May Seventh Cadre School
May Seventh Cadre Schools (simplified Chinese: 五七干校; traditional Chinese: 五七幹校) were a system of rural communes in China established during the Cultural Revolution to train Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres to follow the mass line, including through the use of manual labor.[1]: 29
Origins of term
There are two interpretations of the origin of the term "May Seventh Cadre School."[1]: 30–31
According to the majority view, the term comes from
An alternative view is that May Seventh Cadre Schools take their name from that of the first such cadre school, which was established on May 7, 1968.[1]: 31 In this regard, academic Sing-Nan Fen observes that unlike the May Seventh Directive, a directive issued by Mao on October 4, 1968, addresses cadre training specifically:[1]: 31
Sending the masses of cadres to do manual work gives them an excellent opportunity to study once again; this should be done by all cadres except those who are too old, too weak, ill or disabled. Cadres at work should also go group by group to do manual work.
Development
The Cultural Revolution sought to address the disconnect between the people and the bureaucracy.[5] Among the Maoist prescriptions for addressing this "bureaucratism" was through requiring officials and other intellectual workers to participate regularly in labor, based on the rationale that such participation would prevent them from becoming "divorced from the masses."[6]: 371 May Seventh Cadre Schools were an institutionalized means of implementing this concept.[6]: 371 Generally, those assigned to May Seventh Cadre Schools spent six months to two years at these rural communes.[6]: 372
After the creation of the first such cadre school on May 7, 1968, they were established throughout China,[1]: 33 and nearly every province had them.[1]: 41 They became prominent topics in Chinese journals and newspapers[1]: 33 and a feature of Chinese political and public life during the Cultural Revolution.[6]: 345 During this period, they were acclaimed for their role in countering bureaucratism.[6]: 345 Between 1968 and 1976, millions of people attended May Seventh Cadre Schools.[1]: 41 These included many Communist Party officials and cadre who had resisted the policies of the Cultural Revolution.[6]: 345 Historian Maurice Meisner writes, "Tilling virgin lands and living a spartan life for several years, it was hoped, would cure them of their bureaucratic habits before they were returned to their official posts."[6]: 345 May Seventh Cadre Schools were thus intended as a means to ease tensions between the masses and the CCP.[6]: 345
At May Seventh Cadre Schools, the day was divided between productive labor and Marxist study.[6]: 371 Manual labor was the main point of emphasis at May Seventh Cadre Schools.[1]: 35–36 Manual labor was emphasized not just for its productive value, but also because it was seen as a tempering influence or mechanism for personal transformation.[1]: 35–36
After 1969, May Seventh Cadre Schools began placing an increased emphasis on the study of communist doctrine.[1]: 37
In the 1970s, debates occurred over how to balance book learning and manual labor at May Seventh Cadre Schools.[1]: 39 Proponents of greater focus on manual labor cited Mao's May Seventh Directive, while proponents of greater focus on theoretical study cited a later directive by Mao to "study conscientiously, [and] become expert in Marxism."[1]: 39 Ultimately, manual labor remained the core focus of May Seventh Cadre Schools countrywide while some schools did incorporate more theoretical study.[1]: 40
The institutional status of May Seventh Cadre Schools became uncertain after Mao's death.[1]: 40 On November 9, 1978, People's Daily reported that Beijing and Shanghai authorities were exempting technical and scientific cadre from being required to attend May Seventh Cadre Schools which focused primarily on manual labor.[1]: 40
The May Seventh Cadre Schools were officially abolished by the State Council in February 1979.
Further reading
Memoirs
- Yang Jiang:《干校六记》- Six Chapters from My Life "Downunder", tr. Howard Goldblatt (University of Washington Press, 1988).[7]
Fiction
- Cao Wenxuan, Bronze and Sunflower, tr. Helen Wang (Walker Books, UK, 2015; Candlewick Press, USA, 2017).
Posters
- May Seventh Cadre Schools in Chinese propaganda posters.[8]
References
- ^ S2CID 144597543.
- S2CID 251747681.
- ^ OCLC 1165409653.
- ISBN 978-0-674-26022-1.
- OCLC 932368688.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-684-85635-3.
- OCLC 1004768934.
- ^ "Seven May Cadre Schools (1968)". chineseposters.net.