Maoists still a force 50 years after the Cultural Revolution

Fifty years after Mao Zedong unleashed the decade-long Cultural Revolution to reassert his authority and revive his radical communist agenda, the spirit of modern China’s founder still exerts a powerful pull (Gerry Shih, "Maoists still a force 50 years after the Cultural Revolution" Drudge Report May. 15, 2016).

Millions of people were persecuted, publicly humiliated, beaten or killed during the upheaval, as zealous factionalism metastasized countrywide, tearing apart Chinese society at a most basic level. Student groups tortured their own teachers, and children were made to watch mobs beat their own parents condemned as counter-revolutionaries. Gangs engaging in “armed struggle” killed at least a half million people while countless more committed suicide, unable to cope with relentless persecution. It was only in 1981 — five years after Mao’s death — that China’s government officially pronounced the Cultural Revolution “a catastrophe.” But in the ancient city of Luoyang, the old, the poor and the marginalized gather daily in the main public square to profess nostalgia for the decade-long political movement, downplaying that period’s violent excesses. In the marble halls of power in Beijing, Cultural Revolution-era song-and-dance performances are being revived. China’s liberals see ominous signs of a society tugged backward by ideological currents. “Either it’s because people have forgotten the Cultural Revolution or are increasingly dissatisfied with social conditions, but since the mid-1990s these kinds of ideas have been gaining currency,” said Xu Youyu, a former Chinese Academy of Social Sciences researcher.

Maoists long for China to reverse its path toward market capitalism and return to Mao’s radical vision of a classless society steered by a powerful and ideologically pure leader. They have largely embraced President Xi Jinping as one of their own, though he has never endorsed their views outright, and the nuances of his personal ideology — especially on economic matters — remain a cipher. Many see encouraging echoes of Mao’s political style in Xi’s crusade against corrupt party bureaucrats, and in his staunchly populist rhetoric, nationalistic bent and repeated demands for ideological conformity.