The Making of

A New Socialist Revolution (II)

Building Socialism:
Tensions and Conflicts, 1957 – 65
 The Hundred Flowers Campaign
• May 1956, Mao raised slogan ‘Let a hundred flowers
bloom, let a hundred school of thought contend’ 百
花齊放﹑百家爭鳴 (雙百方針): criticism of
(i) ‘Subjectivism’ 主觀主義
(ii) ‘Bureaucratism’ 官僚主義
(iii) ‘Sectarianism’ 宗派主義
• 12 March 1957, Mao’s calling on ‘all people to
express their opinions freely, so that they dare to
speak, dare to criticize and dare to debate’
放手讓大家講意見﹐使人們敢說話﹐敢於批評﹐
敢於爭論
• 1 May 1957: ‘Directive on the Rectification
Campaign’《關於整風運動的指示》 in
Renmin ribao 人民日報
「知無不言﹐言無不盡﹐言者無罪﹐
聞者足戒﹐有則改之﹐無則加勉」
 The Anti-Rightist Campaign
反右運動
• They criticized one-party rule
• They criticized the Five-Year Plan
and Cooperativization
• The situation went beyond tolerable
level
• Luo Longji 羅隆基, ‘small
intellectuals’ leading ‘big intellectuals’
• On 8 June 1957, editorial in
People’s Daily stopped Hundred
Flowers Campaign
 The Anti-Rightist Campaign

• 500,000 – 700,000 people were

labelled as ‘rightists’ 右派
• Why did Mao Zedong launch
this campaign? Zhang Bojun 章伯鈞, minister
of tranport, being labelled as
a ‘rightist’
à A ‘trap’ 引蛇出洞 ?
• Both parties felt betrayed?
 The Great Leap Forward 大躍進,
1958 - 60
The Maoist way of building
socialism
 The Great Leap Forward,
1958 - 60
1. Origins
à Mao favoured a more radical growth
2. Objective
à ‘High speed development’ in all sectors of the
economy 高速度發展
à ‘Self-reliance’ 自力更生
à Elimination of the ‘three major differences’ 三
大差別 (i.e., town and countryside 城鄉差別;
agriculture and industry 工農差別; physical
and mental labour 體力與腦力勞動的差別)
3. Strategy
à ‘One horse taking the lead, ten thousand
horses galloping ahead’ 一馬當先﹐萬馬奔騰
cities: steel / countryside: grain
The Great Leap Forward
4. ‘Leaps’ in industry
à ‘Walking on two legs’:
cities and countryside 兩條
腿走路
à ‘Simultaneous promotion
of big, medium and small
industries’ 大﹑中﹑小並舉
à ‘Simultaneous promotion
of native and foreign ‘We could see them feeding household
technology’ 土﹑洋並舉 transformingimplements into the furnaces and
them into rough ingots of steel.
I don't know where the idea of the backyard
à ‘Backyard steel furnaces’ steelWhy
furnaces came from. But the logic was:
spend millions building modern steel

土高爐 plants when steel could be produced for

almost nothing in courtyards and fields.’
[Source: "The Private Life of Chairman Mao“]
The Great Leap Forward
5. ‘Leaps’ in agriculture
à Campaign to store / conserve
water for irrigation
à Campaign to kill sparrows People celebrating the establishment of the
people’s communes: A typical one embraced 60
villages and 20,000 members. All buildings, tools,
圍剿麻雀 machines, land and dwellings were owned by the
commune. People worked in teams of 150 to 600
à Campaign to improve farm people and were paid a small wage a given
clothing, food and housing.
tools
à Establishment of ‘people’s
communes’ 人民公社
The Great Leap Forward
2 hundred million sparrows
were killed in 1958
 The Great Leap Forward
6. Development and politics of the GLF
à March – May 1958: ‘General Line’ 總
路線 of ‘going all out, aiming high, and
achieving greater, quicker, better and
more economical results in building
socialism’
鼓足幹勁﹑力爭上游﹑多快好省地
建設社會主義
人有多大膽﹑地有多大產﹑不怕做
不到﹑就怕想不到
 The Great Leap Forward
• Deaths caused by famine (1959 – 61)

• Sept 1960: CCPC endorsed new ‘eight-

character slogan’ 八字憲法 of
‘readjustment, consolidation,
strengthening and raising standards’ 調 Liu Shaoqi, president
整﹑鞏固﹑充實﹑提高 of PRC between 1959
and 1968

• Mao stepped down as president of PRC

國家主席, but remained chairman of the
CCP 共產黨中央委員會主席 (renamed
as general secretary after 1982)

Zhou Enlai, premier of China

 ‘Readjustment’ 調整 or
‘Revisionism’ 修正主義?, 1961 – 65

January 1962
 ‘Readjustment’ or ‘Revisionism’?,
1961 – 65
‘Readjustment’ under Liu Shaoqi:
the ‘Liu Shaoqi Line’ 劉少奇路線
1. The Emergence of a new strategy,
1961 – 62
à Retrenchment
à Promotion of industry
à Raising rural consumption
standard
à ‘De-collectivization’
à Raising of educational /
academic standards
Liu investigating problems
 ‘Readjustment’ or ‘Revisionism’?,
1961 – 65
2. Party Politics, 1961 – 62: Mao showed his
dissatisfaction
à The Seven Thousand Cadres Conference 七
千人大會, Jan – Feb 1962
(i) Liu Shaoqi (political decisions: 70%;
bad weather: 30%)
(ii) Mao Zedong (weather and the
withdrawal of Soviet support)
à In Sept 1962
Mao: ‘never to forget class struggle’「不要
忘記階級鬥爭」, 「階級鬥爭必須年年
講﹐月月講﹐天天講」
 ‘Readjustment’ or ‘Revisionism’?,
1961 – 65
Mao’s Counterattack:
Revitalizing the Socialist Revolution,
1963 – 65
If party cadres are corrupt,
how could I rely on them…?
• Class struggle in the spheres of culture and ideology Lihuiniang was labelled as
à May 1963: Jiang Qing 江青 criticized ‘ghost opera’, promoting
traditional plays superstitious and
reducing revolutionary
à Sept / Oct: Mao attacked Ministry of Cultural
spirit
and traditional operas: Lihuiniang《李慧娘》
as ‘ghost opera’ ‘鬼戲’
à Dec: Mao criticized existing arts and
literature as feudalism and capitalistic
à Early 1965: Mao warned against forming
‘cliques’ 小集團 and ‘independent kingdoms’
獨立王國
à Nov: Yao Wenyuan 姚文元 criticized ‘On the
New Historical Play Hai Rui Dismissed from
Office’《評新編歷史劇海瑞罷官》vs. Wu
Han’s 吳晗 (Vice-mayor of Beigin) historical play
‘Hai Rui Dismissed from Office’ in 1959
 Conclusion
• The feature of the rule of the CCP
à The radicalisation of politics
• The use of extra-party forces
à Peasants / workers (The ‘3 Antis and 5
Antis Campaign’)
à Intellectuals (The ‘Hundred Flowers
Campaign’)
à Young people (against other members of
the CCP)