BANNEDTHOUGHT.NET

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China

Publications and Documents which are Now Difficult to Find


      This is an archive of all the pamphlets and other documents we can locate from the GPCR, primarily in English, but also to some extent in other languages eventually. This great revolution fortified, secured, and to some extent re-established genuine proletarian rule in China while Mao was still alive, overthrew the “capitalist roaders” within the Chinese Communist Party and within Chinese society more generally who (consciously or not) were attempting to destroy socialism and move China back to capitalism, and which made serious efforts to gradually but continually transform socialist society in the direction of communism.

      The GPCR itself was originally dated from 1966-1969, and Mao envisioned the need for a whole series of periodic additional cultural revolutions of that sort occurring throughout the entire period of socialism. However, this initial GPCR was not fully consolidated, and new struggles continued to break out. Most notably, there was the campaign to Criticize Lin Biao [Lin Piao] and Confucius, and then the need for another campaign against Deng Xiaoping and his allied capitalist-roaders. These came to be viewed as extensions of the GPCR, and consequently most people today view the GPCR as having extended up until Mao’s death in September 1976. That is the way we will view things here, though we will put the campaigns against Lin and Deng in separate sections near the bottom.

      As with other sections of BannedThought.net about Maoist China, some of the documents here are written by, or promote, individuals who later became targets of the revolution themselves, including Lin Biao and Deng Xiaoping. We are including them as part of our complete archive of the history of the GPCR and the entire Chinese Revolution.

      These documents from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution are now suppressed in China (at least as far as mass access is concerned) and many of them are becoming very difficult to locate anywhere else in the world as well, except for those few with access to major research libraries. This is why we are posting them here on BannedThought.net.

      For information about other aspects of China in the Maoist era, or about present-day capitalist-imperialist China, please see the links at the bottom of this web page. Note also that there are some documents touching on aspects of the GPCR on these other pages.

      If you know of other materials which should be posted here, or if you have other comments or suggestions, please contact us at: freespeech@bannedthought.net


Basic Documents of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

Writings by the So-Called “Gang of Four”:


Other GPCR Pamphlets and Documents:

  • 1966:
  • 1967:
    • [Book:]“The May Upheaval in Hongkong”, by the Committee of Hongkong-Kowloon Chinese Compatriots of All Circles for the Struggle Against Persecution by the British Authorities in Hongkong, (Hongkong: 1967), 191 pages. About the extension of the Cultural Revolution to Hongkong.   PDF format   [11,305 KB]
    • “《中共中央文件》 中发 ［67］ 219号”   [“Recommendation of Chairman Mao to regulate the wasteful and superficial dissemination of figures and sayings of Chairman Mao as well as statue construction and associated things”], Central Committee of the CCP: Document Series 67, Number 219, July 5, 1967, 2 pages. Criticizes and regulates the excessive adoration of Mao. (Not yet available in English.)   Chinese: PDF format   [77 KB];   Chinese: MS Word format (.doc)   [12 KB]
    • “Follow Chairman Mao and Advance in the Teeth of Great Storms and Waves”, article about Mao’s famous swim in the Yangtse along with editorials from Renmin Ribao and Jiefangjun Bao, July 24-26, 1966, 28 pages. (Peking: FLP, 1967)   PDF format   [1,240 KB].
    • “Forward Along the High Road of Mao Tse-tung’s Thought — In Celebration of the 17th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China”, including editorials and speeches by Lin Piao and Chou En-lai on Oct. 1, 1966, 42 pages. (Peking: FLP, 1967)   PDF format   [2,031 KB].
    • “Betrayal of Proletarian Dictatorship is the Heart of the Book on ‘Self-Cultivation’”, by the editorial departments of Renmin Ribao and Hongqi, May 8, 1967, 24 pages. (Peking: FLP, 1967)   PDF format   [908 KB].
    • “Patriotism or National Betrayal? — On the Reactionary Film Inside Story of the Ching Court”, by Chi Pen-yu, 44 pages. Original Chinese version in Hongqi #5, 1967. (Peking: FLP, 1967)   PDF format   [2,286 KB].
    • “Great Victory for Chairman Mao’s Revolutionary Line — Warmly Hail the Birth of Peking Municipal Revolutionary Committee”, including speeches by Chou En-lai, Chiang Ching, Hsieh Fu-chih, Chang Chun-chiao and editorials from Renmin Ribao and Jifangjun Bao, (Peking: FLP, 1967), 60 pages.   PDF format   [2,626 KB].
    • “Commemorating Lu Hsun — Our Forerunner in the Cultural Revolution”, a collection of speeches and articles on the 30th anniversary of the death of Lu Hsun, including speeches by Chen Po-ta, Yao Wen-yuan, Kuo Mo-jo and others, (Peking: FLP, 1967), 68 pages.   PDF format   [2,669 KB].
    • “The Struggle Between the Two Roads in China’s Countryside”, by the editorial departments of Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jifangjun Bao, Nov. 23, 1967, 36 pages. (Peking: FLP, 1968)   PDF format   [1,517 KB].
  • 1968:
    • “Take the Road of the Shanghai Machine Tools Plant in Training Technicians from among the Workers — Two Investigation Reports on the Revolution in Education in Colleges of Science and Engineering”, by the editorial departments of Renmin Ribao and Hongqi, 68 pages. (Peking: FLP, 1968)   PDF format   [1,559 KB].
    • “On the Revolutionary ‘Three-in-One’ Combination”, four editorials by Hongqi, Jiefangjun Bao, or Wenhui Bao in the first half of 1967, 48 pages. (Peking: FLP, 1968)   PDF format   [2,411 KB]   Also available in HTML format at: http://www.marx2mao.com/Other/RTOC68.html
    • “On the Re-Education of Intellectuals”, by Renmin Ribao and Hongqi Commentators, originally in Hongqi, #3, 1968. (Peking: FLP, 1968), small pamphlet format, 20 pages.   PDF format   [443 KB]
    • “Absorb Proletarian Fresh Blood — An Important Question in Party Consolidation”, Hongqi [Red Flag] editorial, #4, Oct. 14, 1968. (Peking: FLP, 1968), small pamphlet format, 34 pages.   PDF format   [843 KB]
    • “The Damning Evidence of Liu Shaoqi”, by the Central Project Review Team, (Shanghai: October 18, 1968), in Chinese, main evidence of betrayal activities in 1925, 1927 and 1929. Includes copies of documentary evidence about Liu Shaoqi after the May 30th Movement in 1925; in Wuhan and Lushan in 1927; and in the Northeast (Manchuria) in the Summer of 1929. 76 pages.   (Partially) Searchable PDF format   [15,058 KB]
  • 1969:
    • “Put Mao Tse-tung’s Thought in Command of Everything”, New Year editorial for 1969 by Renmin Ribao [People’s Daily], Hongqi [Red Flag] and Jiefangjun Bao [Liberation Army Daily]. (Peking: FLP, 1969), small pamphlet format, 39 pages.   PDF format   [725 KB]
    • “Grasp Revolution, Promote Production and Win New Victories on the Industrial Front”, Renmin Ribao editorial, Feb. 21, 1969. (Peking: FLP, 1969), small pamphlet format, 26 pages.   PDF format   [559 KB]
    • “Carry the Great Revolution on the Journalistic Front Through to the End” — Repudiating the Counter-Revolutionary Revisionist Line on Journalism of China’s Khrushchov, by the editorial departments of Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jifangjun Bao. (Peking: FLP, 1969), small pamphlet format, 74 pages.   PDF format   [1,926 KB]
    • “Hold Aloft the Banner of Unity of the Party’s Ninth Congress and Win Still Greater Victories”, editorial of Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jifangjun Bao, June 9, 1969. (Peking: FLP, 1969), small pamphlet format, 26 pages.   PDF format   [565 KB]
    • “Fight for the Further Consolidation of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat” — In Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China. Includes speeches by Lin Piao and Chou En-lai, an editorial, and slogans for the celebration. (Peking: FLP, 1969), small pamphlet format, 54 pages.   PDF format   [1,314 KB]
  • 1970:
    • “Usher In the Great 1970’s”, 1970 New Year’s Day editorial of Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jiefangjun Bao. (Peking: FLP, 1970), small pamphlet format, 34 pages.   PDF format   [671 KB]
    • “Take the Road of Integrating with the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers”, on the orientation of the youth movement. (Peking: FLP, 1970), 105 pages.   PDF Format   [4,667 KB]
    • “Communists Should Be the Advanced Elements of the Proletariat” — In Commemoration of the 49th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China. (Peking: FLP, 1970), small pamphlet format, 20 pages.   PDF format   [366 KB]
  • 1971:
    • “Outstanding Proletarian Fighters”, about outstanding proletarian revolutionaries arising in all walks of life in China. (Peking: FLP, 1971), 101 pages.   PDF format   [4,749 KB]
    • “To Trumpet Bourgeois Literature and Art is to Restore Capitalism” — A Repudiation of Chou Yang’s Reactionary Fallacy Adulating the ‘Renaissance’, the ‘Enlightenment’ and ‘Critical Realism’ of the Bourgeoisie, by the Shanghai Writing Group for Revolutionary Mass Criticism, (Peking: FLP, 1971), small pamphlet format, 53 pages.   PDF Format   [1,298 KB]
  • 1972:
    • “Strive to Build a Socialist University of Science and Engineering”, about the Cultural Revolution in education. (Peking: FLP, 1972), 85 pages. In addition to the title article by the Workers’ and PLA Men’s Mao Tsetung Thought Propaganda Team at Tsinghua University, this pamphlet also includes the “Summary of the Forum on the Revolution in Education in Shanghai Colleges of Science and Engineering” convened by Chang Chun-chiao an Yao Wen-yuan in Shanghai, June 2, 1970.   PDF format   [5,441 KB]
    • “Strive for New Victories”, in Celebration of the 23rd Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, editorial by Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jiefangjun Bao, (Peking: FLP, 1972), 18 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [543 KB]
  • 1974:
    • “A Vicious Motive, Despicable Tricks — A Criticism of M. Antonioni’s Anti-China Film China”, by Renmin Ribao Commentator, Jan. 30, 1974. (Peking: FLP, 1974), 23 pages.   PDF Format   [871 KB]
  • 1976:
    • “A Summary of Views on the Problem of the Inner-Party Bourgeoisie”, the fifth of a five part collection of material for presentation on the subject “How to Understand the Bourgeoisie is Right Inside the Party.” Compiled at the third discussion forum in Beijing. This forum was held from April 6-15, 1976. The material was edited by the Beijing Municipality Party Committee’s Propaganda Group before April 20, 1976, and it was then published by the Beijing People’s Press. This is from a reprint by the Publicity Department of Zhongshan County Committee of the CCP. We understand that this document was only for the purpose of promoting further discussion and study by comrades on the issue of the inner-party bourgeoisie. (July 8, 1976), 14 pages. This document is especially interesting in that it is in part a late period summary of the central aspects of the entire GPCR. It consists of the following six sections:
      1. “Chairman Mao’s scientific thesis on the emergence of the bourgeoisie in the Communist Party is a significant development of Marxism Leninism.”
      2. “On how to understand the problem of the bourgeoisie being right inside the Communist Party.”
      3. “On the question of changes in class relations during the socialist period.”
      4. “On the root causes of the emergence of the bourgeoisie within the party.”
      5. “On the characteristics of the bourgeoisie within the party and the contradictory nature of the relationship between the bourgeoisie within the party and the proletariat.”
      6. “On the question of recognizing and struggling against the bourgeoisie within the party.”
      Chinese: Searchable PDF format   [311 KB];   English (partial): Searchable PDF format   [76 KB]   [Note: So far only the first section is translated into English; we hope to post the entire document in English eventually.]
    • “社会主义时期的党内资产阶级 （谈谈党内资产阶级）” [“The Inner-Party Bourgeoisie in The Socialist Period”], a transcript of the last broadcasts of the Chinese revolutionary left in Shanghai from September-October, 1976. The broadcasts managed to continue for over a week after the coup before being silenced.The material represents a radiant theoretical achievement, offering extremely rich and diverse insight into myriads of aspects of revolutionary history, theory, and practice. The text was only recently translated into English, a rough copy still in need of further work is being provided now to readers because of the importance of the material. The broadcast transcripts were finished near the end of September 1976. An updated Chinese copy is available here as well (85 pages). Prior to the broadcasts, a large number of seminars on “bourgeois right,” “capitalist roaders” and the “inner-party bourgeoisie” were held all over China. Some important arguments (but not all) from these seminars have been compiled into this pamphlet. It should be noted that in some seminars some speakers even mentioned that after the capitalist roaders came to power, China might become a social-imperialist country; this was not the mainstream argument that “capitalist roaders surrendered to the foreign bourgeoisie and betrayed the country.” The collective achievement represented in the quality and clarity generated out of the mass discussions and broadcasts can be regarded as one of the Socialist New Things of the GPCR. (This is quite likely one of the most important pamphlets from the late Cultural Revolution period —Ed.)   Chinese: Searchable PDF format   [1.1 mb ];   English translation of this document 90 pages.   English: PDF format   [365 KB];  

Campaign to Criticize Lin Piao and Confucius:

Last Campaign against Deng Xiaoping:

The Coup d’Etat After Mao’s Death and the End of the Cultural Revolution:

  • The Coup d’Etat against the Maoist Left Wing of the CCP:
  • CCP Documents Making Charges against the So-Called ‘Gang of Four’:
    • “中共中央关于《王洪文、张春桥、江青、姚文元反党集团罪证（材料之一）》的通知及附件 中共中央通知 1976 -12-10”   [“Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Regarding Proof of the Crimes of the Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, Jiang Qing, and Yao Wenyuan Counterrevolutionary Clique”], (First in a Collection), Announcement and Documents, December 10, 1976, 97 pages [page numbers added].   Chinese: PDF Format   [542 KB]
  • Condemnations of the Four by Folks Duped by the Reactionaries (and who should have known better, even if they might have had a few small valid criticisms in some cases!):
    • “Thoroughly Criticize the ‘Gang of Four’ and Bring About a New Upsurge in the Movement to Build Tachai-Type Counties Throughout the Country — Report at the Second National Conference on Learning from Tachai in Agriculture”, by Chen Yung-kuei [Chen Yonggui], (Peking: FLP, 1977), 54 pages.   PDF Format   [2,189 KB].
  • The Kangaroo Trial and Unjust Punishment of the ‘Gang of Four’ and Others:
    • [Book:] “A Great Trial in Chinese History”, issued by the victorious capitalist-roaders, (Peking: New World Press, 1981), 260 pages.   PDF Format   [13,142 KB].
  • Reversing the GPCR and the Capitalist Road:
    • “The Great Leap Backward”, letter by Charles Bettelheim, March 3, 1978, 57 pages. (This is a reconstruction from a version in Microsoft txt format. Originally published in Monthly Review, Vol. 30, #3, July-August 1978.)   PDF format   [232 KB]
    • [More to be added.]

Collections of Documents from the GPCR:

  • [Book:] “Important Documents on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China”, which consists mostly of speeches by Lin Piao [Lin Biao]. Pocket edition with red plastic cover. (Peking: FLP, 1970), 350 pages.   PDF format   [7,312 KB].
  • [Book:] And Mao Makes 5: Mao Tsetung’s last great battle, edited with an Introduction by Raymond Lotta, (Chicago: Banner Press, September 1978), 539 pages. [Because of the very large file size of the entire book, each section and each included article is also being made available here separately.]
    • Entire volume in one big file:   Searchable PDF format   [21,605 KB]
    • Cover, title page, contents and preface:   PDF format   [15 pages; 805 KB]
    • Introduction:   PDF format   [50 pages; 3,987 KB]
    • Section I: Background to the Struggle:   PDF format   [51 pages; 3,735 KB]
      • Text 1: “Report at the Central Study Class”, by Wang Hung-wen   PDF format   [19 pages; 1,466 KB]
      • Text 2: “The Laws of Class Struggle in the Socialist Period”, by Chi Ping   PDF format   [7 pages; 516 KB]
      • Text 3: “Report to the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China”, delivered by Chou En-lai   PDF format   [15 pages; 1,195 KB]
      • Text 4: “Report on the Revision of the Party Constitution”, by Wang Hung-wen   PDF format   [8 pages; 567 KB]
    • Section II: Criticize Lin Piao and Confucius:   PDF format   [71 pages; 5,082 KB]
      • Section II Intro:   PDF format   [2 pages; 127 KB]
      • Text 5: “Carry the Struggle to Criticize Lin Piao and Confucius Through to the End”   PDF format   [4 pages; 299 KB]
      • Text 6: “Dare to Think and Do”   PDF format   [2 pages; 90 KB]
      • Text 7: “Study the Historical Experience of the Struggle Between the Confucian and Legalist Schools”, by Liang Hsiao   PDF format   [11 pages; 782 KB]
      • Text 8: “The Philosophy of the Communist Party is the Philosophy of Struggle”, by Chiang Yu-ping   PDF format   [3 pages; 229 KB]
      • Text 9: “Working Women’s Struggle Against Confucianism in Chinese History”   PDF format   [7 pages; 514 KB]
      • Text 10: “To Develop Industry We Must Initiate Technical Innovation”, by Kung Hsiao-wen   PDF format   [9 pages; 655 KB]
      • Text 11: “Has Absolute Music No Class Character?”, by Chao Hua   PDF format   [6 pages; 436 KB]
      • Text 12: “A Decade of Revolution in Peking Opera”, by Chu Lan   PDF format   [11 pages; 868 KB]
      • Text 13: “History Develops in Spirals”, by Hung Yu   PDF format   [11 pages; 798 KB]
      • Text 14: “Speech at Peking Rally Welcoming Cambodian Guests”, by Wang Hung-wen   PDF format   [5 pages; 332 KB]
    • Section III: Fourth People’s Congress and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat Campaign:   PDF format   [64 pages; 4,650 KB]
      • Section III Intro:   PDF format   [2 pages; 82 KB]
      • Text 15: “Report on the Work of the Government”, delivered by Chou En-lai   PDF format   [9 pages; 696 KB]
      • Text 16: “Report on the Revision of the Constitution”, delivered by Chang Chun-chiao   PDF format   [6 pages; 412 KB]
      • Text 17: “Study Well the Theory of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat”   PDF format   [4 pages; 253 KB]
      • Text 18: “On the Social Basis of the Lin Piao Anti-Party Clique”, by Yao Wen-yuan   PDF format   [13 pages; 1,034 KB]
      • Text 19: “On Exercising All-Round Dictatorship Over the Bourgeoisie”, by Chang Chun-chiao   PDF format   [12 pages; 938 KB]
      • Text 20: “Fighting With the Pen and Steel Rod”   PDF format   [8 pages; 619 KB]
      • Text 21: “Socialist Big Fair Is Good”   PDF format   [9 pages; 645 KB]
    • Section IV: Criticize Water Margin:   PDF format   [18 pages; 1,142 KB]
      • Section IV Intro:   PDF format   [1 page; 64 KB]
      • Text 22: “Unfold Criticism of ‘Water Margin’”   PDF format   [3 pages; 178 KB]
      • Text 23: “Criticism of ‘Water Margin’”, by Chu Fang-ming   PDF format   [9 pages; 622 KB]
      • Text 24: “On Teng Hsiao-ping’s Counter-Revolutionary Offensive in Public Opinion (Excerpts)”, by Hung Hsuan   PDF format   [4 pages; 289 KB]
    • Section V: Criticize Teng and Beat Back the Right Deviationist Wind:   PDF format   [142 pages; 10,141 KB]
      • Section V Intro:   PDF format   [2 pages; 87 KB]
      • Text 25: “Two Poems”, by Mao Tsetung   PDF format   [2 pages; 62 KB]
      • Text 26: “Reversing Correct Verdicts Goes Against the Will of the People”   PDF format   [4 pages; 273 KB]
      • Text 27: “Counter-Revolutionary Political Incident at Tien An Men Square”   PDF format   [5 pages; 325 KB]
      • Text 28: “Communist Party of China Resolutions”   PDF format   [1 page; 49 KB]
      • Text 29: “Firmly Keep to the General Orientation of the Struggle”   PDF format   [3 pages; 188 KB]
      • Text 30: “A General Program for Capitalist Restoration”, by Cheng Yueh   PDF format   [13 pages; 1,017 KB]
      • Text 31: “Criticism of Selected Passages of ‘Certain Questions on Accelerting the Development of Industry’”   PDF format   [14 pages; 1,045 KB]
      • Text 32: “Comments on Teng Hsiao-ping’s Economic Ideas of the Comprador Bourgeoisie”, by Kao Lu and Chang Ko   PDF format   [8 pages; 570 KB]
      • Text 33: “A New Type of Production Relations in a Socialist Enterprise”   PDF format   [9 pages; 637 KB]
      • Text 34: “Fundamental Differences Between the Two Lines in Education”   PDF format   [10 pages; 722 KB]
      • Text 35: “Repulsing the Right Deviationist Wind in the Scientific and Technological Circles”   PDF format   [9 pages; 637 KB]
      • Text 36: “What Is the Intention of People of the Lin Piao Type in Advocating ‘Private Ownership of Knowledge’?”, by Liang Hsiao   PDF format   [10 pages; 795 KB]
      • Text 37: “A Reactionary Philosophy That Stands on Its Head”, by Hung Yu   PDF format   [4 pages; 319 KB]
      • Text 38: “From Bourgeois Democrats to Capitalist-Roaders”, by Chih Heng   PDF format   [7 pages; 544 KB]
      • Text 39: “Capitalist-Roaders Are the Bourgeoisie Inside the Party”, by Fang Kang   PDF format   [10 pages; 715 KB]
      • Text 40: “Capitalist-Roaders Are Representatives of the Capitalist Relations of Production”, by Chuang Lan   PDF format   [6 pages; 465 KB]
      • Text 41: “Talks Concerning ‘Criticizing Teng Hsiao-ping and Repulsing Right Deviationist Wind’”, by Chang Chun-chiao   PDF format   [14 pages; 1,086 KB]
      • Text 42: “Deepen the Criticism of Teng Hsiao-ping in Anti-Quake and Relief Work”   PDF format   [3 pages; 201 KB]
      • Text 43: “Proletarians Are Revolutionary Optimists”, by Pi Sheng   PDF format   [7 pages; 489 KB]
    • Biographical Material on the Four:   PDF format   [13 pages; 1,009 KB]
      PDF format   [13 pages of photographs; 1,645 KB]
    • Appendicies: Documents from the Right:   PDF format   [98 pages; 7,070 KB]
      • Introduction:   PDF format   [1 page; 61 KB]
      • Appendix 1: “On the General Program of Work for the Whole Party and Whole Nation”   PDF format   [22 pages; 1,679 KB]
      • Appendix 2: “Some Problems in Accelerating Industrial Development”   PDF format   [21 pages; 1,490 KB]
      • Appendix 3: “On Some Problems in the Fields of Science and Technology”   PDF format   [6 pages; 427 KB]
      • Appendix 4: “Two Talks by Teng Hsiao-ping”   PDF format   [8 pages; 553 KB]
      • Appendix 5: “The Bitter Fruit of Maoism”, by Y. Semyonov   PDF format   [6 pages; 439 KB]
      • Appendix 6: “Speech at Special Session of UN General Assembly”, by Teng Hsiao-ping   PDF format   [10 pages; 756 KB]
      • Appendix 7: “A Complete Reversal of the Relations Between Ourselves and the Enemy”, by Hsiang Chun   PDF format   [10 pages; 763 KB]
      • Appendix 8: “CPC Central Committee Circular on Holding National Science Conference”   PDF format   [9 pages; 651 KB]
      • Appendix 9: “To Each According to His Work: Socialist Principle in Distribution”, by Li Hung-lin   PDF format   [4 pages; 289 KB]
  • [Book:] “CCP Documents of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: 1966-67”, (Hong Kong: Union Research Institute), 1967 [?], 361 pages. This work included the original Chinese language documents plus the English translations. This version, however, only includes the English translations.   PDF format   [27,856 KB]

Magazines from China with Issues from the GPCR Period:

Contemporary Foreign Commentary about China During the GPCR Period:

Retrospective MLM Commentary about the GPCR:

  • “They Made Revolution Within the Revolution: The Story of China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”, by Iris Hunter [Mary Lou Greenberg], (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1986), 68 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,949 KB]
  • “Evaluating the Cultural Revolution in China and its Legacy for the Future”, by the MLM Revolutionary Study Group in the U.S. (85 pages, March 2007)   What does it mean to embark on, and wage a determined revolutionary struggle to stay on, the socialist road to communism? This comprehensive paper describes the sweep of the Cultural Revolution from 1966-1976; its theoretical foundations; its many achievements in the areas of culture, education, industry, agriculture and the liberation of women; the serious obstacles it faced and its shortcomings in a number of areas; and why future revolutionary movements and socialist states must stand on its shoulders. An extensive bibliography on the Cultural Revolution is included.   PDF Format (847 KB);   MS Word Format (1,087 KB)
  • “Different Experiences Working in China in the Mao Era and in America”, by Fred Engst (Yang Heping), a talk given on December 27, 2009, 8 pages.   Chinese: PDF Format (311 KB)   English translation: PDF Format (57 KB)
  • “Experiences Working in Guanghua Timber Mill during the Cultural Revolution”, an interview of Fred Engst by Lao Tian, n.d., translated into English, 15 pages.   PDF Format (79 KB)
  • “On the Relationship Between the Working Class and Its Party Under Socialism”, by Fred Engst, February 2015, 37 pages. This very important paper focuses on the question of how revolutionary power can be maintained by the proletariat over the long term, and brings out some important lessons learned from the initial successes and then eventual failure (after Mao’s death) of the Cultural Revolution in China. It criticizes some of the bourgeois ideas that have recently developed in China that multi-party democracy and the “rule of law” are the way to ensure genuine socialism. Instead, it argues that the economic basis for the development of capitalist-roaders can be largely eliminated by abolishing “bureaucratic privileges” for Party members, and that mass organizations of the sort which developed in the Cultural Revolution can be institutionalized to criticize Party members and units in which capitalist-roaders start to develop.   PDF Format (487 KB);   MS Word Format (302 KB)
  • “The Late Cultural Revolution”, a paper by a long-time American revolutionary, 2016, 47 pages. This paper focuses on the continuing class struggle in China during the 1969-1976 period between Mao and his political allies (on the one hand) and the revisionist forces within the CCP who were determined to reverse the political gains of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. This was first posted on the Mass Proletariat web site, now at https://www.bannedthought.net/USA/MassProletariat/index.htm, along with the introductory paragraph: “This document was written by a comrade of Mass Proletariat. It provides a comprehensive account of the struggles internal to the dictatorship of the proletariat in China in the late Cultural Revolution and how these struggles were reflected in the foreign policy of the Chinese Communist Party. The questions that lie at the heart of this paper are what political line for developing socialism and what foreign policy are needed to advance the class struggle in socialist countries and on the global scale in order to work towards communism? And, because of the primacy of internal contradictions, how is this foreign policy a reflection of the class struggle in a socialist society?”
    [This is the slightly revised version as of Aug. 19, 2018.]   PDF Format (362 KB)
  • “Democracy as a Means Relies on Dictatorship: Commemorating the 200th Birthday of Frederick Engels,” by Fred Engst (Yang Heping), (2020), a talk clarifying the nature of the dictatorship of the proletariat and clarifying the nature of “democracy” under bourgeois versus proletarian dictatorships, translated into English, 8 pages.   English: PDF Format (153 KB).
    For the original Chinese text 《民主是手段，靠的是专政——纪念恩格斯诞辰200周年》see   Chinese: PDF Format (463 KB)
  • [Books:] 《无产阶级文化大革命概述简论和资料汇编》   [“A Brief Introduction to the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and a Compilation of Materials”], written and compiled by 王忠林 [Wang Zhon Lin] (pen name: 水陆洲 [Shui Lu Zhou]), a famous Chinese Marxist historian, in the years before his death in 2016 a the age of 83 after a long illness. This massive document is divided into two parts, the first of which is called “A Brief Overview of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution,” which also records the political events that preceded and followed the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China (1949-1976). The second part, entitled “Compilation of Materials,” is a supplement to the first part and records official statements of the Chinese Communist Party, local governments, local county histories, personal memoirs, political articles, and official statements and historical materials on the GPCR issued by the Chinese government after 1976. The content is extremely rich. It took the author, Wang Zhonlin, more than a decade to compile and write these two documents, which were completed in August 2012. The first part is 5 million words and the second part is 21 million words. The author has focused on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution as the goal, and has completely recorded the political events in China from 1949-1976, showing the process of political developments in China from the establishment of a socialist state to the restoration of capitalism. This revolutionary tome has been widely circulated among Chinese Marxists since its publication in 2012, and is the most influential revolutionary work written by indigenous revolutionaries in China since the restoration of capitalism in 1976. This work is too important to simply be secretly circulated within current illegal Marxist circles in China, so with the help of a Chinese comrade we are now making it available to an international audience on the Internet. To begin with we are making it available as one enormous .rar file for easy downloading. This .rar file includes 16 different PDF files, which after the download can be easily extracted with programs such as ezyZip, the use of which is available for free on the Internet.   Chinese: .rar Format (Enormous file: 180,888 KB)  
  • [Book:] 《十年非梦 黄金海回忆录（修订版）》   [“Ten Years Not a Dream: A History of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in Shanghai, China, 1966-1976”], by 黄金海 [Huang Jin Hai], revised edition, 2020. The author of this memoir of the GPCR was one of the leaders of the Shanghai Workers’ Revolutionary Resist Command (上海工人革命造反司令部), the most powerful revolutionary organization in Shanghai at that time, and the most active organization in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution. This book records the activities of the various anti-revisionist movements in Shanghai during the GPCR, as well as their ultimate failure which eventually led to the restoration of capitalism. 342 pages.   PDF Format (7,595 KB)  
  • “Interview with Fred Engst on Key Lessons of the Cultural Revolution”, interviewed by Abbie Moses in December 2022, 35 pages. Discusses many very interesting points about the GPCR.   Searchable PDF Format   (159 KB);   MS Word Format (.docx) (41 KB)  

Bourgeois Works on the GPCR:

Scholarly Commentary on the GPCR (From various, sometimes academic Marxist, political perspectives):

  • [Book:] China During the Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976: A Selected Bibliography of English Language Works, compiled by Tony H. Chang, (1999), 214 pages.   Searchable PDF Format (8,214 KB)
  • “The Conclusive Scene: Mao and the Red Guards in July 1968”, by Alessandro Russo, Positions [magazine], Winter 2005, 41 pages.   Searchable PDF Format (450 KB)
  • “Interpreting the Cultural Revolution Politically”, by Alexander Day, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies vol. 7, no. 4, 2006, 8 pages.   Searchable PDF Format (51 KB)
  • [Book:] Dynamics of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the Countryside: Shaanxi, 1966-1971, by Shinichi Tanagawa, (Ph.D. Thesis, Stanford University, June 2007), 321 pages. (Some scanned pages a little crooked; our apologies.)   Searchable PDF Format (14,482 KB)
  • [Book:] The Paris Commune in Shanghai: The Masses, the State, and Dynamics of ‘Continuous Revolution’, by Hongshen Jiang, (Ph.D. Thesis, Duke University, 2010), 637 pages.   Searchable PDF Format (1,862 KB)
  • [Book:] Reading Revolution: Art and Literacy During China’s Cultural Revolution, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Univ. of Toronto, June-September 2016, Exhibition catalog, by Jennifer Purtle and Elizabeth Ridolfo, 116 pages.   Searchable PDF Format (2,765 KB)
  • [Book:] “革命造反年代：上海CR运动史稿”   [The Age of Revolution and Rebellion: A Historical Draft of the Shanghai Cultural Revolution], by Li Xun, (Hong Kong: Oxford Univ. Press, 2015), Volume 1: 827 pages, Volume 2: 851 pages. Shanghai was in many ways the most important center of the GPCR, and this work is considered to be the most comprehensive history of Shanghai’s Cultural Revolution yet published. Unfortunately, this important work has not yet been translated into English or other languages, and is only available in Chinese.   Volume 1: Searchable PDF Format   (32,648 KB)   Volume 2: Searchable PDF Format   (33,534 KB)
  • [Book:] The Workers University in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, by Andrea Piazzaroli Longobardi, (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bologna, 2018), 218 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   (1,709 KB)



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