MAO Cultural Revolution Flashcards
When did the Great Cultural Proletarian Revolution begin?
May 1966
Gang of Four
Jiang Qing; Yao Wenyuan; Zhang Chunquiao; Wang Hongwen
When had the divide between the ideologues and the pragmatists become more apparent?
After the 7,000 cadre conference
When did Mao temporarily withdraw from public life?
After the 7,000 cadre conference, leaving Liu, Deng and Zhou in charge
Who agreed with Deng that ideological compromises were essential to get China’s economy back on its feet and disagreed principally with Mao?
Liu; Chen Yun; Bo Yibo
What were pragmatists also critical of?
Mass mobilisation as a means of advancing the economy
What did pragmatists argue about foreign policy?
China should pursue a more conciliatory foreign policy, since it couldn’t afford confrontation with the USA over Taiwan, or with the USSR over its borders, while its economy was struggling
When did Mao believe that China was recovering economically?
By 1962
Why was mass mobilisation essential to the ideologues?
Kept people actively involved in protecting the gains of the revolution
Socialist Education Movement
Launched in 1963; preached the virtues of a collective economic approach and aimed also to root out corruption among the rural cadres
Who actually carried out the Socialist Education Movement?
Liu
What was closely linked with Mao’s obsession with permanent revolution?
His desire to undermine the bureaucracy
Who had tried to calm down student unrest when it stirred in 1966?
Liu; Zhou
What did the Cultural Revolution begin as?
Purge of pragmatists from the Party leadership
Who were Mao’s main supporters during the Cultural Revolution?
Lin Biao; Jiang Qing; Kang Sheng; Chen Boda
What was Lin Biao responsible for?
Developing Mao’s personality cult in the 1960s, particularly through promoting the use of The Little Red Book
Jiang Qing
Technically Mao’s fourth wife- she had close links with radical intellectuals in Shanghai and led the Gang of Four
Kang Sheng
Mao’s chief of the secret police; worked closely with Jiang Qing
Chen Boda
Headed the Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG), which directed the Cultural Revolution from inside the Politburo; collaborated with Lin Biao in putting together The Little Red Book- he had control of propaganda
Where did Zhou Enlai stand during the Cultural Revolution?
Tried in vain to prevent the divisions between the protagonists from widening
Who had widely been seen as Mao’s chosen successor until the 7000-cadre conference of 1962?
Liu
Why couldn’t Mao risk confronting Liu and Deng head on?
They had too much support in the Politburo and the wider Party
When was the attack on Wu Han launched?
1965- and then only indirectly, in Yao Wenyuan’s newspaper article attacking Peng Zhen
Who deliberately escalated the Wu Han Affair into a crisis in early 1966?
Shanghai radicals, backed by Lin Biao
When was the CCRG set up?
May 1966
When did Mao get his supporters to back his proposal to remove Peng Zhen from his post?
March 1966- took advantage of Liu’s absence from the Politburo on a foreign visit
What did the Politburo approve in May 1966?
A circular targeting counter-revolutionaries in the Party
What was used to stir the students in Beijing University into action?
Wall poster campaign
When and how did Mao complete his comeback to the front line of politics?
July 1966, with a highly publicised swim in the Yangtze at Wuhan
Why did Mao choose Wuhan as the site for his swim?
Site of the 1911 uprising- reminder of the revolution and the republic’s birth
What did Mao do when he returned to Beijing, which he had not visited since November 1965?
Forced Liu and Deng to make self-criticisms before the Party Central Committee for their error in sending university work teams
What happened on 18 August 1966?
1st of the 8 mass rallies of Red Guards was held in Tiananmen Square- the Red Guards were unleashed to attack the ‘Four Olds’
When was the most destructive period of the Cultural Revolution?
August 1966 until the end of 1967
What had become a necessity by 1966?
Carrying a copy of The Little Red Book
The Diary of Lei Feng
1963- fabricated by the government’s propaganda department, this claimed to be the journal of a PLA lorry driver, whose every thought and action was inspired by his devotion to Mao
How many copies of The Little Red Book were eventually distributed across China?
750 million
What were more reasons that the young responded so readily to the calls to rise up by Mao?
Lack of career opportunities available for students whose families carried the ‘wrong’ class label; chance to hit back at cadres after rural relocation post-GLP
When were work teams sent by Liu to stop student unrest?
June 1966
When was Wu Han’s play attacked in the press?
1965
Peng Zhen
Beijing mayor
When did Mao call for an end to revisionism at CCP conference?
Summer 1963
How many Red Guards were at the first of the eight rallies at Tiananmen Square?
1 million
Four olds
Old ideas; old customs; old habits; old culture
What made it easier for students to attend rallies?
Free rail passes
Who identified the ‘four olds’?
Mao
Who instructed the Red Guards to attack the ‘four olds’?
Lin Biao, in his speech to the 18 August rally
As a result of the denouncing of the ‘four olds’, what did the Red Guards particularly target?
Western influences in fashion- high heels, winkle-pickers and so-called ‘Hong Kong style’ clothing and hairstyles
How was the survival of the ‘old’ attitude of showing respect for the dead clearly shown?
1000s of mourners attended a huge Festival of the Dead ceremony in April 1976, in tribute to the recently deceased Zhou Enlai
How many bodies were disposed of in a two-week period in 1966?
2,000 bodies in the Babaoshan crematorium in Beijing
How many deaths were the Gang of Four accused of causing at their trial in 1980?
Over 1/2 million
How many killings were recorded between 1966-76 in the southern province of Guangxi?
67,000
How many killings were recorded between 1966-76 in the outlying provinces of Sichuan, Tibet and Mongolia?
Hundreds of thousands
What happened in November 1966 to escalate the violence?
Formation of new Red Guard units by radical factory and office workers
What happened to the Red Guards as the movement widened?
Splits and rivalries occurred, particularly in Shanghai, which degenerated into chaotic infighting between different factions in January 1967- eventually, Mao intervened, with the help of the PLA, to end what became known as the January Storm
What was Shanghai put under the control of in the January Storm?
Shanghai Revolutionary Committee- combination of PLA representatives, Party officials and revolutionaries
What happened as the Cultural Revolution began to penetrate more sections of society?
Arguments broke out between the PLA, anxious to be exempted from the same struggle sessions as civilian society, and the CCRG, which wanted the same criteria to apply to every institution
When did the PLA take matters into its own hands to suppress radicals in some provinces?
February Crackdown- leading Politburo members appeared to support this action, when they also called on the Red Guard to calm down their activities
When did Mao make another U-turn and authorise the PLA to crack down on radical groups when it needed to?
August 1967
When did the Red Guards embark on a frenzy of destruction of cultural objects?
Between mid-August and late September 1966
According to official documents, how many places of historical and cultural importance in Beijing did the Red Guards destroy?
2/3
What did Zhou Enlai prevent the Red Guards from attacking?
Forbidden City- he brought in a PLA unit to defend it, and even Chen Boda, on the radical left of the Party, expressed reservations about the scale of cultural vandalism
What was the Red Guards greatest single act of desecration?
Attack on Confucius’ home town of Qufu in Shadong province, where they spent 4 weeks vandalising countless books, paintings, statues, graves and monuments
Who were the most prominent pragmatists in the Party?
Liu Shaoqi; Deng Xiaoping; Bo Yibo
When were Liu and Deng formally dismissed from their positions?
October 1966, following a Red Guard demonstration directed specifically at them
Who replaced Liu as president?
Position was left vacant until being officially scrapped in 1969
When did Liu die?
November 1969
Who was Liu’s wife?
Wang Guangmei
When was Deng rehabilitated to the Party?
1973, thanks partly to his links with Zhou
Why was Lin forced to accept elevation in 1966?
Decision was passed by the Party Central Committee- to refuse it would have been to end his career completely
When did the PLA as a crusading force become less important to Mao?
Once the radical phase of the Cultural Revolution was over
How had Lin been officially confirmed as Mao’s successor?
1969 amendment to the constitution
What did Mao fear about Lin?
He might combine his military and political support to become a Chinese Bonaparte
Bonaparte
Common fear among Communists that the revolution might be derailed by the rise of a military dictator, as had happened with Napoleon Bonaparte
Who had increased Mao’s suspicions about Lin?
Jiang Qing, who by this time had fallen out with Lin over the extent of her interference in army matters
How did the attack on Lin begin?
Indirectly, by undermining the position of some of his allies- this started with Chen Boda, who was arrested and forced to make a self-criticism for factional behaviour
How did Mao continue his attack on Lin?
By gradually packing the Military Affairs Commission with his supporters; then reorganising the Beijing military region so that Lin’s allies were posted elsewhere
When was news of Lin’s fall released to the public?
Not until 1972- the following year, Jiang Qing launched an extensive media campaign to discredit Lin by accusing him of being a Soviet spy; public were called on to ‘criticise Lin Biao and Confucius’
