Analysing the Great Proletarian

Cultural Revolution

through primary sources

Rebecca Cairns Deakin University Chinese Museum

Wed 26 August 2015

Poster: Proletarian revolutionary rebels unite! 1967

Learning Intention

s

To review key reforms and polices from 1949 - 1966

To consider how these reforms and policies

contributed to the

development of the Cultural Revolution

To analyse the aims of the

Cultural Revolution in

primary sources

To consider some Chinese

historical perspectives

Part I 1949- 1966: An

overview

Ride the wind and cleave the waves to realise a Leap Forward in all fields

Activity: Propaganda TimelineEveryone has a propaganda poster from the period 1949- 1966. Work as a team to organise yourselves into an approximate timeline based on the events, campaigns or reforms depicted in the image.

1949 – early 1950s

mid – late 1950s

late 1950s – mid 1960s

Econ

omic

Chan

ges

1949

- 19

66

• First Five Year Plan successful: rapid industrialisation and increased production• End to feudalism: land redistributed and then collectivised in GLF • Urban workers organised in danwei, work teams• Rural workers organsied into collectives, then communes of 300 families; no private property• GLF increased unrealistic industrial and agricultural targets• Ineffective experimental faming techniques• Grain stores depleted, food production interrupted•1959 starvation widespread, massive famine followed, up to 30 million died• 1960s Liu and Deng tried to reverse economic impact of GLF: farmers could sell produce, land returned to farmers

Socia

l and

Cul

tura

l Cha

nges

194

9 -

66

• Marriage Law – some improvement in gender equality

• Unexpected population growth• Life expectancy increased from

36 to 57• Quality of life improved mostly

in urban areas• Tens of millions migrated to

cities• Transition to communal

(militarised) living and iron rice bowl

• Collective childcare and nursing homes

• Anti-rightist campaign meant people scared to speak out

• Literacy increased dramatically, written language simplified

• Old culture replaced by new communist cultural expression (i.e. fashion)

• Liu and Deng introduced population control

Part IIThe Origins and Aims of

the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 1966

The world is yours.. Hope pinned on you

Origins of the GPCRThis man-made disaster is not one our enemies have created, but one we have created ourselves.Mao Zedong December 30, 1960 (cf Schoenhals, M. 2010)

After the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference 1962:• Deng Xiaoping and Liu

Shaoqi took control of restoring the disaster of the GLF

• Ideological split between Liu and Mao

• Liu launched the Socialist Education Movement in 1963 to clean up the CCP

• Mao saw Liu as a revisionist

• Lin Biao responsible for the cult of Mao: Little Red Book launched in 1964

primary responsibility for the shortcomings and errors in our work in the past few years lie with the party centre… only 30% of the disaster could be blamed on natural causes. Liu Shaoqi, 1962 (cf Fenby. J. 2008)

Liu Shaoqi toured his home province of Hunan, speaking to peasants

The Sixteen Points: Guidelines for the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong 1966

Although the bourgeoisie has been overthrown, it is still trying to use the old ideas, culture, and customs, and habits of the exploiting classes to corrupt the masses, capture their minds, and endeavor to stage a comeback. The proletariat must do just the opposite: it must meet head‐on every challenge of the bourgeoisie in the ideological field and use the new ideas, culture, customs, and habits of the proletariat to change the mental outlook of the whole of society.

At present our objective is to struggle against and crush those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road, to criticize and repudiate the reactionary bourgeois academic “authorities” and the ideology of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes and transform education, literature, and art and all other parts of the superstructure that do not correspond to the socialist economic base, so as to facilitate the consolidation and development of the socialist system.

Source: Asia for Educators http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/cup/sixteen_points.pdf

Propaganda posters as primary sources

Why do you think posters were an ideal way to spread the message?

• Address a range of audiences• Especially useful for communicating with

illiterate peasants and busy urban workers• Cheap• Mass produced• Inspirational• Clear and unambiguous• Promoted the expected slogans and behaviour • Block prints similar to those from pre-1949

war years, give a sense of urgency

Down with Liu Shaoqi! Down with Deng Xiaoping! Hold high the great banner of Mao Zedong Thought. (1967)

Who were the biggest capitalist roaders?

Purged: Peng Dehuai • Defence Minister 1954-1959 • criticised Mao’s response to the GLF• Persecuted by Red Guards• Died after being imprisoned and

denied medical treatment

Purged: Liu Shaoqi• President of the PRC 1954-1959• As Head of State from 1959-1968 he

was responsible for economic reconstruction

• The biggest capitalist roader• Died after being imprisoned and

denied medical treatment

Purged: Deng Xiaoping• Party Secretary, Vice Premier,

Finance Minister• Capitalist roader • Forced to self-criticise• Leader of China from 1978 to 1992

smash old customs, habits,

ideas, culture

Old New

Long live Chairman Mao’s revolutionary literature and art! (1966)

Eliminate four olds! (1966)

How are old and new symbolised?

A Letter To The Red Guards Of Qinghua University Middle School, August 1 1966

I have received both the big-character posters which you sent on 28 July as well as the letter which you sent to me, asking for an answer. The two big-character posters which you wrote on 24 June and 4 July express your anger at, and denunciation of, all landlords, bourgeois, imperialists, revisionists, and their running dogs who exploit and oppress the workers, peasants, revolutionary intellectuals and revolutionary parties and groupings. You say it is right to rebel against reactionaries; I enthusiastically support you….

SOURCE: Long Live Mao Zedong Thought, a Red Guard Publication. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-9/mswv9_60.htm]

Carry out the revolutionary rebellion spirit of June 23!

Revolutionary rebels unite to carry out proletarian Culture revolution to the end!

Proletarian Revolutionaries grasp power fast!

Cultural expression in early

stages of the GPCR • Model operas – modernisation of Beijing

opera tradition• 8 model performances • Filial piety challenged• Ballet, film, theatre, dance, music,

architecture, literature and fine art depicted a new mass red culture

• Young people sent down to the countryside

• Campaign to criticise Confucius 1973• Can be viewed as modernisation and

innovation; opened the way for experimentation in the 1980s (Clark, 2008)

“History is not simply a picture or reconstruction of what happened; it is our present construction of the past. The way we construct the past depends on how we conceptualise our world and ourselves in the present. Therefore how one sees the worth of the Mao era depends not only on one’s present circumstances but also on one’s present values and beliefs.” Professor Mobo Gao (2008, p 3) , University of AdelaideDownload his book, The Battle for China’s Past: Mao and the Cultural Reveolution http://www.strongwindpress.com/pdfs/EBook/The_Battle_for_Chinas_Past.pdf

Historical Perspectives

Official CCP Perspectives

“Comrade Mao Zedong was a great Marxist and a great proletarian revolutionary, strategist and theorist. It is true that he made gross mistakes during the Cultural Revolution, but, if we judge his activities as a whole, his contributions to the Chinese revolution far outweigh his mistakes. His merits are primary and his errors secondary.”

1981 Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China. https://www.marxists.org/subject/china/documents/cpc/history/01.htm

Chairman Mao’s contributions are

70 % positive, 30% negative- Deng Xiaoping

Since his death, Mao’s image has begun to be taken down from the sacred alter. However, if he is removed completely from the sacred alter, this will involve too many practical interests. The ruling party needs Mao in order to guarantee a legitimate base for itself to hold power. The army, the state, and other fundamental institutions, in order to guarantee their authority and continuation, also require Mao.” Jiang Yihua, Fudan University, Shanghai (2010)

Mao was “a great patriot and a national hero” … his “greatest contributions led the Party and the people to find the correct path of New Democratic Revolution, completed the anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism tasks, established the PRC and the basic socialism system.”President Xi Jinping on Mao’s 120th Birthday

See http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/viewpoint/xi-mao-and-chinas-search-usable-past

Revolutionary leaders are not gods, but human beings; [we] cannot worship them like gods or refuse to allow people to point out and correct their errors….

ReferencesCairns, R. (2014). First Five Year Plan. Alpha History. Retrieved from http://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/first-five-year-plan/Cheek, T. (2010). A Critical Introduction to Mao. New York: Cambridge University PressCCP (1981) Resolution on certain questions in the historyof our party since the founding of the People’s Republic of China 1981. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/subject/china/documents/cpc/history/01.htm Cook, A. (2014). Mao’s Little Red Book: A Global History. New York: Cambridge University PressClark, P. (2008). The Chinese Cultural Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press.Dirlik, A. (2012). Mao Zedong in Contemporary Chinese Official Discourse and History. China Perspectives. 2. 17-27.Dikotter, F. (2013). The Tragedy of Liberation. London: Bloomsbury.Fenby, J. ( 2008). The Penguin History of Modern China. London: Penguin.Gao, . (2008) The Battle for China’s Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution. London: Pluto PressGerwirtz, P. (2014). Xi, Mao, and China’s Search for a Usable Past. China File. Retrieved fromhttp://www.chinafile.com/xi-mao-and-chinas-search-usable-pastSchmidt-Glintzer, H., Mittag, A., & Rüsen, J. (2005). Historical Truth Historical Criticism and Ideology : Chinese Historiography and Historical Culture From a New Comparative Perspective. Leiden: Brill.Smith, S. A. (2011) Recent historiography of the People’s Republic of China, 1949-76. Twentieth Century Communism. 196-216 Schell, O. & Delury, J. (2013). Creative Destruction: Mao Zedong Part II. Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-First Century. London: Little Brown. Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Museum (2013). Chinese Propaganda Poster Collection. ShanghaiXiao, Y. (2010). ‘Recent Mao Zedong Scholarship in China’ in Cheek, T. (Ed.) A Critical Introduction to Mao. New York: Cambridge University Press. Wang, Zheng (2012). Never Forget National Humiliation. New York: Columbia University Press.