Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution

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Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution

• Life for the workers

By Michael Bae and Aaron Tsoi
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Introduction

• The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
  (?????????), was started in 1966.
• It was set up to secure Maoism and eliminate
  Political Opponents.
• It officially ended in 1969, when Mao himself
  admitted that the revolution had ended.
• Over this period of three years, many died and
  millions more imprisoned. The leaders of the
  Cultural Revolution remained in power, even after
  the end of the Revolution.
• The period is widely considered to have been a
  period of economic stagnation.

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A short intro to the Red Guard

• The Red Guard is the name given to the hundreds
  of thousands of students who left their schools
  to spread Maos message that the Moderates were
  bringing China down the Capitalist Road, and
  needed to return to pure Communism once again
• They were responsible for a majority of the chaos
  created during the Cultural Revolution
• They traveled the countryside and visited
  factories, etc. to spread the message
• At the end of the Cultural Revolution, they were
  sent to the countryside to learn from the
  peasants

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Influence The Red Guard

• They had the workers arrange meetings so frequent
  that production came to a standstill
• Anyone who complained was accused of being a
  bourgeois, etc.
• Vandalism was also common, as the Red Guard
  started to stamp out authorities, like the leader
  of the factory, etc.
• High levels of violence ensued
• This meant that national output fell dramatically
  during the course of the Cultural Revolution
• This caused the Chinese economy to be crippled
  through the three-year duration of the Cultural
  Revolution

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Influence - Political

• Later, the Gang of Four, especially Jiang Qing
  considered everything as Capitalist they
  condemned a basic theory that production power
  decided the relation of production to the
  character of the society as Revisionism in a
  sense referring to looking back to the past.
• They agitated workers openly by saying not to
  fear to stop production and work.
• They disliked modernism they referred the
  introduction of technological plants as
  worshipping and toadying to foreign countries.
• Most workers complained about the Fours
  policies, and made an effort to produce. However,
  a decline in production was impossible, with
  their constant exposure to slogans created by
  Jiang's groups