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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
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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
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
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?