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Cultural Revolution + Aftermath - Coggle Diagram
Cultural Revolution + Aftermath
Reasons for CR
divisions between CCP (ideologues and pragmatists)
ideologues: Mao -- prioritised the country's ideology instead of econ
pragmatists: Liu and Deng -- wanted to make sure econ was thriving, econ reforms after GLF (Mao was not happy)
Mao's attempts at stopping the pragmatists
1963 Socialist Education Movement
wanted to cleanse China of reactionary elements, preached virtues of collectivist econ approach (failed
quest for permanent revolution
Mao worried that revolution would not lose impetus, esp after de-Stalinisation
younger members of the party not seriously tested (not in long march or antis movement) -- needed to mass mobilise the younger generation
attacks on the bureaucracy
old bureaucrats removed, but Mao feared that new ones would only be motivated by power -- becoming new mandarines
urban intellectuals and bureaucrats only educated to run country since 1949 -- but they were most critical of GLF, CR made to go against them
Capitalist Roaders -- Mao believed they were hijacking the Party, this intensified during Socialist Education Movement + increased when Liu and Zhou tried to have a new rectification campaign
Divisions between Mao's supporters and opponents
supporters: Jiang Qing, Lin Biao, Kang Sheng and Chen Boda
opponents: Liu and Deng (+ Chen and Bo Yibo)
7000 cadre conference 1962: Mao openly accused Liu of choosing 'Capitalist Road', accused Deng of trying to run an independent kingdom
WALL POSTER CAMPAIGN: red guards wrote large posters to denounce their intended victims
July 1966: Mao swam in Yangtze in Wuhan, physically showed that he was ready to confront his opponents
RED GUARDS
Mao's hold on young people
Little red book
750 million distributed, became China's secular bible
urged readers to 'study Chairman Mao's writings, follow his teachings and act according to his instructions'
Lin Biao put it together in 1962, 1964 used in PLA as a tool of indoctrincation
Personality cult
well established by 1966, young people saw Mao as a hero who saved China + CCP is now being a threat to Mao's achievement
Mass rallies
millions of young people joined, showed how Mao had a strong hold on young people
Bombard the Headquarters (in wall poster campaign in Aug 1966)
greeted enthusiastically by children -- Mao told the young that rebellion was virtuous and chaos was better than order, young later rose against traditional figures of authority
Mass rallies of 1966
first mass rally in Beijing on 18th of August -- Mao walked out to greet 1 million Red Guards crammed in Tiananmen Square
8 mass rallies in 1966
following the mass rallies, chaos and violence spread across China, Red Guards followed attack on the 'four olds' - ideas, customs, habits and culture -- schools closed
Attack on 'four olds'
old culture, old ideas, old customs and old habits -- needed to root out revisionism
Anything representing past values denounced -- Confucius especially
Red guards attacked western influences (hk style clothing), correction stations were set up, street names changed, people given new names
violent actions: houses ransacked in search of bourgeois possessions (musical instruments, jewellery, antiques, paintings, books)
traditional nuclear family attacked, religion attacked
growth of anarchy
with free rein to attack figures of authority, red guards grew in anarchy -- those accused were subjected to lengthy struggle sessions were often attacked tortured, etc.
Babaoshan crematorium in Beijing disposed 2000 bodies in a 2 week period in 1966
gang of four trial: sanctioned the deaths of over half a million people
southern province of Guangxi, 67,000 killings were recorded over 10 years 1966-76, outlying provinces Sichuan, Tibet and Mongolia has hundreds of thousands
formation of new Red Guard units by radical factory and office workers in Nov 1966 escalated violence, especially since many students are from non-Party bourgeois backgrounds
movement widened, splits and rivals -- chaotic infighting in different factions in Jan 1967 -- Mao had to intervene with January Storm in Shanghai Revolutionary Committee
Cultural destruction
Red Guards destructed cultural objects between mid-Aug and late-sep 1966
official documents: destroyed 2/3 of 7000 places of historical and cultural importance in Beijing -- broke into over 100,000 homes for 'old artefacts
Zhou Enlai prevented them from attacking the Forbidden City by having the PLA defend it
attacked Confucius' home town of Qufu in Shandong province, spent four weeks vandalising countless books, paintings, statues, graves and monuments with connections to Confucius
attacks on Mao's political and class enemies
attacks on Liu and Deng
Liu and Deng removed from their posts for ideological reasons (cause of pragmatic approach)
Mao convinced the future of the revolution was not safe in their hands, but Liu and Deng were popular in politburo
Liu and Deng supported pragmatic economic policies and less committed than Mao to a collectivist approach
7000 cadre conference 1964 -- Mao accused Liu for 'capitalist road' and Deng for acting independently
end of 1965, Mao had support, he could count on Lin, PLA, Jiang Qing and Shanghai radicals, Chen Boda and Kang Sheng
Attack on Lin Biao
Lin played pivotal role in Communist victory in the civil war -- replaced Peng Dehuai as defence minister in 1959, used this to politicise PLA, made little red book, also significant in personality cult and mass rallies
under lin, PLA more radical -- used by mao to advance the revolution
Lin's poor health: a hypochondriac, used health problems to explain why he delegated so many tasks to others and reluctant to take on new responsibilities
suspicion increased by Jiang Qing
offical events: Lin and his son tried to assassinate Mao then seize power in a military coup, died when trying to flee -- news not released until 1972
purging CCP membership
Red Guards took up Mao's call to 'bombard the headquarters'
Higher-ranking members affected the most: 9/23 Politburo members survived, 4/6 regional first secretaries purged, 70% of provincial and regional officials purged, 2/3 of Central Committee members purged
local: 20% Party officials purged, 3 million cadres sent to May 7th cadre schools
January storm
militant facotry and office workers formed own Red Guard units and tried to overthrow Party, set up a people's commune to run by freely elected representatives
purging capitalist roaders
focused on urban areas: staff subjected to scrutiny, caused serious downfall in industrial production -- down 13% in 1967 and further in 1968
'cleansing of class ranks' campaign by CCRG developed in 1968, committees across the country eradicated all signs of capitalism -- accounted for over 100,000 deaths
1970, 'one strike and three antis' launched to remove all attitudes that were preventing economic progress -- halted in 1971
purges on foreigners
Aug 1967 -- Red Guards broke into British Embassy in Beijing
30 countries experienced violent incidents involving Chinese militants: Burma, Indonesia, Britain, India, France, Russia and Holland
Downfall + Aftermath
Restoration of order by PLA
Aug 1967 -- Mao decided to allow PLA to clamp down on the Red Guards, he had no objection to Red Guard violence but after they undermined the Army's role and inflicted damage on econ and education
PLA anxious to end Red guard violence, did not want to be subjected to self-criticism and struggle session
Mao ordered rival Red guard and worker's factions to form alliances and to stop fighting each other
sped up creation of revolution committees (dominated by PLA)
PLA began full-scale purge of Red guards, disbanded last Red Guard units and closing Red Guard papers by end of 1968
took military action to end most serious unrest -- PLA also re-established discipline in schools and universities which had closed for 2 years
'Up the mountains and down to the villages'
5 million people from the cities to the countryside between 1968 and 1970
dispersed many former Red Guards to areas where they would cause less trouble; taught them the life of a Chinese peasant and what the revolution was originally meant for
Rural conditions primitive -- many of that generation became disillusionised with Mao, feeling as if they were used as pawns for his power struggle
return to power of Deng and Zhou
Zhou
prime minister from 1949 to 1976 (his death) -- never purged because he was too useful to Mao and distanced himself from awkward situations
proved loyalty to Mao (uncovering alleged assassination plot, foiled Lin's escape) -- played key role in facilitating President Nixon's visit to China
unable to remove the radicals from their positions of power in CCRG, 1973, Mao believed Lin was a rightist pretending to be far left
Got Deng back into the fold in 1973
Deng
Deng identified as capitalist roader in 1966 and sacked, sent to exile to do manual labour
Deng restored to train Mao's newly chosen successor Wang Hongwen
Deng purged again in April 1976, when Jiang Qing and radicals went on attack after Tiananmen Incident
Gang of Four
Gang of Four continued influence after downfall of Red Guards
Lin Biao affair: margianlised Gang of Four -- but still had some influence
1973 'anti-confucius campaign' -- launched to discredit Lin, depicted him as same category as Confucius, allowed them to attack others like Zhou and Deng
called for a boycott of Western technology and renewal of People's communes (learn from Dazhai campaign)
early 1976 -- reasserted themselves by taking advantage of the death of Zhou and Mao's worsening health
Zhou's death ended in huge demonstration in Tiananmen Square
Mao's death
died Sept 1976
successor -- Wang still too much under Jiang Qing to be a successor
Deng blamed for Tiananmen incident
Mao's successor became Hua Guofeng
Gang of Four tried to undermine Hua
Hua took power and arressted Gang of Four