The Cultural Revolution Flashcards
Who is Lin Biao?
Head of army
Who is Chen boda?
Head of propaganda
Who are the Gang of Four?
Cultural revolution group
Wang Hongwen
Zhang Chunquiao
Yao Wenguen
Jiang Qing
When was the cultural revolution ?
1966-1976
Who were the 3 main pragmatists in the cultural revolution ?
Liu Shaoqui
Deng Xiaoping
Zhou Enlai
Who are the group of five?
Peng Zhen Wu Lengxi Zhou Yang Lu Dingyi Lang Sheng
Who is the head of the secret police ?
Kang Sheng
Deng Xiaoping’s famous pragmatic phrase
“Doesn’t matter if the car was white or black as long as it catches the rat”
Where and how did Mao get sideline?
1962
Conference of the 7000 cadres
Mao said that the Great Leap Forward was 90% success and 10% failures
Liu Shaoqui said he spoke to a peasant in his village who said it was 70% man made famine and a 30% natural disasters
Mao had to admit his faults
Zhou Enlai was critical of Mao’s over ambitious targets in the GLF
Mao then resigned from day to day politics
How did the cultural revolution start?
July 1966
Mao swam in the Yangtze River
Propaganda declared he swam 9 miles in 65 minutes which was a new world record.
This was done to show Mao to be fit as ever and a strong leader. He would then return to politics
What were the four main motives of Mao launching the cultural revolution ?
Genuine attempt to destroy China’s heritage and replace it with a new one glorifying the proletariat
Party infiltrated by capitalist roaders
Petty jealously in response to Liu and Deng’s success. Mao wanted to protect his legacy
He wanted the young and the cadres to experience revolution
Why did Mao want permanent revolution?
To get rid of “revisionists” Mao demanded constant class struggle
He fears the party were becoming bureaucratic and a ‘new elite’ we’re developing
What were the early ten points ?
Early ten points drafters by Mao in 1963
He believed the masses should be mobilised to critique corrupt party cadres
The four clean ups -economy, organisation, politics and ideology were aims to cleans non communist ideas
Peasants were told to subject corrupt officials to struggle meetings
However they were still recovering from the famine so the response was lukewarm
What were the later ten points?
Later in 1963, Deng Xiaoping revised the ten points
He wanted the campaign to be organised by work teams of party cadres rather than directly mobilising the masses
They re-wrote Mao’s directives to de-emphasise class struggle
What was Mao’s reaction to the later ten points?
Mao blamed Liu and Deng for unenthusiastic commitment to the plan which caused it to not be a success.
It convinced him that they were against him which prompted the tide of hate that Mao directed against them in the cultural revolution
What 2 things did Mao call opponents?
“Revisionists”
“Capitalist roaders”
Who and how was the first person eliminated in the cultural revolution ?
Why is the way he did it significant ?
A play called “Hai Rui dismissed from office” written by Wu Han (deputy mayor of Beijjng) had comparisons to Mao dismissing Peng Duhai
Mao arranged Yao Wenyuan (member of gang of 4) to write a negative review
The mayor (PENG Zhan) tried to defend Wu Zhan.
He was a close ally of Liu and Deng
The deputy mayor and the mayor (PENG Zhan) were then forced to resign and damned as revisionists
This indirectly eliminated 2 allies of enemies. This shows Mao to be sneaky and indirect with his methods.
This is repeated during the cultural revolution
Who were the cultural revolution group and when did Mao form it ?
March 1966
17 member sub committee
Including Chen boda and gang of 4
What was the little red book ?
Created by Chen boda and Lin Biao
Compiled of Mao’s sayings.
750 million copies were distributed
It became a social necessity to carry by 1966
What was the experience of Song Binbin?
She led red guards to kill her headteacher.
This was the first one killed in the cultural revolution
She was rewarded with the honour of putting an armband round chairman Mao in the first rally in Tiananmen Square
He name meant “gentle” and Mao said she should change it to “be violent”
What was Mao’s call to the students ?
“Bombard the headquarters!”
Why did young people join the red guards ? (4)
Indoctrinated by Mao’s cult of personality
Young were excited by the idea of rebellion in a strongly hierarchical society
1966- children of “black elements” were allowed to join so they did to prove their loyalty to Mao
Pragmatic careerism - unemployment was high and students were given free transport, accommodation and food in order to go to Beijing!
What were the five black elements that the red guards attacked?
Landlords Rich peasants Bad elements Counter revolutionaries Rightists
-basically could be anyone!
What happened with the red guards in Shanghai ?
Nov 1966
Radical red guards set up workers revolutionary general headquarters
Rival group “Scarlett guards” are formed by communist party
100,000 red guards defeated 20,000 Scarlett guards
January storm
1967
Red guards took over the city to set up their own Shanghai commune
February crackdown
Scarlett guards tried to crackdown on radical red guards.
Mao called this an “adverse current• and told the CCP to stop attack red guards
September
Mao got worried and had the Shanghai commune replaced by the revolutionary committee where the party was mainly in charge
