The Red Guards and the Red Terror Flashcards
Why were young people significant in the cultural revolution?
To seize back power from ‘capitalist roaders’, Mao needed to mobilise their support.
They didn’t remember the worst of the Great Famine, did not blame him for it.
In school: he was a great hero— defeated nationalists, given land to peasants, stood up to the Americans in Korea
^^^ indoctrination = easily controlled
Read the Little Red Book, believed the cult of personality (god, never wrong) SO
When he wrote a Big Character Poster (‘Bombard the Headquarters’, attack pragmatists in CCP), they obeyed.
What was the Little Red Book?
Army
1964– head of PLA— Lin Biao— commissioned the publication of a collection of Mao’s most famous statements.
Every soldier ordered to read it, to learn to adhere to its every instruction.
What was the Little Red Book?
After army
The young people in the red guards (taught to revere Mao at school) tried to decipher and follow its ideas
^^^^^^ near RELIGIOUS power!
• Some believed it could work MIRACLES:
- Newspapers reported that doctors with the book had cured blind people
- One disabled person: learning Mao Zedong Thought has enabled him to walk again
- a report that reading quotations from the book had raised a man from the dead
What happened during the mass rallies of 1966?
August 1966: Mao and Chen Boda invited millions of students to attend mass rallies in Beijing
Transportation? Organised by PLA chief Lin Biao
Mao whipped them into a revolutionary fervour: they had a special role to play— “The world belongs to you” “China’s figure belongs to you”
Why did Mao’s calls during the mass rallies of 1966 have such effect?
Ecstatic at seeing their leader in person.
China always hierarchical:
•Confucian Thought (schools)— obey parents, don’t question authority.
•NOW: Mao encouraged them to “Dare to rebel against authority”—
Veiled suggestion that they attack all symbols of authority:
- teachers
- government officials
- his enemies within the Party leadership: Liu and Deng
Who were the Red Guards?
Mao encouraged the Young People who idolised him to join the Red Guards (violent youngsters totally dedicated to Mao)
What did Mao launch in August 1966?
“Four Olds” campaign— urged Red Guards to attack
1) ‘old ideas’
2) ‘old culture’
3) ‘old customs’
4) ‘old habits’
Mao said ‘olds’ still used by bourgeois feudal classes to repress the Chinese people
What happened during the ‘Four Olds’ campaign?
Religious buildings destroyed Anyone who owned classical literature or music could be stacked Religious ideas (confucianism, ancestor worship) condemned
What needed to replace the ‘old’ ideas?
What were the examples of this?
After they had been destroyed, they needed to be replaced by ‘new’ Communist ideology.
- Shop signs changed: ‘Defend Mao Zedong’, ‘Permanent Revolution’
- children’s names changed: ‘Red Glory’, ‘Face the East’
- road signs altered— British embassy now stood on ‘Anti-Imperialism Road’
