The Beginning of the Cultural Revolution in China

Overview of the Cultural Revolution

Lin Biao’s Role in the Cultural Revolution

Mao Zedong’s attempts to revive communist ideology

We find that Mao Zedong’s authority in the government had weakened after the failure of his “Great Leap Forward” (1958-60) and the economic crisis that came after. Mao also felt that the party leadership was moving towards capitalist ideas and away from the socialist system. He wanted to reinvigorate the communist revolution by strengthening ideology and weeding out the “bourgeois” opponents.

Launching of the Revolution and Youth Mobilization aka the ‘Red Guards’

Mao officially launched the Cultural Revolution at the Eleventh Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee, in August 1966. To achieve his goals, he created a group of radicals, which included his wife Jiang Qing and defense minister Lin Biao, to help him depose current party leadership and reclaim his authority.
He called for a massive youth mobilization against the current “bourgeois” leaders and everyone in general who lacked a “revolutionary spirit”. The cultural moment spread quickly in the next few months and students formed paramilitary groups called the Red Guards, in classrooms and campuses across the country, that attacked the elderly and intellectual population of the country. Mao and his ideology soon took the shape of a cult and many factions claiming to be true “Maoists” sprang up all across China.
Schools and universities were shut down, churches, shrines, libraries, shops, homes were ransacked or destroyed as the attack on “feudal/ bourgeois” traditions began.
The Red Guards were disorganized and their actions led to anarchy and terror, as traditionalists, educators, and intellectuals were persecuted and killed for being “bourgeois”. The Red Guards were soon crushed by officials, however the brutality of the cultural revolution continued.

The aftermath of the ‘Red Terror’

After the mass destruction caused by the student led “red terror”, chaos and panic spread throughout the nation quickly. Workers joined the Red Guards with students and China was pushed to the state of a virtual civil war, with rival groups fighting in cities across the country.
Mao realized by 1968 that things had gone too far and his revolution had spiraled out of control. To make amends for the violence he caused, he sent millions of youth to the countryside for “re-education” and reflection.
He instructed the Chinese military to bring back order and peace and transformed China into a military dictatorship, which lasted until 1971. The death toll was at an all time high in China as the army stepped in to bring back control.

Cultural Revolution in China

The Cultural Revolution in China, also known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was an almost decade-long period of socio-political chaos launched by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman, Mao Zedong to renew the spirit of communism, to “purify” the party “bourgeois” infiltrators and to reassert his position in the Chinese government with this revolution.

This article is about the cultural revolution and its effects on China. Please go through the article for further details and important keywords.

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