Political and social conditions in China Legacy of the 1949 revolution China had just won a civil war against the Nationalists, who fled to Taiwan. This group, the Guomintang, were conservative and largely traditionalist. In contrast, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wanted to introduce reforms based on fairness, land distribution, and liberation of women. The CCP’s establishment in 1949 was the first time China had ruled itself without war or colonial influence for 50 years. Mao, “We will no longer be a nation subject to insult and humiliation. We have stood up” (Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung, 1977) China wanted to change, and to use communism to reach this goal. There was a sense that China was not developed enough yet to shake off its feudal and colonial past; it had to organise itself. Mao’s first plan was to introduce Soviet-styled Five Year Plans, but he abandoned this in favour of the The Great Leap Forward in 1958-1960. This failed and China’s attempts to modernise in the early 1960s reflected the ideological struggle between Mao’s ideas and the Soviet model of communism. The Soviet ideas that appealed to Mao included the collectivisation of farms, a cult of personality that would elevate him to godlike status in the eyes of the people, redistribution of land and private property, and total control of the lives of the people. However, Stalin would not offer financial assistance to Mao when asked, leading China to become increasingly independent and anti-Soviet. Mao was able to get the Chinese people to ‘buy in’ to his brave new world by encouraging them to take land off the rich and murder those who stood in their way. Nearly 2 million were killed in 1952, and China had collectively stained itself with the blood of the old regime – united in an act of brutal justice, this would not be the first time the Chinese people were asked to become instruments of state-sanctioned murder.

Tensions between the CCP and Mao Zedong that led to the Cultural Revolution The new Russian leader, Nikita Khrushchev, criticised the personality cult that had grown around the previous Russian leader, Stalin, and this led to some in the CCP recognising that Mao had similarly used power to cultivate worship amongst the masses. In 1956, some members of the Party changed to Chinese constitution to remove all references to Mao Zedong by name. Annoyed, Mao began to test the loyalty of other members of the CCP as early as 1957, and his own writings on Marxism identified problems in the continuing emergence of elites in Chinese communist society. He warned his colleagues against corruption, and resented those who did not fall in line with his policies. Mao initially pointed the finger at rich landlords who he claimed persisted despite the famine that had wiped out so many in 1959 and 1960, but by 1965 he asserted that Chinese communism was under threat of those in the party who wanted to ‘revise’ it (revisionists). In 1964, Deng Xiaoping advised Mao not to attend a Party meeting, prompting Mao to remark “Someone is shitting on my head”. Mao grew angry at Party members resisting his attempts to target revisionists and ‘capitalist roaders’ (those taking the capitalist road by enjoying Western-styled privileges and material possessions), and he believed that China was beginning to become a series of ‘independent kingdoms’ where Party members in different regions had gathered power for themselves. The Party tried to target the education system as the way to address Mao’s claims, but Mao put the focus back on them – he wanted to go after what he called the ‘big shots’.

Social conditions in China in 1966 China had undergone drastic change in the years between 1949 and 1966. 2-3% of the population were members of the CCP, and more than 30% of all Chinese land had been redistributed more fairly. Mao instigated several new laws designed to make women more equal – the 1950 Marriage Law made it illegal for men to marry children, purchase brides, have multiple wives, or force marriages. Primary school attendance increased by 200%, and university graduation by 100%. The Great Famine that had arrived due to the Great Leap Forward led to millions dying of starvation. People had to steal or die, and the Chinese black market emerged to make survival possible. Corruption became commonplace.

Sources: People’s China – Craig Dietrich, 1986, Oxford University Press The Cultural Revolution – Frank Dikotter, 2016 Bloomsbury A Short History of China – Gordon Kerr, 2013, Pocket Essentials Mao’s China and After (Third Edition) – Maurice Meisner, 1999, The Free Press Deng Xiaoping – Alexander V. Panstov and Steven I. Levine, 2015, Oxford University Press Red Star Over China – Edgar Snow, 1968, Grover Press