Scarlet Guard () organizations were political organizations formed during the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
in China to oppose the more radical
Red Guards
Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...
.
Origin of term
The term "Scarlet Guard" developed in opposition to the term "Red Guard" adopted by student rebels during the Cultural Revolution.
The Chinese term translated into English as "Red Guard" -- ''hongwei bing'' -- was a new, non-standard phrase coined by the radical students.
"Scarlet Guards" used an older term (''chiwei dui'') which was used to refer to "Red Guards" who fought for the
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
during the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
.
This name signaled the Scarlet Guards' political orthodoxy.
Background
The early phase of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1968) was characterized by mass movement and political mobilization.
Virtually anyone could create a political organization, with or without the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
(CCP)'s approval.
Radical organizations arose, first in schools and universities, and later in factories and other institutions.
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
encouraged these Red Guards to "
bombard the headquarters
''Bombard The Headquarters – My Big-Character Poster'' () was a short document written by Chairman Mao Zedong on August 5, 1966, during the 11th Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and published in the ...
" and rebel against "
capitalist roaders" within the CCP. Beginning with the
January Storm
The Shanghai People's Commune () or was established in January 1967 during the January Storm (), also known as the January Revolution (), of China's Cultural Revolution by the Shanghai Workers Revolutionary Rebel General Headquarters. The Commune ...
of 1967, a wave of
power seizures by radical groups began.
Two forms of Scarlet Guard organizations developed in response to the mobilization of Red Guards.
First, Scarlet Guard groups composed of loyal staff within organs of the
party-state
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
formed to defend their offices and superiors from rebels and to insulate their superiors from confrontations with them.
For example, they responded to rebel groups staging protests or sit-ins at government or party offices. These Scarlet Guard groups existed for a relatively short period:
at the October 1966 Central Work Conference convened by Mao, their activities were denounced as examples of the "bourgeois
reactionary
In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the ''status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abse ...
line" (资产阶级反动路线; ''zichanjieji fandong luxian'').
The second type of Scarlet Guard organizations arose later and only in major cities.
These latter groups of Scarlet Guards were composed of industrial workers whose mobilization was aided by the CCP apparatus and its subordinate trade unions.
They confronted rebel groups in factories, on school campuses, and eventually in the streets.
A Scarlet Guard organization had a major role during the events of the January Storm in Shanghai. An alliance of radical political organizations known as the Shanghai Workers Revolutionary Rebel General Headquarters organized and presented a list of demands to the
Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, with a focus on replacing the old bureaucracy with new political organs that had more widespread support.
When their demands were refused, delegates attempted to travel by train to Beijing to meet with the Central Group of the Cultural Revolution but were stopped by the authorities.
The impasse ultimately was broken with a negotiated solution that recognized the Workers General Headquarters but required the group to address its grievances locally in Shanghai.
Not viewing themselves as bound by the negotiated resolution, local Shanghai party officials leveraged party organizations within factories and the officials trade unions to establish a loyalist Scarlet Guard organization.
Composed mainly of skilled workers and technicians, the group called itself the Workers' Scarlet Guards for the Defense of Mao Zedong Thought and ultimately boasted over 800,000 members.
It opposed the radicals, but soon condemned the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee for having capitulated.
By mid-December 1966, Shanghai was largely divided between the Workers General Headquarters and the Scarlet Guards, who sought to maintain the pre-Cultural Revolution political order. Ultimately, the Scarlet Guards were defeated when the Workers General Headquarters learned how they had been bought off by the local CCP officials and the Workers General Headquarters succeeded in rallying more workers to their side.
References
{{Cultural Revolution
Red Guards
Politics of China