THE RED GUARDS &
MAO´S LAST
REVOLUTION
What do Red Guards protect/guard?
• The Red Guard Movement was a youth organization that
span all across China. Their main goal was to deffend the
Mao Zedong Thought from the so called “revisionist”
movement.
Following the 11th Plenum
• Liu Shaoqi was no longer the stronger individual in the
party and his and Deng Xiaoping’s say in the party were
no longer as important.
• “This man Hitler was even more ferocious. The more
ferocious the better don’t you think? The more people you
kill, the more evolutionary you are”
• This exemplifies Mao’s new stance regarding revolution.
• This shows that Mao was trying to relive his days of mass
mobilization through a “New Revolution”
• “Beijing is too civilized”
The origin of the Red Guard Movement
• The movement started in the elite universities in China.
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This included Tsinghua University, Peking University and
the Beijing Aeronautical Institute.
Violence and criticism started to emerge.
Many called this hooliganism, however Mao thought of it
as revolutionary movement.
The movement started as a form of criticism in the form of
Dazibao or Big Character Posters
The movement became extremely violent
Education and
the Red
Guards
Classes were
suspended by Mao’s
decree, so that the youth
cold dedicate to the
cultural revolution.
A movement against
was was perceived as
Bourgeois emerged,
targeting teachers and
intellectuals
Big Character Posters
denounced revisionism
and any threat to the
Chairman and his
ideology.
Red Guard Rallies
• During a rally in 1966, Mao gave his “ardent support” to the Red
Guards, legitimizing the movement further.
• Mao tried to appear in as much rallies as possible.
• He felt that the USSR discarded Leninism because “too few people ever saw Lenin
in person”
• He felt that as much of the Chinese Youth as possible should be able to see the
older generations in persons
• Many rallies took place in Tiananmen between August and
November 1966.
Tiananmen
square -1966
Mao’s Jeep
Leaders in the Rallies.
• Mao was not alone attending and hosting rallies
• Jiang Xing was a common presence in the rallies.
• Zhou Enlai was popular among the people.
• However, the second most important presence in the
rallies was….
LIN BIAO
Mao was 72 years old by 1967
His various illnesses led his doctor to recommend that he did not
appear in public so often.
Lin Biao took over several times
We enjoyed the rallies:
“the sun shine brightest in Beijing during the fall,, and the
win that took Tiananmen is strong, but Lin Biao apparently no longer
feared sun or drafts”
He started to appear more often in rallies as the centrepiece instead
of Mao.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD8qi1C81-U
More about the rallies
• Sometimes they led to catastrophe
• In October 1st, a rally of 1.5 million people took place.
• Mao decided to go on a motorized greeting session,
which ended in the death of 10 people who were trampled
my the masses and over 100 injured.
• Once, in the Forbidden City, Mao was quoted saying: “We
are going to carry the Great Cultural Revolution through to
the end: If it comes down to it, we will all go down
together!”
• Many people from other provinces (mostly students)
travelled to Beijing only for the rallies.
• 3 million people added to the 7.7 million population of Beijing.
Revolutionary tourism
• Millions of red guards attended what were now
considered historical sites all across China, such as
Yan’an, and Mao’s library in Hunan.
• This was known as the “Great exchange of revolutionary
experiences” which was subsidized by the government
• Red Guards felt like they were doing their own Great
March. Having grown up hearing Mao’s inspiring tales (in
which most of their parents fought)  Incredible
experience for them
• This led to the viral spread of diseases all across China
Revolutionary
Tourism
This lead to violence
and rectification of
supposed Rightists
Eliminating the “Four Olds”
• The main task of the Cultural Revolution was the
elimination of: old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old
habits; as stated in Lin Biao’s speech, in which he
encouraged the red guards to “energetically destroy
them”.
• People took to the streets to destroy the “Four Olds”,
much to Zhou Enlai and Lin Biao’s delight.
• The police was told not to interfere and in any case to
support the Red Guards.
Changing of names
• Another important aspect of the Cultural Revolution was
the renaming of people, places and streets.
• Names that were deemed too traditional, old or rightist
were to be changed. Many students went as far as
changing their names to sound more revolutionary:
•
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Protect Biao
Defend Ching
Die Liu Die
Among others
• Many students tried to convince Zhou Enlai to change the
name of Tiananmen Square to “The East Is Red”.
According to Zhou he consulted with Mao, who didn’t
agree. Zhou and Mao maintained that names that were
“too feudal or too backward” were alright.
The Red Terror
• 33,645 houses in Beijing alone were sacked by Red
Guards or people who claimed to be such. Similarly,
84,222 houses Shanghai were looted or sacked.
• 3.34 million USD worth of jewellery were confiscated:
• “Confiscation of the ill-gotten wealth of the exploiting classes”
• A Bureau for sorting looted goods was established to
return the jewellery, but most of the value was lost.
• Zhou Enlai justified the use of these goods to “cover the
expenses they incurred” during the Cultural Revolution.
Red terror
• The red guards took the idea of
the “Four Olds”.
• Sacking of common houses and
industries occurred.
• The Guards humiliated the
common citizens.
• Molesting of women
• Forcing people to strip naked.
• Taking all books and
magazines.
• Many people didn’t know what
was the original purpose of the
red guards.
Destruction of national treasures
• Red Guards also attacked public property.
• By the end of the Revolution 4,822 of the 6,843 “Places of
Cultural or Historical interests” in Beijing were destroyed.
• The destruction of the Forbidden City was prohibited, and
it was heavily protected by Zhou Enlai’s decree.
• The destruction of Confucius Temple was a remarkable
example of relic attacking.
• Wu Xun’s body, a cultural hero of the 19th century
(Chinese Robin Hood) was dismembered and dumped,
and the grave was also destroyed.  Irrational acts
Temple destruction
Repatriation
• The party implemented repatriation campaigns for citizens
of “bad class background”.  They were thrown out of the
cities and sent to the villages where their ancestors lived.
• The government supported the campaigns and provided
jeeps and motorcycle for transportation.
• The campaign faced opposition from within the party after
the suicide of the daughter of a landlord.
• It was seen as a “seriously erroneous political stand”
• 77,000 people were repatriated outside of Beijing.
Humiliation
• Top level “revisionists” faced massive acts of humiliation
by the young Mao supporters gathered in sports
stadiums.
• Peng Dehuai, Wu Han and Peng Zhen here publicly
humiliated.
• Liu Shaoqi faced a similar fate in 1968
• He was taken into an improvised prison by red guards, were he
died.
Public
Humiliation
Rally
“Revisionists” humiliated
by crowds of Mao’s
supporters
Red Guard Circuses
• Humiliation was taken to the extreme during the “Fifty
Days”
• After Mao proclaimed that “to rebel is justified”, 1,700
murders took place in Beijing.
• Innocent people were publicly tortured and killed, or
committed suicide after they suffered intolerable mental
and physical abuse.