Violent Struggle

The Cultural Revolution Cemetery in Chongqing, China. At least 1,700 people were killed during the violent faction clash in Chongqing, with 400-500 of them buried in this cemetery.^[1]

The Violent Struggle (simplified Chinese: 武斗; traditional Chinese: 武鬥; pinyin: wǔdòu), also known as Wudou or Factional Conflicts, refers to the violent conflicts between different factions (mostly of Red Guards and "rebel groups") during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The factional conflicts started in Shanghai and Chongqing in December 1966, and then spread to other areas of China in 1967 which brought the country to the state of civil war.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} Most violent struggles took place after the power seizure of rebel groups, and gradually grew out of control in 1968, forcing the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party as well as the Chinese government to take multiple interventions in the summer of 1968.^[11]

Weapons used in armed conflicts included some 18.77 million guns (some say 1.877 million^[12]), 2.72 million grenades, 14,828 cannons, millions of other ammunitions and even armored cars and tanks.^[6] Researchers have pointed out that the death toll in violent struggles ranged from 300 thousand to 500 thousand, while certain documents from the Communist Party of China have revealed that 237,000 people were killed and another 7,030,000 were injured or permanently disabled.^{[6][13][14][15]} Notable violent struggles include the battles in Chongqing, in Sichuan, and in Xuzhou.^[1][6][16]

History[]

Origins[]

The violent faction clashes in Shanghai and Chongqing in December 1966 were regarded as the first large-scale violent struggles in mainland China.^[17][18] In January 1967, factions in Shanghai started the "January Storm" during which Shanghai People's Commune was established.^[19][20] After receiving the support from Mao Zedong himself, the "Shanghai model" spread to other regions of China where factions began to grab power from the local governments, establishing the revolutionary committees.^[6][19][20] The violent struggles across China escalated significantly in the summer of 1967 after Jiang Qing, the wife of Mao Zedong, promoted the idea of "Wen Gong Wu Wei (文攻武卫)", meaning "attack with reason, defend with force".^[21][22]

The Cultural Revolution brought to the forefront numerous internal power struggles within the Communist party, many of which had little to do with the larger battles between Party leaders, but resulted instead from local factionalism and petty rivalries that were usually unrelated to the "revolution" itself. Because of the chaotic political environment, local governments lacked organization and stability, if they existed at all. Members of different factions often fought on the streets, and political assassinations, particularly in predominantly rural provinces, were frequent. The masses spontaneously involved themselves in factions and took part in open warfare against other factions. The ideology that drove these factions was vague and sometimes non-existent, with the struggle for local authority being the only motivation for mass involvement.^{[citation needed]}

Escalation[]

Jiang Qing, the wife of Mao Zedong at the time, talking with Red Guards (August 1967).

Early phase of faction clashes involved mass brawls and throwing bricks only. However, after the Wuhan incident on July 20, 1967, Jiang Qing thought that counter-revolutionaries appeared in the military and thus publicly proposed the idea of "Wen Gong Wu Wei (文攻武卫)", or "attack with reason, defend with force".^[21] Jiang's idea was published by Wenhui Bao on July 23, and the faction clashes subsequently entered the phase in which weapons such as guns, grenades, cannons and even tanks were used in battles, bringing the country to the state of civil war.^[21][22]

According to some documents, different factions received weapons from their respective supporting army branches, while some factions even raided local armories or created their own guns.^[6][22] The total number of guns used in the violent struggles was approximately 18.77 million^[6] (some say 1.877 million^[12]).

End[]

In the summer of 1968, the violent struggles had grown out of control in a number of places, forcing the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to issue several announcements to stop the battles.^[11] As a result, the factions gradually turned in their weapons and dissolved their armed teams.

Death toll[]

Chinese researchers have pointed out that the death toll in violent struggles ranged from 300 thousand to 500 thousand.^[6][13][23] Serious cases of violent struggles included the battles in Luzhou, Xuzhou and Chongqing, each of which saw deaths of at least thousands of people.

An official document (建国以来历史政治运动事实) from the Chinese Communist Party in 1996 claims that 237,000 people died due to the violent struggles, and another 7,030,000 were injured or permanently disabled.^{[6][14][15][23]}

Andrew G. Walder argues, however, that the death toll caused by the violent struggles committed at the hand of insurgent Red Guards or rebel groups is only a fraction of the deaths caused by the violent purges at the hands of state forces, for example during the Cleansing the Class Ranks campaign. Walder put the deaths at the hand of insurgent organizations from 1966 to 1971 at 37,046. In comparison, Walder put the deaths at the hand of state forces during the same period at 130,378.^[24]

See also[]

• Power seizure
• Revolutionary committee
• January Storm
• Struggle session
• Red Terror
• Hangzhou incident

References[]