1960s ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT ARCHIVE DETAILING MAO ZEDONG'S CULTURAL REVOLUTION AND IT'S MOVEMENT OF SUPPRESSING COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARIES AND ONE DOOMED MAN'S CAPTURE, INTERROGATION, CONFESSION AND RECANTATION

On offer is an extraordinary, original, historically significant 139 page manuscript archive of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution handwritten by a man named Liao Zi Yu of Liao Village, Yong Qing County, HeBei Province, was born in 1912, worked as a proof-reader at the printing works, the HeBei Agriculture University from 1951 to 1973. The Liao family owned 1400 Mu of the land before 1937 and it also owned a shop selling fabrics. Liao ZiYu inherited properties including land of 710 Mu, brick house with 30 rooms, mud house with 3 rooms, 6 large animals, and 2 man-powered vehicles. He started to manage the family affairs in 1934 together with his brother who was killed by the Japanese in 1938. He then worked alone till 1946 when the Land Reform reached the area. At the onset of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution landlords and capitalists in the urban and rural centres were identified and accused of exploiting and oppressing the working class. Overthrowing the exploiting and oppressing class was a primary concern of Chairman Mao and the Communist Party of China. Mao pushed the Chinese into a civil war in order to overthrow the Republic of China which succeeded and the result People's Republic of China in 1949. Mao then began to liquidate and suppress those persons who belonged to the exploiting class. This was known as the 'Movement of Suppressing Counter-Revolutionaries' in early 1950's in China. In this archive, we follow Liao Zi Yu's attempt to avoid being suppressed as a member of the exploiting class and a counter-revolutionary by moving and concealing his real identity. He lived hidden and got work as a common labourer for more than ten years from 1949. But early on in the Cultural Revolution his real identity was disclosed as was his former life as a landlord. From that time on his was a doomed life: investigated, jailed and forced to confess his crime, this file recorded the complete process. RESEARCH NOTES: He was accused of 1) Exploitation of the workers: He employed 7 long term workers, 6 monthly ones, 4 to 5 short term ones, and 4 others for the house duties. He owned 5 pieces of gun. He exploited the workers brutally. 2) Exploitation of the land rental: He rented out over half of his land holdings with rent up to 4 Yuan per Mu. The rent must be paid before October for next year's rental. He forced the peasants to pay the rent using the power of his uncle who was the town's Reeve. 3) Serving the enemy: He was the town secretary of AnCi County (??) for a month by making anticommunist slogans such as "Welcome the Nationalist Army". 4) Escaping the supervised labour: He got a job at the HeBei Agriculture University by falsifying his résumé, and hiding the fact that he was a land owner. He was put into the supervised reform by the revolutionary mass in 1966 soon after the exposure of him as a landowner. He was moved by the policies of the communist party, and was able to admit his crime, and made confession. He was not classified as the landowner, but would be expelled from the University and be sent back to his home village to work as a farmer. The decision was reached by the committees of the communist party at the levels of the printing works, the University, and the District of BaoDing (??) in a period from 1970 to 1973. The archive includes: comprehensive files regarding the investigation, evidence, confession (80 pages!!) handwritten on People's Republic of China stationary. Overall G. HISTORICAL NOTES: As one online source succinctly sums up the times: "People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976. Set into motion by Mao Zedong, then Chairman of the Communist Party of China, its stated goal was to enforce socialism in the country by removing capitalist, traditional and cultural elements from Chinese society, and impose Maoist orthodoxy within the Party. The most important, yet naturally unstated, reason for the revolution was the return of Mao Zedong to a position of political power, after he lost most of his political influence after his failed Great leap forward."; Chinese Language; 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF, GREAT PROLETARIAN CULTURAL REVOLUTION, CULTURAL REVOLUTION, CONFESSIONS, RECENT, ANTI SOCIALIST ACTIVITIES, ANTI CAPITALISM, MAO ZEDONG, MAO TSE TUNG, GREAT LEAP FORWARD, MAOIST, SOCIALISM, COMMUNISM, MOVEMENT OF SUPPRESSING COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARIES, MIAO ZI YU, COMMUNIST, CHINE, CHINESE, SINO, POLITICS, JIANG QING, GRASSROOTS SOCIALISM, PROPAGANDA, POST FIVE YEAR PLAN, 5 YEAR PLAN, GANG OF 4, GANG OF FOUR, LIN BIAO, BEIJING, PENG, LUO, LU AND YANG, ZHONGFA 267, INDOCTRINATION, RED CHINA, CHAIRMAN MAO, MARXISM-LENINISM, MAOISM, LIN YURONG, HANDWRITTEN, MANUSCRIPT, AMERICANA, DOCUMENT, LETTER, AUTOGRAPH, DIARY, JOURNAL, LOG, KEEPSAKE, WRITER, HAND WRITTEN, DOCUMENTS, SIGNED, LETTERS, MANUSCRIPTS, HISTORICAL, HOLOGRAPH, WRITERS, DIARIES, JOURNALS, LOGS, AUTOGRAPHS, PERSONAL, MEMOIR, MEMORIAL, PERSONAL HISTORY, antiquité, contrat, vélin, document, manuscrit, papier Antike, Brief, Pergament, Dokument, Manuskript, Papier oggetto d'antiquariato, atto, velina, documento, manoscritto, carta antigüedad, hecho, vitela, documento, manuscrito, Liao Village, Yong Qing County, HeBei Province