Revolutionary Committees Are Good. Long Live the All-around Victory of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution!
- Title:
- Revolutionary Committees Are Good. Long Live the All-around Victory of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution!
- Alternate Title:
- Revolutionary Committees Are Good.
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown
- Other Creators:
- Proletarian revolutionary groups of Beijing's four institutions, publisher
- Date:
- 1968
- Posted Date:
- 2017-04-14
- ID Number:
- 2271.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2271_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1960 - Present
- Subject:
- Communism & Cold War
Pictorial
Politics & Government
Unusual Graphics/Text - Measurement:
- 40 x 47 on sheet 73 x 51 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This poster map celebrates the moment on September 5, 1968, when the mass "Seize Power" movement of the Cultural Revolution succeeded in forcing the replacement of established governments by "Revolutionary Committees" in the last two of China's 29 administrative regions, the provinces of Tibet and Xinjiang.
In the "January Storm" of 1967, forces of the Cultural Revolution overthrew the Shanghai municipal government and replaced it with a "People's Commune." Mao's subsequent endorsement of the overthrow began a violent movement of mass revolutionary organizations to "Seize Power" over local, municipal and provincial governments. Through 1967 and most of 1968, there was extensive factional violence throughout the country - and armed conflict in many places - as revolutionary groups fought with each other and with established army and party officials. Guo 2015, 7, 257. As the traditional forms of government fell, they were replaced with Revolutionary Committees, a structure Mao adopted in place of the Commune to provide stability. Each of these Committees was composed of three elements: party cadres, military officers and representatives of the mass revolutionary organizations. Ibid. 228, 278-79. The transfer of power proceeded independently, and slowly, in each of the 29 Chinese administrative regions (26 provinces and 3 major municipal areas, Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin). The process was finally completed on September 5, 1968, when the People's Daily confirmed the Revolutionary Committees of the last two provinces, Tibet and Xinjiang, and announced "the all-round victory of the Cultural Revolution." Yiching 2014, 199-200. Note that the title of this poster corresponds to the statement in the People's Daily.
The map provides detailed information on the takeover in each of the 29 Chinese regions: name of the province or municipality; the region's revolutionary slogan; the date when the Revolutionary Committee was established; population; the name of the director of the new Committee; and in smaller text at the bottom, name(s) of the individual(s) "struck down" (presumably the former provincial leadership). In the end, the Red Guards and other mass organizations that had started the move to Seize Power were largely denied the fruits of their victory: military officers headed the governments of 21 regions, and the remaining 8 were headed by "civilian officials, who served concurrently as PLA [People's Liberation Army] political commissars." Ibid. 200.
The two lines of text below the series of boxes on the right of the map exclaim, "We must liberate Taiwan!"
The poster was published in September 1968 by the "proletarian revolutionary groups of Beijing's four institutions." This is probably a reference to the four most prominent universities in Beijing at the time, which would most likely include Peking and Qinghua, and possibly also Shifan and Gangtie universities.
Thanks to Yuan Ji for the translations and other help.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Repository:
- Private Collection of PJ Mode
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.