The cultural revolution 1966-76 Flashcards
Why did divisions between ideologues and pragmatists launch the cultural revolution?
Divisions between the CCP (Ideologues and pragmatists) - Mao was uncomfortable with the third year plan trying to fix the damage caused by the third five year plan because Deng and Liu were forming capitalist values in China and labelled the pragmatists of being ‘capitalist roaders’.
Mao was also afraid that the ruling class values were still embedded in society so he would have to change the education system and culture as a whole.
Why did the quest for permanent revolution launch the cultural revolution?
Mao worried that the revolution should not lose its impetus.
The cultural revolution would test the younger members of the party and make them more committed to communism.
Why did the attacks on bureaucracy launch the civil war?
Closely linked with Mao’s obsession with continuous revolution.
The people who were smart enough to run the country were the ones most critical of the great leap forward meaning they had the power to slow the pace of revolution.
How did divisions within the ccp between supporters and opponents of Mao’s policies launch the cultural revolution?
The cultural revolution meant the purge of pragmatists from the CCP.
Mao was an idealogue and his idealogue allies were called the gang of four.
Lin Biao - leader of the PLA
Jiang Qing - Mao’s wife, in charge of the destruction of old cultural sites in China. Leader of the gang of four
Kang Sheng - Mao’s chief of the secret police and organised the rectification campaigns.
Chen Boda - Leader of the central cultural revolution group.
How did Mao form the red guard?
Plunging the young generation into revolutionary activity would ensure the survival of communism. His cult of personality helped him indoctrinate young people and separate him from the failures of the ccp.
Students took place in mass rallies because it made them feel important and Mao ‘needed their support to attack counter-revolutionaries.
What were the mass rallies?
1966, The first rally was when 1 million red guards had gathered at Tienanmen and this was the first of eight mass rallies. Mao used his cultof personality to appear god like to the young people
After the first rally Lin Bao ordered the destruction of the four olds.
What were the attacks on the four olds?
The four olds:
old culture
old ideas
old customs
old habits
Mao identified these but Li Bao ordered their destruction.
The categories were kept deliberately vague so they could be used against any political opponents and the term ‘old’ would make the young people more comfortable.
Western culture is targeted,
correction stations were set up where people would have their head shaved
People renamed themselves to show their loyalty to the revolution Bourgeoisie books were burnt in the street,
Beatings of anyone who fit the descriptions of the olds
Nuclear families came under attack, Religion came under attack,
Jiang Qing was made to destroy cultural sites.
After all these traditional attitudes began to reappear.
What was the growth of anarchy?
The red guard were give free reign on who to attack and first turned on unpopular teachers and the anyone who displayed wealth. These people were attacked and tortured until they admitted to crimes against the Chinese people whether they were guilty or not and past contributions in revolution did not grant you immunity. Names of bad classes were passed onto the red guard.
What was cultural destruction?
As an attack on the four olds, the red guards embarked on a frenzy of cultural destruction, destroying 7000 places of cultural significance and raiding 100000 homes for old artefacts. Zhou Enlai stepped in to stop the destruction of the forbidden city.
How and why did Mao attack Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping?
Liu and Deng were pragmatists and were removed due to ideological reasons. This divide became even clearer between 1963-64 in the socialist education movement and tensions resurfaced in 1964.
However Mao could not attack both of them while they were both popular in the politburo
By late 1964, Mao was accusing Liu of being a capitalist roader and accusing Deng of acting independently. once Mao felt he had enough support in the Politburo in 1965 when he had the backing of Lin Bao, the PLA, Chen Boda, Jiang Qing and Kang Sheng.
Liu and Deng were criticised at the 1966 central committee meeting and stood behind Mao in the August mass rally.
They were both dismissed in October 1966 after a red guard demonstration.
Liu and his wife dragged from their house and beaten, Liu was imprisoned and died of pneumonia in 1969. Liu’s wife Wang humiliated in the streets because she tried to seduce President Sukarno of Indonesia and almost given the death penalty if Mao didn’t intervene.
Deng sent to perform corrective labour in the Jiangxi tractor factory and was rehabilitated into the party in 1973 but his son was paralysed when the red guard through him off a balcony.
How and why was Lin Bao attacked?
Lin was extremely powerful because of his role in leading the PLA as he abolished the ranks and used the little red book to increase political indoctrination and had played a large role in organising the mass rallies.
Lin was also regarded as a hypochondriac and was scared of water meaning he rarely washed and became reclusive meaning it was hard to work with him.
Mao thought Lin may become a Bonaparte and overthrow him when he became too popular after the 1969 constitution confirmed Lin as Mao’s successor.
Lin also fell out with Jiang Qing because of her interference with army matters and Mao indirectly attacked Lin when he arrested Lin’s ally Chen Boda for factional behaviour .
The official explanation for Lin’s death was that him and his son planned on assassinating Mao and then seizing power using the military. When this was found out Lin fled to Russia but the plane crashed in Mongolia killing everyone on board. The plot was revealed to Zhou Enlai by Lin’s daughter which would’ve destroyed the plot and that’s why they fled.
Lin’s death plunged Mao into deep depression as he could no longer trust his associates as Lin was so close to him. When the news was revealed to the public in 1972 they all began facing Mao with increased skepticism despite Jiang Qing’s campaign aiming to discredit Confuscious and Lin Bao.
Those close to Lin were purged
How was the CCP membership purged?
The red guards acted on Mao’s request to bombard the headquarters.
14 of the 23 1966 Politburo members were purged.
4 of the 6 first regional secretaries were purged
70% of provincial and regional secretaries were purged
2/3s of the 1966 central committee were purged by 1968
At a local level 20% of party officials were purged and three million cadres were sent to cadre schools where they were beaten and brainswashed in order to ‘rediscover their revolutionary zeal’
25 of 29 first secretaries lost their jobs to PLA officers.
After the most radical part of the cultural revolution Mao began to redesign the party in 1968 in the central committee meeting which declared the CR a victory and necessary and Liu was expelled from government and party.
1969, Mao declares the cultural revolution to be over and calls for the continuation of class warfare.
Due to many experienced veterans being replaced by less experienced PLA members the party was more manipulable than ever.
How were foreigners and capitalist roaders purged from China?
Attacks on capitalist roaders were mainly focused on urban areas. All staff of factories, offices, shops and schools could be considered bourgeois because of their backgrounds. This persecution of thousands led to a 13% drop in industrial production in 1967 but picked up again after persecution stopped.
A ‘cleansing of class ranks’ campaign was set up by the CCRG and committees were set up to eradicate all signs of capitalism in 1968. This resulted in 100,000 deaths.
In 1970, the ‘one strike and three antis’ campaign was launched to eradicate any attitudes that stunted economic growth but this was stopped by Mao in 1971.
Violence in rural areas was at its peak between 1968-71 after the red guards were sent away.
Foreign embassies were also attacked by red guards while police stood aside, like in August when red guards physically assaulted British embassy staff in Beijing. This happened again in England when Chinese workers poured out of the Chinese embassy armed with sticks and machetes to protest English control of Hong Kong and this occurred in 30 other countries.
