Mao & the cultural Revolution

Ms. MitchellCultural RevolutionsAndover High School

1949• Communist Party takes over China• Sweeping social changes• Previous rulers and intellectuals labeled as

“black elements” or “rightist”• People discontented by China’s economic and

political changes.• Cultural Revolution would give their discontented

a time/way to air their grievances and an avenue to oppose China’s new power structure

Great leap forward• 1957, Mao Zedong calls for an increase in the

speed of growth of “actual socialism”• This is as opposed to “dictatorial socialism”

• Established special communes in the countryside through collective labor and mass mobilization.

• Intended to increase production of steel and raise agricultural levels.

Problems with the GLF• Peasants

produced too much steel and other areas were neglected.

• Peasantry and farmers did not know how to make steel and were not given the proper tools and machinery.

Problems, cntd.• Farming and household items were melted down to produce

enough ore for the steel production.• Flip side of this meant agricultural production was slowed

down.• The snowball effect was a decline in production of most

goods (other than steel).• Though steel production dramatically increased, poorly

trained workers and a lack of materials led to most of the steel being useless.

• In order to appear patriotic or supportive of the party, peasants would report grossly unrealistic production numbers, exacerbating the problem.

Example• A farming community produces 20 tons of

rice.• In order to appease Mao and the government

they report producing 40 tons.• Government comes in and says, “Great! Now

we take 50%, and you keep 50% to feed your people. 50% of 40 tons is 20 tons. Thank you so much for doing your part!”

• Community is left with nothing to feed themselves because they only had 20 tons to begin with.

Famine• Over a 3-4 year period a combination of food

shortages, climactic conditions, and natural disasters put the death toll at approximately 38 million people.

• All the while China was exporting grain to save face with the outside world.

Mao loses power• Liu Shaoqi puts an end to many of the GLF’s policies

that led to the famine and other disasters.• Ends rural communes• Restores older economic policies

• Reforms were successful and Liu won supporters in the public and in the party

• With the help of Deng Xiaoping, Liu slowly begins to retire Mao from real power and turn him into a figurehead.

• Mao creates the Socialist Education Movement in 1963 to try to keep some support.

Cultural Revolution• Launched by Mao Zedong on May 16, 1966.• Also called the Great Proletarian Revolution• Struggle for power with the Communist Party.

• Mao had begun to lose power and was attempting to regain control

• Grew to include much of society and brought the country to the brink of civil war.

• Mao officially declared the Cultural Revolution over in 1969, though many use the term to include the time between 1969 and 1976 as well.

“A great revolution that touches people to their very souls and constitutes a new stage in the

development of the socialist revolution in

our country, a deeper and more extensive stage”

The message• Though the bourgeoisie had been overthrown in

the late 1940s, their outdated ideas, culture, customs, and habits were trying to corrupt the masses, capture their minds, ad endeavor to stage a comeback

• The proletariat must meet head-on every challenge of the bourgeoisie class through the use of new ideas, cultures, customs, and habits.

• The proletariat is responsible for changing the mental outlook of the whole society.

The Message, cntd.• Objective is to struggle against and crush

people in positions of authority who are promoting capitalism and the bourgeois academics.

• Transform education, literature, art (and any other areas other than the economic base) so as to make sure the socialist system exists in every area of life.

The Red Guard• Students for Mao• Started by passing out leaflets, publically

posting the names of counter revolutionaries, and producing educational plays about the benefits of socialism.

• Though never officially condoned by the party, “verbal struggles” between Red Guards and counter revolutionaries often became violent.• Only after the Red Guards seize government

weapons to use against their “enemies” did the government start to disband them

Down to the Countryside

• December 1968, Mao begins the “Down to the Countryside Movement” (Lasted about a decade)

• Young intellectuals living in the city ordered/forced to move to the countryside to become “re-educated” (Approx. 12 million)

• Re-education involved having to work on the land and essentially fend for themselves. Often unwelcomed and resented by the communities they were forced to live in.

• This was in some ways a quiet way of getting rid of the Red Guard members.