The restoration of order by the PLA

Pages 233-234

What happened in August 1967?

Mao finally decided to allow the PLA to clamp down on the Red Guards because they were undermining the army’s role and were inflicting unsustainable damage on China’s economic and educational systems.

Why were the PLA keen to end violence?

It did not want to open itself up to the self criticism and struggle sessions that the radicals were pushing for or risk jeopardising its status as the creator and defender of the revolution.

What did Mao order the rival Red Guard and workers’ factions to do?

To form alliances and stop fighting each other

What did Mao speed up the creation of? Why was this important?

The new revolutionary committees which were to run cities and provinces.

This was important because membership of these committees was dominated by PLA officers at provincial, county and local level, giving the military the main influence over the new political structure.

What did the PLA do in their full-scale purge of the Red Guards?

• The Red Guard units were disbanded

• Their newspapers were closed down by 1968

• Military action was taken → full scale war in Shanxi, looting of weapons bound for Vietnam in Guangxi, both provinces were pacified in the summer of 1968

What else was the PLA entrusted with? Why was this difficult in some places?

Re-establishing discipline in the schools and universities, which had been closed for 2 years.

This proved difficult in some universities. At Qinghua University where the Red Guards refused to lay down their arms and 10 died in the fighting that ensued.