Although politically and geographically the process of China’s unification was possible due to the persistent struggle that Mao Zedong and his confederates waged over the years, socio-economic progress was impossible to achieve because of the poor decisions made.
One of China’s most unsuccessful state policies in the mid-20th century aimed at rapid industrialization and modernization was the National Economic Program, known as the “Great Leap Forward,” which was launched in 1958. Unlike Mao, other members of the Politburo did not support the building of a forced collective economy for China with its still unfinished process of industrialization. In the rush to compete with the world powers, Mao created an uncontrollable and hopeless situation by applying all the fundamental changes at the same time. The application of a planned economy and collective production economy modeled after the Soviet one without accurate calculations and proper assessment of social conditions, including incorrect division of labor, technical errors in industrial production and agriculture, the complete elimination of free enterprise, the loss of free market function, poor management, an emphasis on quantity rather than quality for the sake of quotas, and other unconstructive economic factors dealt a blow to the already dysfunctional economic environment in the country.
The four-year socialist Great Leap Forward program provoked food shortages that caused millions of people to die of starvation in many provinces of China, and because of the subsequent collapse of the infrastructure hastily built during those years, the interior of the country suffered from natural disasters. The infamous mass extermination of sparrows also took place during the years of the Great Leap Forward. The Four Pests campaign—the absurd decision to exterminate sparrows and a number of other species—led to an imbalance in the ecosystem, an upsurge in the numbers of pests and, consequently, a decrease in crop yields. Thus, as early as in the 1960s, the failure of China’s attempt to transform itself from an agrarian superpower to an industrial one led to the emergence of doubts regarding Mao’s governance and a dismissive attitude toward his ideas.
After Joseph Stalin’s death, the criticism of his personality cult and his despotic environment by his successors in the USSR caused Mao grave concern and fear that he would suffer the same fate. In the midst of a series of economic setbacks and crises, he made irrational decisions that had a negative impact on social, cultural, political, and economic life in order to consolidate his own standing with the people, even as his party’s reputation waned. Thus, Mao Zedong’s radical political decisions in the last decade of his rule led China to the edge of a precipice, a decline in many spheres and chaos that would spread throughout the country.
Mao harnessed the potential of the young masses, who worshipped his personality, to launch a new revolutionary movement. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of Chinese socialism, which began on May 10, 1966, and lasted ten years until Mao’s death, left a deep and poorly healing mark on modern Chinese history. Under the pretext of preventing the revival of bourgeois-capitalist values in the country, this revolution, the wave of the large-scale social and political movement led by Mao Zedong, paralyzed the cultural and economic life of Chinese society.
As Mao’s cult and propaganda grew, members of the government who opposed the leader’s decisions were removed from their posts and replaced by Mao’s fourth and last wife, Jiang Qing, and his closest followers Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen. These four, known as the “Gang of Four” for their ruthless actions, were the leading political figures of the Cultural Revolution and played a key role in strengthening the foundations of Maoism and ensuring the continuity of his authority. The Red Guards (essentially a paramilitary revolutionary defense force made up of fanatical youths and students) who went on the hunt for “capitalist bandits” who had joined the CCP were also able to eliminate Mao’s internal political rivals and opposition politicians.
“The Little Red Book” reflecting the ideas and principles of the great leader Mao Zedong became something that every citizen should carry in his pocket, every word and expression written in it being accepted as sacred without debate. True to Mao’s principles, the Red Guards played a major role in destroying the Four Olds, that is, the four ancient Chinese elements from the past: old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas. The imperial history of ancient China and the attributes that represented it were to be erased from the face of the earth, and instead the history of the country was to be rewritten in line with communist ideology and socialist values, more specifically, the Maoist doctrine (a communist approach that emphasized the role of the peasantry in building socialist society, focusing on small-scale industry and collective farming).
Systematic raids were organized throughout the country against everything that contained imperialist, feudalist, capitalist, bourgeois and liberal values; ancient cultural monuments, castles, shrines, temples, monasteries, churches, palaces, mansions, opera and library buildings, as well as the tombs of great philosophers, first and foremost Confucius, and members of the royal family, fell victim to these attacks; traditional clothing was banned, and historical and religious texts were burned and destroyed.
Intellectuals who tried to oppose the above-mentioned destruction and Mao’s cult were subjected to public beatings, to tortures, humiliated, killed, raped, sent into exile in remote provinces, and forced to work in industry and farming. During this time even schools and universities were closed and the educational system collapsed. Millions of young people and adolescents, victims of totalitarianism, were sent to corrective labor camps in the countryside for “re-education” and forced labor. Thousands of young intellectuals, teachers, and scientists were accused of betraying the values of the revolution and subjected to persecution. It is estimated that more than five hundred thousand people died as a result of mass violence and political reprisals.
All these horrors continued until 1976, that is, until the death of CCP Chairman Mao. Immediately after the leader’s death, all the decisions once made by him and his clique were rescinded. The members of the Gang of Four, including Mao’s last wife, were sentenced to life imprisonment, and a new phase of country/society building began. The rebuilding of the country devastated during the Cultural Revolution was entrusted to the great reformist leader Deng Xiaoping. One of Mao’s closest associates in the early years of the establishment of the country, Deng Xiaoping had been under constant pressure because of his liberal views. Ultimately, China’s recovery was made possible by the reconstruction plans and multifaceted pragmatic reforms proposed by him and his team.
Years later, the CCP recognized that the Cultural Revolution had created nothing but chaos and disorder and officially condemned the movement in 1981. Cultural monuments destroyed and damaged during the revolution have been restored under a special government program since the 1990s.
The Cultural Revolution is a significant historical event that clearly demonstrates the damage caused to society by cults of personality, absolute power, totalitarianism, blind application of economic methods, incompetent governance, illegitimacy of political institutions, fragile decision-making mechanism in crucial issues, annihilation of intellectual elite, and scheming in the higher echelons of power.
Aze.Media