Cultural Revolution
Six years after the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution. His desire was to exterminate the Communist Party and give him sole authority over the country. Stalin of Russia also had a revolution, but unlike him Mao didn’t have enough political power to succeed. Mao used several strategies to promote the revolution, and he planned on using propaganda to repair his tarnished image from his previous failures. One way to promote the revolution was to educate the poor, who couldn’t distinguish “fish eyes from pearls." However, the most prominent push for the revolution was Mao’s use of millions of youths, called Red Guards, who ultimately found these elders, humiliated them, and killed them.
Mao criticized the communist party for attempting to change human nature. Dismissing these officers from office or other simple steps wouldn’t suffice for a crime of this magnitude. Therefore, the large scale struggle was needed. The Cultural Revolution, also called the Children’s revolt, called for the destruction of all old ideas, culture, customs, and habits of the old class. Hundreds of historical artifacts were lost in the revolution, Mao eliminated books that he cherished in his childhood. Red Guards disregarded their elders and often arrested veterans of the Long March.
The Sixteen Point Decision loosely outlined the plans for the Cultural Revolution and Mao vowed to “have nothing less than a great revolution that touches people to their very souls." Mao believed that the youth were the heart of the revolution so the Sixteen Point decision named these children as Mao’s principle weapon. One thing that made the Cultural Revolution rare is the fact that the Red Guards formed suddenly, lacking years of training and brain washing, unlike the young Nazis of Germany. Along with the Red Guards, the revolution also relied on the military command of Lin Pao. Mao was able to rearrange the party from above with the help of the military, and from below with his Red Guard units. The idea of the Cultural Revolution was to launch a “general examination, a general alignment, and a general reorganization of the ranks." With the party isolated and weak, the Red Guards would then come in and knock the communist party of its feet. However, things had an adverse effect.
The Red Guards issued a “declaration of the old world” and began changing anything they could. Street names, parks, schools, buildings, business, anything with any ties to the old world had to be changed. One group of red guards wanted to change the switch the meanings of the stop light so green would mean “stop” and red “go." In this new system, those who studied Mao and showed revolutionary zeal were promoted, people that made mistakes but accepted education and repented might’ve been given a chance in the future, but those that opposed Mao or lacked revolutionary passion were banished. The Red Guards were “five kinds of red” or a part of the five revolutionary elements. The “five kinds of red” elements included worker’s children, poor peasants, revolutionary martyrs, cadres and soldiers.
The people that the Red Guards were after were deemed “seven kinds of black”. Land lords, Rich peasants, counter revolutionists, bad elements, rightists, “monsters and freaks”, and pro capitalists were considered “seven kinds of black." The categories “bad elements” and “monsters and freaks” basically made anyone that wasn’t “five kinds of red” seven kinds of black. “Seven kinds of black” were forced to wear signs stating what they were and they weren’t allowed on buses, in restaurants, in movies or in parks. Anytime someone deemed “seven kinds of black” left their house, they were constantly harassed by any and all Red Guards nearby. The fact that the Red Guards were singling people out made them just as “elitist” as the people they were trying to overthrow.
Red Guards preyed on anyone who they believed were anti-Communist and anyone who wasn’t following Mao’s way. Paul Craig Roberts investigated a photographer named Li Zhensheng and he commented:
“Li’s photos graphically capture the emotional pain of the humiliation inflicted by young punks on powerful men, governors and Communist Party First Secretaries, some of whom were veterans of the Long March. Still others show ‘enemies’ kneeling, hands tied behind their backs, waiting to be shot in the back of the head.”
According to Roberts, Zhensheng was a photographer whose income rose and fell during the Cultural Revolution. In order to keep being a photographer, Li had to set up his own group of Red Guards.
Mao criticized the communist party for attempting to change human nature. Dismissing these officers from office or other simple steps wouldn’t suffice for a crime of this magnitude. Therefore, the large scale struggle was needed. The Cultural Revolution, also called the Children’s revolt, called for the destruction of all old ideas, culture, customs, and habits of the old class. Hundreds of historical artifacts were lost in the revolution, Mao eliminated books that he cherished in his childhood. Red Guards disregarded their elders and often arrested veterans of the Long March.
The Sixteen Point Decision loosely outlined the plans for the Cultural Revolution and Mao vowed to “have nothing less than a great revolution that touches people to their very souls." Mao believed that the youth were the heart of the revolution so the Sixteen Point decision named these children as Mao’s principle weapon. One thing that made the Cultural Revolution rare is the fact that the Red Guards formed suddenly, lacking years of training and brain washing, unlike the young Nazis of Germany. Along with the Red Guards, the revolution also relied on the military command of Lin Pao. Mao was able to rearrange the party from above with the help of the military, and from below with his Red Guard units. The idea of the Cultural Revolution was to launch a “general examination, a general alignment, and a general reorganization of the ranks." With the party isolated and weak, the Red Guards would then come in and knock the communist party of its feet. However, things had an adverse effect.
The Red Guards issued a “declaration of the old world” and began changing anything they could. Street names, parks, schools, buildings, business, anything with any ties to the old world had to be changed. One group of red guards wanted to change the switch the meanings of the stop light so green would mean “stop” and red “go." In this new system, those who studied Mao and showed revolutionary zeal were promoted, people that made mistakes but accepted education and repented might’ve been given a chance in the future, but those that opposed Mao or lacked revolutionary passion were banished. The Red Guards were “five kinds of red” or a part of the five revolutionary elements. The “five kinds of red” elements included worker’s children, poor peasants, revolutionary martyrs, cadres and soldiers.
The people that the Red Guards were after were deemed “seven kinds of black”. Land lords, Rich peasants, counter revolutionists, bad elements, rightists, “monsters and freaks”, and pro capitalists were considered “seven kinds of black." The categories “bad elements” and “monsters and freaks” basically made anyone that wasn’t “five kinds of red” seven kinds of black. “Seven kinds of black” were forced to wear signs stating what they were and they weren’t allowed on buses, in restaurants, in movies or in parks. Anytime someone deemed “seven kinds of black” left their house, they were constantly harassed by any and all Red Guards nearby. The fact that the Red Guards were singling people out made them just as “elitist” as the people they were trying to overthrow.
Red Guards preyed on anyone who they believed were anti-Communist and anyone who wasn’t following Mao’s way. Paul Craig Roberts investigated a photographer named Li Zhensheng and he commented:
“Li’s photos graphically capture the emotional pain of the humiliation inflicted by young punks on powerful men, governors and Communist Party First Secretaries, some of whom were veterans of the Long March. Still others show ‘enemies’ kneeling, hands tied behind their backs, waiting to be shot in the back of the head.”
According to Roberts, Zhensheng was a photographer whose income rose and fell during the Cultural Revolution. In order to keep being a photographer, Li had to set up his own group of Red Guards.
These are a few photos captured by Li Zhensheng
Red Guard groups would often fight with each other to see who could dominate. Factory management was given to reckless, ill-equipped, revolutionary councils; this lead to a 14% decline in production during 1967. Many of China’s cultural artifacts were damaged or demolished. Religious practices were silenced. The CCP and some government officials caved in on themselves due to ‘self-criticism’ which led to enforced confessions and indictments. Eventually, the Cultural Revolution ended in 1968 when Mao decided that revolutionary violence wasn’t the best answer to China’s problems. Even so, that doesn’t explain the wide scale distrust of the government, because after the Cultural Revolution people didn’t feel safe within their own country.