👑 Winning back power
Mao wanted to restore his authority over the Party. Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping now had the real control, and Mao suspected they would ignore him once he was gone.
The Cultural Revolution and Its Impact, 1965-76 » Mao's Motives for the Cultural Revolution
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B4, Key topic 4
- Why Mao felt his power had slipped after the Great Leap Forward
- Why he feared China was taking the “capitalist road”
- Why he wanted to keep the revolution alive among young people
- How he planned to remove his rivals
In 1966 Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution, a huge campaign that shook China for ten years. This lesson asks why. Mao was already 71 years old in 1965 and had led the Communist Party for three decades. Why did he risk turning China upside down again? The events themselves are covered in the next lesson, The Red Guards, Education and the Cult of Mao.
Key terms:
- Cultural Revolution: the campaign Mao began in 1966 to “purify” the Communist Party and keep China revolutionary. It is usually dated 1966-76.
- Capitalist road: Mao's phrase for policies that he thought would lead China back towards capitalism, such as letting peasants farm for themselves and make a profit.
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Unlock This CourseMao's position in the early 1960s
The Great Leap Forward (1958-62) was Mao's own idea, and it ended in a great famine. In 1959 Mao gave up his job as head of state to Liu Shaoqi, although he stayed Chairman of the Communist Party. Liu and the Party General Secretary, Deng Xiaoping, then ran the daily work of the economy.
To rebuild the country they allowed private plots and freer markets. This made Liu and Deng popular with officials, while Mao's reputation had been damaged.
At a large Party meeting in early 1962 Mao made a self-criticism, and Liu said the famine was more the fault of people than of the weather. Mao was never openly removed. Even so, he felt that decisions were being made without him. Historians report that he spent much of the mid-1960s away from Beijing.
Why did Mao launch the Cultural Revolution?
💰 The capitalist road
Mao believed that private plots and markets would make some peasants richer than others and bring back inequality. He feared a new class of officials and experts who put their own comfort before the revolution.
🔥 Keeping the revolution alive
Mao worried that young people born after 1949 had never fought or suffered for communism. He thought they would grow up soft, and wanted them to be “revolutionary successors”.
⚔️ Removing rivals
Mao wanted to get rid of people he saw as threats, especially Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, and officials who had criticised him since 1959.
The fear of revisionism
Mao's fear of the capitalist road came partly from the Sino-Soviet split. He had watched Khrushchev, whom he called a revisionist, take the Soviet Union in a direction he hated. Mao thought the same could happen in China, and he compared Liu Shaoqi with Khrushchev. He said that the danger lay inside the Party itself, among its own senior leaders. This is why the Cultural Revolution was aimed at people in the Party and not at outside enemies.
Idealism or the hunger for power?
Historians disagree about which motive mattered most. Some stress Mao's belief that the revolution had to continue and that China might lose its way. Others stress that he was angry at being pushed aside, and that the “capitalist road” gave him a reason to attack his rivals. Most agree the motives were mixed, and that Mao may well have seen no difference between defending the revolution and defending himself.
Mao also had an ally. Lin Biao, the Minister of Defence, led an army that was loyal to Mao and made a strong base for him.
Change and continuity
What changed: in the 1950s Mao and the Party leaders worked together to build communism. By 1965 Mao was ready to turn on senior colleagues. What stayed the same: Mao still wanted what he had wanted in the Great Leap Forward, a China built on revolutionary enthusiasm rather than on profit and expert planning. The leader's role was still central.
Common mistakes
Common mistakes
- Saying Mao had lost all power by 1965. He was still Party Chairman and had the army's support. He felt sidelined, but was not removed.
- Giving only one motive. Strong answers show that Mao's reasons were mixed, and link them.
- Saying Mao wanted to bring back capitalism. It was the reverse: he feared others were doing so.
- Describing the Red Guards here. This lesson is about why Mao acted, not what happened next.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO ways in which Mao's position in 1962 was different from his position in 1957. [6 marks]
Model answer
One way is that in 1957 Mao was head of state as well as Party Chairman, but by 1962 he was only Party Chairman. In 1959 he handed the job of head of state to Liu Shaoqi, so by 1962 Liu and Deng Xiaoping ran the daily business of government. This is different because in 1957 Mao held the top posts himself.
A second way is that in 1957 Mao's policies had not yet failed, whereas in 1962 his Great Leap Forward had caused a great famine. In 1957 his campaigns, such as the Hundred Flowers Campaign and the Anti-Rightist Campaign, seemed to show that he was in full control. In 1962 he had to make a self-criticism, and the policies of Liu and Deng were the ones rebuilding the country.
What lifts this to the top level: each way gives a precise fact about both 1957 and 1962 and says how the two years differ.
Exam tip
In a comparison question, write about BOTH dates in every way. A paragraph that only describes 1962 can score no more than half marks.
Recap
- After the Great Leap Forward, Mao gave up the post of head of state, and Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping ran the economy.
- Mao wanted to win back power and remove rivals such as Liu and Deng.
- He feared China was taking the capitalist road, as he thought the Soviet Union had under Khrushchev.
- He wanted to keep the revolution alive among young people who had not lived through it.
- Historians disagree whether idealism or power mattered more, and the motives were probably mixed.