Topic 3 Flashcards
(30 cards)
Why did Mao launch the cultural revolution?
> to regain political power after personal slights were made against him by party members
to eliminate ‘capitalist roaders’ within the party
What were the personal slights made against Mao?
> Party leaders publicly stated that Maoist thought should not surpass Marxist Leninism
A report by the party propaganda department in 1960 warned against the use of Mao’s writings to explain various achievements like medical breakthroughs.
Who were the main capitalists roaders Mao was referring to?
> Deng Xiaoping
Liu Shaoqi
Zhou Enlai
How did Mao launch the cultural revolution?
> In 1966 he swam the Yangtze River in record time showing he was still fit and healthy
pushing him back in the public limelight where he directed the party’s central committee to announce a sixteen point programme calling for ‘ a new stage in the socialist revolution’
Who were the red guards?
> Mao’s most loyal constituency
young people in China who formed into violent cultural bridges to do Mao’s bidding unwillingly.
Why did young people join the red guards?
> they were heavily indoctrinated at a young age viewing Mao as a demi-God like favour.
young people from richer back grounds the so called black elements joined to prove their loyalty to Mao
other young people joined to experience revolutionary fervour like their parents or grandparents did.
What were the two types of red guards?
> black elements- landlords, rich peasants, counter revolutionaries, bad elements and rightists
red elements- workers, poor and lower middle class peasants, revolutionary cadres, revolutionary soldiers and dependents of revolutionary martyrs.
Give me examples of the cult of Mao?
> at workplaces each morning people bowed to Mao’s portrait and asked for ‘instructions’ for the day ahead.
passengers at train stations had perform a bizarre loyalty dance before they could board trains
in the unofficial anthem of the east is red Mao is portrayed as a God.
What were big character posters?
> Big character posters were a popular way of communicating political ideas and were used to level accusations at political enemies.
they incited mass mobilisation.
Mao heightened revolutionary atmosphere when he released his own big character poster ‘bombard the head quarters.
What were the four olds?
> old ideas
old culture
old customs
old habits
What did the four olds do?
> ‘poisoned the minds of the people for thousands of years’
How were old habits attacked?
> red guards were told to arouse the masses
visitors to restaurants were forced to complete questionnaires declaring their class origin before they were served
surgeons cancelled operations out of fear as if the procedure went badly it would be blamed on old habits and were accused of ‘class revenge’
What were old ideas and customs attacked?
> the Confucius temple in Shangdong province a priceless cultural relic was attacked by 200 teachers and students and during their four week stay they destroyed 2700 books and 929 paintings.
the ancient burial sight of Hai Rui was defaced and historical sites that were linked to national embarrassment at the hands of the West were particularly vulnerable like the 200 year old Qing era archway.
Why was Tibet particularly affected by cultural destruction?
> there were lots of Buddhist religious artefacts which provoked red guards.
local peasants were forced to help attack monasteries and shrines
Buddhist scripture was ripped up and used to pad the soles of shoes or even as toilet paper.
What was the red Terror?
> the period during the winter and autumn of 1966 where the violence of red guards spiralled out of control
red guards attacked businessmen and intellectuals were continually attacked some were kidnapped and some were killed.
Ding Ling was attacked and put in the airplane position and at night was forced to sleep in a stable.
What was the January storm?
> encapsulated the anarchy and factionalism within the red guards
saw 100,000 radical rebel red guards attacked and defeated 20,000 other red guards known as the scarlet guards who had been mobilised by the local communist party.
How did Mao excacerbate the violence of the red guards?
> Mao said ‘have no fear of chaos’
this led to the red guards into battles with the PLA, the biggest example in Wuhan in Summer 1967, the army had sided with the local party organisation and was trying to defend it from radical red guards, in the spring the PLA had arrested 500 leaders of radical red guards.
How did the PLA restore order?
> By 1968 curtail the violence of the red guards, worrying that foreign countries would take advantage of the chaos.
he ordered the PLA to systemically crush the red guards and to violently re-establish the control of the central party.
PLA unit 8341 resorted order arresting 1.84 million people were arrested for being spies.
in eastern Hebei more than 84,000 people including many cadres.
By the Ninth party congress in 1969 the violence was put to an end.
Why was Liu Shaoqi a target during the cultural revolution?
> his gradualist policies were popular following the Great Leap Forward and there was even talks of his portrait being hung alongside Mao’s on the gates of the forbidden city.
when Mao first encouraged the students to rise up he sent work teams into the campuses to control the violence, evidence of his rightist behaviour.
What happened to Liu?
> he was subject to constant struggle meetings alongside his wife
his wife was made to wear a fashionable dress and a necklace made of ping pong balls infront of a crowd of 300,000 red guards in 1967
he was tortured to the point where he couldn’t speak and was left in solitary confinement where he was forced to live as a constant target
in 1969 he was denounced by the party and died of pneumonia in a cold and isolated building in the city of Kaifeng.
Why was Deng targeted?
> Deng helped Liu introduce economic reforms without Mao’s advice
damned as the ‘number two person in authority taking the capitalist road’
What happened to him?
> he was sent to work on a tractor factory in Jiangxi.
What happened to the party?
> 70-80% of all party cadres were purged
two thirds of the central committee was deposed.
only nine out of the twenty three politburo members survived.
3 million beauracrats were sent to the countryside.
coal minister was beaten to death
