CULTURAL REVOLUTION AND FASCISM IN ITALY

Study Guide

Documentary Timestamps for Notes

Cultural Revolution: Mao Zedong, 48:09

→ Why did Mao Zedong unleash such violence on China? How did he erase anything that wasn’t Marxism?
Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution because of the consequences of the Great Leap forward, a failed 5-year economic plan created by Mao and the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) that began in 1958 and ended in 1962. Mao’s goal was to purify Chinese communism and society by making everything adhere strictly to Marxism. He believed the bureaucracy was taking China away from the state they should have been in, saying this could be fixed by getting rid of traces of Russian communism in Chinese communism to make it anew. He called upon the youth of China who hadn’t known about life under communist rule to bombard the offices of their officials. He said this would purify society by ridding the people of capitalism in Chinese society. Most believe that Mao’s main motivation for doing all this was to regain control of the CCP and China and because he truly believed that China needed a cultural reawakening to prevent bureaucratic degeneration, or the growing inefficiency of a bureaucratic system. 

→ People say the Cultural Revolution lasted from 1966 to Mao’s death in 1976.

→ What damage did the Cultural Revolution do to China?

The Cultural Revolution affected China by assisting Mao in wiping out his enemies who tried to oppose him and his idea. This happened because of the “purges” done by the CCP. This was also done by the youth of China, whom Mao called upon to help him achieve his goals by promoting violence against authority figures and people seeming too “bourgeois”. The attacks done were highly violent. They could range from public shavings of the head to driving officials to suicide. Sometimes, they broke into the homes of people to drag them out and beat them. This effect soon reached the media who created propaganda as ordered by Mao promoting the joining of this movement and calling the people being attacked “monsters and demons”. The youth who joined this movement called themselves the Red Guards, identifying themselves with the wearing of red armbands. The Red Guards wanted to preserve the communist revolution and root out the four olds. The four olds are old customs, habits, ideas, and culture. The year this all began, August became known as ‘Red August’ because of how visceral these attacks were, especially in bigger cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Ordinary Chinese citizens began to turn on one another because of this, the unrest and environment of suspicion lasting for years to come. 

Short Answers: 

→ What are the features of totalitarian states?

• Single-party dictatorship
  Totalitarian states have a dictatorship form of government comprised of only one political party. In this context with Mussolini leading Italy, that one political party was the Fascist Party.

• State control of economy
  In a totalitarian state, the state has complete control over the economy and consumerism, or what people can and can’t buy. 

• Police spies and state terrorism
  The police could spy on citizens to make sure they aren’t criticizing the government of a totalitarian state. They could publicly kill citizens for this, it was a form of state terrorism. 

• Strict censorship and government control of media
  The government of a totalitarian state had full control over what can and can’t be published by media.

• Use of schools and media to indoctrinate and mobilize citizens
  Totalitarian states promote the god-like belief in their dictators by using media and schools to get people to believe in the power of dictators from early on. In Russia, for example, during Stalin’s rule, teachers used to tell kids to pray to Stalin for candy. As they did so, they’d drop candy down from the ceiling to get them to believe in Stalin as the closest thing to a god. 

• Unquestioning obedience to single ruler
  Citizens of totalitarian states were required to be fully obedient to their rulers or dictators. Mussolini’s dictatorship established the phrase of “Believe! Obey! Fight!” to indoctrinate citizens into believing in him. 

• Communists and fascists hated each other, but both were totalitarian states.

→ What is fascism?

Fascism supported extreme nationalism, totalitarianism, and the placement of the interest of the state over the interests of individuals. Nationalism is the identification with a nation and support for its interests, even if it has to be at the detriment of other nations. For example, in Mussolini’s Italy, if someone didn’t stand up for the pledge and someone else punched them, they’d be applauded for taking action in the name of their nation. Fascism had no involvement with democracy because it put the interests of individuals over state interests. Mussolini believed that democracy led to greed, corruption, and weakness. Mussolini stated, “Fascism conceives the state as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived in relation with the state.” This quote represents how the groups in the state were generalized into one group and were given representation through that one group they were perceived as by the government. Citizens had no identity other than their being part of the state. Fascism also pursued aggressive foreign expansion, meaning they used heavy violence to pursue other lands and conquer territory. They were fine with war because they believed if a country wasn’t at war, it was weakening. They glorified action, violence, discipline, and loyalty to the state without any questions asked.