrats & restore peasant nature of communism
To rid the CCP of capitalist elements eg Liu Shaoqi
To apply Continuous revolution principles
Fear of events in USSR – Khrushchev had been dismissed in 1964 due to his poor economic policy - could this happen to Mao after the GLF?
He feared the new class of mandarins – privileged class – had no idea about the life of a normal person.
Cultural Revolution – officially launched in May 1966 – setting up of the Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG) – dominated by the Gang of Four (Mao’s wife and four others from Politburo).
August 1966 – CCP’s Central Committee – under the new and visible leadership of Mao – issued a directive calling for a great ‘cultural revolution’ to begin.
Directive called for an open attack on all remnants of the old society.
The call was to destroy the ‘FOUR OLDS’ – Old culture, old ideas, old customs and old habits.
This resonated among young people. It became a national movement across China (urban areas mainly) through actions and events such as: poster campaigns, huge rallies, and the establishment of the Red Guard and the major media event of Mao swimming the Yangzi river (in order to demonstrate his continued vitality, on 16th July 1966, 72 year old Mao made a spectacular swim across the Yangzi River accompanied by 5000 young people).
August 1966 Mao announced the demotion of Liu Shaoqi to number 8 in party hierarchy and promoted Lin Biao to second in command.
what were the red guards?
RED GUARDS
To jump start the new movement, young people were directed to form revolutionary groups called Red Guards.
All over China, young people answered this call. CULT OF MAO - fostered by Lin Biao – swept across China – thousands of young people arrived in Beijing to see their hero- Mao.
They carried their ‘Little Red Books’ as a sign of their devotion and sported ‘Mao’s badges’ of all shapes and sizes which they pinned to their shirts/jackets.
They saw themselves as saving China from the burdens of the oppressive past and upholding the truth of Mao Zedong Thought. Mao invited the students to ‘bombard the headquarters’ of the Party which had become a ‘bourgeois dictatorship’. Teenage leaders with Party slogans and rhetoric attacked the ‘Four Olds’ with great enthusiasm. Intellectuals were singled out and persecuted.
Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaping confessed their errors and were purged. Elderly Chinese with old objects from the past were invaded by teenagers searching for goods from the ‘old’ categories – they were destroyed. Destroying the past meant ransacking museums and destroying cultural works.
No-one was safe from criticism – writers, economists and anyone associated with Mao’s main rival, Liu Shaoqi. Teachers, party leaders and professors found themselves under attack for any casual remark that suggested disrespect to Mao or the CCP.
Red Guards confessed all their innermost thoughts to China’s Great Helmsman, Chairman Mao – all chose names for their local groups eg ‘Protectors of Mao Zedong Thought Red Guards’. Chaos threatened - youth of China had never known such freedom – if you had an armband declaring you to be a Red Guard it would be possible to travel on any train to other ‘revolutionary destinations’ eg Shanghai/Beijing.
Girls became equal participants in the movement and wore the same uniforms as the boys – this new generation of young Chinese women were fully enfranchised members of the new order. Schools and colleges closed and the economy started to suffer. Production fell as workers spent their time in political struggle. Factories closed down. Some zealous participants attacked any adult who was deemed to be anti – Maoist.. Groups of Red Guards fought other Red Guard groups – each believed that it knew best how China should proceed. Some Red Guards turned on foreign embassies.
During this time thousands of cultural and historical treasures were destroyed, books burnt and graves and statues decimated. The army (PLA) was finally called in to restore order.
how were the red guards “reined in”?
REINING IN THE RED GUARDS: ‘Up to the Mountains and down to the villages’ campaign: 1969 – Mao decided that the movement had reached its objectives and declared victory over counter-revolutionary forces.
CCP ordered young people to rural areas to work on communes and on huge state construction projects. Manual labour replaced political rallies. Students would learn from the peasants (‘Up to the Mountains, down to the villages’ campaign). This restored calm – 12 million were sent from urban areas.
what were the consequences of the cultural revolution?
IMPACT OF THE CR : 1966-69 – the violent phase – deeply marked Chinese society:
Half a million people died from torture, beatings and forced suicide or faced untold psychological damage.
Youth of China were living on fringes of society in poverty – this changed their attitudes towards the Party and its ageing leadership – they became cynical.
An entire generation lost its schooling. Crime and loose morals among the young increased.
The modernisation of China was delayed. Production had fallen in factories/agricultural output.
Intellectuals suffered most and this held back intellectual life in China. China faced a shortage of trained experts for a decade. The loss of the cultural heritage was immense.
Ordinary Chinese became adept at attending meetings and hiding all real feelings – they had become disillusioned with ideology – ‘politically correct’ slogans and jargon were the order of the day.
Schools and universities reopened slowly and taught revolutionary consciousness.
1971 – Mao was becoming suspicious of Lin Biao’s power – Biao knew that his time was limited and he, with his son, took part in a plot to assassinate Mao. Lin’s daughter leaked the plot to Zhou Enlai. Lin Biao made a desperate bid to escape to the Soviet Union, boarded a plane to flee for Russia but either ran out of fuel or was shot down over Mongolia. His death was not officially announced until 1972 and dealt a major blow to Mao and his reputation. Lin Biao had been the creator and propagator of the cult of Mao – he was now to be reviled as a betrayer of his great leader and a traitor to the Cultural Revolution. The sudden and baffling changes in the reputation of political leaders created the gravest doubts as to whether the govt was trustworthy. Mao took to his bed and by 1973 was only sustained by drugs. Sept 1976 Mao died, aged 82. CR = organised hatred. This began with Mao - a strong sense of paranoia.
