Chinese Cultural Revolution
Prologue The Cultural Revolution began quietly. On November 11, 1965, a Shanghai daily newspaper published a review of a four-year old play, Hai Jui Dismissed From Office. The review stated that the play 's author, Peking Deputy Mayor Wu Han, had written an anti-socialist document calling for the destruction of socialism in China. That same day, Red Flag published an attack on the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and revisionism within the CCP. The article charged that some leading CCP members had given in to pressure for a capitalist restoration and had begun preparing a counter-revolution. Within six months, senior leaders who had joined the Party in the 1920s and 1930s had fallen into disgrace. Within a year, student radicals had paralyzed the CCP. By the summer of 1967, China was on the verge of a civil war. This study grew out of the need to explain the short-term causes of the Cultural Revolution. Therefore, most analyses of the Cultural Revolution focused on the general, long-term question: Why did Mao launch the Cultural Revolution? Although many answers vary, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution to prevent a "capitalist restoration" in China and eradicate what he believed to be the early signs of ideological collapse within the CCP. (Wedeman.)
Looking Back The origins of the Cultural Revolution can be found in the gradual escalation of political tensions within the Chinese Communist Party. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, stresses within the CCP mounted as Mao became alienated from other members of leadership. Some of these dated back to the early days of the revolutionary struggle. Chu Te, the founder of the Red Army, and Mao had been at odds since 1929 and Premier Chou En-lai and Mao had argued off and on. Regional and political backgrounds also divided the party. Most of the old guard; Mao, Chou, Chu Te, Party General Secretary Teng Hsiao-p 'ing, and Minister of Defense Lin Piao; came from the southern paramilitary wing of the
Looking Back The origins of the Cultural Revolution can be found in the gradual escalation of political tensions within the Chinese Communist Party. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, stresses within the CCP mounted as Mao became alienated from other members of leadership. Some of these dated back to the early days of the revolutionary struggle. Chu Te, the founder of the Red Army, and Mao had been at odds since 1929 and Premier Chou En-lai and Mao had argued off and on. Regional and political backgrounds also divided the party. Most of the old guard; Mao, Chou, Chu Te, Party General Secretary Teng Hsiao-p 'ing, and Minister of Defense Lin Piao; came from the southern paramilitary wing of the
Bibliography: 1. Essaybank.co.uk. "Chinese Cultural Revolution (Notes)" UK Learning, 2002: On-Line. Internet. Available WWW: www.revision-notes.co.uk/IB/History/China/index.html 2. Jong-Won Kim. "History Of China (Notes)" 9 April. 2002: n.pag. On-line. Internet. Available WWW: http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/prc3.html#cultural 3. Andrew Hall Wedeman. The East Wind Subsides: Chinese Foreign Policy and the Origins of the Cultural Revolution. Washington D.C.: Washington Institute Press, 1987 4. Michael Schoenhals. China 's Cultural Revolution, 1966-1969: Not a Dinner Party. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1996. 5. Lowell Dittmer. Liu Shaoqi and the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1998.