Cleansing the Class Ranks (
Chinese
Chinese may refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China.
**'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
: 清理阶级队伍), or Cleansing of Class Ranks Campaigns, was a
Maoist
Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
campaign during China's
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
.
The primary purpose of the movement was to eliminate "class enemies who have sneaked into the revolutionary organization",
namely "traitors, spies,
capitalist roader
In Maoism, a capitalist roader is a person or group who demonstrates a marked tendency to bow to pressure from bourgeois forces and subsequently attempts to pull the Chinese Communist Revolution in a capitalist direction. If allowed to do so, thes ...
s,
counter-revolutionaries
A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution has occurred, in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "c ...
and members of the
Five Black Categories
The "Five Black Categories" () were classifications of political identity and social status in History of the People's Republic of China#Mao era (1949–1976), Mao era (1949–1976) of the People's Republic of China, especially during the Chinese C ...
".
The campaign particularly targeted purported supporters of
Liu Shaoqi
Liu Shaoqi ( ; 24 November 189812 November 1969) was a Chinese revolutionary and politician. He was the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1954 to 1959, first-ranking Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communis ...
, who were referred to as "stubborn bourgeois power holders".
On May 13, 1968,
Yao Wenyuan
Yao Wenyuan (January 12, 1931 – December 23, 2005) was a Chinese literary critic, politician, and member of the Gang of Four during China's Cultural Revolution.
Biography
Yao Wenyuan was born in Zhuji, Zhejiang, to an intellectual famil ...
submitted a document ("《北京新华印刷厂军管会发动群众开展对敌斗争的经验》", ''The experience of the Military Management Committee of Beijing Xinhua Printing Factory in mobilizing the masses to carry out the struggle against the enemy'') to
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
, in which Yao wrote "this document summarizes some of the policies in cleansing the class ranks".
On May 19, Mao commented on the document, "Wenyuan: I suggest nationwide circulation and publication of this document; it is the best-written piece among all relevant files I have seen."
As a result, the Cleansing the Class Ranks campaign was launched on May 25, 1968.
The campaign targeted many rebels from the earlier populist phase of the Cultural Revolution.
They were not ideologically homogeneous, as well as being staffed by many people who turned out to be incompetent or opportunistic, and so attracted the hostility of
Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing (March 191414 May 1991), also known as Madame Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, actress, and political figure. She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Communis ...
and others in her radical faction who drove forward the Cleansing the Class Ranks campaign.
Systematic torture, trial by suspicion, conviction by forced confessions, massacres and other forms of mass killings all took place during the Cleansing.
Around 30 million people are estimated to have been persecuted, with an estimated death toll of 0.5-1.5 million.
After the Cultural Revolution, the
Chinese Communist Party
The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
as well as the Chinese government admitted that many of the cases in the Cleansing movement were "unjust, false, mistaken" cases.
See also
*
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
*
List of campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party
This is a list of political campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the founding of the party in 1921, in the aftermath of World War I.
List of campaigns
See also
* History of China
* History of the Republic of China
* History ...
*
Great Purge
The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
*
Inner Mongolia incident
The Inner Mongolia incident, or the Inner Mongolia People's Revolutionary Party purge incident (), was a massive political purge which occurred during the Cultural Revolution in Inner Mongolia. The purge was supported by the Central Committee ...
References
{{Mao Zedong
Cultural Revolution
1968 in China
Campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party