Rebel Faction (Cultural Revolution)

During the Cultural Revolution, a Rebel Faction (Chinese: 造反派; pinyin: Zàofǎn pài) referred to a group or a sociopolitical movement that was self-proclaimed "rebellious". Composed of workers and students, they were often the more radical wing of the Red Guards and grew around 1967, but were accompanied by further splits and sectarianism.

Origins

The rebel students largely continued the Red Guard movement of 1966, but it came more from the radical wing of the Red Guards within the universities.^[1]^: 156 The rebel workers, on the other hand, were inspired by Mao Zedong's "to rebel is justified" and related phrases.^[2]^: 113

Yin Hongbiao points out that the rebels only gradually formed a formal faction after Red August on August 18, 1966.^[3]

Structures

Rebel students

After the Red August in August 1966, radical students who had been criticized for their "bad blood" began to call themselves "rebels".^[1]^: 155^[4] The main targets of the rebels were those in power, the work teams and the Party organs. In principle, the rebels also criticized the "bourgeois reactionary academic authorities," but they were much less active than the conservative faction of Red Guards in this regard.^[3]

Rebel workers

As the Red Guard movement progressed, the working class also became involved in the movement. Compared to the students, the workers had much less propaganda tools, but Mao expressed clear support for the workers in 1968.^[5]

Harder to dismiss than the students, the workers were long hailed as the builders of China by officials, but they also blamed the bureaucracy for its shortcomings during this period.^[2]^{: 117–118}

Development and factionalism

As the Cultural Revolution progressed, they had become an important faction of the Red Guards by early 1967. Mao Zedong and the left wing of the Party (such as the Central Cultural Revolution Group) supported them at that time. However, further divisions occurred within the rebel faction as well. They still recognized the overall situation in China compared to the more leftist and radical "ultra-leftists".^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b Walder, Andrew G. (2009). Fractured rebellion: the Beijing Red Guard movement. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674064133.
^ ^a ^b Andreas, Joel (2019). Disenfranchised: the rise and fall of industrial citizenship in China. New York: Oxford University press. ISBN 978-0-19-005260-7.
^ ^a ^b ^c Yin, Hongbiao (November 1996). "Ideological and political tendencies of factions in the red guard movement". Journal of Contemporary China. 5 (13): 269–280. doi:10.1080/10670569608724255. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^ Chen, Anita (September 1992). "Dispelling misconceptions about the red guard movement: The necessity to re-examine cultural revolution factionalism and periodization". Journal of Contemporary China. 1 (1): 66. doi:10.1080/10670569208724156. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^ Li, Xun; Perry, Elizabeth J. (1993). "Revolutionary Rudeness: The Language of Red Guards and Rebel Workers in China's Cultural Revolution". Center for East Asian Research: 13–15. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[:0-1] Walder, Andrew G. (2009). Fractured rebellion: the Beijing Red Guard movement. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674064133.

[:2-2] Andreas, Joel (2019). Disenfranchised: the rise and fall of industrial citizenship in China. New York: Oxford University press. ISBN 978-0-19-005260-7.

[:1-3] Yin, Hongbiao (November 1996). "Ideological and political tendencies of factions in the red guard movement". Journal of Contemporary China. 5 (13): 269–280. doi:10.1080/10670569608724255. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[4] Chen, Anita (September 1992). "Dispelling misconceptions about the red guard movement: The necessity to re-examine cultural revolution factionalism and periodization". Journal of Contemporary China. 1 (1): 66. doi:10.1080/10670569208724156. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[5] Li, Xun; Perry, Elizabeth J. (1993). "Revolutionary Rudeness: The Language of Red Guards and Rebel Workers in China's Cultural Revolution". Center for East Asian Research: 13–15. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

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v t e Cultural Revolution
Prelude	Anti-Rightist Campaign Great Chinese Famine Great Leap Forward Lushan Conference Seven Thousand Cadres Conference Socialist Education Movement Taoyuan Experience
Major events	Down to the Countryside Movement Cleansing the Class Ranks 12-3 incident January Storm February Countercurrent Wuhan incident 9th Party Congress One Strike-Three Anti Campaign Project 571 Lin Biao incident 10th Party Congress Black Painting incident Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius Hangzhou incident 1975 Banqiao Dam failure Counterattack the Right-Deviationist Reversal-of-Verdicts Trend 1976 Nanjing incident 1976 Tiananmen Incident
Massacres	Red August Daxing Massacre Guangxi Massacre Inner Mongolia incident Guangdong Massacre Hunan Massacres Daoxian massacre Shaoyang County Massacre Yunnan Massacres Zhao Jianmin Spy Case Shadian incident Ruijin Massacre
Key figures	Mao Zedong Liu Shaoqi Zhou Enlai Lin Biao Deng Xiaoping Gang of Four (Jiang Qing Zhang Chunqiao Yao Wenyuan Wang Hongwen) Peng Dehuai Wu Han Peng Zhen Tao Zhu Chen Boda Wang Dongxing Xie Fuzhi Ji Dengkui Wang Li Qi Benyu Wu Faxian Qiu Huizuo Yang Chengwu Chen Zaidao Kang Sheng Mao Yuanxin Hua Guofeng Ye Jianying
Documents	Bombard the Headquarters Quotations from Chairman Mao Hai Rui Dismissed from Office May 16 Notification Six Articles of Public Security Sweep Away All Cow Demons and Snake Spirits On Class Origins
Concepts	Four Olds Newborn socialist things Struggle session Feudal fascism Big-character poster Cow demons and snake spirits Bloodline theory Continuous Revolution Theory Seizure of power Violent Struggle One Divides into Two Democracy Wall Eight model plays Loyalty dance Capitalist roader Yiku sitian Learn from Daqing in industry Learn from Dazhai in agriculture Stinking Old Ninth Five Black Categories Five Red Categories
Groups	Red Guards Conservative Faction Little Red Guards Rebel Faction Scarlet Guards Ultra-Left Faction Xiaoyao Faction May Sixteenth elements Five Man Group Cultural Revolution Group Central Case Examination Group Central Organization and Propaganda Leading Group Hunan Provincial Proletarian Revolutionary Great Alliance Committee Revolutionary committee in Heilongjiang in Shanghai 8341 Special Regiment Sent-down youth 61 Renegades Barefoot doctor Worker-Peasant-Soldier student May Seventh Cadre School Xiang River Storm and Thunder
Related topics	Maoism Mao Zedong's cult of personality Mango cult Great Leap Forward List of campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party Class struggle Sino-Soviet split Two Whatevers Morning Sun (film) 3rd Plenum of the 11th Central Committee Boluan Fanzheng New Enlightenment Scar literature
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