the Cultural Revolution

• 1966 – Mao started a Cultural Rev as a reaction to what he saw as a drift away from the ideological purity of the Chinese rev that he had led 
• Designed to restore ideological correctness and identify ideological deviants 
• Enabled Mao to strengthen his own power  
• Justified the elimination of potential political rivals on the grounds that they were revisionists 
• A Soviet dimension in the Cultural Revolution
• According to Chinese rhetoric – USSR was led by revisionists and was a target for ideological attack 
• Mao used the frenzy shown by his enthusiastic young followers in the Chinese Red Guard to intimidate the USSR 
• Most graphically illustrated when the USSR’s embassy in Beijing was besieged by a Red Guard mob 
• Led by a 16-year-old girl  
• Mob even threatened to burn the embassy down
• The Sino-Soviet split gathered momentum