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4 Key Causes of the Cultural Revolution - Coggle Diagram
4 Key Causes of the Cultural Revolution
Theme 1: Divisions within the CCP between ideologues and pragmatists
Mao increasingly became distrustful of his old colleagues:
Zhou Enlai had been highly critical of the overambitious targets of the Great Leap Forward
Liu Shaoqi had spoken out against it at the 7000 cadres conference in 1962
Mao felt threatened and was worried about what would happen to the revolution he had done so much to create
The Party was increasingly split between ideologues and pragmatists
Alongside ideological arguments, Mao was also angered by what he perceived to be personal slights e.g.
Party leaders publicly stated that Mao Zedong Thought should not be said to surpass Marxism-Leninism
Mao complained that he was 'treated as a dead ancestor' - shown respect but fundamentally ignored
Ideologues: According to 'Truly Red' believers, China must be transformed into a communist country as quickly as possible though mobilisation of the masses. Anyone who did not rigidly stick to his interpretation of communist ideology - so-called Mao Zedong Thought - was he believed a 'capitalist roader' who wanted to take 'the capitalist road' to development. Mao was supported in this belief by his wife, Jiang Qing and the leader of the PLA, Lin Biao
Pragmatists like Zhou, Liu and Deng believed that if China attempted to move too fast towards communism, mistakes would be made, with terrible consequences. Instead of always doing what communist ideology suggested straight away, practical needs had to be taken into account. Instead of trust in the masses, economic experts and educational bureaucrats should be given the power to make rational decisions.
Theme 2: The quest for permanent revolution
Mao had a conviction that the CCP was no longer the force for revolutionary change. Instead of order and stability, he demanded, 'permanent revolution'. Mao feared that the Party became bureaucratised, that after removing China's old rules, they had become a new elite.
The only way to prevent this was for revolution to be permanent, to constantly replace those in authority to prevent them from every becoming comfortable and secure enough to take advantage of their authority.
Thus, he demanded constant class struggle to rid the Party of 'revisionists'
Mao launched a new drive to reinvigorate China with revolutionary zeal, with the 'Socialist Education Campaign' which hope to return China to the path of communism. In February 1963 Mao drafted the 'Early Ten Points' that proposed that the masses should be mobilised to criticise corrupt Party cadres.
Mao introduced the so called Four Clean Ups: the economy, organisation, politics and ideology should be cleansed of non-communist ideas.
Deng Xiaoping revised this plan in a document called the 'Later Ten Point' that ruled that any disruption should be kept to a minimum.
Theme 3: Attacks on the bureaucracy
Mao's obsession with permanent revolution was his desire to undermine the bureaucracy.Mao feared the new bureacracy that had been created to run the PRC was becoming a self-satidsied elite, motivated only by the privileges of power. He wanted it to be purged before it became a new class of mandarins and lost touch with the masses
Theme 4: Divisions within the CCP between supporters and opponents of Mao's policies
Mao wanted to rid his opponents in the party. He began his attack on his opponents indirectly. A play called Hai Rui Dismissed from Office gave him his opportunity
The play could have been perceived as an attack on Mao, the comparisons with the dismissal of Peng Dehuai for his criticisms of the Great Leap Forward were clear.
In 1965 he organised a negative review of the play to be published, written by a loyal supporter nambed Yao Wenyuan.
Wu Han the deputy mayor of Beijing and Mayor Peng Zhen, both close allies of Deng defended the play at first and were later forced to resign, damned as 'right opportunists'.
Mao had successfully got rid of two key allies of his enemies, leaving them more isolated and vulnerable