If you were a good boss, who maybe was in charge of some small town's only mill or granary or whatever, everyone in that small town surely knew you were good". because that's how small towns are they know your personal business. And such good bosses kept their jobs (and kept in line). But if you were a tuhuangdi who siphoned off the profits to buy presents to seduce married women, everyone in that small town already knew it because that's how small towns are and you'd be exposed and publicly shamed. Public shaming is an Asian thing, perhaps, but I certainly see it as just punishment. I note that Han does not record that any such person died as punishment in Jimo County.
Han relates how workers and farmers joined the Rebel Faction out of dissatisfaction with local Party leaders. These Rebel Faction Red Guards (associations) were supported by the left-wingers in the Chinese Socialist Democratic System (Mao and those who thought like him), whereas the Loyalist Faction Red Guards (organizations) were the status quo-preserving establishment. All were Red Guards, though.
The Rebel Faction Red Guards were joined by idealistic students, and now the two sides began to really fight it out against the Loyalist Faction Red Guards. Many might assume that the army tipped the balance, but that's not the case:
"The army was called upon to support the revolutionary leftists by the center. But since there was no concrete criterion for a revolutionary leftist, it was really up to the soldiers in the fields to decide who they wanted to support."
Even though Mao, the center, and the left called for the army to support the Rebel Faction Red Guards, Han reveals yet another democratic bonafide of the CR: the army was not manipulated for political reasons, but was allowed to freely choose their own side. Therefore, if the right wing in China's socialist spectrum was overwhelmed in the CR decade, and if the army did not intervene to prop them up, the only reason is because many in the People's Liberation Army were genuine leftists themselves, i.e. democracy prevailed.
When the dust cleared, the Red Guards (Rebel Faction) beat the Red Guards (Loyalist Faction)
As expected, in the early years of the CR the Rebel Faction Red Guards initially faced much local official persecution for denouncing people like Police Chiefs for poor performance, capitalist-roading and abuse of authority. People talk about the CR as if there was no give-and-take of abuse, imprisonment and mistreatment, but of course the Loyalist Faction had many levers to pull and obstacles to throw up despite the opposition of Mao way over in the capital.
So when we talk about the violent excesses of the CR, we must keep in mind that the CR's victors had to overcome much initial official repression. Revolutionary payback is usually not a bouquet of flowers with a thank-you card.
But the primary reason there was so much anger was likely because prior to the CR there simply, --were no regular channels for ordinary villagers to air their opinions and grievances against the Party authorities." It's not that Chinese Socialism had failed, but that equality was not universal due to a clear urban/rural divide. The CR was essentially a rural explosion which demanded that equality. It is not for nothing the very first big character poster the Chinese version of a free press back then, and that is no exaggeration at all attacked the educational inequalities at China's top university and demanded that the doors be opened wider to rural students. The Yellow Vests are doing the same" but less coherently, which should be expected Westerners are not as intellectually politically advanced & experienced as the Chinese in 1964.
The Yellow Vests are essentially demanding a Cultural Revolution
In the end, the CR was about demanding that second pillar of Marxism redistribution of power for rural areas; the CR was China dealing with it's rural/urban divide, whereas the West is only starting to come to grips with their divide with Brexit, the Yellow Vests, the "basket of deplorables", etc.
"Some villagers say that before the Cultural Revolution villagers felt shorter before party leaders, and always nodded to them first when they met on the street. After the Cultural Revolution ordinary villagers no longer felt diminished before the village leaders and such leaders often greeted ordinary villagers first when they met on the street."
Such "who greets whom first" etiquette is a classic small-town concern, LOL.
But it is a real concern, and public servants simply must address public concerns that is their primary job. Public servants who expect to be feted like social superiors are clearly not "of" or "for the People".
We can see why the Western 1% is so fearful of a CR occurring locally capitalism is all about venerating the "Great Man", whom we should be thanking for giving us the opportunity to work for peanuts.
The CR is supposed to be so bloody, but Han does not list any deaths in Jimo County as a result of CR violence. Han says with only a few exceptions the corrupt party leaders were rehabilitated. Heck, the CCP allowed Pu Yi, "the Last Emperor" to be rehabilitated and live his life out in peace, so why not the local emperors? It is capitalist legal systems which prioritize useless and unequal punishment over rehabilitation, not socialist systems.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
