The Cultural Revolution

 The Great Proletariate Cultural Revolution.

• Its reverberation continued until Mao's death in Sept.1976.
• The arrest of the Gang of Four was in the following month.
• Its official launch was preceded by a period of manoeuvring.
• In the PLA Lin Biao was engaged in a struggle with Luo Ruiqing, his chief of staff.
• Te United States started to bomb North Vietnam in Feb. 1965.

• Luo Ruiqing had advocated a policy of improving relations with the Soviet Union.
• He also advocated a policy of improving relations with the Soviet Union.
• He also advocated to making preparations to give material support to North Vietnam.
• Lin Biao argued that the Vietnamese should fight a people's war.
• He argued that China should only offer moral support.
• There was a difference of opinion between the two men.
• This resulted in Luo Ruiqing being forced to make a self-criticism and being dismissed.
• At the same time cultural issues were becoming increasingly divisive.
• The Group of Four issued a document known as the February Outline
• It tried to limit  consideration of the bourgeois tendencies  in a play.
• This was called "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office.
• It was to be limited to an academic discussion.
• Mao Zedong complained that the Group had obscured lines.
• He also said that they  had encouraged rightist sentiment.
• He described Wu Han as an academic warlord.
• He also described Peng Zhen, the leader of the group, as a "Parry warlord."
• This manoeuvrering phase ended with the Politburo meeting, which began on May 4th.
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Lin Biao

• Lin Biao then accused two people of plotting against him as well as other radicals.
• These two were Luo Ruiqing and Peng Zhen.
• At the end of the meeting the Politburo issued the May 16 Circular.
• This document alleged that the Party had been infiltrated by bourgeois revisionists.
• It also announced the appointment of a Cultural Revolution Group
• It was led by Chen Boda, the editor of the Red Flag
• This would include Jiang Qing and Kang Sheng.

Liu Shaoqi

• Between  May 16th & August 5th two conflicting tendencies were apparent.
• Liu Shaoqi may have already been regarded by Mao as a revisionist.
• He was placed in charge of implementing the Cultural Revolution.
• Secret encouragement was being given to radicals to challenge Party leaders.
• These were the radicals in the universities.

Big Character Posters

• On May 25th, Nie Yuanzi put a big character poster on a university canteen wall. 
• He was a philosophy teacher at Beijing University.
• The poster attacked the university president.
• This was for having supported the February Outline.
• The  University authorities  responded by trying to suppress the radical movement

Mao's Swim

• Up to this point Mao Zedong had remained in Hangzhou.
• He had avoided himself a struggle
• On  July 16th  he made his famous swim in the Yangzi River.
• He covered  9 miles down stream in 65 minutes.
• Two days later he returned to Beijing.
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"Bombard the Headquarters"

• On August 1st, Mao indicated his support for the use of theorem "Red Guard."
• This term was coined in Maybe student radicals at Qinghua University Middle School.
• On August 5th, he published his own big character poster entitled "Bombard the Headquarters."
• It accused the work-teams of adopting the reactionary stand of the bourgeoisie.
• On August 8th, at meeting of the 11th Plenum of the Central committee of the CCP (some of Mao's opponents were excluded), a document known as the "Sixteen Points" was adopted 
• which set out the purpose of the Cultural Revolution.
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• " ... to struggle against and overthrow those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road, to criticize and repudiate the reactionary fourgeoisie ... and to transform the education,   
• literature andante and all other parts of the superstructure not in correspondence with the socialist economic base..."
•  
• By now numerous Red Guard organizations had appeared in schools & colleges.
• On August 18th Mao Zedong reviewed the first of many Red Guard rallies.
• They had taken place in Tiananmen Square
• It offered a certain impression.
• This was a movement united in revolutionary purpose & adulation of Mao Zedong.

Red Guards

• From an early stage the Red Guard movement was split by factionalism
• This was from theeduczational policies that was adopted after the Great Leap Forward.
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• There were two main divisions:
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• a) those students who came from the "five kinds of red" family background.
• these were children of workers, peasants, soldiers, cadres or revolutionary martyrs.
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• these were the ones who
• 1) enjoyed preferential educational treatment in the 1960s
• 2) supported the work teams which Liu Shaoqi had sent to school.
• 3) supported the Party.

• b) those students who came from bourgeois backgrounds
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• these were
• 1) these students had been overlooked academically
• 2) these students began to form their own rebel organizations.
• 3) they began to challenge the work teams.
• At the end of the 11th Plenum, Mao Zedong had addressed a rally of Red Guards.
• He encouraged them to  make revolution throughout the country.
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• In schools & colleges, administrators and teachers were subjected to criticism.
• They were often publicly humiliated.
• The same treatment was given to some Party officials.

Lin Biao's Four "Olds"

• Lin Biao had called for the destruction of the "four olds."
• a) old ideas
• b) old culture
• c) old customs
• d) old habits
• 
  
• The Red Guards took this  as an invitation to destroy anything.
• These would be things which might be described as representing bourgeois culture.atter if it was
• It did not matter if it was 
• a) the work of art
• b) foreign clothing
• c) hairstyles
• d) street names which made references to the past.
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• The Red Guards also took advantage of free rail travel.
• This was to visit Beijing and other parts of the country..
• It was to attend rallies and to enjoy the experience of "revolutionary tourism."
• By October it looked like they intended to challenge the Party establishment.
• It looked like a fierce power struggle lay ahead.
• The group accused "persons in authority" of having taken the capitalist road.
• As a result Liu Shaoqi & Deng Xiaoping were forced to make self-criticism.
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• The Red Guard groups in the provinces attacked the local Party officials.
• They were often incited to action by delegates from Beijing Red Guard organizations. 
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• The "five Red" qualification for Red Guard membership had been relaxed.
• So, the Red Guard organizations became more daring.
• In November they were permitted to enter factories and communes.
• There they were able to challenge the Party monopoly of relations with
• a) peasants' and
• b) workers' organizations.

Shanghai "Storm"

• In January 1967, an incident known as the Shanghai Storm took place.
• It epitomized the collapse of Party provincial authority.
• The Shanghai workforce included many thousands of casual workers.
• They're the ones who enjoyed most of the benefits of employees in the state sector.
• The tensions,  coming from their economic situation, were exploited.
• This was by Shanghai radicals.
• These radicals were encouraged by the Cultural Revolution Group.
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• On January 6th,  the mayor and other municipal officials were forced to resign.
• The rebel organizations , supporters by the PLA, seized control of factories & offices.

• A new city government was formed
• This was modelled  on the Paris Commune of 1871.
• Its representatives were elected in a secret ballot.
• They were elected by members of factory organizations.
• The Party authorities were entirely swept aside.
• By the end of January, similar "seizures of power" had occurred in various cities.
• In some cases they had been stage-managed by Party Officials.
• This resulted in confusion.
• It led Mao and the Cultural  Revolution Group to reject the Paris Commune model.
• Instead they endorsed the creation of a new  power structure
• This was the revolutionary committee
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• It would be filled with representatives
• a) of the mass organizations
• b) of Party cadres
• c) of the People's Liberation Army.

Liu Shaoqi & Deng Xiaoping

• Each of these groups contained radical and conservative elements.
• In the first half of 1967 there was incessant infighting.
• Party cadres fought to protect themselves from criticism.
• The mass organizations struggled among themselves.
• In the armed forces, radical & conservative elements were in competition.
• The Red Guard Press openly criticized Liu Shaoqi & Deng Xiaoping.
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• A dangerous  situation was made manifest by an incident in Wuhan in July.
• The commander of the Wuhan Military region was accused.
• He was accused of repressing the radical mass organizations.
• He had supported an organization of conservative workers.
• They were known as the "Million Heroes."
• A delegation from the Cultural Revolution Group went to Wuhan.
• They were accompanied by Zhou Enlai
• They favoured the radicals.
• Consequently, the Million Heroes attacked the delegates.
• To resolve this Zhou Enlai  was forced to bring in outside military forces.
• He also had to dismiss the Wuhan military commander.
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• By the end of August, China was on the verge of civil war.
• The Red Guards and other mass organizations were obtaining arms.
• With these arms they were fighting battles in the streets.
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• Jiang Qing was voicing criticism of leaders of the People's Liberation Army.
• This threatened to undermine the army's shaky authority.
• The foreign ministry, headed by Marshal Chen Yi, an ally of Zhou Enlai, was seized.
• They were seized by the radicals.
• The British legations in Beijing were burnt down.
• The crisis forced Mao Zedong to adopt measures to restore stability.
• Mao was supported by Zhou Enlai & Lin Biao.
• Some of the radicals were purged from the Cultural Revolution Group.
• The People's Liberation Army was empowered to suppress disorder.
• The  army encouraged the study of the "little red book."
• These were the "Quotations" from Chairman Mao Zedong.
• It was to provide a basis for a revolutionary consensus.
• In September the first steps were taken towards the reconstitution of the Party. 
• There was an upsurge of campus violence in the spring 1968.
• After this the Red Guard organizations were disbanded.
• The process of forming revolutionary committees was accelerated.
• It was finally completed in September 1968 
• In October  Liu Shaoqi was officially expelled from theParty.
• This occurred at the 12th Plenum of the Central Committee.
• A new Party leadership  identified Lin Biao as Mao's successor was agreed upon.
• This was at the Ninth Party Congress, held in April 1969.
• A report from Lin Biao to the Congress was the conclusion of the first stage of the Cultural Revolution. 
• Mao Zedong admitted that the Cultural Revolution consisted of 70% achievements.
• This meant 30% mistakes.
• This estimate was based on the aims of the event.
• This meant
• a) reversing the trend towards revisionism.
• b) getting rid of the bourgeois influences.
• c) placing "politics in command"
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• Since Mao's death, few have regarded it in such favourable light.
• An account of the revolution published in Xianggang in 1986 concluded
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• "for China, the Cultural Revolution remained a colossal catastrophe in which human rights, democracy, there of law ands civilization were unprecedentedly trampled. Not only was the President (Liu Shaoqi) persecuted to death, tens of millions of innocent people were also attacked and maltreated."
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• The direct impact  of the Cultural Revolution on the economy was limited.
• The political disruption was extensive.
• But industrial and agricultural output only declined temporarily.
• By 1970 output was already surpassing previous peak levels.
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• The  indirect impact was more serious.It left China's planners severely constrained by fears of political reprisals
• It also had a lasting influence on industrial management.
• The conservative labour unions have been accused of trying to bribe the workers.
• This was bribing them with the promise of higher wages.
• This took place during the Shanghai Storm.
• The radicals had countered this by introducing ideological incentives.
• It also used the Quotations from Chairman Mao for guidance.
• Other changes gave workers a share in management.
• These changes required cadres to participate in labour.
• Soon after the Cultural Revolution  material rewards were reintroduced.
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• But the influence of the revolution could still be detected in a management style.
• This was a style which sought to make a compromise.
• this was to be a compromise between
• a) a "one-man management  and
• b) worker participation in management.
• The result was  management by revolutionary committee.
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• The Cultural Revolution left most of its most enduring imprint on education,.
• From 1968 to 1976 Mao presided over  a radical set of reforms.
• The aim of these reforms was to reduce the three great distinctions.
• a) between  town & country.
• b) industry & agriculture
• c) mental & manual labour.
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• To achieve this
• a) the school curriculum was shortened
• b) more time was spent on political education
• c) all pupils and students were required to participate in manual labour.
• d) In the countryside , middle schools were run by communes
• e) primary schools were run  by production brigades.
• f) primary school teachers were paid in work points.
• g) national college examinations were abolished
• h) colleges selected students  from those recommended by their work units.
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• A typical innovation of the time was the July 21st Workers University.
• It was attached to the Shanghai Machine Tools Plant.
• There, workers and peasants followed a shortened course.
• These students had good political credentials and extensive experience.
• They were able to combine technology, political thought and manual labour.
• After graduation, they returned to their original place of work.
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• After Mao's death there were criticisms.
• The official line was that these reforms did not amount to anything good.
• On the positive side was the expansion of educational opportunity.
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• Between 1969 & 1977 primary school enrolment rose from 100 million to 146 million.
• The ordinary secondary schools enrolment went from 20 million to 67 million.
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• The disadvantage of children who lived in rural areas were somewhat reduced.
• this was done by the redistribution of resources.
• The main negative criticisms of the reform was that it lowered educational standards.
• The most sever impact being on colleges and universities.
• Most universities and colleges did not resume regular intakes until the early 1970s.
• Some 4 million secondary students were sent to the countryside.
• These students were of the 'Red Guard generation
• They were on rural assignments where they remained for up to 10 years.
• When tertiary education was resumed the challenge to academic education continued - a notable protest was made in 1973 by a student named Zhang Tiesheng.
• When taking  the cultural test he handed in a blank examination paper.
• his explanation  was that he, unlike other entrants, had been unable to study.
• This was because he hd been working.
• His action was cited as a praiseworthy example of restoring academic standards.
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From the Cultural Revolution to the Death of Mao Zedong

• During the Cultural Revolution the PLA had been called upon to restore order.
• Later it was to form part of a revolutionary committee.
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• In 1967 , PLA officers headed 21 of 27 provincial revolutionary committees.
• Two years later , at the Ninth Party Congress, Lin Biao was named Mao's successor.
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• A new Politburo was chosen, 55% of the membership came from the military.
• some western observers said the army  was in the process of displacing the Party.
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• Over the next two years Mao was motivated by two things.
• a) disbelief that the Party should command the  "gun" - the army.
• his growing suspicion of Lin Biao
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• So Mao took steps to
• a) restore the authority of the Party.
• b) undermine Lin Biao's standing.
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• The army continued to perform its political role.
• A start was made to reconstituting the Party and reviving testate structure.
• In late 1969 the army was told that it should pay greater attention to military training. 
• This indicated that it would soon be relieved of its political responsibilities. 
• Meanwhile differences had emerged between Lin & Mao
• This was on the issue of the future direction of China's  foreign policy.  
• Lin believed that China should ally with oppressed and revolutionary people.
• Mao now endorsed cautious moves towards a rapprochement with the United States.
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• The Second Plenum  of the Ninth Congress was at Lushan in Sept. 1970.
• Events occurred  which probably Mao that Lin was not a suitable successor.
• Some months previously Lin had proposed that Mao should become head of state.
• This position, which after 1959 had been held by Liu Shaoqi.
• It was due  to be abolished in the new state structure.
• Mao rejected the offer, but Lin raised the matter again at the Second Plenum.
• Perhaps he expected that Mao would refuse once more.
• Then the position would be rewarded to him to signify publicly that he was Mao's heir.
• The persistence of Lin Biao earned a rebuke from Mao.
• Lin Biao had his supporters which included Chen Boda.
• Chen Boda had been a member of the Cultural Revolution Group.
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• After the Plenum, a campaign was mounted to discredit Chen Boda.
• In August 1971 Mao visited regional military commanders in Central & Southern China.
• He did to this assure himself of their loyalty. 
• Lin Biao  realized that his time was up.
• Then he authorized his son to devise the "571 plot".
• This involved killing Mao Zedong, when he was aboard his special train.
• The plot failed and the conspirators attempted to set up a rival regime in Guangzhou.
• That plan failed.
• On Sept. 13th Lin Biao, his wife & son, fled the country.
• They were killed when their plane crashed in Mongolia.
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• As these events were occurring, a major re-alignment had been taking place.
• This was in China's foreign relations.
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• At the time of the Cultural Revolution , China had become diplomatically isolated.
• In March 1969, a dispute arose with the Soviet Union.
• This was over the ownership of Zhenbao (Donansky) island on the Wusili River.
• The incident, perhaps engineered by Lin Biao for his own ends, made one thing clear.
• This was the danger of the Russian nuclear threat.
• It also made clear  the concentration of soviet forces on her frontier.
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• Kissinger Arrives
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• From 1969 the possibility of improving relations with the USA was under discussion.
• In July 1971 Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State made a secret trip to China.
• This was to prepare the way for a visit by President Richard Nixon in the next year.
• From the Chinese point of view, Nixon's visit  was a great success.
• This was because it resulted in an agreement on peaceful co-existence between them.
• China didn't have to make concessions about a certain issue
• That was the claim to a "one China" policy and the claim to Taiwan.
• After Lin's death, the main domestic political issue was the succession to Mao.
• The struggle was between
• a) the more pragmatic senior Party members, which included Zhou Enlai & Chen Yi, the
• former foreign minister.
• b) the radicals, which included Mao's wife Jiang Qing and Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyuan, both from Shanghai.
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• Mao regarded none of them as potential successors.
• He promoted an outsider, Wang Hongwen, a former worker  at a Shanghai cotton mill.
• He was promoted to the number three position in the Party hierarchy.
• Wang found that Zhou Enlai held all key posts.
• This encouraged him to  join Jiang Qing.
• This was in  the "Criticize Lin Biao, criticize Confucius" campaign.
• The real targets were Zhou Enlai and the former victims of the Cultural Revolution.
• The former victims were being rehabilitated.
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• But Zhou Enlai had recently been diagnosed as having cancer and the campaign misfired.
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Deng Xiaoping

• Next, Mao Zedong decided to turn to Deng Xiaoping.
• Deng had been described as the "number two" person taking the capitalist road.
• This was during the 1960s.
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• Now Mao chose him because of 
• a) his high reputation with the military.
• b) his political skills.were needed
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• Deng had been rehabilitated  in May 1973.
• Over the next year he initiated number of overdue reforms.
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• these included
• a) reducing the size of the PLA
• b) defining a long-term economic policy.

Four Modernizations 

• This economic policy was described by Zhou Enlai as the Four Modernizations.
• This referred to
• a) agriculture
• b) industry
• c) defence
• d) science & technology
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• These reforms left him open to criticism from the radicals.
• When Zhou Enlai died in Jan.1976, Mao decided to change his mind.
• He was now against appointing Deng as premier.
• He chose Hua Guofeng, the former First Secretary of the Party in Hunan.
• He was believed to have been committed to the policies of the Cultural Revolution

The Gang of Four 

• The Gang of Four were extremely angry by the appointment of Hua Guofeng.
• They were
• a) Jian Qing
• It sa
• b) Zhang Chunqiao
• c) Yao Wenyuan
• d) Wang Hongwen
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• Jiang Qing criticized Hua openly.

• A demonstration in Tiananmen Square took place in March 1976
• This was in memory of Zhou Enlai
• it showed how unpopular the radicals were.
• The Gang of Four  thought that the demonstrations were connected with Deng
• So, the Gang had it broken up ruthlessly.
• Deng himself, on Mao's instruction, was removed from all his offices.
• In July an earthquake hit Tangshan, 160 miles south-east of Beijing.
• It killed nearly 250,000 people.
• The Gang misread the situation
• It issued an official  message to the survivors.
• The message was that they should deepen & broaden the criticism of Deng.

Mao's Death

• Mao Zedong died on Sept. 9th 1976
• The editorial of the People's Daily of September 18th made a claim about Mao.
• It stated that "Chairman Mao Will Live Forever in Our Hearts."
• This uncritical assessment was to survive for long.
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• In June 1981, the Party accepted a wordy piece of writing of Mao.
• It was "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of our Party.
• Mao Zedong Thought was now described as the collective wisdom of the Party.
• It was to remain "a guide to action for a long time to come."
• Mao himself was said to have made "gross mistakes."
• This was during the Cultural;l Revolution
• His contribution to the Party's success prior to then far outweighed those errors.
• The Gang of Four assumed that the succession to Mao would fall to them.
• The memorial service was held in Tiananmen Square in Sept. 18.
• Jiang Qing stood beside Hua Guofeng when he read the eulogy.
• On Oct. 6th Huo Guofeng had the Gang arrested.
• This was on the charge of plotting to usurp power.
• Four years later the Gang was put on trial.
• This included five military commanders who were accused of complicity
• The complicity was in reference to Lin Biao's attempted coup.
• Jiang Qing spoke in her own defence.
• She argued that she was merely Chairman Mao's "dog."
• She was given a suspended death sentence.
• She later commuted to life imprisonment.
• She committed suicide in 1991.