Cultural Revolution Flashcards
What were the purposes of the Cultural Revolution?
The idea initially was for Mao to challenge the Confucian notions of civil identity based on networks of relations that had precluded the broader class identity and nationalism that would be key to galvanising the Chinese people into collective action. Attitudes of the ruling class still lived on through culture and art
To change the succession arrangements by demonising the original successor Liu Shaoqi and blacken his repurtation, again, succession politics is an important origin.
The CR was hugely underpinned by ideology and divisions between ideologues and pragmatists within the CCP. He was uncomfortable with measures that were taken a few years earlier to alleviate the damage of the GLF because it meant the revolution was being ‘lost\ in the countryside, eg the restoration of private trade and dismantling of communes which he viewed as revisionism. Mao wanted to discipline the bureaucrats governing the country and for Mao to change certain policies in the process. His desire to undermine bureaucracy was tied with an obsession with permanent revolution as the new new bureaucracy created to run China was becoming a self-satisfied elite in his mind.
To expose the Chinese youth to the revolutionary experience and raise a new generation of revolutionary successors. He was determined that the revolution wouldn’t lose impetus and allow the gains made in 1949 to be lost, cnonecting to the idea of ‘permanent revolution’. These younger party members had not been seriously tested due to their age and so needed the direct experience of the revolutionsary struggle to ensure they would be fully committed to defending it. The CR would involve the mass mobilisation of young people at its core, which the SEM was an early attempt at encouraging.
What were the outcomes of the Cultural Revolution?
Peasants were again at the centre of the revolution to force out the urban intellectuals that had been running the country since the initial ‘peasant-led revolution’ ended. Red guards were mobilised to attack existing institutions and beat and kill elders, which resulted in lots of forms of human rights abuses, often with support of the Chinese military and mao’s blessing.
Mao’s paranoia and unwillingness to accept criticism meant that initial criticism from military leaders was ignored.
By 1968 Mao was extremely frustrated with the self-centredness of the RG and invited PLA to restore order → 18 million RG sent to the countryside, ending the RG phase in 1969.
Major destruction of Chinese temples, historical buildings and art objects.
There was also the economic setback, and the serious isolation China experience from the rest of the world as the CCP was concerned with infighting and chaos rather than strengthening relations with other countries.
What happened with succession in the Cultural Revolution?
The rest of the CR was characterised by the battle of succession. Liu Shaoqi was originally appointed successor but Mao decided to blacken his name which led to severe infighting between the radical section and moderate faction. Liu was ousted and Lin Biao identified as the new successor, however by 1971 Lin was dead, allegedly ordered by Mao which complicated the issue of succession.
That symbolises the danger of extreme concentration of political power with one individual in chinese politics, in turn led to a major legacy as when Deng took over towards the end of the CR, he saw the mistakes that Mao made relating to the concentration of his power, so he tried to institutionalise the succession politics and its related rules in order to avoid the same mistakes.
