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The Cultural Revolution. Conflicting Interpretations?. The Cultural Revolution was an effort to fulfill the radical promise of the 1949 revolution and rid the nation of class inequalities.
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Conflicting Interpretations? • The Cultural Revolution was an effort to fulfill the radical promise of the 1949 revolution and rid the nation of class inequalities. • The Cultural Revolution was an intergenerational civil war in which young people expressed their anger and frustration through violence. • The Cultural Revolution was a power struggle among the nation’s leaders following the failure of the Great Leap Forward.
Major Players in the CCP, 1965 • Mao Zedong • Jiang Qing, former actress and Mao’s wife, ardent supporter of Cultural Revolution • Lin Biao, Defense Minister, supervised de-russification and Maoist indoctrination in the PLA • Liu Shaoqi, CCP Deputy Chairman, presided over the right turn after the Great Leap Forward • Deng Xiaoping, General Secretary, emphasized economic pragmatism • Zhou Enlai, Premier, moderate, well-regarded diplomat who was careful not to criticize Mao
Results of the Great Leap Forward 38 million died of: Being worked to death Others were killed, tortured, or imprisoned Famine (the average daily calorie intake was 1,534.8 for men and 1,200 for women – Aushwitz got between 1,300-1,700 calories per day) Heavy industry developed (although it was still behind most large industrial countries) Agriculture lagged behind
Results of the Great Leap Forward • As a result of the failure on the Great Leap Forward, Mao retired from the post of chairman of the People's Republic of China • His place as head of state was taken by Liu Shaoqi, but Mao remained important in determining overall policy
Growing Division (1962-1965) • Mao Zedong vs. Deng Xiaoping/Liu Shaoqi • charismatic leadership vs. bureaucracy Deng Xiaoping
Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) • Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution • commitment to revolution and “class struggle” • power struggle to succeed Mao • Phase I: the rise and fall of “red guards” • Phase II: the rise and fall of Lin Biao • Phase III: the rise and fall of the “Gang of Four”
RedGuards • In August 1966 Mao called on young people to defend the revolution against bourgeois intellectuals and “capitalist roaders.” • Young people heeded the call, striking out with a violent rage that Mao and the CCP were unable to control.
“Let the new socialist performing arts occupy every stage.”- Jiang Qing “Smash the old world, establish a new world”
Quotations from Chairman Mao First distributed to soldiers in the PLA, the “little red book” became ubiquitous during the Cultural Revolution, in part because anyone found not to be carrying a copy risked being beaten.
A Campaign Against the “FOUR OLDS” • Old Thoughts • Old Culture • Old Customs • Old Habits To Rebel Is Good!
Phase I: Red Guards (1966-69) • Purge of party cadres • Deng Xiaoping • Purge of intellectuals
Killing China’s Reformer • Lin Baio replaced Liu Shaoqi as Deputy Chairman of the CCP in July 1966. • Liu Shaoqi was under house arrest the following year and dead two years after that. • Deng Xiaoping survived, but Red Guards tortured and crippled his son. “The renegade, traitor, and scab Liu Shaoqi must forever be expelled from the Party.”
Red Guard Methods: • The Red Guards humiliated and tortured thousands of intellectuals, including teachers, party leaders, the elderly, and their own parents. • Red Guards ransacked monasteries and destroyed symbols of Chinese traditions. • For a few months the PLA stood aside and let the students rampage. However, Red Guards in the summer of 1967 began to challenge the PLA and even Mao himself.
Phase II: Lin Biao (1969-71) • The assumed successor to Mao Zedong • Lin Biao, head of the PLA, rose in prominence as the PLA suppressed the Red Guards. • In 1971 Lin allegedly tried, but failed • to assassinate Mao • had to flee to Soviet Union • His departure eroded the credibility of the entire leadership
Phase III: the “Gang of Four” • 1972 – 1976 • power struggle between • the radical “Gang of Four”, led by Jiang Qing, Mao’s wife • Goal continue Cultural revolution…failed when Mao dies and his power is gone…gang of 4 put on trial and convicted….Deng Xiaoping takes power
The Fall of Jiang Qing • Power struggles continued as Jiang Qing led the leftist Gang of Four against the moderate Zhou Enlai and his protégé, the rehabilitated Deng Xiaoping. • After both Zhou and Mao died in 1976, Deng maneuvered his way into power and the Gang of Four were branded as traitors.
