Propaganda in China during the Cultural Revolution
took on many forms; there were mass Red Guard
demonstrations in Tianamen Square in support of Mao Zedong,
pictures of Mao were put up in every conceivable location
from restaurants to the wallpaper in nurseries, and
pamphlets and books of Mao's teachings were distributed to
every Chinese citizen. One of these propaganda publications
Quotations from Chairman Mao which later became known as
the Little Red Book contained quotes from Mao Zedong and
was distributed to every Chinese citizen. The history of
the Red Book provides one of the best ways in which to
analyze Chinese propaganda during the Cultural Revolution
and see the ways in which the Chinese government was able
to produce and effectively indoctrinate the Chinese people
with Mao Zedong Thought. Official Chinese magazines from
the period of 1967 to 1970 are filled with many pictures of
citizens holding, reading, and memorizing the Red Book.
This proposal will trace the rise and fall of images of the
Red Book in the official Chinese publication China
Reconstructs. This proposal will use a graphical analysis
of pictures in this publication from 1966 to 1973 to show
that propaganda was not just a tool of the Communist party
but also a reflection of internal power struggles within
the party during the Cultural Revolution.
The Red Book was written several years before it
became the object of national adoration and a tool for the
Cultivation of Mao's personality Cult. The history of the
Red Book and its meteoric rise from a hand book for
military recruits to compulsory reading for all Chinese
citizens, is closely tied to its developer Lin Biao's rise
to power. Lin Biao was born in 1907 and was fourteen years
younger then Mao; he joined the communist party in 1925 and
until the communists captured control of China was at
various times in charge of resistance forces, and armies of
communist soldiers. When the communists took control in
1949 Lin Biao was behind Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou
Enlai, Chen Yun, and Deng Xiaoping in rank (Yan and Gao,
1996: 179). But eighteen years later during the height of
the Cultural Revolution Lin Biao by winning favor with Mao
by publishing and championing the Red Book and the Cult of
Mao became second only to the Chairman in power and
position (Ming-Le, 1983: 80).
In 1959 Peng Dehua was dismissed as minister of
defense and Lin Biao was appointed in his place. At an
armed forces meeting for high cadres during September of
that year Lin Biao, energetically started promoting the
Cult of Mao saying, "Learning the writings of comrade Mao
Zedong is the shortcut to learning Marxism-Leninism.
Chairman Mao's writings are easy to learn and can be put to
use immediately. Diligent work will pay dividends many
fold." (Yan and Gao, 1996: 182) His references to
"shortcut" and "quick dividends" in his speech went
unnoticed at the time as few foresaw the effects of
creating a Cult around Mao. But looking back on the
Cultural Revolution and Lin Biao, we can see his using the
Cult of Mao was indeed a shortcut that produced huge
dividends both for himself and for Mao.
Mao to the Chinese people was a symbol sovereignty
and the construction of socialism; to them praise for Mao
was fitting with his symbolic role in society. Starting in
1959 Lin Biao in front of military audiences in order to
help buildup support for the Cult of Mao used such phrases
as, "the dire necessity of acquiring Mao Zedong's thought,"
"to study the writings of Mao Zedong with questions in mind
is to shoot arrows with target in sight," "we must arm our
minds with Mao Zedong's thought" (Yan an Gao, 1996: 181).
Lin Biao's goal of building up both himself and the Cult of
Mao lead him in September of 1960 to pass a resolution at
the meeting of the Military Commission, which called for
more political education among the armed forces (Yan and
Gao, 1996: 181)
Mao Zedong Thought is the compass for the Chinese people's
revolution and socialist construction, the powerful
ideological weapon against imperialism, and the powerful
ideological weapon against revisionism and dogmatism.....
raise high the red banner of Mao Zedong Thought, go further
and mobilize the minds of all officers and soldiers with
Mao Zedong Thought, and resolve to make sure that Mao
Zedong Thought, and resolve to make sure that Mao Zedong
Thought is in command in all phases of work... Really learn
by heart the Mao Zedong Thought! Read Chairman Mao's books,
listen to Chairman Mao's words, follow Chairman Mao's
directives, and serve as Chairman Mao's good soldiers!
Shortly after the passage of the resolution by Lin Biao,
the fourth volume of the selected works of Mao Zedong was
published. On the occasion of it being sold to the public
Lin Biao wrote an article calling upon all people in the
military to read and study the works of Chairman Mao and
dedicate to memory Mao Zedong Thought (Yan and Gao, 1996:
183).
On April 1964 Lin Biao direct the military presses
to publish a selection of quotes from Mao in a Little Red
Book. The book titled Quotations From Chairman Mao was
aimed at providing military recruits a shortened version of
Maoist thought (Yan and Gao, 1996: 183). Military recruits
before the publication of the Red Book were encouraged to
study the Selected Works of Mao Zedong. But this set of
books had grown so large (it's four volumes contained over
fifteen hundred pages) many of the military's recruits who
were from peasant backgrounds were unable to read its
complicated articles. The Little Red Book in contrast with
its hand picked quotes and introduction by Lin Biao was
short with easy to read quotes. Before the publishing of
the Red Book the study of the Selected Works of Mao Zedong
greatly increased in the military this was in large part
due to the encouragement and directives issued by Lin Biao.
In 1961 Lin Biao while inspecting a contingent of troops
said that the works of Chairman Mao Zedong, were a guide to
those in the military, "Every lesson in political education
must use the works of Chairman Mao Zedong as an ideological
guide." (Yan and Gao, 1996: 183) Lin Biao also directed the
military press to publish sections from the Red Book in the
Liberation Army Daily the official publication of the PLA
(People's Liberation Army). The Red Book provided many of
the military recruits who were mostly uneducated peasants
with a grounding in Maoist thought. The quotes selected in
the Red Book such as, " Carry on the workers struggle, down
with rightist revisionism" were sufficient vague as to
allow recruits to draw from the Red Book what they wanted
to. Lin Biao's efforts to promote the study of Maoist
thought were done to win favor with Mao and increase his
position in the party (Tsou, 1986: 49).
Lin Biao's cultivation of the Cult of Mao Zedong
soon earned him Mao's notice. During a meeting in 1961 Mao
applauded Lin Biao's work in the armed forces saying,
"Recently comrade Lin Biao inspected the forces as far down
as the company level and showed understanding of a good
many things, including the problems of construction among
our forces, and he made very good suggestions about various
tasks of construction." (Yan and Gao, 1996: 182) Lin Biao
feeling that his work at publicizing Mao's teachings was
paying off redoubled his efforts at promoting Mao Zedong
Thought. He insisted that quotes from Mao Zedong could be
used to accomplish tasks within the military and made the
Red Book required reading for all in the military (Tsou,
1986:50).
In January of 1962 the Part Central held an
enlarged work session called a seven thousand person
meeting. This meeting was aimed at rectifying the mistakes
of The Great Leap Forward, and to promote the economy
. A
large majority at the meeting criticized Mao Zedong; but
Lin Biao who believed that his future was inextricably
linked to that of Mao gave one of the lone speeches in
support of Mao (Yan and Gao, 1996: 182). Lin Biao said at
the conference that the reason The Great Leap Forward had
not a success was because the dictates of Chairman Mao had
not been followed closely enough. After the economy started
to improve in 1963 and Mao gained back wide support Mao
looked back and remembered that Lin Biao was one of the few
who had stood by him and did not criticize him during the
Party Central meeting. This event shows how Lin Biao was a
shrewd political thinker who saw that his future was
connected with that of Mao and winning Mao's approval. By
1962 Lin Biao's chief tool at achieving this objective was
the promotion of Mao Zedong Thought (Dutt and Dutt, 1970:
63).
After May of 1961 the Liberation Army Daily
followed Lin Biao's directive and printed selection's from
the Selected Works of Mao Zedong. By May of 1964 with a
further directive from Lin Biao the general publication
department of the Liberation Army, edited and published the
Red Book accompanied by the publication of the selected
reader of the workers of Mao suggested by Lin Biao (Yan and
Gao, 1996: 183). The Red Book had an inscription on its
cover written in calligraphy by Lin Biao that read, "Study
Chairmen Mao's writings, follow his teachings, and act
accordingly" (Kraus, 1991: 109). The fact that the
inscription on the Red Book was in Lin Biao's handwriting
was significant in that it symbolized the connection
between the Red Book, Lin Biao, and the Cult of Mao. Both
of these publications were published in large quantities
and distributed among the armed forces. There now was a
fervor for the studying of works by Mao in military ranks,
illiterate soldiers were able to recite long passages from
memory and military troops studied the Red Book during
their breaks. With such a backdrop Lin Biao recognized that
the time was right for increasing his position within the
party. The cultivation of the Cult of Mao had support from
Mao Zedong and when he started the Cultural Revolution in
August of 1966 Mao saw that Lin Biao's thought education in
the military could be applied to the whole nation
(Rodzinski, 1988:96).
The period before the Cultural Revolution provides
some very important insights into the development of the
Red Book and of Lin Biao's connection to the Red Book. In
the period before August of 1966 the Red Book was not read
by those outside of the military. A graphical analysis of
pictures before 1967 shows that the Red Book was not a
widely used method of propaganda as it did not appear in
many pictures and the pictures it did appear in were of
soldiers in the PLA. Although studying Maoist thought was
important during the period prior to the Cultural
Revolution in society as a whole it was not very important.
There are several reasons: First, there was no reason to
Cultivate the Cult of Mao Zedong Thought during this time,
Mao prior to 1966 was not trying to lead any mass movements
in which he would need popular support. The Great Leap
Forward and the anti-rightist campaign's came during times
in which Mao was powerful within the party so he did not
need wide spread support outside of the central command.
Second, Mao prior to the Cultural Revolution was more
interested in promoting communist economics then ideology.
Mao promoted The Great Leap Forward which was not a
ideological campaign but instead an economic campaign to
promote industrialization (Rodzinski, 1988:74). And in the
period from 1961 to 1965 Mao was chiefly concerned with
getting the economy back on track following the disastrous
Great Leap Forward. But by 1966 the economy of China was
back on track and Mao had once more gained back the support
of the central leaders of the communist party.
The Cultural Revolution launched in 1966 lasted
depending on the author until 1971 or 1976 and was
initiated by Mao Zedong to renew the spirit of the Chinese
Revolution. Fearing that China would develop along the
lines of the Soviet model and concerned about his own place
in history, Mao threw China into turmoil in a monumental
effort to reverse what Mao saw as a rightist movement
within China.
During the 1960's tensions with Russia increased
and Mao became convinced that the Russian Revolution had
stalled and become rightist, Mao feared that China was
following the same path (Yan and Gao, 1996: 7). Mao
theorized that to keep China from becoming social
stratified and elitist the process of continuos revolution
had to be initiated by the government. To Mao the Cultural
Revolution that he initiated had four goals: to replace
party members with leaders more faithful to his thinking;
to reenergize the Chinese Communist party and Purge the
rightists; to provide China's youth with a revolutionary
experience; and to change society such that specific
systems such as education, healthcare, and cultural systems
such as opera and music became less elitist (Mitchell and
Kua, 1975: 465).
Mao launched the Cultural Revolution at the
Eleventh Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee in August
1966. In the following weeks Mao shut down the schools in
order to allow young people to take part in the revolution
(Mitchell and Kua, 1975: xii). Mao also established a
national mobilization of the countries youth. They were
organized into Red Guard groups and encouraged to attack
all tradition values, symbols, and leaders who were
rightist or bourgeois. Mao believed that the attacks would
both provide the youth with a revolutionary experience thus
continuing the cycle of continuos revolution and they would
strengthen the party by removing the rightist elements. Mao
also saw the Cultural Revolution as a way to strengthen his
own political base because the Red Guards acted to remove
all who opposed Mao Zedong. The movement quickly escalated;
intellectuals party officials, teachers, and the elderly
were both physically attacked and verbally abused made to
wear dunce caps in the streets and to denounce themselves.
Temples, restaurants, and all signs of old values were
ransacked by the Red Guard youths. The Cultural revolution
put middle school and high school students in charge of the
nation and like a version of Lord of the Flies the nation
fell into anarchy and paralysis
The Cultural Revolution also lead to changes
within the structure of the communist party. Before the
Cultural Revolution Liu Shaoqi was Mao Zedong's designated
successor, but during the early stages of the Cultural
Revolution Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping and many others who Mao
deemed as being rightists were removed from the party. In
their place Mao installed those who had been most loyal to
him in the past; one of those men was Lin Biao (Dutt and
Dutt, 1970: 80).
Mao rightly saw that the best way to provide both
direction for the Red Guards and to make himself immune
from their attacks upon party official would be to foster a
personality Cult. Thus under the guidance of Lin Biao who
after Liu Shaoqi was removed; become the successor to Mao
Lin Biao helped foster a personality Cult for Mao. Lin Biao
used the same types of techniques that he used in the army
to help foster this Cult of Mao. Lin Biao used the same
organization to disseminate propaganda that he had devised
for the Army. Lin Biao continued to head the army till his
death in 1971 but his role was expanded as he became the
high priest of the Cult of Mao (Yan and Gao, 1996: 334).
The reading of the Red Book was encouraged by both Mao,
party directives written by Lin Biao, Chen Boda, and Kang
Sheng who during the Cultural Revolution became Mao's
closest advisors. All three of these advisors worked
tirelessly to promote the Cult of Mao because they saw it
as their way to curry favor with Mao Zedong and their
efforts met with whole hearted approval. Mao in an
interview near the end of the Cultural Revolution commented
that Krushchev could have avoided loosing his power if he
had created an appropriate Cult for himself (Yan and Gao,
1996: 313).
Mao relied on the power of propaganda to enlarge
his Cult during the Cultural Revolution. The Red Book
became his most powerful weapon. Quotations from the Red
Book replaced the usual front page section entitled today's
important news in the People's Daily. Various other
newspapers and journals increased their coverage of Mao
Zedong printing his speeches, pictures, and quotes. Some
even retold stories of his days fighting the Japanese and
the KMT (Yan and Gao, 1996: 215). The major newspapers in
June of 1966 started writing editorials and stories
encouraging the public to study the thought of Chairman Mao
by reading . On June 6 both the Liberation Army Daily and
the People's Daily simultaneously published a front page
article calling on the Chinese people to study Mao Zedong
Thought and reading Selected Works of Mao Zedong. The
headline read, "Raise high the Great Red Flag of Mao
Zedong, Carry to the end the great proletariat revolution."
(Yan and Gao, 1996: 215) It was no coincidence that the
Liberation Army Daily and the People's Daily both carried
the same story about increasing Mao Zedong thought study.
It symbolized the rise in power of Lin Biao who with the
start of the Cultural Revolution and the expulsion of Liu
Shaoqi had increased his power within the communist party.
Lin Biao's ideas of education and indoctrination into
Maoist thought had with the publishing of the story in the
People's Daily in June of 1966 moved from the army to all
of China. From this point on until he lost favor with Mao
in 1970 Lin Biao became the cheerleader of the Cult of Mao
directing the national frenzy that enveloped China with its
adoration of Mao Zedong (Dutt and Dutt, 1970: 80).
Under the leadership of Lin Biao the leading
newspapers in China printed stories urging readers to read
the works of Mao. As of yet the only books available to the
public was the four volume long Selected Works of Mao
Zedong; the Red Book had not yet become available to the
pubic. In the fall of 1966 the People's Daily published
such headlines as, 'Mao Zedong thought is the red sun
within our bosom," and stories in newspapers were filled
with such lines as, "Chairman Mao's books are not gold, but
are more precious then gold; not steel, but stronger then
steel." (Yan and Gao, 1996: 183) Pictures from this time
depicted happy Chinese citizens reading pamphlets by Mao
such as the, "Man Who Moved The Mountain." But as of yet
the number of pictures in 1966 that pictured Red Books was
limited and only included members of the armed forces. But
the stories in the newspapers and other propaganda put out
by the government such as radio broadcasts stirred up a
great fever in support of Mao and the study of Mao Zedong
Thought. On August 12 following the Eleventh Plenum of the
Eighth party congress copies of The Selected Works of Mao
Zedong were distributed at major universities before they
were shut down to prepare for the Cultural Revolution.
During the rest of 1966 newspapers reported daily on the
sale on The Selected Works of Mao Zedong. The government
lowered the price of the set of books to two yuan so that
every person could posses a copy of the Selected Works.
Sales were brisk then starting in January of 1967 Lin Biao
made Quotations From Chairman Mao available to the public.
Everyone immediately wanted to buy it. Group study sessions
of the book became common. At many Red Guard rallies during
the next several years Red Guard troops set whole pages of
the book to song (Yan and Gao, 1996: 248). Lin Biao ordered
the presses of China to print millions of copies of the Red
Book and distribute them to the public. The Chinese media
encouraged the reading of the Red Book by printing stories
extolling the virtues of those who committed the book to
memory. (Yan and Gao, 1996: 249)
Granny Liu spent days and nights studying the works of
Chairman Mao. When she forgot, she called other to teach
her. Granddaughter Yuhzen slept with her and would thus be
awakened ten times a night. Even though the granddaughter
could not sleep well, Granny Liu would say endearingly to
her, "Yuhzen, one more word you can teach granny is one
more measure of loyalty to Chairman Mao and one more bullet
for Liu Shaoqi."....Granny Liu also eagerly disseminated
Mao Zedong Thought. For more than sixty years she, had not
known how to sing. Now, learning from her daughter and
granddaughter, she sang every where....Proudly Granny Liu
said, "This old women can't really handle a tune. But what
I sing is my feeling for Chairman Mao. When I disseminate
Mao Zedong Thought, the more I sing the younger I get."
Thus from January of 1967 to Lin Biao's death and
the end of the Cultural Revolution everyone in China it
seemed wanted to be a Granny Liu; a person who worked for
the greater glory of Mao Zedong and China. The Red Book
provided the Chinese people both with a basic although
cryptic introduction to Maoist thought and it also provided
them with a connection to their leader. Lin Biao was able
to successfully indoctrinate the entire nation not just in
an idolization of Mao but also in a frenzied studying of
his quotes.
The period from 1966 to 1971 is marked by Chinese
publications filled with pictures of Chinese citizens
studying the Red Books on communes, in fields, in
classrooms, at rallies, and at ad-hoc study groups that met
from along the Pearl River in the south of China to the
plains of Tibet. The number of pictures in China
Reconstructs of people holding Mao books increased from
just a trickle prior to 1967 to almost fifty percent of all
at the Height of the Cultural Revolution. Along with this
upward trend in the number of Mao books was an increasing
number of flattering articles about Lin Biao. One article
in 1968 called him both a valiant fighter for the
revolution and a loyal follower of Mao. The irony of this
quote was probably missed by most readers at the time but
looking back it was Lin Biao who created the Cult of Mao to
further his own goals within the communist party and not
Lin Biao's goals of helping Mao. The percentage of pictures
of the Red Book and articles about Lin Biao during this
time reflected not just the frenzy over the Cult of Mao in
China but also the power of Lin Biao it was through his
work that the Red Book became a talisman for the Chinese
people.
Chinese citizens read the Red Book because of the
appeal and aura that surrounded it. The Red Book connected
individual Chinese citizens with their leader. It enabled
the average citizen who would never meet Mao in their
lifetime to possess a piece of him and his words. During
the Cultural Revolution Mao became a god in the eyes of the
Chinese people no criticism of him could be tolerated, nor
the slightest deviation from his instruction permitted.
Every word he uttered was taken as truth he became in
effect a living Buddha, and like Buddha his writings became
like sutra's. His quotes like passages from the sutra's
were memorized, chanted, set to song, and reproduced on
billboards and on the beams of houses. (Rodzinski,
1988:121) The Red Book became during the Cultural
Revolution a holy sutra carried by every citizen everywhere
and studied endlessly. Some would say that the Red Book
became the bible of the Cultural Revolution but this theory
has several flaws. First, if this is true then the Mao
would be the Jesus Christ of his time, but Mao unlike Jesus
reached unquestioned power during his lifetime and unlike
Jesus had no one above him; Mao was god not the son of god
in China. Second, the Red Book is not parallel to the bible
in its symbolism. The bible is not committed to memory by
most Christians unlike the sutras which Buddhists learn
long passages from. Mao followed in the footsteps of the
Buddhist framework of religious organization. Under the
Cultural Revolution Buddhism and Confucianism were wiped
out, Red Guards destroyed Buddhist temples and tortured
monks; but in this religious vacuum Mao placed himself as
Buddha and his writings as Sutra's.
The Red Book during the Cultural Revolution
provided a semblance of structure and unity in the chaos of
the time. Even though rival Red Guard factions frequently
clashed and the nation was thrown into turmoil the Red Book
acted as a bond between the Chinese; they were all
followers of Mao even as their nation dissolved into
anarchy. The Red Book provided a framework in which for
people to criticize others and also a bond between
citizens, the party, Red Guards, and Mao. The study of the
Red Book also provided a de-facto type of education while
the schools were shut down. People learned to read in study
groups while learning the Red Book's quotes. In these ways
the Red Book was valuable in that it created a type of
order out of the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.
One of the fascinating things about the Red Book
was that nearly ever Chinese citizen possessed one but only
a few of them could read it. This was one of the things
that made the Red Book so popular was that it created with
the idea that the Chinese populace was educated while many
remained illiterate. This was one of the reason study
groups were formed; so that a reader could read the Red
Book to a group of illiterate peasants who would then
memorize long passages so that they could feign literacy.
In many places all other books but those by Chairman Mao
were banned. Reading in Chinese society was held in high
esteem even under communism and the idea of each citizen
being a scholar was an appealing idea to both the peasants
and served the purposes of Lin Biao who saw that the more
widely the Cult of Mao and Mao Zedong Thought was spread
the more his power would increase.
But by 1970 the end of the Cultural Revolution had
begun. Many within the party believed the Cultural
Revolution had gone to far, destroyed to much, and were
scared that they would become the next party member to be
openly criticized by Red Guards. Lin Biao's success in
promoting the teachings of Mao made him the successor to
Mao starting in August of 1966 but his role was formalized
in at the Ninth Party Congress convened in April of 1969
(Ming-Le, 1983: 49). After this Lin Biao tightened the grip
of the military on Chinese Society. Lin Biao maneuvered to
take advantage of the Sino-Soviet Border clashes in the
spring of 1969 to declare martial law. Lin Biao quickly
encountered opposition to his growing power. Mao himself
became concerned about what he saw as a successor to eager
to assume power, and starting in the fall of 1970 Mao
maneuvered to limit the power of Lin Biao (Ming-Le, 1983:
47-52).
In August of 1970 a national conference was held
called the Second Plenum which was a conference of people
chosen at the 1969 national conference to decide national
policy. The Second Plenum was held in Lushan and chaired by
Mao Zedong. At this conference Lin Biao maneuvered to make
himself president of the republic. His clique of followers
which included Chen Boda circulated such statements as,
"Lin Biao is an uncommon genius he is one of the great
teachers like Marx, and Lenin and Mao" (Ming-Le, 1983: 50)
Lin Biao saw that holding the office of the presidency
which became vacant after the death Liu Shaoqi in 1969 was
a tool by which he could assume control over China and
fulfill his lifetime ambition. On August 25, 1970 Mao
convened the conference and upon hearing of Lin Biao's plan
destroyed it in a matter of two days. Mao did this in three
ways. First, he sentenced Chen Boda to self-examination,
this was a clear warning to Lin Biao to stop his grab for
power. Second, Mao threatened the members of the conference
by saying that he would leave if they brought up the issue
of the presidency. Third, Mao wrote in a public letter
called, "Some Views of Mine," a criticism of those who
claim but do not really understand Marxism. This letter was
clearly speaking about Lin Biao although it did not say so
directly. The conference at Lushan was a turning point for
Lin Biao is symbolized his fall from the graces of Mao
because of what Mao perceived as his impatience to become
president. Mao was able to effectively eliminate Lin Biao
as a threat by joining forces with Zhou Enlai and by
isolating Lin Biao's assistant Chen Boda. (Yan and Gao,
1996: 309) By January of 1971 Lin Biao was no longer in
Mao's clique of advisors and Mao further distanced himself
from Lin Biao and his work at creating a cult of Mao by
saying in December of 1970 that he felt the cult created
around him had grown to large (Yan and Gao, 1996: 313),
what happened between then and Lin Biao's death in
September of the year is the object of much speculation.
The official Chinese government's story is that Lin Biao
died on September 13, 1971, in an airplane crash in
Mongolia as he was fleeing to the Soviet Union after having
plotted unsuccessfully to overthrow Mao. According to this
account during the whole of 1971 Lin Biao was organizing a
coup among military officers. This account is very much in
doubt and their is much speculation that Lin Biao after
falling out of favor with the party leadership was
assassinated by communist party (Ming-Le, 1983:228). This
has been reinforced by Mongolian reports in 1990 that say
that Lin Biao a was not on the plane that crashed in 1971.
The years of 1970 to 1971 were also marked by the
winding down of the Cultural Revolution as schools were
reopened and Red Guard groups disbanded. It is a historic
irony that Lin Biao who gave Mao so much power by building
up his cult following was in the end a victim of the power
that he created for Mao when he tried to gain control of
the presidency in 1970. The death of Lin Biao in 1971
brought to China a silent liberation from the Cult of Mao.
The people discovered that the person that they had for so
long recognized as the high priest of the Maoist Cult and
Mao's most loyal supporter was in fact a Janus faced person
who was in fact planning to overthrow Mao. Lin Biao's
two-faced appearance awakened in the Chinese public a
distrust in politics and a feeling of deception in the Cult
of Mao. The death of Lin Biao marked the end of the mass
rallies in Tianamen Square and the end of the Cultural
Revolution's crazed delirium (Yan and Gao, 1996: 335).
The fall of Lin Biao is closely connected with the
end of the Red Book. After Lin Biao fell from the inner
circle of Mao newspapers stopped publishing accounts of Lin
Biao's genius and stopped also publishing pictures of the
Red Book. A graphical analysis of pictures during this
period shows a sharp decline in the number of pictures of
the Red Book following December of 1970. This closely
correlates with the demise of Lin Biao as a member of Mao's
inner circle. By the time Lin Biao died in September of
1971 barely any pictures of Lin Biao's Red Book were
published in place of pictures of the Red Book and slogans
urging education in Mao Zedong Thought; were tractors,
workers in factors, and farmers plowing fields. All around
China images of Lin Biao and his calligraphy were destroyed
(Kraus, 1991: 111) On of the most telling pictures is that
of the Albanian Nation Basketball team in 1972 being
received by Mao in Beijing the accompanying story says that
the Albanians received Chinese handicrafts from their
hosts. In a nearly identical article published in 1967 the
Albanian Basketball team is pictured meeting Chairman Mao
and Lin Biao and the accompanying story says they received
copies of the Red Book translated into Albanian. These two
articles show the tremendous transformation that took place
in China during the intervening years between the articles.
The rise and fall of Lin Biao is inextricably
connected with the rise and fall of his Red Book. When Lin
Biao first became head of the army in 1959 he saw that if
he wanted to rise in power he could do this only by
currying favor with Mao Zedong; to this end he promoted Mao
Zedong Thought within the army and later throughout China.
Lin Biao built up the Cult of Mao Zedong Thought through a
combination of playing on the needs of the Chinese people
during a time of chaos by publishing the Red Book and by
extolling the virtues of memorizing Mao's quotes in
newspapers. The story of Lin Biao is the fascinating story
of a man who rode the production of propaganda to great
heights but his story also provides an insight into
propaganda and what it tells us about China. Pictures in
China Reconstructs from 1966 to 1974 show that propaganda
was not just a tool of the Communist party but also a
reflection of internal power struggles within the party
during the Cultural Revolution. When Lin Biao gained power
so did the number of images of the Red Book and when Lin
Biao lost power the number of images of his Red Book
dropped to nearly zero. Propaganda during the Cultural
Revolution was not just a way for the communist party to
control the people but it also was a reflection of
individuals power within the party. The history of Lin Biao
meteoric rise and demise is told not only in the history
books but also in ascent and fall of his most prized piece
of propaganda the Red Book.
References:
Dutt, Gargi and Dutt, V.P. (1970) China's Cultural
Revolution. India: National Printing Works.
Kraus, Richard (1991). Brushes With Power: Modern Politics
and the Chinese Art of Calligraphy. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Kua, Michael (1975). The Lin Piao Affair. New York:
International Arts and Sciences Press.
Ming-Le, Yao (1983). The Conspiracy and Murder of Mao's
Heir. London: Collins.
Rodzinski, Witold. (1988). The People's Republic of China:
A Concise Political History. New York: The Free Press.
Tsou, Tang. (1986). The Cultural Revolution and Post-Mao
Reforms. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Yan, Jiaqi and Gao, Gao. (1996). The Turbulent Decade: A
History of the Cultural Revolution. Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press.
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