Chapter 106 The intellectuals’ ideological reform movement 1951- 1952

Journalist: “As soon as you were liberated, you focused on the reformation of intellectuals, right?”

Mao: “It is the intellectuals who speak of independence and freedom, and I must reform them into submission. on September 29, 1951, Zhou accordance Enlai, within my instructions, gave a report entitled “On the Reformation of Intellectuals” to more than 3,000 teachers in 20 colleges and universities at a study session for teachers in Beijing and Tianjin, in which Zhou combined his own experience of reforming his mind and asked intellectuals to stand He asked intellectuals to stand on the position of the people and then, after study and practice, to stand on the position of the working class. The so-called working-class stand is actually my stand, and I represent the working class.

On October 23, 1951, I said at a meeting of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, ‘Ideological reform, first of all, the ideological reform of all kinds of intellectuals, is one of the important conditions for the complete realization of democratic reform and the implementation of industrialization in our country.’ On the same day, the People’s Daily published ‘Seriously launching the ideological reformation movement of teachers in higher education. The ideological reformation movement came to a climax.’”

Journalist: “Who all has to be reformed? And clean up?”

Mao: “Yes. Zhou Enlai, according to my instructions, stipulated that the ideological reformation campaign started with political study and gradually developed into organizational purging. Intellectuals who had studied abroad were forced to admit to being ‘perpetrators of imperialist cultural aggression,’ while writers were ordered to study my ‘Speeches at the Yan’an Literary and Artistic Symposium’ and engage in self-criticism. This included holding criticism sessions and struggle meetings.”

Journalist: “Oh, reformation to have critique sessions struggle sessions?”

Mao: “Of course, the reform must be forced. on November 30, 1951, the central government issued ‘instructions for ideological reform and organizational cleanup in schools,’ calling for a general ideological reform among all university, middle and elementary school staff, and high school students and above, and for an accounting of history campaign to clean up opposition elements among university, middle and elementary school staff, and specialist students and above.

The ideological reformation was soon transformed into an ideological bath. On January 4, 1952, the Central Committee issued a directive to ‘immediately mobilize the masses to carry out the ‘Three Anti’s’ struggle,’ followed by articles by Yu Guangyuan, Xu Liqun and Ai Siqi, who ‘bombarded’ the bourgeois ideology. With the ‘Three Anti’s’ campaign, the whole country criticized and purged the bourgeois ideology.”

Journalist: “You talk about the ideological bath, that is, brainwashing, right?”

Mao: “Different expressions, same meaning. It is better to say that it is easy to take a shower. When teachers were forced to ‘line up for a bath’ during the campaign, the leaders of the Ministry of Education, in the spirit of my instructions, said: ‘Try to scald these people with hot water, as long as they do not die. Let them make reviews again and again in general meetings and mini-meetings, expose their misdeeds by radio and large-character posters, mobilize and young party members to give these people a ‘back rub.’ In the review meeting can not pass, and then follow the old teachers home, observe their words and actions, as long as there is a word and a half does not match, the next day in the review meeting, and then add new charges.’”

Journalist: “Wow, are you going to use hot water to scald them? As long as they don’t die from it, it’s fine?”

Mao: “Warm water does not hurt, doesn’t work. Can you use warm water to kill a pig? By the end of the campaign in the fall of 1952, 91% of the country’s higher education staff, 80% of college students, were subjected to ‘ideological bathing.’ The so-called ideological bath made intellectuals lose their independence. The ideological reform, together with the organizational purge, dismantled the independence of the intellectuals, whether they belonged voluntarily or were forced to attach themselves, and the performance of the intellectuals in the movement showed that the intellectuals were becoming slaves to my ideological authority, and their spiritual freedom and independent character were fading. The spirit of independence was basically destroyed. Although they may not be truly transformed, this reform movement has strengthened my control over the field of culture and education.”

Journalist: “You want intellectuals to become slaves of your authority? Control them?”

Mao: “Yes. In the framework of my emphasis on ‘class struggle,’ intellectuals were branded as class, and they came from the petty bourgeoisie, the bourgeoisie or the landlord class. They had been educated by imperialism, the bought bourgeoisie and feudalism. I think their minds are full of toxins, their souls are unhealthy, some are even reactionary. It is urgent to educate them with Marxism-Leninism and my ideas, to reform them, to make them move their asses from the old chairs to the proletarian side, to establish a view of life in the service of the Communist Party. In this framework, intellectuals have to undergo ideological reform because of their ‘unhealthy souls.’”

Journalist: “You first labeled the intellectuals as unhealthy and reactionary in their souls, and then asked their asses to sit on you?”

Mao: “Yes, the ideological reform movement, for the nationwide restructuring of faculties, which began in the fall of 1952, cleared the ideological obstacles. The ideological reform movement achieved its intended purpose, and some intellectuals’ dissatisfaction and opposition to the movement were temporarily suppressed, but four years later, under the more relaxed political atmosphere of ‘“a hundred flowers blooming and a hundred schools of thought contending,’ they strongly erupted and became the ‘Rectification Movement.’ It became the origin of the shift from the ‘Rectification Movement’ to the ‘Anti-Rightist Movement.’”