Analyse The Causes Of The Cultural Revolution

2383 Words10 Pages
Q2. Analyse the causes of the Cultural Revolution. Many, such as Lucian W. Pye, agree that Mao Zedong “ignited” the Cultural Revolution of 1966. (Lucian W. Pye, 1986:597) This is true in many ways as Mao was able to take advantage of many things such as the mobilisation of students to justify the Cultural Revolution as a mass movement, the support of individuals such as Lin Biao in promoting a cult of personality for Mao and his manipulation of the actions of individuals such as Liu Shaoqi. However, there were also other causes of the Cultural Revolution that must be analysed, such as that it was caused to a large extent by power struggles between two ideological lines and the arguments over ideology that this fuelled. Social issues were also a cause of the Cultural Revolution, as were external factors such as the influence of Soviet Union actions. In analysing these causes it is interesting to find that many could be considered causes on their own but the reasons they had such as massive impact is that they provided Mao with more support. This analysis encourages the idea although there were many causes of the Cultural Revolution e Mao Zedong and his actions were the main cause. Mao had lost a great deal of influence by the early 1960s, so it took until 1965 until he was able to form a coalition that fully supported him. (Anthony Best et al, 2004:352) The fact that he had to wait to reconsolidate his power may have made him even more determined to hold on to it and therefore push the Culture Revolution regardless of its possibly negative consequences. By 1965 he was deeply perturbed by Liu and Deng pursuing post-Leap policies such as “a return to peasants cultivating their private plots, which had gone too far and were tantamount to pursuing the “capitalist road” to socialism.”(Anthony Best et al, 2004:352) Mao saw CCP bureaucracy as leaning towards organised
Open Document