Mao: Consolidation and Maintenance of power Flashcards
What were Mao’s views on art and culture? What did he say about it? [3]
- Saw culture as an expression of class values
- Believed that Chinese culture should be proletarian.
- ‘there is no such thing as art for art’s sake’ ; art must be utilitarian.
How did Jiang Qing reshape Chinese culture? [3]
- Created a rigid system of censorship that prevented public showing of any art form that did not follow the criteria of revolutionary purity.
- Only art, films, literature etc directly relevant to contemporary Chinese themes was allowed
- Artists that showed reluctance sent to ‘re-educational’ labour camps.
What are two historian’s views on the Hundred Flowers Campaign? [2]
- Jung Chang argues that it was a deliberate ruse to draw out, expose, and remove opponents of the Communist regime, based on the speed which the policy was reversed.
- US historian Jonathan Spence dismisses this suggestion, instead the result of confusion and conflicting attitudes within the CCP.
What were some features of the Cultural Revolution, 1966-69?
- Young people were encouraged to attack authority, called the Red Guards.
- Printing of the Little Red Book used to spread Maoist ideology.
What were some features of the Cultural Revolution, 1966-69? [2]
- Young people were encouraged to attack authority, called the Red Guards.
- Mao launched a campaign against the ‘four olds’: old habits, ideas, customs, culture.
Which opponents did Mao attack during the Cultural Revolution, 1966-69? [2]
- Leaders who Mao regarded as a threat or whose ideology clashed with Mao, notably Lui Shaoqui and Deng Xiaoping.
- CCP members seen as bourgeois or elitist - up to 70-80% of Party cadres at regional and provincial level were purged.
What were the methods Mao used to attack opponents during the Cultural Revolution, 1966-69? [3]
- Targets were subject to abuse, beatings, torture: 14000 party cadres executed as traitors in Yunnan.
- Families of leaders were targeted Shaoqi’s wife and children denounced as well.
- Lui Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping denounced as traitors.
How did Mao’s attacks on opponents during the Cultural Revolution strengthen his position? [3]
- Many of Mao’s perceived opponents removed.
- Primarily scared potential critics of the regime, displayed Mao’s ruthlessness.
- In 1975 Mao Zedong Thought was included as an official guiding principle of the CCP.
How did the Korean War strengthen Mao’s position? [3]
- Fighting against capitalist America gave Mao the support of Stalin.
- War gave Mao an excuse to raise taxes and enforce conscription.
- It increased national pride and unity through negative alignment against America.
How did Mao use propaganda to strengthen his position? [4]
- William Bradbury said the CCP set about propaganda ‘more massively and more intensively than have other ruling groups’.
- Ideology spread through radio, posters, loudspeakers, films etc.
- Peasants, industrial workers and soldiers were expected to learn Mao’s quotations by heart.
- ‘Imperialists’ of the USA and ‘revisionists’ of the USSR were attacked in propaganda.
What was Mao’s policy towards religion and traditional beliefs? [2]
- Chinese communism considered belief and worship to be superstitions that had been deliberately used to suppress lower levels of society.
- Concerned that it would reduce people’s loyalty to the state.
What were some ways that Mao suppressed religion? [3]
- Posters and loudspeakers on every corner condemned religion.
- Temples, churches, shrines and monasteries were forcibly closed down and converted to offices or public buildings.
- Traditions such as the celebration of New Year and ancestor worship were condemned.
When and what was the Hundred Flowers campaign?
- 1957 Mao expressed that he would be more lenient towards those who spoke out against him
- Openly encouraged criticism of the government and the CCP from Communist Party officials
- Mao then reversed the campaign, forcing those who had spoken out to retract their criticism and submit to ‘re-education’
- High ranking CCP members like Zhou Enlai obliged to make humiliating public self-criticism used as an example for Mao to display his ruthless treatment of opposition.
What were the four major ways that Mao strengthened and consolidated his power?
- Censorship and propaganda
- The cultural revolution: attacks on opponents
- The hundred flowers campaign
- Suppression of religion and traditional beliefs
