Oriental Studies (Dec 2020)
From the Policy of ‘Four Purges’ to the Creation of Revolutionary Committees in Hulunbuir: Reconstructing the Beginnings of China’s Cultural Revolution
Abstract
Introduction. Peculiarities of the ‘Cultural Revolution’ in China’s national regions remain a poorly studied issue in modern Oriental studies. In this regard, Hulunbuir league of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region had been a strategically important and geopolitically significant region of the country. This territory bordered on the Mongolian People’s Republic and the USSR, therefore the central government of China considered its population potentially dangerous and marginal. The People’s Revolutionary Party of Inner Mongolia had two party factions in Hulunbuir league: the ‘unification’ faction, and the ‘justice’ one. The Maoists viewed the ‘Mongol Unification’ faction of the People’s Revolutionary Party of Inner Mongolia as a particularly dangerous, separatist trend. Goals. The paper aims to examine the political events and facts that took place in Hulunbuir league in 1965–1968. Objectives. Chronologically, the first objective is to examine the ideological and political campaigns —struggle against the ‘Four Olds’, and the ‘Four Purges’ — as a prehistory to the ‘Cultural Revolution’. The second objective is to analyze the cardinal changes that took place in the leadership of the party committee and local authorities in 1966–1968. The third problem studied deals with repressive activities of the Red Guards and Zaofan in Hulunbuir league, their division into two fighting camps. The fourth objective is to examine the creation of the aimag revolutionary committee and its activities in 1968. Materials. The work analyzes three collections of official documents published in the PRC. The information thereof is supplemented with materials from works by Russian and foreign authors. The article provides a comparative analysis of events and facts, translates some terms from Mongolian and Chinese. Results. The introducing part the paper examines a prehistory of the ‘Cultural Revolution’, the ideological and political campaigns. Its main part studies the events of the ‘Cultural Revolution’ in the region. In July of 1966, a special working group arrived in Hailar on behalf of the CPC Northern Bureau. Members of this group were cadre Party workers from Hubei and Shanxi provinces. In September of 1966, Party Committee Secretary of Hulunbuir league Qi Junshan and Deputy Secretary Zhargal were dismissed from their posts. Red Guards appeared in Hulunbuir in August of 1966 and began organizing ‘struggle meetings’. They actively recruited local Mongolian youth. In 1967, the Red Guards in Hulunbuir split into two opposing factions. They were confronting each other and for a while forgot about ‘class enemies’. Activities of the Red Guards were out of control of the regional authorities, and the situation needed stabilization. In March of 1967, the State Council and the Central Military Commission of the People’s Republic of China decided to create a military council in Hulunbuir league, also referred to as ‘the first line to contain the Revolution and stimulate production’. On December 20, 1967, a revolutionary committee was formed in Hailar. In March of 1968, Shangmin, a loyal follower of Mao Zedong, became the leader of the revolutionary committee. Making false accusations, he intensified repressions against members of the ‘Mongol Unification’ faction. Conclusions. Political events in Hulunbuir league in 1965–1968 were directly related to the situation in the whole autonomous region and country. Repressions against members of the ‘Mongol Unification’ faction were a distinctive feature of the repressive policy in the region. Still, the appointments of cadre Party workers from central provinces are a poorly understood issue. So, the ‘Cultural Revolution’ in this territory of Inner Mongolia obviously has local features that require further scientific research.
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