How Far Were Threats to Mao’s Position from Rivals Within the Ccp Responsible for Mao’s Decision to Launch the Cultural Revolution?

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How far were threats to Mao’s position from rivals within the CCP responsible for Mao’s decision to launch the Cultural Revolution? There is evidence to suggest the Mao launched the Cultural Revolution due to threats to his position from rivals within the CCP. Mao believed that the changed Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi bought to China was evidence that they wanted to turn China into a capitalist society. Mao also aimed to renew the revolutionary spirit. However, other factors must be considered including Mao’s attempts of starting a permanent revolution, testing the younger members of the party and undermining bureaucrats and intellectuals. One of the reasons that Mao launched the Cultural Revolution was to regain his dominant position in the party and undermine the position of Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi. Mao believed that his colleagues were ready to remove him from power when the opportunity came, and that they were using their position to mount a challenge. This influenced Maos decision to launch the Cultural Revolution, as he feared he was losing his grip on the party. Liu and Deng began to reverse the collectivisation programme which Mao believed to be evidence that a power struggle was looming. Liu and Deng bought in Chen Yun to advise them on how to improve agriculture as he was an expert in this area. However, Mao criticised Liu and Deng for increasing the number of intellectuals in the economy such as scientists and technologists, as this was evidence that class divisions was forming in China. These people were also allowing China to develop much more rapidly than it had under Mao, which revealed Mao’s weakness as an economic planner. As a result, Liu and Deng were labelled as ‘capitalist roaders’ for trying to turn China into a capitalist society, and were removed from their position within the CCP. This proves that threats to Mao’s position within the
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