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If you still want your Mao memorabilia, you better hurry down to Tiananmen Square, Beijing, while you still have the chance.
In China, the State Council is somewhat comparable to the Cabinet. Headed by the Prime Minister and consisting of the heads of the various Ministries (Defense, Commerce, Education, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Justice, Civil Affairs, State Security, Public Security and so on), it handles the day-to-day running of the country while formulating economic policy.
Its operational procedures are described in a document, conveniently titled "Working Procedures for the State Council". On March 18, an updated version of that document was published, and it has a couple of changes.
First off, the State Council now has to "report any major decisions, major events and important situations" to the Central Committee "in a timely manner." Previous edition sentences like "administration according to law, seeking truth from facts, democracy, openness, pragmatism and integrity" have been scrapped, as has the requirement for the State Council "to correct illegal or inappropriate administrative actions", or to "guide and supervise" the bureaucracy. In other words, its wings have been seriously clipped.
Secondly, any and all references to Marxism/Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, the thought of Deng Xiaoping and the ideologies of former presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao are now verboten. Only references to Xi Jinping Thought are allowed, as that is "the essence of Chinese culture and the spirit of the times".
To drive the point home, the Central Committee of the CCP launched another nationwide disciplinary campaign among its 96 million members.
This round will check them for loyalty to supreme leader Xi Jinping, weeding out "black sheep" and "two-faced" officials.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Sunday April 02, @08:43PM (7 children)
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution [wikipedia.org] )
Liu Shaoqi: "...He was Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee from 1954 to 1959, First Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from 1956 to 1966 and Chairman of the People's Republic of China, the de jure head of state, from 1959 to 1968, during which he implemented policies of economic reconstruction in China..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Shaoqi [wikipedia.org]
Deng Xiaoping: "...under Chairman Mao Zedong and Vice Premier under Premier Zhou Enlai in the 1950s, Deng presided over the Anti-Rightist Campaign launched by Mao and became instrumental in China's economic reconstruction following the disastrous Great Leap Forward (1958–1960). However, his right-leaning political stance and economic policies eventually caused him to fall out of favor with Mao, and he was purged twice during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Following Mao's death in September 1976, Deng outmaneuvered the late chairman's chosen successor Hua Guofeng and became China's de facto paramount leader in December 1978..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping [wikipedia.org]
Peng Dehuai: "...China's Defense Minister from 1954 to 1959...Peng became critical of Mao's leadership. The rivalry between Peng and Mao culminated in an open confrontation between the two at the 1959 Lushan Conference. Mao won this confrontation, labeled Peng as a leader of an "anti-Party clique", and purged Peng from all influential positions for the rest of his life...Peng lived in virtual obscurity until 1965, when the reformers Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping supported Peng's limited return to government, developing military industries in Southwest China. In 1966, following the advent of the Cultural Revolution, Peng was arrested by Red Guards. From 1966–1970, radical factions within the Communist Party, led by Lin Biao and Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, singled out Peng for national persecution..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peng_Dehuai [wikipedia.org]
He Long: "...one of the ten marshals of the People's Liberation Army...served as China's vice premier. He did not support Mao Zedong's attempts to purge Peng Dehuai in 1959 and attempted to rehabilitate Peng. After the Cultural Revolution was declared in 1966, he was one of the first leaders of the PLA to be purged. He died in 1969 when a glucose injection provided by his jailers complicated his untreated diabetes..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Long [wikipedia.org]
There's thousands more lower ranking and/or local officials but the language barrier and the censorship are in the way. Regardless, the ranks were purged and the power structures shifted towards Mao.
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday April 02, @10:22PM (6 children)
Which isn't saying much since he was already in charge and the structure of the Chinese government didn't change a bit. Purges aren't revolution in themselves.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Monday April 03, @12:27AM (5 children)
Both Hitler and Caesar were similarly in charge and the structure of the governments didn't change much after they took over.
Also, the CCP changed a LOT during the those years. For instance, the Central Committee was more or less disabled in 66' as one of the first moves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Committee_of_the_Chinese_Communist_Party [wikipedia.org]
There were also a few preparatory moves like the new 1954 constitution... And then there's the Red Guards being put together and broken apart (on paper) in a very short span of time... The legal, social and personal changes were all intermixed like you'd expect from a revolution.
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday April 03, @02:09AM (4 children)
Mao took over in 1935 [wikipedia.org].
The Cultural Revolution started in 1966.
And it's silly to insist that the structure of government didn't greatly change in the transitions from Roman Republic to Roman Empire or Wiemar Republic to Third Reich. Those changed who was in control of the society as well as the goals of the society. The Wiemar Republic transition was particularly abrupt and radical as Germany went from a peaceful relatively democratic neighbor overnight to a fascist aggressor and with a decade to a superpower that was at war over the entire world.
Keep in mind that Nazi Germany had similar purges of leadership (for example, following the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler, about 5000 people were executed). Should we consider each of those a revolution? Similarly, imperial Rome routinely had wars fought over succession? Are those revolutions?
And then reinstated in 1969 with normal operation after Mao's death (apparently by 1978).
(Score: 1) by visiblink on Monday April 03, @02:53AM (1 child)
You know that he was shunted aside after the Great Leap Forward, right?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday April 03, @11:12AM
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Monday April 03, @09:25AM (1 child)
Yes. All those instances are revolutions because the change of power itself was sudden and forceful. Similarly, the French Revolution lasted for decades to cement (the ol' Rule of Terror) and it also took Adams a decade to put down the first constitution from when Washington took office and the articles of confederation started getting through.
As mentioned in another post, Mao was ousted from office after he failed in the Great Leap forward so he rallied up his public support to forcefully purge his opponents and get him back into office and pass the laws necessary to keep him there for life.
In fact, the Great Leap Forward itself was a revolution as well as the various rival revolutions in China following 69'. Different historians like to break it apart under different waves [wikipedia.org] but no one questions whether the cultural revolution itself was a revolution in and by itself since it involved a forced change in power structures.
No they weren't as clearly spelled out in the wiki article:
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Committee_of_the_Chinese_Communist_Party [wikipedia.org] )
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday April 03, @11:08AM
No they're not. Changing of power is not a revolution in itself. The system has to change as well. The Cultural Revolution didn't change the system. It's just a label for a purge.
The actual Rule of Terror lasted a year from 1793-1794 with a significant portion of the executions during a two month period in late summer of 1794. And I find it bizarre that you claim something is a revolution because it is "sudden and forceful" and then follow up with two examples that weren't sudden. I grant they were forceful, but "decades" and such is not sudden.
Mao was never ousted from office - he retained supreme power and used it in the Cultural Revolution to maintain his power. Using the term "office" is very tenuous in the first place since such concepts were ill-defined and as I note in the previous sentence, the alleged revolution just preserved the status quo of Mao on top.
None of your examples in that paragraph changed power structures and hence were not revolutions. As I noted in my post, the end result was that the 1978 system looked very much like the 1959 system with no real change.