Background The Anti-Rightist Campaign was a reaction against the
Hundred Flowers Campaign which had promoted pluralism of expression and criticism of the government, even though initiation of both campaigns was controlled by Mao Zedong and were integrally connected. Going perhaps as far back as the
Long March there had been resentment against "rightists" inside the CCP, for example,
Zhang Bojun. While the Hundred Flowers Movement was going on, in 1956,
Khrushchev published the
On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, which along with the ensuing riots in
Poland and
Hungary, had a large impact on China, where similar social unrest began to take place.
Definition of "Rightists" Defining "rightists" was not always consistent. Rightists included critics of the
governmental left, but officially referred to intellectuals who appeared to favor
capitalism, or were against one-party rule and forced, state-run
collectivization. "Right-wing intellectuals" consisted of influential democratic personalities before 1949, such as
Zhang Bojun and
Luo Longji, who championed constitutional change and changing the method of government. "Revisionists" included Party intellectuals such as
Li Shenzhi and
Liu Binyan. It also included students such as
Lin Xiling, who denounced
cult of personality and were in favor of changes consistent with democracy. "Rights defenders" would cite the
Constitution of China to condemn government violations of
political rights, of
individual freedoms, and of
economic and social rights. "Rights defenders" also criticized the absence of freedom in the fields of science, culture, and art at a time when academic fields such as law, political science, and sociology had been suppressed. The official number of those labeled rightists was 552,877, but did not include people labeled as "center-rightists," "anti-socialist elements" or "counterrevolutionaries." It also did not include members of victims' families or those who suffered other sanctions without ever being labeled. Total estimates range from the consensus of 1 million, to 3 million, or even 5 million, if the people suppressed during the
Socialist Education Movement is taken into account.
Chu Anping called for greater representation of non-CCP members in the national government on June 2 1957. On June 8, 1957, Mao drafted an inner-party document, ''Muster Our Forces to Repulse the Rightists' Wild Attacks
, saying that "some bad capitalists, bad intellectuals, and reactionary elements in society are mounting wild attacks against the working class and the Communist Party in an attempt to overthrow the state power led by the working class." On the same day, People's Daily published an editorial What is this for?'', expressing the same view as the inner-party document. These marked the beginning of the Anti-Rightist Campaign. By the end of the year, 300,000 people had been labeled as rightists, including the writer
Ding Ling. Future premier
Zhu Rongji, then working in the State Planning Commission, was purged in 1958. Most of the accused were intellectuals. The penalties included informal criticism,
hard labor, and in some cases,
execution. One main target was the independent
legal system. Legal professionals were transferred to other jobs; judicial power was exercised instead by political cadres and the police. Until the Hundred Flowers Campaign, China's
top legal journal consisted of propaganda articles, study of the
law of the Soviet Union, and practical instruction on trivial matters such as document preparation. During the Hundred Flowers Campaign, articles expanded their discourse with topics such as proposing new rules of
evidence and suggesting that the CCP was bound by the law. The Chinese Political Science and Law Association hosted speeches in Beijing May 1957 which criticized nearly every aspect of the PRC's legal system. Criticism came from outside the party and high ranking party members. In January 1958, Wu Defeng, Vice-president of the Chinese Political Science and Law Association, responded to the criticism with emphasis on the centrality of the party and its connection to the
mass line. During the Anti-Rightist Campaign, China's legal journals either terminated publication or reverted to exclusively publishing propaganda pieces. The legal profession reflected a larger shift in public expectation which placed more emphasis on
class struggle and being red first and expert second. Class struggle, foundational in Mao's China, began as opposition to the landlords and capitalists, but under the Anti-Rightist movement Mao re-targeted this struggle against anyone with intellectual opposition to the party. This shift laid the foundation for further targeting of intellectuals in the
Cultural Revolution.
Second wave The second part of the campaign followed the
Lushan Conference of July 2 – August 16, 1959, a meeting of top party leaders. The meeting condemned the PRC's
defense minister, General
Peng Dehuai, a critic of the
Great Leap Forward.
Punishments In 1957, rightists received widespread condemnation. A portion of those persecuted admitted to their "crimes" and agreed to go through labor reform to purge their "reactionary" minds and grow through difficulties. Punishments included imprisonment, reform
internment through labor camps (
laogai), internment in farms,
re-education through labor, banishment to the countryside, layoffs, short-term imprisonment in work units, working under
surveillance, and salary cuts. In Beidahuang, labor camp authorities made maneuvers that benefited themselves and were hyperactive, which contributed to severe food scarcity and heavy volumes of work for the exiled. This gave rise to a large death toll for the exiles. The exiles also received physical abuse and some committed suicide. On the
army farms and in the Xingkaihu labor camp, a number of intellectuals attacked others to promote themselves and to display their loyalty to the authorities. Many rightists and political exiles still identified with the Party's ideology and acquiesced to the idea of ideological reform through labor. They worked hard to show penitence and reach self-atonement. Some became self-afflicted. A number of people were executed. Administering several provinces in the southwest, Deng proved so zealous in killing alleged counter-revolutionaries that even the chairman felt obliged to write to him. Mao urged Deng Xiaoping to slow down the campaign's body count, saying: ==Legacy==