International context: Mao’s reaction to De-Stalinization and Hungarian revolution.

• 100 flowers campaign was an attempt to show that there is a difference between Mao and Stalin’s authority to avoid Hungarian-like consequences[15].

· Mao said that “The masses are justified to remove anyone who has a bureaucratic work-style” and estrangement of party from the people was the cause of the crisis[16].

• 15 November 1956 Mao says to his top echelon: “The cause of the Hungarian crisis is not poor living standards it is the fact that they failed to eliminate all of their counter-revolutionaries, Eastern Europe just didn’t kill ….We must kill and we say it is good to kill[17].”

Events of the campaign:

• 1956: 50-60% of the party disagreed with Mao’s idea that masses should be “vaccinated” with harmful ideas^[18].
• In February 1957 Mao delivered a speech “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the people”, which called for opened criticism of the party and officially promoted competition of ideas.
• Limited response: intellectuals feared it was a trap[19].
• Mao travelled through the country for 3 weeks promoting the campaign. Pressure put on intellectuals by local officials: amount of letters increased[20].
• Typical letters criticized the communist monopoly of power, compared it to Hitler’s Germany, claimed CCP is worse in protecting citizens’ rights than Cheng-Kai-Shek’s government, elitism of the party and its separation from the people, demanded democracy[21].

• Consequence: Democracy Wall and protests in Beijing University led by Lin Xiling[22].
• (May 15)Mao begins to have doubts and publishes a secret memorandum titled:”Things Turning Into Their Opposites” where he first speaks of the danger of Rightists[23].
• 1956: Mao described his plans of a trap to his cronies (Ke Quingshi):“casting a long line to catch a big fish”. “How can we catch the snakes if we don’t let them out of their lairs?[24]”

• June 1957: A Pamphlet speculating that Mao was a “Khrushchev-like liberal acting against the rest of the conservative party”. This was dangerous for Mao as it could provoke dissent[25].
• June 12: Mao issued a circular to all reliable party members stating that he set-up a trap[26].
• Quota for victims set: 10 % of intellectuals[27].
• Persecution of an estimated 550,000 people [28]

Historiographical debate:

• Hundred Flowers was a rectification movement, “a democratic check”, aimed to make the party more responsive to the wishes of the people and to allow the venting of the public dissatisfaction[29].

• 100 flowers was created as a justification of a purge, which he needed the atmosphere of de-Stalinization [30]
• Anti-Rightist movement could be seen as fulfilling the aim of creating the atmosphere of fear needed for the Superpower Programme. All science related intellectuals not severely punished[31].
• The campaign was a "a gamble, based on a calculation that genuine counterrevolutionaries were few, that rebels like Hu Feng had been permanently intimidated into silence, and that other intellectuals would follow Mao's lead, speaking out only against the people and practices Mao himself most wanted to subject to reform[32]."

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