Word: revolutionism
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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LIFTON'S concepts become intelligible only when he relates them to the specific case of China. "The essence of the 'power struggle' taking place in China," he argues, "as of all such 'power struggles' is power over death." The symbol of immortality linking Mao with the mass agents of upheaval...
The symbol of Mao and his revolution, in turn, link the masses to Chinese culture and history. With ancestor worship and family under attack from the communist leadership, the revolution is a substitute for the biological line. This explains the deification of Mao, and even more than Mao, Mao's...
LIFTON'S approach, then, has a certain intuitive and empirical weight. But in seeking to pinpoint one key symbol and stretch it into a foundation for China's chaos, he strains his hypothesis. Lifton has an exceptional command of the data on the Cultural Revolution, and his scheme explains most...
Lifton has a particularly hard time convincing us that the Red Guards who have spearheaded Mao's movement actually share his concern for the revolution--or at least that they are concerned for the same reasons that Mao is. The youthfulness of the Red Guards (most were between 10 and...
Or it could be something totally different: a response to a particular political order and the grievances it engenders. If symbols gibe with certain psychological needs, it may also be true that particular kinds of political order cultivate certain psychological states. The lot of the Chinese student (as efforts to...