winding down of the cultural revolution Flashcards
How did Mao and the PLA restore order among the Red Guard?
august 1967 Mao allowed the PLA to clamp down on the red guard
Mao ordered the rival red guard and workers factions to form alliances and stop fighting each other he created new revolutionary committees which would run cities and provinces (dominated by the PLA), the last of these was instated in September 1968
the PLA began a full purge of the red guards they disbanded all units and closing down their newspapers by the end of 1968
the PLA took over the revolutionary tasks by launching the cleanse the class ranks campaign
not all sunshine as it took military action to end the serious unrest in places such as the civil war in Shanxi but was pacified by summer of 1968
PLA now re-established discipline in schools and universities which had been closed of 2 years, education could now resume
what was the 1968 rustication programme called?
the ‘up to the mountains and down to the villages’ campaign
what did the Up to the mountains and down to the villages campaign consist of
the compulsory movement of around 5 million young people from the cities to the countryside between 1968-1970
what was the objective of the up to the mountains down to the villages campaign?
the ease urban unemployment
dispersed former red guards to areas where they could cause less trouble
taught urban young about the life of a Chinese peasant and remined the revolution came from the peasants
hardened the young intellectuals and bureaucrats by introducing them to hard manual labour
reinforced the armies control over young people, as many of farms were run by military
what were the realities of the up to the mountains down to the rivers campaign?
most had a bad time, learning new skills from hostile peasants who had little food to to feed them
standard of living were low
most hated the experience and some felt resentment towards Mao as they were pawns in is power struggle
How did Zhou return to power?
Zhou was never purged as he was too useful to Mao, his part in uncovering the assassination plot emphasised his loyalty to Mao
as Mao was pre-occupied on how to present Lin Biao’s death, Zhou revived his call for Four modernisations to develop agriculture, industry, defence and education
to do this Zhou improved relations with the west leading to Nixon’s visit to China in 1972
Zhou then embarked on efforts to restore economic production and stability after the CR.
but Zhou was set back after Mao decided how to present Lin’s death and Zhou became a renewed target of attack from the radicals
he died January 1976
how did Deng return to power?
Zhou convinced Mao to allow Deng back into the party in 1973 after being sacked in 1966 only to train Mao successor Wang Hongwen (member of gang of 4)
Deng helped balance between radicals and the pragmatists from 1973 to 1976
Deng led China’s delegations into the UN
Deng was appointed army chief to keep regional military commanders in check
march 1973 he was appointed vice premier than gained his party secretary post back in 1974
but he was purged again in April 1976 when the gang of 4 attacked the party after the Tiananmen incident
who were the members of the gang of 4
Jiang Qing (Mao Zedong’s last wife). Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen.
summary of gang of 4 activities
Gang of 4 wanted to carry on the revolution as they feared pragmatists would take over after Mao’s death
they launched anti-Confucius campaign to denounce Lin Biao and those linked to him Zhou and Deng but campaign failed due to Mao not backing it. everyone saw through the attempt to remove political opponents
they blamed the Tiananmen square incident on Deng, who was removed from office again, and Mao chose Hua Guofeng a politburo member as his successor
Hua Guofeng order PLA to arrest gang of 4 and Deng returned to the party (AGAIN)
)when did Mao die?
September 1976
