7 - The importance of Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution Successes – Lessons CC, CPI (Maoist) February 26th, 2017

(On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of China)

7

Before the CPC came to power women in China had a very limited political power in the Chinese society. Women could not choose spouse of their choice. Their parents (if they die, their brothers) would decide. After marriage they were under the control of their husbands (if they die, their sons). Women did not have right to property. Only fathers or husbands had this right. Men brought another woman as a keep as per their status. In old China rich old people frequently brought young women as keeps. Chinese writer Ba Jin explained this situation in his novel ‘Family’. In this novel an eighty year old
man buys a sixteen year old girl as a servant.

The official policy, especially the two declarations Mao issued with a far sighted view lent support to the active movement of women. These taught ‘Women must highlight Half of the sky’, ‘Situation changed, now men and women are equal’, ‘Women comrades can achieve whatever the men comrades achieve’.

The first law the Communist Party passed after coming to power was that regarding marriage. This law came into implementation on the 13th April, 1950. The government of the People’s Republic of China provided protection to women and children. It said that wife and husband are equal in marriage.

In a marriage there is one husband and one wife. Men were not allowed to get keeps. Women were provided the freedom to select their partners. In case of divorce court took care that the women and children are provided security.

The government of the People’s Republic of China not only passed this law but also took up a social movement through media and arts (plays, cinemas) in an unprecedented manner to raise the consciousness of the masses about it. With this new marriage law there was a considerable growth in the social and political status of the Chinese women. Freedom to women in Socialist China meant freedom to work outside their home without fear, freedom to participate in politics and class struggles, freedom of sex, means to disallow being considered as sex objects.

Chinese government also implemented equal wages for equal work in the public sector. Women in the public sector got equal wages. Government industries provided maternity leave for three months. This could be extended upto six months. There were facilities to take care of the children in the mother’s work places. Mothers were allotted time to feed their babies.

The Chinese government arranged women’s federation committees for the protection of women’s rights. During the Cultural Revolution every Chinese village, factory, school, government office had women’s federation committees. If the husband did not look after his wife properly, the women’s federation of the village organized women and took up with the husband and made him ask his wife an excuse. If the husband once again behaves in the same way, the women’s federation committee got down to work again. Women of urban areas complained to the women’s federation committee.
The committee took action on them on their behalf. Apart from the Chinese women’s federation committees there were woman representatives in the committees in all levels of the public sector. As per the laws and regulations of the government the exclusive necessities of women’s living had to be considered. Women had the right to change their work during their menstrual period. There was encouragement for socialization in the commune life. Thus women were liberated from the drudgery of house work. There was increased social security for the old and children.

The communist government took the question of women’s rights in a serious manner. As a part of this it paid attention to children, family and the welfare of all the nationalities and the country. If women’s rights are not protected the influence would not be limited to women alone. Children would fall in difficulty and the families too would fall in difficulty. The Communist government eliminated social evils like the habit of consuming narcotics, prostitution, illegal transport of women and children, organized crimes and loot and other such things in a very efficient manner. Due to the empowerment of women they became part of the forces of productivity of the Chinese society. This helped to provide equal participation in social and political life for women. In 1952 the average life time of a human being in China was 35 years. By 1976, in a period of less than thirty years it went up to 69 years, two times the earlier. In India it was 50 years in 1976. This is 19 years lesser to that of China.

During the Cultural Revolution many women came to top positions. There was a Polit Bureau member in the CC. There was a Minister in the government. They developed to the position of serving the Army, Navy, Air force, government machinery, industries, agriculture, communication, transport, health and other ordinary services. Women did all kinds of works that men did. Many women achieved self-reliance. Equal wages for equal work was implemented. Transformation began in family relations with women being made part of production, with the eradication of the ideology of family centeredness and with a change in the role of women as housewives.

Due to the GPCR the revolutionaries across the world were equipped with a new understanding about patriarchy in practice. Especially there was development in the women’s fight against all kinds of suppression, in working as political activists and in conducting their responsibilities as leaders of revolutionary organisations. This development in theory and practice helps to break all kinds of shackles regarding women’s oppression in the Socialist societies in future.

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution – Medical field

Decentralized medical and health policy was introduced in a creative manner in the medical field. The wrong understanding attributing specialty to this field was removed and ‘barefoot doctor’ policy was developed. Thousands and thousands of ‘barefoot doctors’ came forward during the GPCR and became world famous. By 1976 there were 15 lakhs of doctors in the rural area. There was considerable decrease in diseases due to general cleanliness programs and nutritious food. In this method that was developed in the GPCR, doctors for primary health care of the masses were prepared with training of less duration instead of the idealist Western medical method of seven to fifteen years of study of medical sciences. They studied, researched and explored the medical and health care developed from the experience of masses of various countries in the world for thousands of years and from the specific experience of the Chinese masses. This method was not only adopted in the medical field but to all the fields of life.

Knowledge develops from creative synthesis of the labour, experience and many experiments of the broad masses for a long time. This is the technical knowledge of the masses. The health policy that tribals and peasants developed from the trees, leaves, roots and other herbs was creatively implemented in the medical field. China is a very old peasant country and so they have a vast knowledge about these things. The native raw material was applied scientifically from which the widely spread method of Acupuncture developed. During GPCR doctors left the cities and went to villages to serve the masses.