Red Guard and the Red Terror Flashcards
What were the Red Guard?
Large groups of militant young people who were ordered to ‘smash the four olds’ and attack ‘everything which does not fit the socialist system and the proletarian dictatorship.’
The RG were fiercely loyal to Mao alone and not the CCP, they were extremely violent and murdered over 1 million people.
How did Mao gain such a grip over young people?
In the early years of the PRC, Mao was genuinely appreciated, especially after Korea and early land reforms. However, this appreciation was replaced by Mao’s unrivalled cult of personality claiming he was the ‘truth’ and should be worshiped.
Many young people were not old enough to understand the failure of the great leap forward or the brutal repression via the campaigns of the 50s.
The youth read the little red book, and were excited by a break from Confucian society. Mao calling on people to ‘dare to rebel’ (May 1965), was exhilarating for young people, and the heavy indoctrination in the education system meant millions joined the movement.
Why did the Young People Join the Red Guard?
It is important to note that the RG were not a monolithic movement, i.e. people joined for different reasons with different levels of commitment.
There was a chance at a new life, years of repression were upheaved by this new and exciting time. The RG armband allowed you to board any train you wanted, many YP discovered new parts of China fuelled by revolutionary vigour.
There was also an element of developing their own careers, those hindered by having no connections to senior communists had chance to prove absolute loyalty to Mao and they did, demonstrating upmost violence and revolutionary zeal throughout the revolution.
Describe the cult of Mao
The regime urged total unthinking commitment to Mao’s thought, at the workplace in the mornings people asked Mao’s portrait for instructions. The cult became bizzar, people had to do a loyalty dance before boarding a train demonstrating the extremities of the cult.
The little red book, Lin Bao commissioned a publication of Mao’s most famous sayings. He ordered every solider to read it and adhere to its teachings. This soon outgrew just the army and soon everyone in China was turning to the little red book for answers in day to day life. There were reports of Jesus like miracles made capable by the words of Mao.
Describe the mass rallies of 1966
On the 5th of August 1966, Mao upped the revolutionary anti publishing his own big character
poster in Beijing urging the people to “bombard the head quarters.”. The message was clear, attack the opponents of Mao as they “have taken the reactionary stand of the Bourgeoisie”.
Between August and November, Chen Boda invited students to partake in one of eight massive rallies in Tiananmen square to be whipped into revolutionary fever by Mao.
Lin Bao was Mao’s most loyal supporter, he ensured the PLA would be at Mao’s beckon call and they helped transport the youth to Beijing, arriving wearing Mao badges and signing songs of revolution.
What was the attack on the ‘Four Olds’?
In August 1966 Mao launched the “Four Olds” campaign, designed to destroy old ideas, old
culture, old customs and old habits. These four olds, according to the CCP, were being used by
the exploiting classes to manipulate the masses. To destroy the old habits would hinder the ability of the bourgeois feudal classes to endure.
The violent capability of the RG were overlooked by the pragmatists, the RG ignored orders to spare those who made mistakes.
The frenzy became so extreme, Bird keeping was enough to get you killed and the British embassy
was now on Anti-Imperialism road whilst children were named Red glory and face the east.
Describe the Cultural destruction brought on by the CR.
Temples, sculptures, statues and artefacts were all desecrated.
Anything Western from gardens to places that housed western books were destroyed. Confucian
texts were burned, Zhou sent the PLA to protect the forbidden city from the RG bent on destroying
the antiques within.
By the end of the CR, over 1/3 of China’s 1100 libraries had been closed and more than 7 million
books were lost, stolen, or destroyed.
Describe the destruction of the Confucius temple in Shandong.
The Confucius temple was attacked by 200 teachers and students from Beijing, the temple was a
priceless relic and the resting place of the philosopher himself. The attack was personally
encouraged by Chen Boda.
During the four week stay, 6618 artefacts were destroyed, 929 paintings and 2700 books were
destroyed with 2000 graves also being defaced. These people were critiqued for not being efficient
enough by other RGs! This highlighted the extremity of the violence
What happened to the Qing archway?
A 200 year old archway from the Qinq era represented humiliation of China at the hands of foreign
powers in the opium wars.
It was destroyed by a band of RG
What happened in Tibet during the CR?
The CR was much more organised and far more brutal in Tibet, it was little more than a greedy attempt to eradicate an entire way of life rival to Mao
Buddhist scriptures were used as shoe soles and even toilet paper.
Monasteries were decimated and looted.
How did the violence spiral into anarchy?
On the 26th of December 1966, he toasted ‘To the unfolding of nationwide all-round civil war!’
It became factional, different division's of RG would be frenzied to prove their own loyalty and fanatic ideological dedication. Intimidation eventually gave way to immense brutality, class enemies were sent to re-education camps whilst intellectuals and liberals were ruthlessly targeted.
New radical groups emerged with questionable ideological commitment and rather political self
interest.
In April Mao announced “have no fear of chaos, the more chaos you dish out the better”. Trying to control the movement would undermine its raison d’etre. The RG frequently fought with the PLA, resulting in 1000 deaths in Wuhan in 1967.
During the January Storm of 1967, radical RG consisting of under privileged workers rose up and destroyed the party establishment and created their own form of control based on the Paris commune of 1871.
What were the Revolutionary committees?
In September 1967, Mao became concerned that the chaos would undermine the legitimacy of the
party. He called for the creation of new revolutionary committees, based on three way alliance they
merged the Party, state and army however the party remained dominant
Radicals were never represented and these committees were actually run by much smaller standing committees
Describe the restoration of order
In 1968 Mao knew he had to curtail the violence. It was time to put the party back in control to prevent foreign powers making the most of the chaos.
He ordered the PLA to systematically crush the RG and re-establish the control of the centre party
which they did, only with great ruthlessness and bloodshed.
Jiang Qing launched a new campaign entitled “eradicating once and for all any signs of
capitalism”, led by PLA unit 8341, they used surveillance, mass rallies, and struggle meetings to
extract confessions of newly emerged counter revolutionaries. 1.84 million people were arrested.
For example, in Yunnan a staggering 9679 died from “enforced suicide” as per party records.
Describe the end of violence
In April 1969, the violent phase of the cultural revolution was over after Lin Biao was officially named
Mao’s successor after the 9th Party congress.
