Bombard the Headquarters

{{Short description|1966 document by Mao Zedong}}

{{Short description|1966 document by Mao Zedong}}

{{Use mdy dates|date = February 2019}}

{{Use mdy dates|date = February 2019}}

{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}

{{Mao Zedong series}}

{{Mao Zedong series}}

[[File:炮打司令部 我的一张大字报.gif|thumb|Mao's handwritten draft of "Bombard the Headquarters"]]

[[File:炮打司令部 我的一张大字报.gif|thumb|Mao's handwritten draft of "Bombard the Headquarters"]]

'''''Bombard The Headquarters – My Big-Character Poster''''' ({{Zh|s={{linktext|炮|打|司令部}}——我的一张大字报|p=Pào dǎ sīlìng bù——wǒ de yī zhāng dàzì bào}}) was a short document written by Chairman [[Mao Zedong]] on August 5, 1966, during the 11th [[plenary session]] of the [[8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]],{{Cite book |last=Yang |first=Jisheng |title=The world turned upside down: a history of the Chinese Cultural Revolution |last2=Mosher |first2=Stacy |last3=Guo |first3=Jian |date=2021 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-0-374-29313-0 |edition=First American |location=New York |pages=97-98}}{{Cite web |title=中国共产党大事记·1966年--资料中心--中国共产党新闻网 |url=http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64162/64164/4416081.html |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=cpc.people.com.cn |language=zh}} and published in the [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist Party]]'s official newspaper ''[[People's Daily]]'' a year later, on August 5, 1967.

'''''Bombard The Headquarters – My Big-Character Poster''''' ({{Zh|s={{linktext|炮|打|司令部}}——我的一张大字报|p=Pào dǎ sīlìng bù——wǒ de yī zhāng dàzì bào}}) was a short document written by Chairman [[Mao Zedong]] on August 5, 1966, during the 11th [[plenary session]] of the [[8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]],{{Cite book |last=Yang |first=Jisheng |title=The world turned upside down: a history of the Chinese Cultural Revolution |last2=Mosher |first2=Stacy |last3=Guo |first3=Jian |date=2021 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-0-374-29313-0 |edition=First American |location=New York |pages=97-98}}{{Cite web |title=中国共产党大事记·1966年--资料中心--中国共产党新闻网 |url=http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64162/64164/4416081.html |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=cpc.people.com.cn |language=zh}} and published in the [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist Party]]'s official newspaper ''[[People's Daily]]'' a year later, on August 5, 1967.

In this [[big-character poster]], Mao called on the masses to "bombard the headquarters" and urged [[rebellion]] against the Communist Party and his Party rivals who he alleged were exercising a "[[Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie|bourgeois dictatorship]]".{{Cite book |last=Meisner |first=Maurice J. |title=Mao's China and after: a history of the People's Republic |date=1999 |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-0-684-85635-3 |edition=3rd |location=New York, NY |pages=320-321}} It is commonly believed that the poster directly targeted Chinese President [[Liu Shaoqi]] and senior leader [[Deng Xiaoping]], who were then in charge of the Chinese government's daily affairs and who tried to cool down the mass movement which had been coming into shape in several universities in [[Beijing]] since the [[May 16 Notification|May 16 Notice]] was issued, through which Mao officially launched the [[Cultural Revolution]].{{Cite web |title=第七章 十年"文化大革命"的内乱 |url=https://www.gov.cn/18da/content_2247076.htm |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=www.gov.cn |language=zh}}

In this [[big-character poster]], Mao called on the masses to "bombard the headquarters", urging [[rebellion]] against the Communist Party and his Party rivals who he alleged were exercising a "[[Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie|bourgeois dictatorship]]".{{Cite book |last=Meisner |first=Maurice J. |title=Mao's China and after: a history of the People's Republic |date=1999 |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-0-684-85635-3 |edition=3rd |location=New York, NY |pages=320-321}}{{Cite journal |last=Barmé |first=Geremie R. |date=2012-10-11 |title=History Writ Large: Big-character Posters, Red Logorrhoea and the Art of Words |url=https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/2645 |journal=PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=16-22 |doi=10.5130/portal.v9i3.2645 |issn=1449-2490}} It is commonly believed that the poster directly targeted Chinese President [[Liu Shaoqi]] and senior leader [[Deng Xiaoping]], who were then in charge of the Chinese government's daily affairs and who tried to cool down the mass movement which had been coming into shape in several universities in [[Beijing]] since the [[May 16 Notification|May 16 Notice]] was issued, through which Mao officially launched the [[Cultural Revolution]].{{Cite web |title=第七章 十年"文化大革命"的内乱 |url=https://www.gov.cn/18da/content_2247076.htm |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=www.gov.cn |language=zh}}

Many larger-scale mass persecutions followed the publication of this big-character poster, resulting in turmoil throughout the country and the death of thousands of "[[class warfare|class enemies]]", including President Liu Shaoqi.{{Cite web |date=2014-11-12 |title=集中共受害者与迫害者于一身的刘少奇 |url=https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2014/11/141112_liu_shaoqi |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=BBC News 中文 |language=zh-hans}}

After the poster was published, big-character posters flourished throughout China, becoming a key medium of political radicalization and expression in the early Cultural Revolution. Many larger-scale mass persecutions followed the publication of this big-character poster, resulting in turmoil throughout the country and the death of thousands of "[[class warfare|class enemies]]", including President Liu Shaoqi.{{Cite web |date=2014-11-12 |title=集中共受害者与迫害者于一身的刘少奇 |url=https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2014/11/141112_liu_shaoqi |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=BBC News 中文 |language=zh-hans}}

== Text ==

== Text ==

English translation:

English translation:

{{quote|China's first [[Marxist-Leninist]] big-character poster and Commentator's article on it in ''[[People's Daily]]'' are indeed superbly written! [[Comrade]]s, please read them again. But in the last fifty days or so some leading comrades from the central down to the local levels have acted in a diametrically opposite way. Adopting the [[reactionary]] stand of the bourgeoisie, they have enforced a bourgeois dictatorship and struck down the surging movement of the Great Cultural Revolution of the proletariat. They have stood facts on their head and juggled black and white, encircled and suppressed revolutionaries, stifled opinions differing from their own, imposed a [[White Terror (mainland China)|white terror]], and felt very pleased with themselves. They have puffed up the arrogance of the bourgeoisie and deflated the morale of the proletariat. How poisonous! Viewed in connection with the Right deviation in 1962 and the wrong tendency of 1964 which was 'Left' in form but Right in essence, shouldn't this make one wide awake?|source="Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung Volume IX"{{Cite book|title=Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung|last=Mao|first=Tse-tung|url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/B05-Mao-Tsetung-Volume-9-2nd-Printing.pdf|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|year=2021|isbn=9782491182489|pages=282|language=en}}}}

{{quote|China's first [[Marxist-Leninist]] big-character poster and Commentator's article on it in ''[[People's Daily]]'' are indeed superbly written! [[Comrade]]s, please read them again. But in the last fifty days or so some leading comrades from the central down to the local levels have acted in a diametrically opposite way. Adopting the [[reactionary]] stand of the bourgeoisie, they have enforced a bourgeois dictatorship and struck down the surging movement of the Great Cultural Revolution of the proletariat. They have stood facts on their head and juggled black and white, encircled and suppressed revolutionaries, stifled opinions differing from their own, imposed a white terror, and felt very pleased with themselves. They have puffed up the arrogance of the bourgeoisie and deflated the morale of the proletariat. How poisonous! Viewed in connection with the Right deviation in 1962 and the wrong tendency of 1964 which was 'Left' in form but Right in essence, shouldn't this make one wide awake?|source="Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung Volume IX"{{Cite book|title=Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung|last=Mao|first=Tse-tung|url=https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/B05-Mao-Tsetung-Volume-9-2nd-Printing.pdf|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|year=2021|isbn=9782491182489|pages=282|language=en}}}}

=== Content ===

=== Content ===

The "first Marxist-Leninist big-character poster" Mao makes mention of was [[Big-character poster#"What are Song Shuo, Lu Ping, and Peng Peiyun up to in the Cultural Revolution"|the 25 May 1966 poster]] created and displayed by [[Peking University]] radicals, [[Nie Yuanzi]] among them, which was a key trigger of the Cultural Revolution.

The "first Marxist-Leninist big-character poster" Mao makes mention of was [[Big-character poster#"What are Song Shuo, Lu Ping, and Peng Peiyun up to in the Cultural Revolution"|the 25 May 1966 poster]] created and displayed by [[Peking University]] radicals, [[Nie Yuanzi]] among them, which was a key trigger of the Cultural Revolution.

Though Mao's poster only vaguely targeted "some leading comrades" who had "enforced a bourgeois dictatorship and struck down the surging movement of the great Cultural Revolution of the proletariat", everyone at the time knew that the person under attack was Liu Shaoqi.{{Cite book |last=毛 |first=泽东 |title=Highlights of Da-Zi-Bao during the Cultural Revolution |publisher=Mirror Books |year=1996 |location=Flushing, NY |pages=28 |language=Chinese |chapter=炮打司令部——我的一张大字报 |trans-chapter=Bombard the headquarters—my big-character poster}}

Though Mao's poster only vaguely targeted "some leading comrades" who had "enforced a bourgeois dictatorship and struck down the surging movement of the great Cultural Revolution of the proletariat", everyone at the time knew that the person under attack was Liu Shaoqi.{{Cite book |last=毛 |first=泽东 |title=Highlights of Da-Zi-Bao during the Cultural Revolution |publisher=Mirror Books |year=1996 |location=Flushing, NY |pages=28 |language=Chinese |chapter=炮打司令部——我的一张大字报 |trans-chapter=Bombard the headquarters—my big-character poster}} Mao alludes to the [[White Terror (China)|White Terror]] of the 1920s–1930s, during which communists were persecuted and killed by the [[Kuomintang]].

Mao's reference to "[[Right-wing politics|Right]] [[Deviationism#Maoism|deviation]] in 1962" refers to Liu Shaoqi's statements during the [[Seven Thousand Cadres Conference]] that the [[Great Leap Forward#Famine|Great Leap Forward famine]] was caused predominantly by human error. Mao's reference to "the wrong tendency of 1964" refers to Liu Shaoqi's leadership of the [[Socialist Education Movement]], and the [[Taoyuan Experience]] report, during which Mao and Liu came to be divided.

Mao's reference to "[[Right-wing politics|Right]] [[Deviationism#Maoism|deviation]] in 1962" refers to Liu Shaoqi's statements during the [[Seven Thousand Cadres Conference]] that the [[Great Leap Forward#Famine|Great Leap Forward famine]] was caused predominantly by human error. Mao's reference to "the wrong tendency of 1964" refers to Liu Shaoqi's leadership of the [[Socialist Education Movement]], and the [[Taoyuan Experience]] report, during which Mao and Liu came to be divided.

== Impact ==

== Impact ==

The poster gave fuel to the [[Red Guards]] movement and more posters criticizing Liu Shaoqi were created by radicals at [[Tsinghua University]] and in Beijing.Leijonhufvud, Göran (1989). ''Going Against the Tide: On Dissent and Big Character Posters in China''. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. p. 65.Wang, Tuo (2014). ''The Cultural Revolution and Overacting: Dynamics Between Politics and Performance''. Lanham: Lexington Books. p. 35. Relations further deteriorated between Mao and Liu, who was then still Mao's ostensible successor; there was surprise that Mao would attack his successor so openly. [[Zhou Enlai]] promoted the poster, and [[Wu Faxian]] recalled that Zhou stated, "Liu Shaoqi can no longer be in charge of the Central Committee's work, because he has disappointed the Chairman's hopes. The Central Committee has now decided to bring comrade [[Lin Biao]] to Beijing to take over from Liu Shaoqi."

The poster became iconic overnight, provided fuel to the [[Red Guards]] movement, and made the big-character poster a key medium of political radicalization and expression in the first two years of the Cultural Revolution. Red Guards and student radicals created posters criticizing Liu Shaoqi at [[Tsinghua University]] and in Beijing,Leijonhufvud, Göran (1989). ''Going Against the Tide: On Dissent and Big Character Posters in China''. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. p. 65.Wang, Tuo (2014). ''The Cultural Revolution and Overacting: Dynamics Between Politics and Performance''. Lanham: Lexington Books. p. 35.> and big-character posters soon covered walls in schools, university campuses, "government offices, factories, along streets, places of worship and throughout the countryside". Artwork and posters depicting Mao penning the poster flourished.> Relations further deteriorated between Mao and Liu, who was then still Mao's ostensible successor; there was surprise that Mao would attack his successor so openly. [[Zhou Enlai]] promoted the poster, and [[Wu Faxian]] recalled that Zhou stated, "Liu Shaoqi can no longer be in charge of the Central Committee's work, because he has disappointed the Chairman's hopes. The Central Committee has now decided to bring comrade [[Lin Biao]] to Beijing to take over from Liu Shaoqi." [[Maurice Meisner]] writes that Mao's call to bombard the headquarters is remarkable in that it came from the [[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party|Party chairman]] and most preeminent veteran of the [[Chinese Revolution (1946−1950)|revolution]], who came to regard the very state and Party institutions he had helped to build as obstacles that needed to be overturned, rather than as tools of, revolutionary social change.

[[Maurice Meisner]] writes that Mao's call to bombard the headquarters is remarkable in that it came from the [[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party|Party chairman]] and most preeminent veteran of the [[Chinese Revolution (1946−1950)|revolution]], who came to regard the very state and Party institutions he had helped to build as obstacles that needed to be overturned, rather than as tools of, revolutionary social change.

==See also==

==See also==