Battle for China's Past : Mao and the Cultural Revolution

THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST
But is it? Could there be other models that not only make the planet
earth sustainable but also create new subjectivity? Do the ideas of Mao
give us some direction for that? Badiou certainly thinks so. Badiou
(2006) thinks that the Cultural Revolution was an attempt, albeit a
failed one, to create new subjectivity. Why is it then that the Cultural
Revolution has been seen as only violent and destructive? The logic of
burying the revolution requires a narrative that highlights the violent
and destructive aspects of popular revolutions. As pointed out by
Wang Shaoguang (2006), the current literature focuses on the destructive
part of the Cultural Revolution but pays little attention to its
constructive part. The destruction mainly occurred at the beginning of
the Cultural Revolution, in the years 1966 and 1967, and to some extent
even in 1968, but the constructive period lasted from 1967 onwards
until 1976. The logic of burying the revolution requires a narrative that
denies the constructive aspects of populist revolutions.
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