Daniel Leese - Böcker

Although many books have explored Mao's posthumous legacy, none has scrutinized the massive worship that was fostered around him during the Cultural Revolution. This book is the first to do so. By analyzing secret archival documents, Daniel Leese traces the history of the cult within the Communist Party and at the grassroots level. The party leadership's original intention was to develop a prominent brand symbol, which would compete with the nationalists' elevation of Chiang Kai-shek. However, they did not anticipate that Mao would use this symbolic power to mobilize Chinese youth to rebel against party bureaucracy itself. The result was anarchy and when the army was called in it relied on mandatory rituals of worship such as daily reading of the Little Red Book to restore order. Such fascinating detail sheds light not only on the personality cult of Mao, but also on hero-worship in other traditions.

Although many books have explored Mao's posthumous legacy, none has scrutinized the massive worship that was fostered around him during the Cultural Revolution. This book is the first to do so. By analyzing secret archival documents, Daniel Leese traces the history of the cult within the Communist Party and at the grassroots level. The party leadership's original intention was to develop a prominent brand symbol, which would compete with the nationalists' elevation of Chiang Kai-shek. However, they did not anticipate that Mao would use this symbolic power to mobilize Chinese youth to rebel against party bureaucracy itself. The result was anarchy and when the army was called in it relied on mandatory rituals of worship such as daily reading of the Little Red Book to restore order. Such fascinating detail sheds light not only on the personality cult of Mao, but also on hero-worship in other traditions.

How can a dictatorship cope with the legacy of injustices and atrocities committed in its own name? This was one of the pressing questions the Chinese Communist Party leadership faced after the death of Mao Zedong in September 1976 and the end of the Cultural Revolution. This collection presents ground-breaking, original research to address the question of historical justice in the Party's attempt to survive politically despite rampant factionalism and widespread political persecution. The volume traces complex questions of property restitution, fostering reconciliation within local communities, and establishing new standards of truth. Contributions also investigate how various actors remember the period in the present. The post-Mao period provides a lens through which to view strategies of coping with a violent past under state socialism, highlighting how selectively applied approaches now associated with the concept of transitional justice may even serve to strengthen rather than subvert authoritarian rule.

How can a dictatorship cope with the legacy of injustices and atrocities committed in its own name? This was one of the pressing questions the Chinese Communist Party leadership faced after the death of Mao Zedong in September 1976 and the end of the Cultural Revolution. This collection presents ground-breaking, original research to address the question of historical justice in the Party's attempt to survive politically despite rampant factionalism and widespread political persecution. The volume traces complex questions of property restitution, fostering reconciliation within local communities, and establishing new standards of truth. Contributions also investigate how various actors remember the period in the present. The post-Mao period provides a lens through which to view strategies of coping with a violent past under state socialism, highlighting how selectively applied approaches now associated with the concept of transitional justice may even serve to strengthen rather than subvert authoritarian rule.

The relationship between politics and law in the early People’sRepublic of China was highly contentious. Periods of intentionallyexcessive campaign justice intersected with attempts to carve outprofessional standards of adjudication and to offer retroactive justicefor those deemed to have been unjustly persecuted. How were victims andperpetrators defined and dealt with during different stages of theMaoist era and beyond? How was law practiced, understood, and contestedin local contexts? This volume adopts a case study approach to shedlight on these complex questions. By way of a close reading of originalcase files from the grassroots level, the contributors detailprocedures and question long-held assumptions, not least about theCultural Revolution as a period of “lawlessness.”

The relationship between politics and law in the early People’sRepublic of China was highly contentious. Periods of intentionallyexcessive campaign justice intersected with attempts to carve outprofessional standards of adjudication and to offer retroactive justicefor those deemed to have been unjustly persecuted. How were victims andperpetrators defined and dealt with during different stages of theMaoist era and beyond? How was law practiced, understood, and contestedin local contexts? This volume adopts a case study approach to shedlight on these complex questions. By way of a close reading of originalcase files from the grassroots level, the contributors detailprocedures and question long-held assumptions, not least about theCultural Revolution as a period of “lawlessness.”