Mao Zedong was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution, which ran from 1966 to 1976. Mao was the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and the country’s paramount leader from 1949 until his death in 1976. He is widely regarded as the founding father of the People’s Republic of China and sometimes referred to as the ‘great helmsman’ of modern China.
During the Cultural Revolution (also known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution), Mao sought to re-instill revolutionary spirit into the Chinese people and to reassert his own authority in the Party. To this end, he championed a series of campaigns that reorganized Chinese society and destroyed much of the country’s traditional culture and customs. The revolution also brought about significant economic disruption, as Mao attempted to move China away from a Soviet-inspired centralized economy towards a more decentralized system.
During this period, Mao weakened the authority of political rivals in the Chinese Communist Party and unleashed radical youth groups, known as Red Guards. These groups were encouraged to ‘Cleanse’ and purify Chinese society, root out bourgeois and feudal elements, and spread Maoism throughout the country. This resulted in widespread destruction and disruption, with many of the country’s cultural artifacts and ancient monuments destroyed.
The Cultural Revolution also caused a significant degree of factionalism within the Party. Mao encouraged different factions to compete against each other, leading to sometimes violent clashes between rival groups. By 1972, however, Mao had managed to rein this in and unity within the Party was restored.
Mao’s leadership of the Cultural Revolution is often seen as divisive, with some seeing him as a hero for attempting to eliminate the feudal and backward elements of Chinese society, while others view him as a villain responsible for unleashing a wave of chaos and destruction. Ultimately, however, it is undeniable that Mao was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution, and his policies and actions played a major role in shaping the course of Chinese history.