Chapter 287
Chapter 287
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: A New Headache
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As Nanjing asserted its dominance and North China aligned with Korea in this turbulent era, changes were stirring even in the remote fringes of the Chinese sphere, deep within Communist China.
"Finally, it's over. Those revisionist reactionaries."
From the outset, it was impossible for the White faction—representing urban workers—to defeat the Red faction, which stood for the rural countryside, in their power struggle.
In terms of influence, scale, and legitimacy, the White faction was no match for the Red faction.
Yet Liu Shaoqi had managed to hold out against Mao Zedong for so long precisely because of Korea's support.
"Off to Moscow we go."
The exodus of White faction leaders into exile had finally ended what was essentially a civil war, but China's chaos showed no signs of abating.
The White faction was gone, but the Red Guards—stirred up by Mao to seize power—remained as strong as ever.
No, far from just remaining, they were rampaging with unchecked arrogance.
"To build a new China, we need endless struggle."
The Red Guards invoked "class struggle" and "ideological struggle" as pretexts to continue their reign of terror within the nation.
Unable to tolerate their rampage any longer, the military raised the issue with Mao Zedong.
"Chairman comrade, the disturbances caused by the janban faction—that is, the Red Guards—have gone too far. If this were a time to fight revisionists, we'd endure it, but it's not, is it?"
Even Lin Biao, the head of the military, spoke out like this, forcing Mao Zedong to recognize the need to address the Red Guards problem.
"The revolution must take root in the countryside as well. Send the university students from the cities down to the villages."
This marked the beginning of the so-called Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement (sending educated youth from cities to the countryside).
In truth, there had been similar efforts in the 1950s to enlighten the countryside by dispatching educated youth to the villages.
But the purpose of this new Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement was entirely different.
"First things first, get those kids out of the cities."
To achieve this, officials began herding middle school students, high schoolers, and college students alike into the countryside without discrimination.
"You're being sent down. This is an order from the Party."
"What? This is too sudden, isn't it?"
"If you have complaints, go down there and file them with the Party."
Hundreds of thousands of educated youth were unceremoniously shipped off to the countryside for no reason at all.
In the process, an unexpected side effect emerged that the authorities hadn't anticipated.
"Are you obstructing the revolution as taught by the Chairman? Do you want to get beaten like those revisionist reactionaries?"
"S-Sorry. We didn't mean... Ow."
The Red Guards didn't take the movement lying down; they responded by beating up officials.
Once the Red Guards set this example(?), the students slated for relocation changed their tune.
"If we join the Red Guards, we won't have to go down."
"Let's tie on those armbands and give it a shot."
Soon, masses of these students flooded into the Red Guards, swelling their ranks and power several times over.
These newly minted Red Guards ignored official orders and headed back to the cities.
"Hey, this is the Party's command. You're not allowed back in the cities."
"Try stopping us. We're Red Guards. Step aside if you don't want a beating."
As the Red Guards' momentum refused to wane, Mao Zedong finally realized the situation was grave.
"Summon the student representatives."
At the meeting where he received them, Mao Zedong persuaded the representatives of the need for the Down to the Countryside Movement with words like these:
"Educated youth must learn from poor peasants in the villages. How can you speak of revolution without knowing the hard labor of the countryside? Go, sweat it out, and learn from the bottom up."
Mao Zedong lectured them with the logic that it was unavoidable for the sake of the "revolution."
"If the Chairman comrade says so, we'll go down."
The Red Guards might ignore all authority in the world, but they couldn't ignore Mao Zedong's words.
"Go down, go down. You heard the Chairman's instruction, right?"
"Ugh, but is it really okay to just send us down like this?"
"Don't know. It's what the higher-ups ordered."
The Communist Chinese government began forcing educated youth into the countryside through sheer brute determination.
Over a million were sent down this way, but countless problems arose in the process.
"Damn it. If we have to feed and house these parasites, us peasants might as well drop dead."
"We're teachers come to educate the countryside. So bring out the cows, pigs, and chickens as tribute. Don't you know how to honor your teachers?"
The Red Guards' abuses in farm households, the immense burden on cooperatives forced to absorb random numbers of people.
Yet the Communist Chinese government dismissed these as minor compared to the Red Guards' urban rampages.
"Whew. Finally, things are settling down a bit."
With internal issues entering a phase of stabilization, the Communist Chinese leadership turned its gaze to Moscow.
Mao Zedong dispatched military head Lin Biao to Moscow to demand the return of the White faction exiles to China.
"Those reactionaries are traitors to China. Extradite them so we can punish them here."
Moscow didn't even bother scoffing at the demand.
*What a joke. Do they think they have the right to demand anything from us?*
Even if they did have the right, Moscow had no intention of complying.
Why?
In Moscow's view, the legitimate socialist force was the proletarian-based White faction.
The Red faction, preaching peasant-centered rural revolution, was nothing but a heretical mob.
No pope ever abandons the faithful flock for heretics.
"We don't send away birds that fly into our nest."
Moscow made it clear there would be no extradition.
"What? Moscow rejected our demand?"
Communist China flew into a rage at Moscow's refusal.
*Maybe the Moscow bastards are harboring the White faction to use them as tools for interfering in our internal affairs.*
Mao Zedong grew suspicious of the Soviet Union's intentions in refusing to extradite the White faction.
This incident chilled relations between Communist China and the Soviet Union.
That said, Communist China didn't openly turn hostile toward the Soviets.
Unlike Korea, it wasn't in a league where it could survive antagonizing the Soviet Union outright.
*Even so, with things turning out like this, we can't trust Moscow anymore.*
As sentiments cooled on both sides, Communist China's military reaped the benefits.
"In the end, the only thing we can rely on at the final hour is our own strength."
As an emergency measure against external threats, Mao Zedong promoted military-first politics (prioritizing the military across all sectors of society).
"As the Chairman comrade instructed, strengthening our military comes first."
He also emphasized internal unity.
To that end, he introduced a new ideology.
"Juche Thought? What's that?"
"To safeguard the Chinese revolution, we must uphold Chairman Mao Zedong as our supreme leader and unite as one under his words. Juche Thought lays that out."
There was no shortage of internal criticism of this regression.
"But there was, and now there isn't."
Criticism could simply be silenced.
Under this new ideology and governance model, Communist China began reorganizing its ranks.
In the process, it started drifting further from true communism.
"Chairman Mao is a superhuman of Yangtze lineage, born absorbing the spirit of the Yangtze River. His very existence symbolizes China."
Even idol worship—taboo in communism—became commonplace.
"Honestly, isn't this going too far?"
"Don't even whisper that out loud."
In Korea, they laughed at such Chinese propaganda.
"What a country. Hey, why not claim they're making grenades out of pinecones while they're at it?"
Communist China's rapid regression became a laughingstock in the Soviet Union too.
"Idiots still doing Stalin-era idol worship? And they call that a socialist state."
The more the Soviets criticized Communist China's cult of personality, the worse relations between the two nations grew.
As ties with Moscow deteriorated day by day, Communist China doubled down on self-reliance.
"You think we can't do anything without Moscow?"
Mao's push for economic self-reliance resulted in growth so dismal it was unbelievable for a developing nation.
This sparked internal criticism.
"To think there are this many harboring disloyal thoughts toward the Chairman's policies."
After deliberation, Mao's closest allies—the Gang of Four—established forced labor camps to intensify the cult of Mao.
The model wasn't Korea's revolutionary reeducation camps, but the Soviet Gulag.
"If you don't want to go work the camps, watch your mouths."
With the Gulags in place, public mentions of self-reliance issues vanished overnight.
"Excellent."
Beyond that, Communist China imported governance techniques from Korea's successful Yushin-era dictatorship model.
"We should adopt Lee Seong-jun-style propaganda too."
This led to the creation of mythic tales unique to Mao, distinct from Lee Seong-jun's.
"During the Long March, the Chairman used earth-shrinking magic to easily evade Chiang Kai-shek's army."
"The Chairman never bathed once in his life, yet never fell ill."
Through such deification, Mao seized ironclad power.
With this, Communist China had reached a point where it could no longer be called a communist state.
To put it bluntly, it was the birth of a "new Bukhanistan."
*One wrong move, and it'll turn to counterfeiting and drugs—a rogue nation through and through.*
Korea eyed the reinvented Communist China—a fresh headache unlike before—with irritation.