Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

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Chinese poster from the Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (shortened as the Cultural Revolution or GPCR) was a series of policies enacted by the Communist Party of China aimed at eliminating bourgeois influence in China. This lasted from May 1966 until Mao's death in 1976.

The CPC in the modern era has admitted the Cultural Revolution to be a mistake. The CPC also states that the Cultural Revolution will never come back to China, and that the CPC has learnt extensively from it and criticised itself from it.

History

First phase

The first phase of the Cultural Revolution was from the beginning of the Cultural Revolution until the CPC's Ninth National Party Congress in April 1969. The main task of this stage was to eliminate and smash the 'capitalist headquarters' and seize power from those who are 'taking the capitalist road', to transform a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie into that of the proletariat. A meeting was held at the Political Bureau of the Eighth CPC Central Committee and the 11th Plenum of the Eighth CPC Central Committee both in May 1966, which marked the full-scale beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

On May 16th 1966, the meeting of the Political Bureau which adopted the "Notice from the Communist Party of China Central Committee" (also known as the May 16 Notice) in which the 'Anti-Party Group' of Peng Zhen, Luo Ruiqing, Lu Dingyi and Yang Shangkun were criticised.

Based on the notice, the CPC Central Committee established the 'Central Cultural Revolution Group' on May 28th, which was lead by Chen Boda as the group head, Kang Sheng and others as advisors, and deputy heads such as Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, and others. This CCRG would replace Political Bureau and the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee as the leading command center for the Cultural Revolution.

On August 8th, 1966, the 11th Plenum of the Eighth CPC Central Committee adopted the "Decision Concerning the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution", which criticized the 'capitalist headquarters' led by Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. After the plennary meeting, the large of amount of criticsm that arisen on the 'Bourgeois Reactionary Line' pointed at Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.

The Red Guards emerged, a mass-led student movement, and travelled across the whole nation in order to meet young activists and pass on orders from the CCRG. This as a result created chaos and resulted in paralysing local party organisations. On October 5 1966, the CPC Central Committee transmitted instructions made by Central Military Commission and the General Political Department, which cancelled the regulation that the 'Cultural Revolution' could be led by Party committees. Therefore a new revolution began without any leadership from the Committee.

Mao Zedong presided over in a work conference in order to criticise further the 'bourgeois reactionary line' and criticised Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. Mao also stressed that the public should teach and liberate themselves. After meeting, the criticism of the line reached a climax in China.

In December 1966, the CPC Central Committee issued the 10 regulations concerning how to take hold of the revolution and promote production, and the instruction concerning the rural cultural revolution, which states that the masses can arrange the cultural revolution, in the form of the four great rights of democracy. Nationwide turmoil began to take place. This became known as th eperiod of Wudou, or Violent Struggle.

on January 6th 1967, The 'January Storm' was made, incited by Jiang Qing, Chen Boda, Zhang Chunqiao, and others; the Shanghai Workers' Revolutionary Rebel General Headquarters led by Wang Hongwen and other rebel organizations held a conference to overthrow the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and seize power from it. Mao openly supported the January Storm and called his supporters to emulate it whenever needed.

Between January and February 1967, various meetings were held by the CPC Central Committee, many older proletarian revolutionaries (most of whom were also instrumental to the founding of the People's Republic of China) voiced strong opposition to the Cultural Revolution, calling it a mistake. They criticised the activities of Lin Biao and Jiang Qing such as purging veteran officials and creating chaos within the party and the People's Liberation Army. However, the struggle was presented to Mao as a one-sided report by Kang Sheng. As a result, Mao criticized the veteran revolutionists who participated in the struggle.

After the failure of the February meetings, the practice of "all-out civil war" and "down with everything" campaigns escalated. Led by Lin Biao, Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng, and their allies, China started a movement of 'Sorting out traitors', 'mass revolutionary criticism', and 'cleaning up the class ranks', which resulted in countless misjudged cases especially those concerning Liu Shaoqi, Tao Zhu, Peng Dehuai and He Long.

By 5th September 1968, revolutionary committees were all established in the 29 provinces of the PRC (With the exception of Taiwan) bringing the 'red-revolution' in all provinces.

In October 1968, a meeting of the 12th Plenum of the Eighth CPC Central Committee was conducted, and the result of the meeting was that the theory and practice of the cultural revolution were deemed 'positive'. The meeting participants decided to expel Liu Shaoqi from the party.

A constitution was also implemented from the recent draft, which stated that "Lin Biao is comrade Mao Zedong's close comrade-in-arms and successor." In April 1969, Lin Biao delivered a political report CPC's Ninth National Party Congress. Lin Biao, Jiang Qing and their allies were all elected to the political bureau, which expanded to their power on the Central Committee.

Second phase

The second phase was launched in April 1969 until 10th National Party Congress in August 1973. The main task of this phase was to crush the conspiracy by the counter-revolutionary group of Lin Biao to seize supreme power and stage a coup d'etat. Zhou Enlai also presided over the daily work of the Central Committee, taking the situation a turn for the better.

After the 9th National Congress, the whole nation entered into a stage of 'struggle, criticism, and transformation'. The central task was to repudiate the 'revisionist route', carrying out the policies of said congress, and putting everything in the nation on track for the 'Cultural Revolution'. At this stage China continued to carry out the 'mass revolutionary criticism'. It also purged class ranks and expanded the scope, to crack down on counter-revolutionary activities, corruption, theft, and the '516 members'. Many cadres and intellectuals were also persecuted in order to reduce 'bureaucracy', sending cadres to the countryside for re-education. The 'Education Revolution' caused a widespread decline in the quality of education, and created chaos in the teaching ranks. In 1971, Jiang Qing released a Summary of the Work Conference on National Education, which severely dampened the enthusiasm of intellectuals.

In September 1971, after the defeat of Lin Biao and his counter-revolutionary coup, Zhou Enlai presided over the central government's daily work with the support of Mao and took political, economic and diplomatic steps to improve the situation. However he was slandered by Jiang Qing and his allies. Mao still thought the top task was to oppose the 'ultra-rightist' stance resulting in the denial to correct the suggestions to criticise the left, and the country continued to move in the wrong direction.

In August 1973, the CPC held its 10th National Congress in Beijing. The Congress inherited the left-leaning mistakes and guidelines and appointed Wang Hongwen as the Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Committee. The 'Gang of Four' was formed as a result, which were: Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen. They formed within the Political Bureau and the power of the Gang of Four was strengthened.

Third phase

The third phase was launched after the 10th National Congress and lasted until the crushing of the Gang of Four at 1976. The main task of this was to criticise Lin Biao and Confucian campaigns.

Mao started this said campaign to vindicate the Cultural Revolution. In January 1974, Jiang Qing and and Wang Hongwen proposed to start the criticism of Lin Biao and Confucian campaigns, this received approval by Mao Zedong. When there was an opportunity to usurp the Party's power, Jiang Qing and his allies pointed towards Zhou Enlai. Mao Zedong found out about this conspiracy, and labelled them as the 'Gang of Four'. He saw that Jiang Qing wanted to be the Chairman of the CPC Central Committee. Their plan was foiled.

In early 1975, a new State Council, the Cabinet, was formed with Zhou Enlai as premier and Deng Xiaoping as vice premier at the Fourth National People's Congress. Following the Congress, Zhou Enlai became seriously ill. Deng Xiaoping presided over the central government's daily work with the support of Mao and Zhou. He held a series of meetings for industry, agriculture, transportation, and science and technology, in order to rectify various aspects of the Cultural Revolution and taking the situation in a turn for the better. However, Mao couldn't tolerate Deng's efforts to correct the errors of the Cultural Revolution. He first called on learning the theory of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, then launched a series of campaigns called the 'Criticize Deng and Oppose the Rehabilitation of Right-Leaning Elements'.

When Zhou Enlai died, various activities took place across the whole nation to commemorate Zhou. The Gang of Four tried to suppress these activities, and coupled with the 'Criticize Deng and Oppose the Rehabilitation of Right-Leaning Elements' campaigns, resulted in public anger.The masses in Beijing, Nanjing, Taiyuan and other places organized massive public rallies to mourn Zhou Enlai and oppose the Gang of Four. The Political Bureau and Mao Zedong misjudged the nature of the Tiananmen Rally, calling it 'counter-revolutionary', which also resulted in Deng being removed from office.

Death of Mao Zedong

When Mao Zedong died, the Gang of Four began to accelerate the pace in counter-revolutionary activities. Wang Hongwen tried to take over the CPC Central Committee. At the same time, he tried to distribute arms to Shanghai militias to prepare for a rebellion. On September 4th, Guangming Daily posted an article titled 'Forever Act According to Principles Laid Down by Chairman Mao', which misquoted Mao's dying words in an attempt to control the party. The Political Bureau, led by Hua Guofeng, Ye Jianying, and Li Xiannian crushed the Gang of Four. This marks the end of the Cultural Revolution.

In August 1977, at the 11th National Congress, the Central Committee officially announced the end of the Cultural Revolution.

Impact

Communist Party of China's current stance

The CPC in the modern era has admitted the Cultural Revolution to be a mistake. The CPC also states that the Cultural Revolution will never come back to China, and that the CPC has learnt extensively from it and criticised itself from it.

Maoist stances

Maoists support the Cultural Revolution, and also usually the Gang of Four or even Lin Biao. They also despise Deng Xiaoping, calling him a 'Capitalist Roader' as the Cultural Revolution used to call him. Gonzalo states that the Cultural Revolution (and successive ones) are a continuation of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Without them, there could be no march towards communism.

Hoxhaist stance

Hoxhaists, while despising modern China, also despise the Cultural Revolution, with Enver Hoxha claiming that it was not great, nor cultural, nor proletarian.