May 16 this year marks the 55th anniversary of the May 16 Circular of the Politburo, a document in the history of the Cultural Revolution. Some Maoist leftist groups had indicated in advance that they would hold a commemorative event this Sunday (May 16). But under official pressure, it was temporarily canceled. According to scholars’ analysis, the government is manipulating the “Cultural Revolution” and “anti-Cultural Revolution” factions to take advantage of their struggle and weaken them for use by the top.
On May 16, 55 years ago, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee under Mao Zedong’s control adopted the May 16 Circular, marking the outbreak of China’s “Cultural Revolution Movement. Last week, a leftist group released news in advance and asked foreign media reporters to attend an event called “Commemorating the 55th Anniversary of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” to be held in Beijing this Sunday (May 16). Li Gang, a scholar of Chinese literature and history, told Radio Free Asia that officials do not want the Maoist left to commemorate the Cultural Revolution in full view of the public in order to avoid the misconception that China is entering a second Cultural Revolution. He said.
“The activities organized by the left to commemorate the Cultural Revolution have been called off, and from all indications, it is likely to be the work of the Chinese Communist authorities. In recent years, the authorities have been trying to rehabilitate the Cultural Revolution and attempt to recharacterize it. By calling off the leftist commemorations of the Cultural Revolution this time, is it an indication that the authorities have changed course and are no longer trying to rehabilitate the Cultural Revolution? I don’t think so.”
What the authorities have done over the years is actually replicating what they did during the Cultural Revolution
Li Gang said that in the past decade, the top leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), both in terms of words and actions, has been markedly different from the narrative of the Cultural Revolution in the past three decades.
“Beyond the obvious differences from the past three decades, what the authorities have done over the years is actually replicating what was done during the Cultural Revolution. The leadership is taking the old road of the Cultural Revolution, going backwards, driving backwards in history.”
Last week, several leftist networks and groups, including Beijing Red Fair, Practicing Communism Network, Wu You Zhi Xiang, Mao Zedong Thought Banner Network, Mao Zedong Research Institute, Master.com, and Beijing Red Song Society, issued a preview that they would hold a “commemoration of the 55th anniversary of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” at 1:30 p.m. on May 16 at Beijing’s Red Tower Auditorium or Guan Yuan Auditorium “.
On the 15th, Zhang Mou, one of the contacts who organized the event, was told by public security officials to “cancel the event”. The following day, the person in charge of the event told Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily that “the offline event was cancelled because it was inconvenient and the people were not together, and that an online meeting with Tencent would be held tonight.” Asked whether the cancellation was due to official pressure, he said, “It doesn’t matter.
Leftists hold event to commemorate Jiang Qing
Last Friday (14) marked the 30th anniversary of the death of Mao Zedong’s wife Jiang Qing. A picture circulating on the Internet shows a woman dressed in red, suspected to be Jiang Qing’s daughter Li Ne, at a dinner called the “Li Jin Party History Status Symposium.
Li Gang said that the left is also divided into institutional and extra-institutional leftists, traditional leftists and new leftists, and there are all kinds of officially recognized and officially rejected leftists. Officials will open the door to those leftists they approve of as “for my use”. On the other hand, they will ban them.
Mr. Tang, a media personality who lived through the Cultural Revolution, said to the station that the authorities would acquiesce at one point and then ban activities related to the Cultural Revolution at another.
“Now they are there for a while ‘left’ and a while right, supporting the left and the right to fight, this is taking chestnuts from the fire, in fact, politically it is also a resurgence (the same as the new crown epidemic), because this is their killer app. The killer app to control the regime and silence the people.”
Four days ago, Beijing media personality Gao Yu left a message on Twitter that Maoist-left groups, including Wu You Xiang and Beijing Red Song Society, were going to hold an event to commemorate the Cultural Revolution on May 16. According to Gao Yu, “It’s rare for a dozen or so people in Beijing to gather for a meal and for so many units (it is unknown if they are legal organizations registered with the Civil Affairs Bureau) to convene a general meeting in a dignified manner. After that, the world began to pay attention to the attitude of Chinese officials who stood by and did nothing. But at the last minute, the officials intervened.
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