Popular Radicalization of the Cultural Revolution in Hunan, 1967-68

Speaker: Yiching Wu, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Michigan Society of Fellows, University of Michigan CHINA BROWN BAG SERIES, SPRING 2009 Though set in motion from the above, the mass movement of the Cultural Revolution quickly took on a life of its own. While all the actors were constrained by the direction defined by the Maoist doctrine, the popular forces unleashed by Mao's call to rebel often sharply contested the official ideology and broadened the struggles considerably. This talk will investigate the dynamics of mass movement in Hunan during 1967-68. Based on archival and field research, the paper will focus on the genesis, development, and eventual suppression of Shengwulian (the Hunan Provincial Proletarian Revolutionary Alliance), which was one of the most prominent cases challenging the national trends toward restoring the Party apparatus. The Shengwulian case signaled the highly significant political and ideological cleavages that were in the making in the Cultural Revolution. Special emphasis will also be placed on the various social groups and interests which were active at such a radicalizing moment.