Conclusions - the Politics of Memory

When the Cultural Revolution came to an end and it cleared the way for an unparalleled period of economic growth, starting with the “Four Modernizations” – a policy aimed at strengthening China’s competence in agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology. While reformers within the Party and state leadership distanced themselves from many of the Great Helmsman’s policies, they continued pushing the cult of Mao Zedong, realizing its importance in fostering cohesion and a sense of identity within the young People’s Republic. That’s why visitors to Beijing still shuffle past Mao’s embalmed body which lies in a mausoleum at the center of Tiananmen Square, although his express wish was to be cremated. 

So to justify, on one hand, Mao's key role in the Chinese Revolution but, on the other hand, to realize that he had made major mistakes, the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party created the "70:30" formula. The eventual successor to Mao, Deng Xiaoping, declared that Mao was “70 per cent right and 30 per cent wrong”. Deng said Mao could only be faulted with “excessive enthusiasm… but was that not true of us all?” He later declared Mao to be “a great Marxist and a great proletarian revolutionary, strategist and theorist… His merits are unquestionably primary and his mistakes secondary.” 

Is Deng Xiaoping correct? Was Mao 70% right and 30% wrong because of his motives and achieving some successes?  You make the call in the section below: