The Origins of the Cultural Revolution

Question 1

When did the Cultural Revolution take place?

Answer 1

1966 - 76.

Question 2

Who were the Red Guards?

Answer 2

Loose groupings of college and secondary school students, who embraced the cult of Mao and the aims of the CR. They served as the ‘vanguard’ in the early stages of the CR.

Question 3

Why did Mao allow the Shanghai Radicals to lead the Cultural Revolution in the early stages?

Answer 3

So he could ensure that his aims of purging the CCP leadership and remoulding culture could be achieved.

Question 4

What were Mao’s 3 aims of the Cultural Revolution?

Answer 4

1) Remould Chinese culture.
2) Purge the CCP leadership.
3) Rectify the CCP, to prevent them from becoming akin to the USSR.

Question 5

Name some members of the CCRG (7 possible).

Answer 5

1) Kang Sheng (head of the Central Case Extermination Group).
2) Jiang Qing (Mao’s wife).
3) Wang Li (propagandist).
4) Zhang Chunqiao (deputy head of the CCRG).
5) Yao Wenyuan (literary critic).
6) Qi Benyu (a theorist).
7) Chen Boda.

Question 6

Why did Mao want to remould Chinese culture?

Answer 6

He believed that by changing culture, so all modes of thought and expression conformed to MZT, a truly communist society could be built in China.

Question 7

What were the events of the first battle in the Cultural Revolution, ‘Hai Rui Dismissed from Office’ (4)?

Answer 7

1) ‘Hai Rui Dismissed from Office’ was a play written by Wu Han, about an official getting fired after criticising the Ming emperor, and was encouraged by Mao to write it.
2) Wu Han was an intellectual, historian and deputy mayor of Beijing. He and his play were criticised in an article, written by Yao Wenyuan in November 1965, for being antisocialist.
3) Wu Han’s boss was Peng Zhen, a Politburo member responsible for culture. Peng was held responsible, and as he was allies with Deng and Liu, they too were criticised indirectly. They considered this an academic (not political) debate, and so passed it to the CCRG to investigate.
4) In February 1966, the Shanghai Radicals claimed China was under threat from bourgeois and revisionist ideas, opposing Mao. Lin Biao agreed, claiming cultural ‘struggle is inevitable’. This ensured this struggle was not an academic debate, but part of a wider class struggle.

Question 8

What were Jiang Qing’s beliefs on culture?

Answer 8

She believed that culture was a reflection of the society from which it springs, and serves a political purpose. This means that a bourgeois society would produce bourgeois culture. Therefore, she believed it necessary to eradicate all feudal, foreign and bourgeois influences in China, in order to achieve a socialist society.

Question 9

What were the ‘Four Olds’?

Answer 9

Old culture, ideas, customs, and habits.

Question 10

How was culture ‘reformed’ in the Cultural Revolution (5)?

Answer 10

1) Traditional opera was suppressed, and replaced with ‘revolutionary’ operas, focusing on peasants, workers and soldiers.
2) Literature, art, film, and theatre were subject to strict censorship, and only those promoting revolutionary themes were allowed.
3) Western music was labelled bourgeois and decadent, and was therefore banned.
4) Wearers of Western-style clothing were liable to be attacked.
5) Anything deemed as representative of the past (temples, art, ornamental gardens, etc.) were liable for destruction.

Question 11

Why did Mao want the Cultural Revolution to rectify the CCP away from the model of the USSR?

Answer 11

After Khrushchev’s disposal in 1964, for ‘hare-brained economic schemes’, Mao realised that the situation in China resembled that of the USSR (GLF failure). He was convinced that the CCP had become overly bureaucratic, corrupt and ineffective on all levels, and was on the path of revisionism. He believed that the CCP needed to be rectified in order to prevent this.

Question 12

What are large character wall posters?

Answer 12

Wall-mounted posters, handwritten in large Chinese writing, and is a traditional Chinese method of protest or propaganda. They were used by the Red Guard to denounce their victims.

Question 13

What is meant by ‘red by deed’ and ‘red by birth’?

Answer 13

1) To be red by birth, you had to come from a peasant’s, soldier’s or worker’s family, or be the child of a Party official.
2) If you were not red by birth, and came from a more ‘bourgeois’ background, you had the opportunity to be red by deed by participating in revolutionary struggle.

Question 14

Why did Mao believe that the CCP was undergoing a class struggle in 1965?

Answer 14

Mao believed that the CCP was growing increasingly bureaucratic and corrupt, with the economic planning of ‘pragmatists’ leading to increased inequality. Mao accused Liu and Deng of taking the ‘capitalist road’ and running ‘independent kingdoms’.

Question 15

Who was Peng Zhen?

Answer 15

Mayor of Beijing from 1951 - 1966, when he was purged.

Question 16

What was the Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG)?

Answer 16

Originally set up as the Cultural Reform Group in 1964, it was tasked with running and directing the Cultural Revolution, acting as the driving force behind it.

Question 17

Explain the events leading up to the Cultural revolution (9) (Nov 1965 - Aug 1966).

Answer 17

1) Nov 1965: Mao goes to live in Shanghai, distancing himself from the CCP leadership in Beijing.
2) Wu Han and Peng Zhen are attacked for the play: ‘Hai Rui Dismissed from Office’.
3) Feb 1966: The Shanghai Radicals broaden their attack on culture and the ‘sinister anti-Party and anti-Socialist line’. Lin Biao gives Jiang Qing responsibility for the PLA’s cultural policies.
4) Mar 1966: Peng Zhen purged.
5) May 1966: Mao takes control of the CRG, claiming it to be too bureaucratic, with the new CRG including his allies. The first large character wall poster is displayed at Beijing University.
6) June 1966: Protests in Beijing University spread to other schools in the city. Liu and Deng try to regain control by sending in work teams. This fails, and schools are suspended.
7) July 1966: Mao swims in the Yangzi River, before returning to Beijing.
8) August 1966: At the Central Committee meeting, Mao launches an attack on Liu, and issues a 16-point document on the aims of the CR.
9) Mao encourages the Red Guard to ‘Bombard the Headquarters’ through a large character wall poster. This is followed by a series of rallies at Tiananmen Square, attended by 13 million Red Guards.

Question 18

Why did Mao want the Cultural Revolution to serve as a purge of the CCP leadership?

Answer 18

Since the 7000 Cadre Conference in 1962, Mao felt at odds with the Party leadership, especially Liu and Deng. Mao felt he was being denied influence due to his age (73 in 1966), and was growing concerned about his replacement. By 1965, Mao felt Liu could no longer be trusted to defend or extend the revolution.

Question 19

What was the chronology of the purge of the CCP leadership March - October 1966 (9)?

Answer 19

1) In March 1966, Mao, with the support of Kang Sheng, Lin Biao and Chen Boda, purged Peng Zhen.
2) In May 1966, Mao took control of the CCRG, and reformed it with his allies. Mao’s intentions became clearer.
3) Also in May, a large character wall poster was put up in Beijing University, spreading the movement across China. By early summer, turmoil broke out across schools.
4) Liu and Deng tried to rectify this, sending work teams to control the movement, and direct criticism at individuals, rather than the Party in general. Mao saw this as proof that Liu and Deng were against him.
5) In July 1966, Mao swam in the Yangzi River, and returned to Beijing. This showed he was ready to fight, and his criticism of Liu became open and direct.
6) In August, at the Central Committee meeting, Liu was forced to make self criticisms for sending work teams to universities. Mao accused him of exercising dictatorship in Beijing and resisting the CR. Liu was demoted from 2nd to 8th in the hierarchy, replaced by Lin Biao - Mao’s new successor.
7) In October, at a Party Conference, Liu and Deng were subject to more criticism and self-criticisms.
8) Liu died in prison in 1969, being denied treatment for illness. Deng survived due to support from Zhou Enlai, and was rehabilitated in 1973.
9) Mao purged others for ‘old thinking’ and lacking enthusiasm for the CR. E.g. Zhu De.