Mao Out!

1958-1962 Liu Shaoqi (Lou Chow she) In 1959 Liu Shaoqi formally assumed the role of president. He “quietly wound down” the GLF (Ryan) Peng Dehuai An old friend of Mao. Wrote a “no nonsense” letter to him outlining the faults with the GLF. Mao was not impressed! “Do you hear the people outside? They are not crying “long line Chairman Mao”, but “We’re hungry. We want food.””

Lushan Plenum July 1959 Peng’s letter delivered, debated, responsibility refuted. Suggestion of internal attacks and unrest. “Great significance.” (Ryan) – Mao made his authority clear. “After Lushan the whole party shut up.” (Wang Bingnan – party official) 1959-08-02 Fin Lushan conférence By Jacques de Goldfiem

Three Bad Years 1959-61 Grain targets – 270 million tons. Actual harvest was 170 million tons Floods, plagues, droughts, Inside the CCP, GLF policies were still being defended. Mao said that there was no famine. Deaths – 30-40 million???

Soviets withdraw support July 1960 Began with a border clash between India and China in 1959. No Nuclear weapons from USSR Khrushchev snobbed on his visit in 1959 Russian technical support recalled “The Russian’s have landed us in the shit” (Mao) By July 1964 Russia had severed all diplomatic relations with the USSR

A brief overview 1962-73 1962 - 7000 Cadres Conference – review of policies Plan to make Mao even more of a figurehead Mao initiated Socialist Education Campaign This grew into Cultural Revolution (1966), aim to totally revise Chinese culture, key role of the Red Guards and youths

Background Information In the early 1960s, Mao was on the political sidelines and in semi- seclusion. By 1962 he began an offensive to purify the party, having grown increasingly uneasy about what he believed were the creeping "capitalist" and antisocialist tendencies in the country. Mao continued to believe that the material incentives that had been restored to the peasants and others were corrupting the masses and were counterrevolutionary.

Background Information To arrest the so-called capitalist trend, Mao launched the Socialist Education Movement (1962-65) Primary emphasis was on restoring ideological purity, reinfusing revolutionary fervor into the party and government bureaucracies, and intensifying class struggle. There were internal disagreements, not on the aim of the movement but on the methods of carrying it out. Opposition came mainly from the moderates represented by Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.

The First Gang of Four Lin Biao – Defence minister Chen Boda – Ideologue who wrote many of Mao;s pronouncements. Kang Sheng – Ruthless police chief Jiang Qing – Ambitious wife. These 4 develop a tight group that become important from 1966.

Socialist Education Campaign 1962

Socialist Education Campaign First discussed at the Tenth Plenum of the Central committee – Sep 1962 Plan to tackle corruption and promote Mao’s values. 3 interrelated campaigns: Educational campaign Rectification campaign Purification movement – PLA

Socialist Education Movement The Socialist Education Movement was soon paired with another Mao campaign, the theme of which was "to learn from the People's Liberation Army." “Never forget class struggle” Mao

Socialist Education Movement A thorough reform of the school system, which had been planned earlier to coincide with the Great Leap Forward, went into effect. The reform was intended as a work-study program--a new xiafang movement--in which schooling was slated to accommodate the work schedule of communes and factories. It had the dual purpose of providing mass education less expensively than previously and of re-educating intellectuals and scholars to accept the need for their own participation in manual labor.

Socialist Education Movement The drafting of intellectuals for manual labor was publicized through the mass media as an effort to remove "bourgeois" influences from professional workers--particularly, their tendency to have greater regard for their own specialized fields than for the goals of the party. Official propaganda accused them of being more concerned with having "expertise" than being "red" .

Barefoot Doctors A reform of medical education in China in the 1960’s that included short term training stints for rural doctors. “These health workers lived in the community they served, focused on prevention rather than cures while combining western and traditional medicines to educate people and provide basic treatment.” Scheme still continues today with great success. http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/1 2/08-021208/en/ Dr Lee (a US professor) said prior to the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, epidemics, infectious disease and poor sanitation were widespread. “The picture today is dramatically different … there has been a pronounced decline in the death rate, particularly infant mortality. Major epidemic diseases have been controlled … nutritional status has been improved [and] massive campaigns of health education and environmental sanitation have been carried out. Large numbers of health workers have been trained, and a system has been developed that provides some health service for the great majority of the people.”

10 Directives against Corruption February 1963 A plan “to rectify wayward cadres, poor peasants associations would be mobilised” to tackle corruption. (Ryan) Purge led by specially designed work teams. “All hell broke loose” (Short) Plan was revised 3 times!

The book! First published in 1964 by the PLA, Mao’s Little Red Book was apparently given to every Chinese person. The Ministry of Culture had hundreds of new printing houses built in order to achieve this. It soon became a key feature of the leader's personality cult. Known as the nations bible!