Cultural Revolution - development

Question 1

CR - problem

Answer 1

• 12 December 1963, Mao said of one of her reports: ‘Even party members are enthusiastically promoting feudal and capitalist art but ignoring socialist art. This is absurd.’

• Conclusion of Shanghai forum: China is under the dictatorship of a sinister anti-Party and anti- Socialist line which is diametrically opposed to Chairman Mao’s thought.

Question 2

Hai Rui

Answer 2

• veiled criticisms by writers through historical allegories e.g. Wu Han published story in 1959 about Hai Rui: ‘You think that you alone are right; you refuse to accept criticism; and your mistakes are many.’
• Spring 1965 – Mao viewed Wu’s play as an allegory for dismissal of Peng Dehuai; used debate over the play as a way of exposing enemies – culture became the battleground
• Yao Wenyuan’s review: ‘Its influence is great and its poison widespread. If we do not clean it up, it will harm the people’s cause.’
• January 1965 – ‘Five Man Group’ chaired by Peng Zhen investigated ways of carrying out a ‘cultural revolution’
• November 1965 – article published, circumventing Peng who continued to argue that the play was literary rather than political
• 30 December 1965 – Wu Han offered self-criticism
• early February 1966 – Lin Biao invited Jiang Qing to head a ‘Forum on Work in Literature and Art for the Armed Forces’

• 2-20 February 1966 – Forum denied the findings of the February Outline Report and called for a ‘Great Socialist Cultural Revolution’

Question 3

Shanghai Forum outcomes

Answer 3

• April 1966: Peng Zhen and the leading members of the Group of Five were denounced for ‘taking the capitalist road’

May 1966: Mao established the Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG)

Question 4

CR - suspension of school

Answer 4

Party suspended classes. This freed 103 million primary pupils, 13 million in secondary schools and half a million at university to join the struggle.

Question 5

CR - May 16 Circular

Answer 5

• ‘scholar tyrants’, ‘Party tyrant’, ‘the palace of the King of Hell’
• announced the end of Peng’s Zhen’s Five Man Group and the formation of a new Cultural Revolution Small Group: Jiang Qing, Chen Boda, Zhang Chunqiao, Kang Sheng
• Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping & Zhou Enlai agreed with the denunciation of Peng Zhen, Beijing’s mayor, who no longer appeared in public

Question 6

CR - 16 points

Answer 6

• 25 July – Mao ordered withdrawal of work team from universities

• 1-8 August – Eleventh Plenum of the Central Committee convened to review Mao’s ideological and political programme; appointed Lin Biao Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee
• ‘At present, our objective is to struggle against and overthrown those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road.’
• ‘The period of schooling should be shortened. Courses should be fewer and better.’
• Liu Shaoqi’s influence was declining; demoted to eighth position in the Politburo

• 5 August – ‘My First Big Character Poster: Bombard the Headquarters!’

Question 7

Committee formation

Answer 7

• 22 November 1966: Central Cultural Revolutionary Committee formed; Politburo ceased to function after February 1967

Question 8

Fighting

Answer 8

• fighting of 1966-68 saw an estimated 650,000 deaths

Question 9

CR - cult of Mao

Answer 9

• At their places of work,staff bowed three times before his portrait.

Question 10

CR - cultural production

Answer 10

The only books, films andtheatrical performances allowed were those approved by Jiang Qing; a total of just 124 novels were published during the Cultural Revolution.

Question 11

CR - decentralization

Answer 11

The CCP’s six regional bureaux were closed down, removing a powerful check on the activities of revolutionaries in the provinces.

Ministerial departments were purged - Mao declared that ‘you don’t necessarily need ministries to make revolution.

Question 12

CR - Red Guards

Answer 12

• student radicalism:
• 24 May 1966 – Nie Yuanzi denounced head, Lu Ping; counter-campaign of posters by university administration ridiculing Nie’s claims through the Communist Youth League
• 1 June – Boda reprinted Nie’s poster, endorsed by Mao; 3 June – Lu Ping dismissed • thousands of big character posters around schools & universities
• Chen Boda’s editorials in People’s Daily encouraged radicalism
• 18 June – more time for Red Guard activities; violent rituals towards members of the administration
• work teams restore order:

• Liu & Deng organised work teams of Party activists

• Mao furious with work teams impeding mass revolutionary movement

Question 13

Red guards beginnings

Answer 13

The first students to call themselves “Red Guards” in China were a group of students at the Tsinghua University Middle School who were given the name Red Guards to sign two big-character posters issued on 25 May – 2 June 1966. The students believed that the criticism of the play Hai Rui Dismissed from Office was a political issue and needed greater attention. The group of students, led by **Zhang Chengzhi **at Tsinghua University Middle School and Nie Yuanzi at Peking University, originally wrote the posters as a constructive criticism of Tsinghua University and Peking University’s administration, which were accused of harboring “intellectual elitism” and “bourgeois” tendencies. However, they were denounced as “counter-revolutionaries” and “radicals” by the school administration and fellow students

Question 14

CR - work teams

Answer 14

Due to the factionalism already beginning to emerge in the Red Guard movement, Liu Shaoqi made the decision in **early June 1966 to send in Communist Party of China (CPC) work teams. **These work groups were led by Zhang Chunqiao, head of China’s Propaganda Department, and were the attempt by the Party to keep the movement under its control. Rival Red Guard groups led by the sons and daughters of cadres were formed by these work teams to deflect attacks away from those in positions of power towards bourgeois elements in society, mainly intellectuals. In addition, these Party-backed rebel groups also attacked students with ‘bad’ class backgrounds (these included the children of former landlords and capitalists).These actions were all attempts by the CPC to preserve the existing state government and apparatus.

Mao, concerned that these work teams were hindering the course of the Cultural Revolution, dispatched Chen Boda, Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng, and others to join the Red Guards and combat the work teams. On July 25 1966, Mao ordered the removal of the remaining work teams (against the wishes of Liu Shaoqi) and condemned their ‘fifty days of White Terror

Question 15

4 olds

Answer 15

After the 18 August rally, the Cultural Revolution Group directed the Red Guards to attack the ‘Four Olds’ of Chinese society (old customs, old culture, old habits and old ideas).

An official report in October 1966 reported that the Red Guards had already arrested 22,000 ‘counterrevolutionaries’

Question 16

CR - PLA restores order

Answer 16

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forcibly suppressed the more radical Red Guard groups in** Sichuan, Anhui, Hunan, Fujian, and Hubei provinces in February and March.** Students were ordered to return to schools; student radicalism was branded ‘counterrevolutionary’ and banned. There was a wide backlash in the spring against the suppression, with student attacks on any symbol of authority and PLA units. An order from Mao, the Cultural Revolution Group, the State Council, and the Central Military Affairs Committee of the PLA on 5 September 1967 instructed the PLA to restore order to China

Question 17

CR - PLA attacked

Answer 17

Because many regional-force commanders supported conservative party and government officials rather than radical mass organizations, many provincial-level military leaders were purged or transferred, and Beijing ordered several main-force units to take over the duties of the regional-force units. In the summer of 1967, regional military organizations came under leftist attack, Red Guard factions obtained weapons, and violence escalated. By September, the central authorities had called off the attack on the PLA, but factional rivalries between regional- and main-force units persisted

Question 18

CR - effect on PLA

Answer 18

The PLA emerged from the more violent phase of the Cultural Revolution deeply involved in civilian politics and public administration. It had committed 2 million troops to political activities and reportedly suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties. Regional military forces were almost completely absorbed in political work. PLA units did not withdraw fully from these duties until 1974.

almost half of the Central Committee members elected in 1969 were soldiers; and half of the State Council members in 1971 belonged to the PLA.

Question 19

Criticise Confucius and Lin Biao

Answer 19

1) The first phase of the campaign began after the 1st Plenary Session of the 10th CCP Central Committee, in 1973. Following this session, Mao encouraged public discussions focused on criticizing Confucius and Confucianism, and on interpreting aspects of historical Chinese society within a Maoisttheoretical perspective
2) The second phase of the campaign began in 1974, when the attacks on Confucius merged with a pre-existent campaign to criticize Lin Biao. During this phase, Mao’s image was identified with that of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuang (an anti-Confucian Legalist)
3) The third phase began after Zhou Enlai reorganized the State Council during the 4th National People’s Congress, in January 1975. At the People’s Congress, Zhou Enlai brought many cadres back to work who had been purged during the 1966-1969 phase of the Cultural Revolution. Because they had supported the purging of many career Communist Party veterans during the early Cultural Revolution, the Gang of Four opposed Zhou’s efforts, and began to use the campaign to subtly criticize Zhou and his policies
4) The fourth and final phase of the campaign coincided with Zhou’s illness and hospitalization, beginning in the summer of 1975. Deng Xiaoping then took many of Zhou’s responsibilities, acting as premier in Zhou’s absence until Deng was again purged, in 1976. During this phase, the Gang of Four introduced public debates on The Water Margin as a tool to criticize Zhou and their other enemies, notably Deng. After Mao died, the Gang of Four also directed the campaign against Hua Guofeng, who was named Mao’s successor. The campaign ended with Hua’s arrest of the Gang of Four, in October 1976

Question 20

Worker rebels

Answer 20

• from November 1966 encouraged to join
• militant office and factory workers formed rebel groups and challenged Party committees in their workplaces
• ‘revolutionary Rebels’ vs ‘proletrian Rebels

Question 21

Shanghai People’s Commune

Answer 21

• Red Rebels battled Scarlet Guards who supported established trade unions and Party committees
• city’s authorities tried to appease militan workers by granting bonuses, higher wages
• radicals accused authorities of ‘economism’
• Jian Qing’s associate Zhang Chunqiao came to Shanghai and encouraged rebels to seize power

- 14 January 1967 toppled authorities

• under the slogan ‘seize power’ radical groups elswhere in China emulated Shanghai, January Storm
• “varieties of radical groups, not coordinated by any central leadership, struggled with party leaders and with each other” jonathan spence

Question 22

3-in-1 rev committees

Answer 22

• 14 January 1967 mao and Zhou instruct PLA to restore order
• free travel withdrawn in February
• overthrow of any regional auhority would need prior approval from central government
• 10 march, 3-in-1 revolutionary committees consisting of soldiers, radical party cadres and Rebels should assume leadership of all institutions
• “there will always be ‘heads’” Mao

Question 23

CR - economic outcomes

Answer 23

• had cost $34 billion
• industrial output feel by 14% in 1967
• :To stop production is revolution itself” Jiang Qing

Question 24

CR - political outcomes

Answer 24

• Liu Shaoqi expelled from Party 31 October 1968
• Ninth party Congress 1-24 April 1969 promulgated new Constitution in which Mao Zedon Thought was restored as theoretical basis of the party, Mao re-elected Chairman of Central Committee, Lin Biao vice-chairman and successor
• 70-80% of regional cadres expelled 1966-69
• out of 23 Politburo members, 9 retained their power
• “Mao had managed to infuse the government with a group of women and workers who, unlike their predecessors, looked, talked and thought like the people they represented” Lee Feigon

Question 25

Gang of Four

Answer 25

The members consisted of Mao Zedong’s last wife Jiang Qing, the leading figure of the group, and her close associates Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen.

Question 26

Gang of four wang kewen

Answer 26

Unquestionably, the Gang of Four was at least tacitly supported by Mao in its various activities. Jiang’s most important qualification in exercising power was that she was Mao’s wife. To an extent the gang served as an instrument for Mao to realise his radical vision of ‘permanent revolution’ as a form of national development, yet in the process the gang also used Mao to enhance its own position and influence. Together this ‘gang of five’ created a decade of destruction and terror in China.” Wang Ke-wen, historian -