The Cultural Revolution in China
Mao Tse Tung
• Chairman of the Communist Party of China,
which took control in 1949.
• His goal was to modernize China from Feudal
systems to a modern Communist state
• His brand of Communism was unique in that it
mainly focused on agricultural reform as opposed
to industry
• Launches the Great Leap Forward from 19581962. Between 35-55 million rural peasants die
of starvation
Cultural Revolution
• The aftermath of The Great Leap divides Party
leadership, and Mao fears he’s losing influence.
• In 1964- Mao publishes his “Little Red Book.” A
manifesto of his philosophy and vision for China’s
future. (Cult of the Personality)
• January, 1965- Mao and his Defence minister Lin
Piao publish the “23 articles” claiming that
China’s “real enemies” are within the Party itself.
• Summer 1966- Mao calls upon the public to take
up arms and continue the class struggle against
enemies. The Cultural Revolution has begun
The Red Guard
• The “army” of the Cultural Revolution was mainly made up of young
people.
• The Red Guard was not one group, but many independent small
groups each enforcing their own interpretations of Mao’s ideas
• Mao encouraged this taking credit for successes, and denying
culpability in failures.
• 1967 sees extreme chaos as different factions of the Red Guard
mobilize and enforce the Cultural Revolution across the country.
• Often different factions of the Red Guard clash with innocent civilians
caught in between
Shanghai
• This was one of the most commercially successful cities in China.
• The Red Guard targeted Shanghai because there were a large number
of foreign companies with businesses there
• Foreigners were often forced to flee the country
• Wealthy Chinese were publicly shamed
Struggle Meetings and Public Shaming
• People were required to show their loyalty by carrying copies of the
Little Red Book on their persons at all times
• Teachers, professors, successful business people, and landowners all
became targets
• One common punishment was a Struggle Meeting where these
people would be brought before a rowdy crowd.
• These “guilty, enemies of the state” would be forced to confess their
“crimes” and apologise for taking more than their share.
• They were often beaten, and sometimes killed
Reining it in
• By 1968 things are getting out of control
• Internationally the Soviet Union has moved into Czechoslovakia, and
Mao fears they may have plans to expand into China
• Since Stalin’s death and Khrushchev’s denouncement of his policies,
the USSR and China have not been on good terms
• Mao needs to regain control in order to protect the borders
• Lin Piao uses the military to maintain order
• Mao launches a rustification program sending scholars and “mental
labourers” to the countryside to learn manual work
Power Struggle and Decline
• By this time the Cultural Revolution was all but over and things were
returning to normal
• Lin Piao and Mao were locked in a power struggle which ended in
1971. Piao attempted to assassinate Mao but failed and tried to
escape to the USSR via airplane
• That plane mysteriously crashed before it left Chinese airspace
• In 1976 Mao died without leaving a clear successor
• By 1980, the Communist party had opened doors to international
trade beginning its journey to becoming one of the strongest
economies in the world