Capitalists in Mao's China from the Socialist Transformation to the Suppression of Rightists

• In Event: Rhetoric and the Politics of Control in Maoist China

Abstract

When historians examine the "Hundred Flowers Campaign" and subsequent "Anti-Rightist Campaign" of 1957, they tend to focus on academics and intellectuals. Former capitalists also played a central role in these events, however. Despite the "Socialist High Tide" of January 1956, in which China's remaining private businesses were at least nominally socialized, China's capitalists were never permitted to remove this class label. In the spring of 1957, as a chorus of criticisms arose in response to Chairman Mao's call for "blooming and contending," many former factory owners voiced complaints about the process and results of "socialist transformation" over the previous year.
Despite some high-profile examples in the press, such as Zhang Naiqi who was ruthlessly condemned, the suppression of capitalists during the "Anti-Rightist Campaign" was inconsistent and often involved factors other than what the individuals had expressed during the "blooming and contending." In fact, in many places such as Wuxi, the "blooming and contending" was simultaneous with "rectification and suppression of rightists" leading to some intriguing rhetorical acrobatics.
Close examination of documents from these campaigns in the silk industries of Shanghai and Wuxi reveals a great deal about the socialist transformation of private industry in 1956 and '57, but also about the relationship between the CPC and China's capitalists, the nature of the rectification campaigns of 1957, and the complex politics surrounding China's socialist transformation.

Author

• Robert Cliver, Humboldt State University