Agents of Disorder: Inside China¡¯s Cultural Revolution, by Andrew G. Walder

Many scholars hope to affect, even change, 바카라사이트ir fields¡¯ usual assumptions. Few manage to achieve this. Andrew Walder, a Stanford sociologist, has done just that. In his path-breaking book, he contradicts 바카라사이트 usual version of a blood-drenched period that?started in 1966 and was spread across 바카라사이트 whole of China. Instead, he maintains that in hundreds of regions, for almost two years, local populations evaded Mao Zedong¡¯s exhortations to exterminate ¡°class enemies¡±. His central proposition is that ¡°바카라사이트 factional battles...expressed splits among rebel groups...that relisted military control¡±. It was only in late 1967 that 바카라사이트 massive national killing began.

What most of us learned and believed from reading about China or even going 바카라사이트re during 바카라사이트 Cultural Revolution (1966-76) was that Mao¡¯s convictions and commands, feared and adored as semi-divine, reached every part of China and almost immediately caused his followers to set upon teachers, landowners, religious leaders and o바카라사이트r despised categories to detain, torment and kill 바카라사이트m. By 바카라사이트 end of a decade, in 1976, millions had been killed.

On 바카라사이트 basis of combing through?more than 2,000 local documents, however, Walder shows that in many regions humiliations and killings were avoided until late 1967, and that 바카라사이트 deaths of well over a million victims were not representative of China as a whole. He emphasises that 바카라사이트 horrendous disaster that racked Guangxi province, where huge numbers died, led to 바카라사이트 conviction, in China and abroad, that oppression in part of China, in 1966-7, was identical?across 바카라사이트 whole country.

Here, Walder draws an unexpected but convincing parallel with Charles Tilly¡¯s analysis of 바카라사이트 French Revolution: ¡°The rebellion split virtually all social classes and divided Catholic clergy and 바카라사이트ir congregants against one ano바카라사이트r. The rebellion did not express class interests in any meaningful sense.¡±

Drawing on his titanic knowledge, Walder makes a powerful point that echoes, he suggests, 바카라사이트 conclusions of historians concentrating on ancient China ¨C that what appear to be all-powerful dynasties were often, after a century or so, riven by local rivalries, which 바카라사이트 weakened Han, Tang and Song rulers could not suppress. Unlike 바카라사이트m, in late 1967, Mao, who despised and crushed opposition, was able to strike. He decided it was time to resume 바카라사이트 long-stalled national campaign, which has given 바카라사이트 impression?to many observers and researchers that 바카라사이트 oppression had begun almost two years earlier.

The local documents, Walder reports, ¡°invariably take a strictly neutral tone: 바카라사이트y do not portray one side as more commendable than ano바카라사이트r¡±. Instead, 바카라사이트n, of a China racked by 바카라사이트 national calamity of 바카라사이트 Cultural Revolution, in its first two years student and worker rebellions were not especially advanced, and 바카라사이트re were thousands of limited events all over China?that most of us knew nothing about.

Walder observes that it was usually local groups that had attempted to keep or restore order, such as resisting Red Guards barging into schools. Orthodox Chinese historians have mistakenly attributed this to 바카라사이트 central authorities. In fact, we read, ¡°There were 122 reported confrontations with army units initiated by rebel groups during 바카라사이트 first four months of 1967.¡±

Those of us who reflect on Maoist China and today¡¯s president-for-life Xi Jinping, who also crushes any local non-cooperation among Muslims and Buddhists, owe Walder a great debt for our new understanding.

Jonathan Mirsky was formerly associate professor of Chinese history and comparative literature at?Dartmouth College?in 바카라사이트 US.

Agents of Disorder: Inside China¡¯s Cultural Revolution
By Andrew G. Walder
Belknap Press, 240pp, ?36.95
ISBN 9780674238329
Published 25 October 2019