Table Of ContentYundong:
Mass Movements in
Chinese Communist
Leadership
A publication ofthe
Center for Chinese Studies
University ofCalifornia,
Berkeley, California 94720
Cover Colophon by Shih-hsiang Chen
Although the Center for Chinese Studies is responsible for the
selection and acceptance ofmonographs in this series, respon
sibility for theopinions expressedin them and for the accuracy
ofstatements contained in them rests with their authors.
@1976 bythe RegentsoftheUniversityofCalifornia
ISBN 0-912966-15-7
LibraryofCongress Catalog Number 75-620060
Printed in the United StatesofAmerica
$4.50
Center for ChineseStudies • CHINA RESEARCHMONOGRAPHS
UNIVERSITYOFCALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
NUMBER TWELVE
YUNDONG:
MASS CAMPAIGNS IN
CHINESE COMMUNIST
LEADERSHIP
GORDON BENNETT
4
Contents
List of Abbreviations 8
Foreword 9
Preface 11
Pinyin Romanization of Familiar Names 14
INTRODUCTION 15
I. ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT 19
BackgroundFactors 19
Immediate Factors 28
Development after 1949 32
II. HOW TO RUN A MOVEMENT: THE GENERAL
PATTERN 38
Organizing aCampaign 39
Running aCompaign in aSingle Unit 41
Summing Up 44
III. YUNDONG IN ACTION: A TYPOLOGY 46
Implementing Existing Policy 47
Emulating Advanced Experience 49
Introducing and Popularizing a New Policy 55
Correcting Deviations from Important Public Norms 58
Rectifying Leadership Malpractices among Responsible Cadres
and Organizations 60
Purging from Office Individuals Whose Political Opposition
Is Excessive 63
Effecting Enduring Changes in Individual Attitudes and
Social Institutions that Will Contribute to the Growth ofa
CollectiveSpiritandSupportthe Construction ofSocialism 66
IV. DEBATES OVER THE CONTINUING VALUE
OF YUNDONG 75
Rebutting the Critics: Arguments in Support of
Campaign Leadership 80
V. RESPONSES BY NONELITES: THE QUESTION
OF COMPLIANCE 86
VI. CONCLUSION 92
APPENDIX: The Land Reform Campaign-
Manchuria, 1946-47 101
Selected Annotated Bibliography 122
Glossary 125
Index 131
Wave After Wave
by Rewi Alley
With white foam
waves break
and dash eagerly
up the strand
lapping around
the children
who play and laugh
making the long beach
a live thing in
its changing beauty.
Watching these
and the sturdy fishermen
hauling boats ashore
one thinks over
the wave after wave
of people's movements
that have pounded
the shores of privilege
then after dumping
flotsam, have returned
gaily to mother sea
again.
August 20, 1968
Beidaihe
(from Ta Kung Pao Weekly Supplement,
Hongkong, September 26, 1968)
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN TEXT AND NOTES
CB Current Background, U.S. Consulate General, Hongkong
CCP Chinese Communist Party
JPRS Joint Publications Research Service
NCNA New China News Agency, Beijing
PLA People's Liberation Army
SCMM Selections from China Mainland Magazines, U.S. Consulate
General, Hongkong
SCMP Survey of China Mainland Press, U.S. Consulate General,
Hongkong
Foreword
One of the most frequently encountered metaphors in the writings of
Mao Zedong likens the course ofrevolution to the movementofwaves.
The movementofarevolutionary cause, Mao tellsus,is by no means al
ways aforward one; revolutionsmovethroughebbs and flows, advances
and retreats. The revolutionary isoften depicted asbattlingwaves in his
attempt to make forward progress.Whether this metaphor derives from
theexperienceofthe ChineseCommunist Partyinguerrillawarfare dur
ing its formative years or from the concepts ofthe dialect itself, it is a
particularly important idea that has determined the course of post-
LiberationChinese politics,and whichisthus indispensableto an under
standing ofthat course.
The most important manifestation of this idea in contemporary
Chinese political life is the yundong, or mobilizational campaign. So im
portant is it, indeed, that the "campaign style" has given a distinctive
character to the Chinese political system, ascompared with nonsocialist
or even other socialist political systems. Despite its importance,
however,neithertheChinesethemselves nor outsideobserversofChina
have devoted sustained attention to the idea ofthe campaign or to the
history ofits implementation in post-Liberation China.
Gordon Bennettis particularly well qualified to correct this omission.
Alongwith ahandful ofothers, Professor Bennett combines athorough
knowledge of the documentary sources on contemporary Chinese
politics with ahighly developed ability to interview former residents of
the People's Republic. Using the information and viewpoints garnered
from these two disparate sources,he is able to produce asynthetic work
of considerably greater reliability than those that derive from a single
type of source material. This ability was manifested first in the book,
Red Guard: The Political Biography ofDai Siao-ai, the story of a Red
Guard, which Professor Bennett wrote in collaboration with Ronald
Montaperto. It is clearly manifested as well in the present work.
Professor Bennett has written:Yundongwith two audiences in mind,
mind. His book synthesizesin anew way primary sourcematerialonthe
mobilizational campaign, a subject that has not been separately treated
previously except in article form. As aresult, this work will be ofcon
siderable interest and importance to the specialist in contemporary
Chinese politics. But the book has also been addressed to the student
who isjust beginning his or her study ofcontemporary China. Because
the campaigns in retrospect provide not only a key to understanding
Chinese political style, but also a means of periodizing contemporary
Chinese political history, it isclear that this work will find an important
place in the classroom as well.
Duringseveral periods ofresidence at the Center for ChineseStudies
at Berkeley, Professor Bennett has contributed substantially to the
Center's intellectual vitality. His longassociation with theCentermakes
it particularly fitting that this book be published as one of the China
Research Monographs.
JohnBryanStarr, Vice-Chairman
Centerfor Chinese Studies
Berkeley, California
May 1975
10
