The Cultural Revolution

"the Cultural Revolution' lasted from May in 1966 to October in 1976. It made the party, the government and the people encounter the most crucial failure and loss. This 'Cultural Revolution' was begun and led by comrade Mao Zedong."

"The history of 'the Cultural Revolution' proved that the main premises comrade Mao had used as the start of 'the Cultural Revolution' did not correspond with Marxism or Leninism, and was not even in China's best interest. This premises about the political situation and the hierarchy were completely inaccurate. The Cultural Revolution' cannot be considered as a revolution, or even a social progress in any sense."

"The Cultural Revolution was begun by a leader for the wrong reasons, and ill-used by anti-revolutionary groups. It produced civil strife that provoked the most crucial disasters for the Party, the government and the people."
"Comrade Mao is mainly to blame for the 'Cultural Revolution', a long-term leftist mistake. Only, his mistake was absolutely that of a great proletarian revolutionary."

The Aftermath

After the CR, "healing literature" that had once been popular before the revolution was now making its way back into the market. In the former half of 1980s, negative aspects of the CR were emphasized in an attempt to remove CR groups from China. As one intellectual said looking back over the past and analyzing the CR has proven that it did nothing but deteriorate the image of the whole CCP and the leader of the party, making the people question the control and credibility of the project.

One often wonders what would make a person harm another human being. Men that followed Mao acted under direct orders, but those orders came with consequences to their own people, and in essence were cruel and evil. The killing of innocent children, and countless others was indicative of what kind of loyalty the CCP required. They basked in this system, taking no personal responsibility for their actions. The Red Guards basically let others do the thinking for them, and the CCP was more than willing to do so. The CCP never wanted the people to get too out of control. Today, China is becoming more western, allowing for certain autonomous states like Hong Kong to exist, and for an Open economic market to survive. Many people speculate how nice China would be if they had realistic freedom to do as they wish.

The Future

In the end, the real victims were the Chinese people, who had their lives disrupted by the chaos of the times. Although the Cultural Revolution is now over, if China does not continue to meet the needs of the people, and become more democratic, then the potential for tragedy will occur once more. The Chinese were deeply hurt and injured by the CR, and it is the earnest hope of a peaceful people that they will never have to endure another tragedy such as this one. They look forward instead to a new China-proud, free, and bold. Whether or not this vision is realized however is completely up to the Chinese.