1962: Mao decides the time has come for him to fight and so he begins a policy designed to purify the party and end the capitalist and antisocialist tendencies in the country. Called the Social Education Movement its primary emphasis was on restoring ideological purity, reinfusing revolutionary fervor into the party and government bureaucracies, and intensifying class struggle. Opposition came from the moderate element in the CCP ran by Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. Mao called on the CCP and PLA to accentuate Maoist thought as the guiding principle for the Socialist Education Movement and for all revolutionary undertakings in China. He also supported a reform movement in the schools where schooling was slated to accommodate the work schedules of communes and factories. This helped make mass education less costly and reeducated intellectuals and scholars to accept the need for their own participation in manual labor.
Loading...