BharatNotes What is Cultural Revolution?
The Cultural Revolution — formally the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution — was a mass sociopolitical movement in China launched by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasting until his death in 1976. Its declared goal was to preserve "true" communism by purging capitalist, revisionist and traditional elements from society. In practice, it was also Mao's instrument to remove rivals — notably President Liu Shaoqi (his designated successor, who was purged and died in detention) and General Secretary Deng Xiaoping — and to reassert his personal authority over the party.
Key Features and Chronology
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 16 May 1966 | CCP Central Committee's "May 16 Notification" alleges bourgeois infiltration — conventional start of the movement |
| 8 Aug 1966 | "Sixteen Points" decision adopted by the 11th Plenum, defining the movement's aims |
| Aug 1966 | "Red August": Red Guards launch the campaign to destroy the "Four Olds" — old ideas, old culture, old customs, old habits |
| Dec 1968 | "Down to the Countryside" movement begins; roughly 16 million urban youth eventually sent to rural areas |
| 13 Sep 1971 | Lin Biao, Mao's then designated successor, dies in a plane crash in Mongolia while reportedly fleeing China |
| Sep–Oct 1976 | Mao dies (9 September); the Gang of Four, including Jiang Qing, arrested on 6 October — effective end of the movement |
Red Guard units, drawn mainly from students, attacked teachers, intellectuals and officials; schools were shut, temples and historical sites were destroyed, and minority languages and customs were suppressed as part of the "Four Olds".
Human and Economic Cost
Estimates of deaths vary widely; a commonly cited figure is around 1.5 million killed (Britannica), with millions more imprisoned, tortured, publicly humiliated or dispossessed. Intellectuals were a particular target. The urban economy was severely disrupted — industrial production in 1968 fell about 12 per cent below the 1966 level. A generation lost access to formal education.
Aftermath and Official Verdict
After Mao's death, Deng Xiaoping returned to power and reversed course towards market-oriented reform (from 1978). In June 1981, the CCP's "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China" officially declared the Cultural Revolution a grave "Left" error for which chief responsibility lay with Mao, while assigning the worst excesses to the "counter-revolutionary cliques" of Lin Biao and Jiang Qing. The repudiation of the movement legitimised China's subsequent reform-and-opening era.
UPSC Angle
For GS Paper I (World History), the Cultural Revolution illustrates communism as a political philosophy and its effects on society, and connects to themes such as the Chinese Revolution, totalitarian mass mobilisation and Cold War-era ideological politics. Aspirants should remember the chronology (1966–76), the roles of Mao, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Lin Biao and the Gang of Four, the Red Guards and the "Four Olds", and the 1981 party resolution. Analytically, contrast it with the Great Leap Forward (1958–60) and trace how its failure enabled Deng's 1978 reforms — a frequent Mains linkage on continuity and change in modern China.
