The Origins of the Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution was ideological and strongly political. It was developed by Mao Zedong to combat the reemergence of old patterns of bureaucratic arrogance and careerism, convinced that drastic measures were necessary to prevent the entrenchment of new vested interests in state and party. It was utopian in its aims, but disastrous in its results. While many people do not see any origins or causes to the Cultural Revolution, some historians do. One Historian felt that the League of Nations criticizing China's education system was one cause of the Cultural Revolution. She also thought that communism in the Soviet Union was a cause of the Cultural Revolution. The Soviet Union was the first socialist nation in the world and was a country that was well liked in China. In those days as the Republic was established, a slogan such as "Today of the Soviet Union is the tomorrow of China" was often displayed.
Chinese Stamp, 1950. Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong ...
A poster from the Cultural Revolution, featuring a...
StalinAnother historian felt that the failure of the Great Leap Forward caused Mao to put forth the Cultural Revolution. A third historian felt that it was a power struggle that set for the Cultural Revolution.
Suzanne Pepper mentions that one cause of the Cultural Revolution was the League of Nations. The new Chinese government, established in the late 1920s by the Nationalist Party, invited the League of Nations to help prepare a plan for comprehensive education reform. This report was very critical of China. It defined China's modern schools as "independent organisms modeled on the forms and ideology of private education instead of being included in an organized system of public education". They blamed this weakness on China's lack of public spirit and social organization along with the elitism in the school system. This weakness that...