Unpopular Opinions on the Cultural Revolution | Generated by AI
Question: What are some unpopular opinions about China’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976)?
Answer:
The Cultural Revolution is almost universally condemned in Western academia and mainstream Chinese discourse today (the CCP officially calls it a “ten-year catastrophe”). However, a minority of views—often suppressed, fringe, or nostalgic—defend or downplay it. Here are some of the most common “unpopular” opinions, especially outside of China or among certain left-wing and neo-Maoist circles:
- It was a genuine, if flawed, attempt at preventing capitalist restoration and bureaucratic elitism rather than just power struggles by Mao. Some tankies and third-worldists still see it as an inspiring anti-revisionist mass movement.
- The death toll and suffering are wildly exaggerated by Western/CIA sources and anti-China propaganda. Neo-Maoist bloggers frequently claim “only” tens or hundreds of thousands died (versus the scholarly consensus of 1–2 million or more).
- The Red Guards’ violence was largely spontaneous youth rebellion or provoked by “bad elements” and counter-revolutionaries, not orchestrated from the top. A related claim is that most victims were “rightists,” landlords, or officials who “deserved it.”
- It successfully destroyed feudal traditions, superstitions, and the “Four Olds,” modernizing China socially in ways the reform era never could (e.g., near-universal literacy campaigns, barefoot doctors, women’s liberation in rural areas).
- The Cultural Revolution’s egalitarian experiments (workers managing factories, peasants writing revolutionary operas, sending intellectuals to the countryside) were noble and should be revived today against Deng’s “capitalist road.”
- Deng Xiaoping and the 1981 Resolution lied about the scale of chaos to justify reversing socialism; the real catastrophe was the market reforms that followed, creating inequality and corruption far worse than anything under Mao.
- In some ultra-nationalist online circles: the Cultural Revolution toughened China up, weeded out weak and disloyal elements, and laid the psychological foundation for today’s rise—without it, China might have become another India or Philippines.
These views are extremely marginal in mainstream scholarship and are either heavily censored or ridiculed inside China today (except perhaps mild nostalgia among some older rural people who remember the healthcare and education access). On English-language internet left spaces (certain subreddits, Twitter Maoist accounts, some academic Marxist blogs), they still circulate.
References:
- Maoist Rebel News / Jason Unruhe archives (example of death-toll minimization)
- “Was the Cultural Revolution Really So Bad?” – Qiao Collective (pro-CR revisionist take)
- “The Battle for China’s Past” by Mobo Gao (academic defense of some CR achievements)
- 1981 CCP Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party (official condemnation)