The Cultural Revolution

The Cultural Revolution as a Political Campaign

• Immediate causes– Fall of Peng Dehuai– Rise of Lin Biao

• Cult of Mao• Self-sacrifice• Need to be on guard against enemies

– Declaration of “The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”, 1966

• A campaign for the proletariat to take control of literature and art

Our army is for the people, the people warmly love our army

Lei Feng

Hai Rui (1963 performance)

• Other objectives– Attack on people taking the “capitalist road”– Attack on traditional culture– Cult of Mao

• Form student groups: Red Guards

The Red Guards 1966-1967

• Attacks on– Those in power (teachers, officials)– What is old fashioned or “feudal”

• Factional fighting– Rebel red guards vs. conservative red guards– i.e. those close to the state vs. those who feel

excluded

→ purge of the Communist Party

• The aftermath– Army restored order– Impose committees to govern

• The army, the masses, officials

– Young people volunteer to go to countryside

Longer Term Causes

• Political– Factional struggles in the top elite spread

through society

• Socio-economic– People join certain Red Guard groups

because of their position in society

• Cultural– Violent language and categorisation

• Impact of the Great Leap Famine

The Aftermath

• Many people feel betrayed– Loyal officials, intellectuals – the old guard– Younger generation – after fall of Lin Biao

• Political struggle between Left and Right wings in the 1970s– Left:

• Rural equality and self reliance• Opportunities given to those from poor backgrounds

– Right:• Increasing links with the outside world• A bit more private enterprise might be allowed

Dazhai

To learn from Dazhai you must truly revolutionize the thought of leadership groups

1976

• Death of Zhou Enlai– Great popular mourning

• Tangshan earthquake

• Death of Mao Zedong– Succeeded by Hua Guofeng– Show trials of the Gang of Four

Judgements and Verdicts

• Was it a good or a bad thing?– Ten year disaster– Scar literature– Nostalgia for ideals

• Who was responsible?– Gang of Four?– Mao Zedong?– We were kids and we were manipulated?