Examine the role of education and propaganda in the maintenance of power in Mao’s China.

Candidates are required to consider the role of education and propaganda and how it was used to help maintain power in China during Mao’s rule.

Indicative content

Education

• Literacy campaigns were carried out in the early years of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to enable the population to read party propaganda and to become familiar with party ideology.
• Mao’s personality cult was strongly linked to his writings and, during the Cultural Revolution, to the “Thoughts of Chairman Mao”. Familiarity with his writing and “thoughts” was an important aspect of political and social control.
• Children were exposed to Maoist teachings throughout their education and this was intended to make them devotees of Mao and so impose conformity of ideology; The Young Pioneer youth movement ensured that children from primary school onwards were familiar with Mao’s teaching.
• The Red Guards were the vanguard of the Cultural Revolution, but it may be argued that this was the antithesis of education as Mao was very critical of how it had remained the preserve of the bourgeoisie.
• Candidates may argue that Mao took charge of education at this time and turned it into his own preserve. This could then be linked to politics as it assisted Mao to recover his authority over the state and so to maintain power following the failure of the Great Leap Forward.

Propaganda

• The use of popular campaigns involved the whole population in carrying out policies aimed at ending corruption (3-Antis and 5-Antis), this gave a sense of everyone being part of the revolution and affirmed the authority of Mao and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
• The Speak Bitterness Campaign rallied support in the countryside for the state and against landlords.
• The Hundred Flowers Campaign was followed swiftly by the Anti-Rightist campaign with perceived opponents being sent to thought-reform camps. This helped to consolidate Party control over the population.
• The Great Leap Forward and all the propaganda associated with it attempted to revolutionize family life, suppressing individualism and emphasizing the collective as a social unit that, also, was more easily controlled.
• During the Cultural Revolution, the distribution of the Little Red Book meant that everyone had to learn the Thoughts of Chairman Mao consolidating Mao’s personality cult and his control over the Party and the state.

The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, it is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.

Examiners and moderators are reminded of the need to apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and to award credit wherever it is possible to do so.

[20 marks]