Failure of Charisma: The Cultural Revolution in Wuhan

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Oxford University Press, 1995 - History - 345 pages
Mao's failure to control the Cultural Revolution he unleashed is vividly exemplified by the case of Wuhan, a city plagued by factional violence, paralyzed by workers' strikes, and once officially condemned as a nest of 'counter-revolutionary' rebellion. Many studies of this period recount the pivotal 'Wuhan Incident' of 1967, when a bitter factional power struggle spun beyond to provide an in-depth analysis of Beijing's control. But this is the first book to provide an in-depth analysis of micro-politics in Wuhan from 1966 to 1976, and the first to examine the far-reaching theoretical implications of mass behaviour there. Wang Shaoguang fills a critical gap in the academic literature with his original empirical contribution, which is based on never-before-published archival data, personal interviews with more than 85 former political activists (including well-known factional leaders) and correspondence from his years as a Red Guard in Wuhan.

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Contents

The Roots of Discontent 1949 to 1966
25
3
38
An Old Game with New Victims June and July 1966
54
Copyright

9 other sections not shown

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About the author (1995)

Shaoguang WangAssistant Professor of Political ScienceYale University.

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