he events that unfolded throughout the Great Proletarian Chinese Cultural Revolution, from 1966 1967, fundamentally arose Mao’s fundamental policy of permanent revolution, and the political status of China after the communist seizure of power in 1949. Furthermore, there were four key occurrences that contributed directly to the introduction of the Revolution. In addition to the long term political cause that was the establishment of Mao’s totalitarian control from 1948, a further indirect causes of major importance was the 100 Flowers Campaign and the Great Leap Forwards. Key indicators of the Cultural revolution and arguably the most important factors in its beginning, were Mao’s hunger for power and the changes that occurred throughout his
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They foreshadowed the Cultural Revolution, in the way which they used repression and symbolized Mao’s power. It was a campaign directed by Mao that had the purpose of allowing citizens to publicly and openly criticise the Chinese Communist Party, with the goal of gaining a more unified and constructive society. However, from the situation of the Hungarian 1956 revolt against Russia and Kruschev 's denunciation of Stalin, it can be inferred that a key reason behind Mao’s actions for the campaign was perhaps his want to avoid further revolutions and uprisings. Another part of Mao’s reasoning behind such a campaign would be that it was an attempt to ‘lure snakes out of their lair’, or in other words identify those who might pose a threat to his power. Such reasoning would clearly show the power and control hungry nature of Mao, that would greatly contribute to the later Cultural Revolution. Mao had overestimated his popularity and soon after the establishment of the 100 flowers campaign, the CCP was roundly criticised by many intellectuals to the point where they surpassed Mao’s expectations of mild criticisms. This resulted in Mao turning to the suppression of such intellectuals, and the country was divided due to …show more content…
Mao’s own position in government had weakened after the failure of his “Great Leap Forward” (1958-60) and the economic crisis that followed, and he resigned his position as State Chairman in 1958. Following this resignation he grew increasingly resentful towards Liu Shaoqui for usurping his position and the Beijing Opposition for openly criticising him. Jiang Qing, Mao’s wife and prior actress, realised that the key to Mao regaining power was through the manipulation of the arts and culture, and such was the seed for the culture revolution. In 1965 the appearance in the Shanghai press of a condemning review of the play “The Dismissal of Rui Han”, which had openly criticised Mao’s leadership, clearly marked the beginning of Mao’s determined campaign to regain political power and influence. This was an indication that Mao was making a comeback, and was furthermore setting out to attack and isolate any whom acted out in criticism against him; it was therefore also apparent that he was directly attacking the Beijing
They foreshadowed the Cultural Revolution, in the way which they used repression and symbolized Mao’s power. It was a campaign directed by Mao that had the purpose of allowing citizens to publicly and openly criticise the Chinese Communist Party, with the goal of gaining a more unified and constructive society. However, from the situation of the Hungarian 1956 revolt against Russia and Kruschev 's denunciation of Stalin, it can be inferred that a key reason behind Mao’s actions for the campaign was perhaps his want to avoid further revolutions and uprisings. Another part of Mao’s reasoning behind such a campaign would be that it was an attempt to ‘lure snakes out of their lair’, or in other words identify those who might pose a threat to his power. Such reasoning would clearly show the power and control hungry nature of Mao, that would greatly contribute to the later Cultural Revolution. Mao had overestimated his popularity and soon after the establishment of the 100 flowers campaign, the CCP was roundly criticised by many intellectuals to the point where they surpassed Mao’s expectations of mild criticisms. This resulted in Mao turning to the suppression of such intellectuals, and the country was divided due to …show more content…
Mao’s own position in government had weakened after the failure of his “Great Leap Forward” (1958-60) and the economic crisis that followed, and he resigned his position as State Chairman in 1958. Following this resignation he grew increasingly resentful towards Liu Shaoqui for usurping his position and the Beijing Opposition for openly criticising him. Jiang Qing, Mao’s wife and prior actress, realised that the key to Mao regaining power was through the manipulation of the arts and culture, and such was the seed for the culture revolution. In 1965 the appearance in the Shanghai press of a condemning review of the play “The Dismissal of Rui Han”, which had openly criticised Mao’s leadership, clearly marked the beginning of Mao’s determined campaign to regain political power and influence. This was an indication that Mao was making a comeback, and was furthermore setting out to attack and isolate any whom acted out in criticism against him; it was therefore also apparent that he was directly attacking the Beijing