Leadership in the PRC 1962-66

Question 1

What does revisionism mean?

Answer 1

A term, used by Marx, to describe someone who modified or ‘revised’ his theories.

Question 2

How was Mao’s authority challenged in 1962?

Answer 2

Following the failure of the GLF, Mao’s views on economic planning were brought into question. At the 7000 Cadre Conference in 1962, a growing divide was revealed in the CCP. Whilst Mao retained his position as Chairman, the pragmatists believed economic policy had to be modified away from that of a radical, ideologically driven, approach.

Question 3

How did Mao’s attacks on the USSR reflect his concerns over the CCP in the early 1960s (2)?

Answer 3

1) Mao attacked Khrushchev constantly for his revisionism, and believed that the USSR had lost touch with its ideological roots, instead becoming a bureaucratic dictatorship. Mao feared that these pragmatists were leading the CCP in the same direction.
2) Worrying about his legacy due to his age, Mao was concerned about his named successor (Liu Shaoqi) after his death.

Question 4

Who were the 3 main pragmatists within the CCP?

Answer 4

Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, and Chen Yun.

Question 5

What was Deng Xiaoping’s quote regarding pragmatism in June 1962?

Answer 5

‘It does not matter if the cat is black or white; as long as it catches the mouse, it is a good cat’.

Question 6

How did the pragmatists believe China could be rebuilt following the GLF (3)?

Answer 6

1) Ideological compromises were needed to put China back on its feet, such as private farming and trade.
2) Liu Shaoqi believed that the China should be conciliatory with the USA and the USSR, wanting to avoid conflict at a time when the Chinese economy was in crisis.
3) Mass mobilisation was not effective for economic development, and control of the economy should be given to technical experts. This would mean the rehabilitation of many rightists.

Question 7

What was Mao’s view on the state of China in 1962 (3)?

Answer 7

1) Mao believed China was quickly recovering from the GLF, and no retreats from socialist ideals were necessary, instead prioritising ideological purity.
2) He admitted mass mobilisation had not succeeded in bringing about rapid economic development, but retained his faith in it as a means for class struggle.
3) Mao wanted to revive the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses, and for them to struggle against bureaucratic control of economic planning. He feared a bourgeoisie may emerge from within the CCP.

Question 8

What was Mao’s slogan against the pragmatists in 1962?

Answer 8

‘Oppose revisionism abroad, prevent revisionism at home’.

Question 9

What was the compromise between Mao and the pragmatists in 1962?

Answer 9

Mao had to accept many of the reforms to economic planning made by Chen Yun, whilst the pragmatists had to agree with Mao that a rectification campaign was needed to rid the CCP of bureaucracy, corruption, and complacency.

Question 10

What was the Socialist Education campaign (2), and when did it take place?

Answer 10

1) A rectification campaign, intending to reintroduce basic socialist values into Chinese society, emphasising class struggle through the ‘four clean-ups’.
2) 1000s of urban cadres were sent to the countryside to learn from the peasants and spread CCP propaganda. (1963-65).

Question 11

What were the ‘four clean-ups’ emphasised by the Socialist Education campaign?

Answer 11

To remove corruption in the countryside relating to:
1) Accounting procedures.
2) Grain supplies.
3) Property accumulation.
4) The system of allocating work points to peasants for their labour.

Question 12

How did Mao and the pragmatists differ over the aims and methods of the Socialist Education campaign (2)?

Answer 12

1) Mao wanted the poor and middle peasants’ associations to be mobilised to supervise the Party cadres. He also wanted the campaign to be directed against revisionist ideas.
2) The pragmatists believed the peasants’ associations were incapable following the damages of the GLF. Instead they sent work teams of urban cadres to the countryside to conduct the campaign. It became a purely internal CCP matter, focused on corruption, not ideological purity.

Question 13

How did Mao reassert his vision of the Socialist Education campaign in 1962?

Answer 13

Mao issued directives that the SEC should be a general educational effort teaching the evils of revisionism. He recalled the urban work teams, and reinstated many of the cadres punished by them.

Question 14

How did Lin Biao regain control of the PLA, and increase their role in politics 1959-65 (5)?

Answer 14

1) He became Defence Minister in 1959.
2) He increased the number of CCP members in the PLA, and the number of officials who held key posts in both the Party and the military.
3) Increased PLA control over the civilian population with the support of Mao.
4) The ideological purity of the PLA was enhanced when Lin abolished all military ranks in 1965.
5) The PLA took control of the PRC’s internal Public Security forces

Question 15

How did Lin Biao and the PLA support Mao against the pragmatists in the Socialist Education Movement in 1965?

Answer 15

PLA cadres were installed on the Socialist Education Movement work teams.

Question 16

What is the ‘Quotations from Chairman Mao’ / ‘Little Red Book’ (2)?

Answer 16

1) Published by Lin Biao, it included quotations from Mao, and was issued to all recruits in the PLA, and used as the basis for political education within the PLA.
2) It stressed self-sacrifice, self-reliance, and the importance of continuing struggle, encouraging the cult of Mao within the armed forces.

Question 17

Who was Jiang Qing?

Answer 17

A former actress, who became Mao’s wife in 1939. She truly stepped into politics in the 1960s, leading the Shanghai radicals and driving the Cultural Revolution.

Question 18

How had Kang Sheng resurrected his political career by the 1960s (3)?

Answer 18

1) Kang had fallen out of favour in the 1950s, but knew Jiang Qing before she had become Mao’s wife.
2) Qing and Sheng worked together to put together reforms for Chinese culture, reviving Sheng’s career.
3) Kang used his experience as head of secret police to identify and attack intellectuals who he deemed opposed Mao.

Question 19

Who was Chen Boda (2)?

Answer 19

1) A leading CCP theoretician, acting as the interpreter of MZT.
2) He was the editor of the Party journal, ‘The Red Flag’, from 1958.

Question 20

How did the Shanghai radicals support Mao in the early 1960s (3)?

Answer 20

1) Jiang Qing spoke out against intellectuals who showed insufficient commitment to revolutionary values.
2) Jiang Qing convinced Mao that the cultural sphere of China and CCP leadership needed attention.
3) Mao moved to Shanghai in November 1965, surrounding himself with people who shared his view.

Question 21

What was the story regarding Peng Zhen’s criticism of Mao 1961-62, and what does it show?

Answer 21

In 1961, Peng ordered a report detailing the reasons for the failures of the GLF, firmly blaming Mao’s mass mobilisation strategy. Peng took this to the 7000 Cadres Conference in 1962, but did not openly criticise Mao, realising that it was suicide. This shows that Mao’s authority was still intact after the GLF.

Question 22

What techniques did the CCP Propaganda Department utilise to promote Communism (7)?

Answer 22

1) Loudspeakers in towns/cities to promote political messages.
2) Newspapers and journals.
3) Films, TV, and radio.
4) Posters.
5) Songs, drama, dance and opera.
6) Political study classes.
7) The promotion of Communist heroes for others to emulate.

Question 23

How did the CCP Propaganda Department promote Mao’s personality cult in the early 1960s (7)?

Answer 23

1) The promotion of ‘Quotations from Chairman Mao’ as the source of all truth and as the solution for all problems.
2) The promotion of Mao as the Great Helmsman, who had saved China from feudalism, landlordism, and the reliance of foreign powers.
3) Mao was shown to be the revolution, with people becoming more loyal to Mao than the CCP itself.
4) People were expected to attend political study sessions to discuss Mao’s works and why they were correct.
5) The press and radio promoted MZT constantly.
6) Posters and statues of Mao were put up nationwide, portraying him as superhuman.
7) Loudspeakers in public places, schools, workplaces, and on public transport conveyed Mao’s invincibility/infallibility, and to disagree with him was to be mentally unstable.