In 1956, Chairman Mao delivered his “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People” speech, unveiling The Hundred Flowers Campaign. Mao encouraged fellow Chinese Communists to openly express criticisms and grievances about the system — acknowledging that the state had executed 700,000 domestic enemies in the two preceding years, but also promised that there would be “no more killings.” Most intellectuals remained silent, having seen Maoist treachery up close, but hundreds of gullible writers, students, scientists, and politicians began debating and speaking up, falling into Mao’s trap. By 1957, most of them had been labeled “right-wingers” and rounded up. In what was a mere amuse bouche to the coming carnage, around 700,000 — some scholars believe this included around 10 percent of Chinese intellectuals and engineers — were sentenced to 20 years of hard labor, most never coming home. Hundreds of thousands more were forced to move to the rural areas in preparation for a collectivist experiment.
Next episode, the greatest famine in history!