• 100 Flowers was created as a justification of a purge, which he needed the atmosphere of de-Stalinization 30

• Anti-Rightist movement could be seen as fulfilling the aim of creating the atmosphere of fear needed for the Superpower Programme. All science related intellectuals not severely punished³¹ .

• The campaign was a "a gamble, based on a calculation that genuine counterrevolutionaries were few, that rebels like Hu Feng had been permanently intimidated into silence, and that other intellectuals would follow Mao's lead, speaking out only against the people and practices Mao himself most wanted to subject to reform³²."

Word count: 731

Section c: Evaluation of Sources

Short, P (1999).Mao: a life. Great Britain: Hodder and Stoughton.439- 500

The origin of this source is Mao’s biography written by a British journalist Phillip Short, published in 1999. Since he is writing 20 years after Mao’s death he was able to access many earlier secret sources, such as documents and interviews with Mao’s inner circle³³.This is valuable to my investigation as I was unable to access those primary sources directly. Also the fact that he lived in China, while not being its citizen allows him to look at the events impartially.The purpose of the book was to present a complete portrait of Mao and “illuminate” previously obscured parts of his biography, while leaving the reader to make a judgment. Therefore, the judgment about the Hundred Flowers campaign is less opinionated than Chang’s, while Short’s opinion was still valuable as it offered counter-thought to Chang.

Although it doesn’t have a specific chapter on the campaign, it provides valuable context. However, the limitation is that this is the only book written by Phillip Short about China, therefore there are other areas of his focus.

Chang, J (2005). Mao: the unknown story. United States: Random house. 416-426.

The origin of this source is Mao’s biography written by a Chinese author, now living in England, published in 2005. Jung’s parents were Communist Officials, who were heavily humiliated and imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution, turning Chang against the regime. The chapter on my topic is called “Killing the Hundred Flowers” and is highly opinionated as is the whole book, which’s purpose is to presents Mao’s previously hidden atrocities. It is a possible limitation as Chang could have had an emotional motivation for her research due to her background. However, previously unavailable primary sources and interviewing Mao’s close circle³⁴ makes the content of the relevant chapter very valuable. No other author was able to carry out as many interviews with Mao’s cronies. John Halliday, a professional historian, assisted Chang, making her research more credible.

Word count: 307

Section d: Analysis

Understanding Mao’s motivation behind the Hundred Flowers campaign is crucial to distinguish whether he was a ruthless dictator portrayed by J.Chang or an ideological visionary, presented by P.Short. The evidence presented in part B and historiography of part C gives rise to various interpretations of Mao’s intentions, ranging from a trap³⁵, through a gamble³⁶, to a democratic check.³⁷

As Short argues the Hundred Flowers campaign appears to be intended as a “rectification movement for the party”³⁸. This is supported by Mao’s ideology of self-criticism and the speeches given by Mao in 1956, which blamed the estrangement of the party from the people for the Hungarian crisis. This implies, that Mao was democratically checking if CCP was becoming too bureaucratic and elitist in the eyes of people to avoid Hungarian-like consequences. From this perspective, Mao was intending to make the party more responsive to the wishes of the people and to allow the venting of the public dissatisfaction. However, public speeches referred to by Short, may not reveal Mao’s true intentions as he could be simply laying grounds for the trap, especially because they are countered by Chang’s interviews with Mao’s closes circle.

A more realistic intention of Mao would be creating favorable climate for intellectual-state cooperation in the light of Mao’s economic ambitions, which required initiative from educated intellectuals. Letting intellectuals speak out after years of repression would make them more willing to whole-heartedly contribute to China’s economic drive. Increase in salaries, better apartments, less bureaucratic interference and wooing back of Chinese professors working abroad by 1956 supports this³⁹ .Mao’s decision to fully neglect Russian expertise by 1956 made good state-intellectuals relationship important. The pre-1956 persecution of intellectuals would have made intellectuals scared to contribute, therefore the Hundred Flowers campaign could be meant to regain their trust in the CCP in order to harness their expertise.

This viewpoint doesn’t explain the launch of the Anti-rightist campaign. Mao could be reacting to the unexpected negative consequences of the Hundred flowers campaign rather than initially planning a trap⁴⁰. The set-up of the Democratic Wall in Bejing University and many destructive claims, made Mao question whether the campaign will destabilize the country and his authority. Mao was “alone with the people⁴¹” as the rest of the party didn’t support his liberal policy (1950s). The pamphlet, which speculated about him being liberal and opposing the rest of the party, put Mao in a dangerous position. Because of this on the June 12 Mao issued a circular to all reliable party members clearly stating that he set-up a trap. However, this doesn’t mean that it was his original intention, but could instead show that he was trying to re-establish his authority over the party and show that the campaign is under his full control from the start.

However, the events of 1956-57 can be interpreted as a trap and Mao’s final step in purging intellectuals if Mao’s private conversations with his close circle are taken into account. For instance, according to J.Chang’s interview with Ke Quingsh Mao’s reaction to Hungarian crisis was that his previous attempts to stamp out bourgeois opposition were not enough⁴². The three campaigns against intellectuals have silenced possible dissidents so Mao needed to “let the snakes out of their lairs to catch them”⁴³. Mao was aware that in the atmosphere of De-Stalinization and Hungarian crisis an unjustified purge of the intellectuals could provoke strong opposition within the population and make Mao look like Stalin; therefore the Hundread Flowers can be seen as a campaign aimed to justify the coming purge. He needed full obedience of “useful” intellectuals to fulfill his economic plans and the space “Superpower Programme”, therefore the atmosphere of terror installed after the Anti-Rightist campaign was fulfilling this aim. This view is more consistent with Mao’s previous treatment of intellectuals, however it doesn’t explain the fact that in 1956 many intellectuals were treated better, given apartments and better salaries, therefore terror doesn’t seem to be initial policy line.

Word Count: 666