"Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend."
~Mao Zedong
The Hundred Flowers Campaign
"The 100 Flowers Campaign" I Courtesy of Facts and Details
In May of 1955, Mao made a dramatic change. At the Supreme State Conference in Beijing, Mao requested that intellectuals openly criticize and express their feelings for Communist rule. During this liberalization, Mao received thousands of letters full of constructive criticism. Scholars published their protests and hundreds filled the streets. They denounced corruption and criticized Mao's dictatorship. Just as abruptly as it started, Mao ended the campaign within five weeks due to the fear of opposition. He ordered the secret police to find and destroy those who condemned him. Without these intellectual leaders, opposition to Mao's regime would not take place. This was the starting point of the anti-rightist movement. It set the tone for the Cultural Revolution which took place in the 1960s.
"Oliver Chou wrote in the South China Morning Post: 'Around 550,000 so-called 'rightists' were accused of 'launching a ferocious offensive' on the Communist Party during the fateful summer of 1957. Instigated by Mao Zedong, the campaign followed seemingly genuine calls by the leadership for criticisms that might help to 'rectify the party.' For nearly two months, discussions were organized at work units across the country and criticisms put on record. Then Mao pounced, calling his tactics 'an overt conspiracy' that lured the snakes out of their holes."
~Facts and Details and the South China Morning Post
~Facts and Details and the South China Morning Post
Student Interview with Yunshen Liu, Retired Fighter Jet Pilot on his personal experience
Mao made the speech "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People" to end the campaign. Click below for the full text of the speech.
Courtesy of Marxist
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