History & Area Studies / Chinese History / Contemporary China (1949-present)

The Coming of CatastrophesourceThe Origins of the Cultural Revolution:|文化大革命的起源：浩劫的来临 大饥荒如何引爆文革

The Origins of the Cultural Revolution, Vol. 3: The Coming of the Cataclysm 1961-1966

Roderick MacFarquhar

The Origins of the Cultural Revolution: The Coming of Catastrophesource The Origins of the Cultural Revolution: The Coming of the Cataclysm 1961-1966 (Roderick MacFarquhar) This excerpt is from Volume III of Roderick MacFarquhar's *The Origins of the Cultural Revolution*, focusing on the dramatic political, economic, and ideological shifts in China on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Through detailed historical materials, the author demonstrates how Mao Zedong, employing the philosophy of class struggle, gradually tightened political control and purged what he perceived as the "party's ruling faction" in response to the disasters following the Great Leap Forward. The text emphasizes the radical shift in urban and rural policies, such as the repatriation of workers to alleviate famine, the large-scale exodus from the Guangdong border, and the socialist education campaign targeting grassroots cadres. Furthermore, through cross-national comparative analysis of authoritarian styles, the text reveals Mao Zedong's fascination with willpower and turmoil, and his deep-seated contradictions with Liu Shaoqi and other high-ranking party officials regarding disaster relief strategies. This in-depth integration of historical archives aims to demonstrate that the Cultural Revolution was not an accidental outbreak, but rather an inevitable result of a series of struggles over political lines, fanatical mindsets, and systemic upheavals.