Cultural revolution

The Great proletarian Cultural revolution Chinese (: 无产阶级文化大革命, pinyin: wúchǎn jiējí wénhuà dàgémìng), more usually the Great Cultural revolution (文化大革命 wénhuà dàgémìng), or simply the Cultural revolution (文革 wéngé), is one period of the Chinese history which starts in 1966 and is completed with dead Mao Zedong in 1976. Other authors think that the events of the Cultural revolution strictly speaking relate to the period which goes from September 1965 in April 1969.

Following the consequences of the economic policy decided by Mao at the time of the Large Step ahead of 1958, this one left its position of president of the Popular republic of China. The popular National congress elects then Liú Shàoqí like successor of Mao Zedong. Even if it remains officially with the head of the Chinese Communist party (PCC), Mao was little by little far away from the management of the economic affairs of the country which was entrusted to more moderated elite, primarily directed by Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and some others.

In 1966, Mao decided to launch the Cultural revolution which enabled him to return to the capacity while being based on the youth of the country. The leader wished to purge the PCC of his elements “revisionists” and to limit the capacities of the Bureaucratie.

Famous “the red Guards”, of the groups of young Chinese inspired by the principles of the red Little book becomes the active arm of this Cultural revolution. Youth is encouraged to call into question any hierarchy, in particular the hierarchy of the PCC then in station. The intellectuals were also publicly humiliated (cf Zheng Yi), the mandarins and the ridiculed elites, of many Chinese cultural values and new Western values were denounced in the name of the superiority of the people and his rights.

The cultural shutter of this revolution consisted for example with éradiquer the traditional values. Thus thousands of Sculpture S and Temple S (Buddhist for the majority) were destroyed.

The political expression was released by the channel from the “Dazibao”, posters placarded by which these young people expressed themselves. These red guards inspired to a certain extent the movements of May 1968 which burst a little everywhere in the world. One period of chaos followed which carried out China at the edge of the civil war, before the situation is taken again little by little in hand by Zhou Enlai.

This agitation made it possible Mao finally to take again the control of the State and the Communist party.

According to Simon Leys: “The Cultural revolution, which had of revolutionist only the name, and cultural that the initial tactical pretext, was a fight for the capacity led to the top between a handle of individuals, behind the smoke screen of a fiction movement of mass”.

Historical context

Large the Step ahead

The conflict growing between Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi

Liu Shaoqi decided to put a term at many initiatives of large the step ahead, like the rural communes, and to return to the economic policies which had preceded it.

Thanks to the success of its reforms, he sat his prestige among many members of the party, as well within the central government as in the popular masses. In.liaison.with Deng Xiaoping, it started to plan to gradually withdraw in Mao any real capacity and to leave him only one function representative “of icon of the revolution”.

Mao regarded his old allies as corrupted by the capacity and “infected” by the Soviet “revisionism”. He judged that the main obstacle with socialism was the weakening of the revolutionary spirit, in particular at the executives of the Communist party.

Other influences

With the autumn 1965 begins a press campaign aiming at criticizing the literary circles, intellectual and university. November 10th, 1965 is published an article of Yao Wenyuan in the Wenhuibao of Shanghai which denounces the play of Wu Han the Dismissal of Hai Rui .

The circular of May 16th, 1966 denounces all the “revisionists” present in the culture, the policy and the army of the country. May 29th, 1966, the first organization of red guards was born within the Université Tsinghua. The guard reds were young people, for the majority of the schoolboys and students organized in factions and of which the goal was to apply the Cultural revolution, if need be by the constraint. This one aimed at the elimination of the intellectuals and the political enemies of Mao. However, the red guards divided quickly according to their degree of radicality and were opposed even in a violent way. The red guards were joined by excluded from the Party, the precarious workmen and some opportunist frameworks.

June 1st, 1966, the Daily newspaper of the people , official journal of the Party, declared that all the “imperialists”, all the people related to the “imperialists” as all the intellectuals “imperialists” were to be purged. The reading with radio operator of the dazibao of a coed against the revisionism of Khrouchtchev also put fire at the powders. Soon a movement intended shaped to purge the presidents of the universities as well as other preeminent intellectuals. July 28th, 1966, of the representatives of the red Gardes wrote a formal letter with Mao justifying of the social and political need to launch massive Purge S. Thus the Cultural revolution began.

The Cultural revolution

1966: “The way of the democracy”

August 8th, 1966, the central committee of the Chinese Communist party emitted a bill concerning the “decisions on the great proletarian Cultural revolution”. This one, as called “Decision in sixteen points”, declared as the Chinese government was from now on in favor of a purging within the Communist party and among the intellectuals. The Cultural revolution aimed at the “Old-fashioned things”, i.e. the Chinese traditions and past.

The Great proletarian Cultural revolution aims at liquidating the middle-class ideology, to establish the proletarian ideology, to transform the man in what it has of deeper, to carry out its ideological revolution, to extirpate the roots of the revisionism, to consolidate and develop the socialist system. We must kill the persons in charge of the Party engaged in the capitalist way. We must cut down the academic celebrities reactionaries of the middle-class and all the middle-class “monarchists”. We must be opposed to all the acts repression against the revolution. We must liquidate all the geniuses malfaisants. We must extirpate vigorously the thought, the culture, manners and old habits of all the exploiteuses classes. We must reform all the parts of the superstructure which do not correspond to the economic base of socialism. We must purge the ground of all vermin and sweep all the obstacles!

August 16th, of the million red guards coming from the four corners of the country gathered with Beijing. Top of Tian' anmen, Mao and Lin Biao made frequent appearances to be made acclaim by approximately 11 million red guards. The Mao August 18th pokes the rebellion by his speeches: “one is right always to revolt” and “we do not want the kindness, we want the war”. Another large gathering took place on the place Tian' anmen on November 25th, 1966.

Exactions of the red guards

During three years, until 1969, the red guards extended their influence and accelerated their efforts for “the socialist rebuilding”. They began their action by distributing leaflets which explained their development objective and of reinforcement from socialism and by publicly posting names of alleged counter-revolutionaries. The red guards founded a climate of terror gradually, randomly searching the houses to find evidence compromising of “deviance”. The hearths were then vandalisés; : 150000 residences were confiscated only in Shanghai. In the Moslem areas of the west, of Corans were destroyed in great autos-da-fe.

The red guards made make their self-criticism in public with the people suspected of ideas counter-revolutionaries (self-criticism which would be then retained like dependant element at the time of their lawsuit. The majority of Chinese who was judged counter-revolutionaries were carried out as a public as example or were exiled in camps of work where deaths by ill treatment were legion). The intellectuals and the professors were the target many vexations: coated face of black ink, insults, obligation to bark or eat grass. Certain victims were eaten after their execution. The exactions of the red guards, their ideological divisions, the reports/ratios of class explain the turning of the Cultural revolution which becomes confused. It extends geographically and socially, especially when on December 9th, 1966, Mao Zedong invites the workmen to take an active share with the events. December 15th, 1966, it encourages the villages to make in the same way. January 28th, 1967, the leader gives to the army a big role in the Cultural revolution and the responsibility of protect the factories and to help “revolutionary truths”. It must also establish revolutionary committees.

During the winter 1966-1967, Shanghai knows political and social disturbances: at the end of December 1966, the municipality is reversed. The most important strikes of the history of the city paralyze the economic life. The rebels wish to set up a system similar to Commune of Paris.

In the first months of the year 1967, the red guards and the rebels get firearms, the industrial production drops and the administration is disorganized

July 22nd, 1967, Jiang Qing required of the red guards to take the place of the popular Armée with release when necessary. Following that, the red guards started to steal and plunder the barracks and other military buildings. This activity, at which the military hierarchy could not put a term, continued until the autumn 1968.

In August 1967, the embassy of the the United Kingdom is burnt in Beijing. Thousands of prisoners are carried out by the army, the militia of the PCC.

Epilog

During the winter 1968-1969, twenty million young people is moved of force (movement Xiafang) and the red guards disappear. Between 1968 and 1976, a million Shanghaiens are ruralisés of force. The 9th Congress of the PCC joined together on April 24th, 1969 ratifies the purging and the reorganization of the Party.

Flax Biao with the orders

The transition in the apparatus from the party

Attempts at Flax Biao to widen the base of its capacity

After being confirmed like successor of Mao, at the time of the 9th Congress of the Party, Lin Biao mobilized itself for the restoration of the position of President of the Republic which had been abolished by Mao following the withdrawal of Liu Shaoqi. The goal of Flax Biao was to become vice-president while Mao would have been president.

However, it became increasingly unpopular in the army and ran up against the hostility of Zhou Enlai. Mao put himself to suspect it of wanting to hasten the catch of succession and at the plenum of Lushan which was held in August 1970, it was put in minority.

The coup attempt of State

The official story says that Lin Biao tried a coup d'etat and that following its failure he flees with his family towards the Soviet Union, the September 13rd 1971. On the way, the plane would have been crushed in Mongolia, killing all its occupants. Its death and the circumstances having surrounded it was however revealed with the population by the Chinese press only in 1972.

The time of the Band of the Four

The criticism campaign of Flax Biao and Confucius

1976: End of the Cultural revolution

Death of Mao Zedong.
Fine of the Cultural revolution according to Chinese historiography (Western historiography considers it completed since 1969).
Rehabilitation of most of the victims of the Cultural revolution.

The after-revolution

After the death of Mao, Deng Xiaoping, regarded as the leader of the reformists, managed to rise with the capacity. It made stop the widow of Mao, Jiang Qing and its partisans within PCC (the Bande of the Four) for then translating them into justice.

Consequences

According to the work the black Book of Communism , the Cultural revolution responsible for would have died among 10 and 20 million people. For the town of Shanghai, the number of victims would be of: 10000.

International reaction

The reactions outside the country were varied and inevitably related to the political movements of the time. The opposition to the Guerre of Vietnam supported the dashes of sympathy to the communist revolutions and some Western observers, mainly located on the left political chessboard, showed sympathy to the Cultural revolution. The violence and excesses which showed through through certain testimonys were often excused or refuted like “propaganda of right-hand side”. The events of the Cultural revolution were significantly revalued within the left, particularly in Occident, once all the extent of the damage appeared clearly.

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