Page 138 - Communism in Ambush

COMMUNISM IN AMBUSH
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physical violence in the Chinese prisons:
To put those special handcuffs tightly on the wrists of a prisoner was a
form of torture commonly used in Maoist China's prison system.
Sometimes a additional chains were put around the ankles of the prisoners.
At other times a prisoner might be manacled and then have his handcuffs
tied to a bar on the window so that he could not move away from the win-
dow to eat, drink or go to the toilet. The purpose was to degrade a man in
order to destroy his morale . . . Since the People's Government claimed to
have abolished all forms of torture, the officials simply called such meth-
ods "punishment" or "persuasion." 93
This savagery's main purpose was to instill fear, first in opponents
of the regime and then in society in general. Another goal was to destroy
people's personalities, to dehumanize and "bestialize" them by fear and
torture. By these methods, Mao wanted to turn of China's entire popula-
tion into a herd of animals he might control.
The important turning point that gave life to Mao's totalitarian
project was China's "Cultural Revolution."

The Cultural Revolution: China's Communal Folly

Following the disaster of the Great Leap, Mao announced that he
was "high above daily politics." He decided to withdraw from matters of
state to concentrate on so-called "greater and more important issues."
Mao's silence ended in 1966. He announced that the Chinese revolution
had not yet achieved success because he, the "great helmsman," had not
completely instilled Communism in people's minds; that even in the
highest echelons of the state, there were elements who did not under-
stand Communism. A cultural revolution was needed to correct this sit-
uation.
The shock of the Cultural Revolution was to destroy the whole
Chinese state and society. Mao's suggestions had great influence on the
ignorant youth in the low ranks of the Communist Party. They became
known as the Red Guards and began wreaking terror in all parts of the
country. Singing "The East is Red," they marched through the streets,
ready to display their aggression and arrest everyone they thought was