2013 Hundred Flowers Campaign
Title:
Why did Mao invite
criticism of the Communists in 1957?
Start:
Why might a leader or
ruler ask those of
lesser status to
criticise them openly?
Attack and hurt the rightists elements to protect the results of Socialism!
‘Let a hundred flowers
blossom, let a hundred
schools of thought
contend’
An Ancient Chinese
Philosopher – the
expression comes from
a traditional poem.
It means ‘to allow free expression and
criticism’. Mao used this expression
when, in 1956, he invited Chinese people
to assess the performance of the
Communist Party, and to offer it advice.
Context:
Throughout the 1950’s, Mao
travelled China extensively. He
was welcomed by rapturous
crowds and supportive slogans
This policy,
sometimes referred
to as ‘the DoubleHundred Policy’, or
the “Hundred
Flowers Campaign”
was launched
personally by Mao in
1957.
Mao on Tour:
Convinced that he was in touch
with the people, he decided that
the time was right to allow
greater freedom of expression
within China.
In particular, he saw an
opportunity to allow those who
might make constructive
criticisms to do so, hoping to
draw on the ideas of experts and
intellectuals.
END TO
PROSTITUTION +
OPIUM TRADE
PEACE
CHINA
INDEPENDENT OF
FOREIGN
CONTROL
WARLORDS AND
BANDITRY SUPPRESSED
1950 MARRIAGE
LAW + WOMENS’
REFORMS
LAND
REFORMS
FIRST FIVE YEAR PLAN
– A SUCCESS
THE 1ST FIVE YEAR PLAN
[1953-57] led to . . .
City populations
rose by 40 million
– due to peasants
moving into
cities.
Peasants resentful at
Severe
increasing control of
overcrowding CCP over their lives.
COLLECTIVISATION
1955 +
Food shortages –
much food was
sent abroad to buy
weapons and
machines
Housing
Problems
‘It is only by using
discussion, criticism and
reasoning that we can
really foster correct ideas,
overcome wrong ideas
and really settle issues’.
Thought Reform Movement
Thought Reform
• Aim: to reform the thinking of Chinese people into accepting
Mao's thoughts and ideology
• 1951-52- Zhou En Lai announces the Thought Reform
Movement
• Done through a series of methods:
o Struggle sessions
o Propaganda
o self-criticism
 Intellectuals who studied overseas were forced to admit
that they were "implementers of the imperialist cultural
invasion"
o Revolutionary Colleges
Origins of the thought reform of
the intellectuals
•
•
•
•
•
Mao was suspicious of the "intellectuals" - those with higher education
such as scientists, engineers, doctors, statisticians and geologists as they
came from "bourgeois" families who could afford universities or foreign
education.
Their exposure to education gave Mao reason to fear the intellectuals as
"implementers of the imperialistic cultural invasion"
Mao also wanted to "throw away the vulgar perspectives of individualism
and liberalism, and the cultural thought of European-American
reactionary bourgeoisie"
Mao also feared the intellectuals as they understood and valued freedom
more than the proletariat.
This can be evidenced by Hu Feng, a writer who criticised the lack of
freedom in creativity and art.
Intellectuals
• "Intellectuals are often ignorant and have little or experience in
practical matters"
-Mao
• Mao was suspicious of intellectuals in China- often had university
degrees, came from bourgeoisie families
• e.g. scientists, engineers, doctors, writers
• These people were, however, indispensable to China's growing
economy- possessed necessary skills.
• Nevertheless, they were seen as a threat to the Communist regime
o
o
educated in atmosphere of open debate and academic
freedom
more likely to speak out against Mao and the Party- counterrevolutionary
• Subjected to:
o courses in "revolutionary colleges"
o self-criticism sessions
Course of the thought reform of the the
intellectuals
•
•
•
•
•
Tens of thousands of intellectuals forced to go to courses at
revolutionary colleges where they learnt the teachings of Mao,
Marx and Lenin
Writers forced to study Mao's speech "Talk at Yanan Forum on
Literature and Arts," a possible precursor to the Little Red Book
Intellectuals were made to make self criticisms and confessions
Science and engineering was changed to the Soviet route
The thought reform process was highly efficient - "at about two
months from the date of the arrest...ready for a beginning to the
recognition of his 'crimes'." - Robert Jay Lifton
How did the thought reform of the
intellectuals contribute to Mao's
consolidation of power?
•
•
This contributed to Mao's consolidation of power as it
brainwashed the thoughts of "counter-revolutionaries" and
reduced potential opposition from the intellectuals
It minimised the influence of any remaining foreign influence
in the form of the intellectual's ideas from foreign education
Pictures of Propaganda
The Course of the Campaign
-The party was soon met with an unexpected torrent of
criticisms from from the press and intellectuals, many people
criticized the frequent human rights abuses committed by the
party, there were even reports of widespread strikes and
attacks on party members.
-By June 1957 Mao's tone had changed and he was ready to
abandon the campaign, in early July he ordered a full scale
attack on the intellectual 'rightists', as many as 500,000
intellectuals were sent to labour camps or re-education as a
result of this.
Pictures of Persecution
Thought Reform and the
Hundred Flowers Campaign
What points are being made here by the cartoonist
about Mao’s Hundred Flowers campaign?
The Hundred Flowers Campaign
• The CCP is in full control of China - all counter
revolutionaries had been eliminated
• Targets of the 1st Five Year Plan were achieved, but with
great cost of the people
o Mao wanted to speed up the process of economic change
but was facing opposition of the politburo
o People had started to become resentful at the increasing
control of the CCP
• Mao feared that the greatest danger facing the CCP was the
growing 'bureaucratism'
o Envisaged the Hundred Flowers Campaign as a way
where officials would be subjected to criticism from
outside the party forcing officials to mend their ways
Minutes of the Central Committee
Conference on April 25, 1956:
• Mao said: “The Party needs public
feedback, disciplinary measures that
prevent change should be
eliminated. In the arts, let a hundred
flowers bloom, in the sciences, let a
hundred schools contend. This
should be the direction we take.”
Hundred Flowers Campaign (1957)
• Mao indicated his supposed
willingness to consider different
opinions about how China should
be governed
• Given the freedom to express
themselves, the Chinese began
opposing the Communist Party
and questioning its leadership
Mao’s Speech on the Correct Handling of
Contradictions Among the People February 27,1957:
• “Literally the two slogans let a hundred flowers blossom and
let a hundred schools of thought contend have no class
character; the proletariat can turn them to account, and so
can the bourgeoisie of others. Different classes and social
groups each have their own views on what are fragrant
flowers and what are poisonous weeds.
• Then, from the point of view of the masses, what should be
the criteria today for distinguishing fragrant flowers from
poisonous weeds? In their political activities, how should our
people judge whether a person’s words and deeds are right or
wrong? On the basis of the principles of our Constitution, the
will of the overwhelming majority of our people and the
common political positions which have been proclaimed on
various occasions by our political parties, we considers that,
broadly speaking, the criteria should be as follows….”
Mao’s Speech Continued
• “1. Words and deeds should help united, and not
divide, the people of all our nationalities.”
• “2. They should be beneficial, and not harmful, to
socialist transformation and socialist construction.”
• “3. They should help to consolidates, and not
undermine or weaken, the people’s democratic
dictatorship.”
• “4. They should help to strengthen, and not shake
off or weaken, the leadership of the Communist
Party.”
Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom
Backfires
•
•
•
•
Communist faith in moral perfectibility
Re-education Camps
Arts – Social Realism
Mao invites intellectuals to “let a hundred
flowers bloom”
• Anti-Rightest Campaign
– 500,000 disappear into labor camps
Political Cartoon on Hundred Flowers
• Cartoon published in January 1957, from
China Reconstructs- A Chinese Government
Publication, illustrating how some party
members took unofficial action against Mao’s
intentions.
• The people
like many
flowers. The
old-fashioned
Party man
thinks they
need only
one…the one
he likes.
Mao’s Reasons for the Hundred
Flowers Campaign
Mao's motives
• Historians have generally been divided into two schools of
thought:
o The Hundred flowers was a trap set by Mao to highlight
the anti communist elements amongst the intellectuals
o The campaign was launched for the good of China and it
was a serious error of judgement
‘Intellectuals are beginning to . . .
change their mood from cautious to
open . . . One day punishment will come
down on their heads . . . We want to let
them speak out. You must stiffen your
scalps and let them attack! . . . Let all
those ox devils and snake demons . . .
curse us for a few months. I am casting a
long line to bait big fish ’
‘How can we catch the snakes if we don’t
let them out of their lairs? We wanted
those sons-of-turtles [bastards] to wriggle
out and sing and fart . . . That way we can
catch them.’
Jung Chang: ‘Mao–the
unknown story’, 2005.
P. 435
Mao's motives
"Let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of
thought contend is the policy of promoting progress" Mao, Feb 1957
"In recent days ... democratic parties and institutions of
higher education have shown themselves to be to be the most
determined and most rabid... They will then end up burying
themselves" - Mao, May 1957
• Mao's intentions evolved throughout the campaign
• By unleashing the campaign Mao would have settled his
fear of bureaucratic behaviour emerging party officials >>
tried to do it before with the Yan'an Ratification and the
"Three Antis Campaign"
Historian's viewpoints
"Few guessed that Mao was setting a trap that he was inviting
people to speak out so he could use what they said as an excuse
to victimise them" - Chang and Halliday
• C & H suggested that Mao's main intention was to trick the
people and concocted a devious plan to pick out threatening
intellectuals
• Spence on the other hand suggests that Mao simply wanted
the best for his people
"... not a plot by Mao to reveal the hidden rightists in his
country... At its centre was an argument about the pace and
type of development that was best for China." - Spence
What was the Hundred Flowers
Campaign?
Totalitarian power is peril!
In not protecting citizens’ rights, today’s
government is worse than the feudal
dynasties or Chiang Kai-shek.
The Constitution is no
more than toilet paper
I have indeed heard about peasants .
. . Dying from having just grass roots
to eat, in areas so rich in produce
that they are known as the land of
fish and rice. But the newspapers say
nothing about any of this . . .
Why is it necessary to have
“leadership” in the arts? Who led
Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Beethoven,
Moliere?’
Mao allowed critics to post their views at certain locations on walls
or in small meeting rooms [known as ‘seminars’]. In this way their
views could be easily controlled and not reach the masses – posters
could be removed, meeting rooms only admitted small numbers.
Mao’s Abandonment of the
Hundred Flowers Campaign
May 1957 Evaluation-Rectification
Campaign
• Shift in strategy and policy
• Mao declared that the anti-Communists were like
“du cao” or poisonous grass that needed to be
weeded out
• “Poison grass needs to be weeded out. People
on the right party must be ‘fixed.’ Battle plans
must involve despising the enemy, war tactics
must focus on the enemy. Failure to do so will
result in grave mistakes. This must be done bit,
by bit, kill off the enemy one by one.”
These are the ‘educated’
classes, especially those
who have been to
university.
Who are ‘Intellectuals’?
PROFESSIONS
WHY PERSECUTE THEM?
They valued freedom of
speech.
These were the people
most likely to speak out
against Communist rule, to
criticise Mao.
Nuclear scientists and technicians
escaped the worst persecution of the
Hundred Flowers campaign, because
they were important to achieving
Mao’s ambition to make China into a
great military power, to rival America.
‘In Yenan was Chairman Mao, who had two dishes plus soup
for every meal, having a hard time? Were the peasants, who
had nothing to eat but bitter vegetables, enjoying the good
life? Everyone was told that Chairman Mao was leading a
hard and simple life. That son of a bitch! A million shames on
him! ... Our pens can never defeat Mao Zedong's Party
guards and his imperial army. When he wants to kill you, he
doesn't have to do it himself. He can mobilise your wife and
children to denounce you and then kill you with their own
hands! Is this a rational society? This is class struggle, Mao
Zedong style!’
(Benton and Hunter p. 101).
A university professor being
barracked by his students.
Once critics of Mao revealed themselves, Mao retaliated and isolated
them. Many were subjected to ‘Struggle’ sessions, where they had to
listen to many hours of accusations and, ultimately, apologise for
their supposed past ‘faults’ or ‘crimes’.
Task:
“Let a Hundred Flowers Blossom,
Let a Hundred Schools of Though Contend”
Mao announced the ‘Hundred
Disagreement is fine
Flowers Campaign’ in a speech
(contradictions), but disturbances
delivered at the main meeting of
(disruptions) are not.
the PRC government.
Speech Analysis:
1. Using your copy of the
‘Hundred Flowers’s speech,
summarise the main message
being communicated in each
paragraph
2. For each paragraph, identify
the one key term you think
best represents the paragraph,
explaining why it does in brief.
“Wespeech
do notwas
approve
of
The
entitled:
disturbances, because
“On the correct handling
of
contradictions
among the
contradictions
amongst
the
people can be
resolved
through the people”
method of "unity -criticism -- unity", while
Indisturbances
it, Mao aimed are
to address
bound some
to
ofcause
the protests
hadand
happened
some that
losses
are
as a result
of the
difficult
not conducive
to the
advance
conditions created by the first
of socialism. We believe that
Five Year Plan.
the masses of the people
support socialism”
Main message:
Opposition to our way of thinking
will not help the people, who
support our methods
Context:
Once Mao had launched the
campaign, members of the
Communist Party began to
gradually point out mistakes that
had been made
However, Party members did not
stop there. As they grew less
suspicious of the campaign, they
began to criticise Mao himself
In effect, Mao had encouraged his
opposition to show who they
were, then repressed them as a
result.
Mao’s U-Turn
Based on this information, leading
figures in government, education
and the arts were censured, often
via public humiliation.
It was at this point that
Mao drastically
changed direction.
He abandoned the
Hundred Flowers
Campaign, replacing it
with a crackdown on
those who had spoken
out.
Anti-Rightist Campaign of Mao
Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957 & 59)
• This was initially tolerated and even
encouraged. However, after a few months,
Mao's government reversed its policy
• They persecuted those who criticized, and
were alleged to have criticized, the Party
• This was called The Anti-Rightist Campaign
Mao’s attacks on
intellectuals broadened
into a general campaign of
repression, known as the
‘Anti-Rightist’ campaign.
Anybody who expressed
even the slightest
opposition to Mao stood
the risk of being reported,
victimised and forced to
take part in ‘Struggle
Sessions’.
Raise revolutionary violence,
oppose slackers, resolutely
eliminate all revolutionary
Deportees were just dumped in places like
the far north of Manchuria, known as ‘the
Great Northern Wilderness’, and had to rig
up a shelter ‘in a hurry, using wheat stems
to make a roof’ in a temperature of -38C.
Even with a fire, ‘it was still a dozen or so
degrees below zero . . .’
‘The grass and beaten earth huts we lived in
had wind coming in on all sides . . . There
were hardly any vegetables or meat . . . We
got up . . . Just after 4 at dawn, and did not
stop until 7 or 8 in the evening . . . In these
15-16 hours . . . We basically worked nonstop . . . In summer . . . We had to get up at
2.00 am . We had at most three hours’ sleep.
Jung Chang: ‘Mao – the unknown story’ 2005. P439
" Tie you a rope, " is a Chinese
expression commonly used when
someone is arrested by the
government.
A view of Laiyang Heavy
Machinery Plant
Camp life was harsh, spartan and brutal.
Artists, who had been sent to a forced labour camp, having to
work on propaganda paintings on the side of a building wall.
A botany student from the
city is sent to a distant arid
farming region to work the
land, as punishment for
criticising Mao. She was
instructed to ‘learn from the
peasant’.
‘You’re here to redeem
your crime! Don’t dare
to make trouble, or
look for ways to be
lazy!’
Deportees had to work
on less than
subsistence-level
rations. Many died
from malnutrition,
illness, cold, overwork
and in accidents doing
unfamiliar jobs like
felling trees.
Mao talking to
colleagues, revealed
that one province,
Hunan, had
‘denounced 100,000,
arrested 10,000, and
killed 1000. The other
provinces did the
same. So our problems
were solved.’
[There are 23
provinces in China].
“Emperor Qin buried
alive only 460
scholars; we have
buried 46,000 scholars.
But haven’t we killed
counter-revolutionary
intellectuals?”
Results and Effects of
Thought Reform, Hundred
Flowers Campaign, and AntiRightest Campaign
Results of the Anti-Rightist Campaign
• 700,000 intellectuals were thrown out of their
positions and professions
• In every factory, 5% of the workers had to be
denounced as “rightists”
• All were sent to the countryside for reform –
many died of malnutrition, illness, cold,
overwork, and accidents doing unfamiliar jobs
• Some were executed or committed suicide
1. Mao silenced potential opponents.
2. He instilled fear amongst the educated classes
who were now less willing to stand against
Mao.
3. Mao prepared the ground for introducing the
Great Leap reforms – communes, ‘backyard
furnaces’ and an extreme form of
communist society
4. China’s intelligentsia [brightest minds – artists, writers,
journalists, etc] were decimated which set back China’s cultural
development.
5. Many students had their education interrupted due to the death of
so many teachers - some 5 million children had their schooling
terminated
6. Some 4 million people may have lost their lives in the ‘AntiRightist campaigns which started after the Hundred Flowers.
Stalin, the hardline
leader of Russia
and the Communist
world, died in 1953.
What would happen
to Mao?
He was followed by the
more moderate
Khruschev.
If Mao introduced similar
moderate reforms what
would happen in China?
Khruschev eased the
repression but this led to
demands for more freedom
and in Hungary led to revolts.
Russia sent in tanks to
crush the rebellions
‘The basic problem with some Eastern European countries is that
they did not eliminate all those counter-revolutionaries . . . Now
they are eating their own bitter fruit . . . Eastern Europe just did
not kill on a grand scale. We must kill. And we say it’s good to kill.’
Looking Back on the Hundred Flowers &
Anti-Rightist Campaigns
• Two Opinions on the Hundred Flowers Campaign:
– From the start, it was a sneaky way to discover who truly
opposed Mao
– Mao intended to weaken those within his party who
opposed him by having them bicker between
themselves, but it backfired when people criticized him
more than he intended
Consequences
• Party unity was strengthened
• Mao's position as leader of the CCP was at its peak
• Atmosphere of fear was created
• Intellectuals were silenced
o 500,000 intellectuals were killed with another 100,000
put into re education camps/ lao gai's
o Stasis on China's cultural development
• Used it as a foreground for the 'Great Leap Foward'
How it strengthened Mao's hold on
power
- The Hundred Flowers Campaign and the anti-rightist campaign
into which it evolved served to silence the criticisms of the
Communist regime by creating fear within the Chinese public
and the intellectual community.
-It also served to strengthen party unity under Mao against
outside influence, in effect Mao was unchallengeable.
-A popular saying of the time was 'after the anti-rightist
campaign no one opens their mouth.'
The End