The State and History-Writing: The Failure of Co-Optation Of Historians in Early Maoist China, 1949-1957

Abstract

This study examines the attempts and failure of co-optation of the historians by the state in early Maoist China (1949 b 1957), a topic not covered extensively in Western or Chinese literatures. Three forces played a vital role in this process, namely ideology, traditions and nationalism. Co-optation could have been workable because the historians were willing to serve the state, based on tradition and nationalism. However, the state had an inherent distrust about their ideological commitment, and introduced crude methods of indoctrination (i.e. mass campaigns and thought reforms) that became unacceptable to the historians.By the mid-1950s, the CCP leaders realized the limitation of indoctrination and sought a new strategy by a shift towards liberalization. The dissertation argues that the Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956) was a genuine attempt to redress the previous crude methods, rather than a deliberate entrapment against 'rightist' conspirators as claimed by the CCP leadership in its aftermath. Unfortunately, this brief experiment of liberalization backfired disastrously against the state, with the outburst of pent-up frustration by intellectuals and historians. It was only then that Mao began to turn his back to co-optation with the harsh Anti-Rightist Movement (1957) and moved towards the mass lines that dominated China for the rest of his rule.