The Movement to Remould Intellectuals Ideologically

The ideological self-education and self-remolding campaign in respect to intellectuals carried out in the early years of the founding of New China. There were more than 2 million intellectuals in the early years of the People's Republic of China.

The majority of intellectuals were highly enthusiastic about patriotism, and most of those who had accomplished their studies stayed on the mainland to welcome the liberation and participate in the construction of New China. Many of them were quite motivated in their studies and wanted to learn more about the revolution, the new society, and the Communist Party. However, as they had just entered the new society from the old one, intellectuals inevitably left the imprint of the old society on their minds. In order to help them to get rid of the shackles of the worldview of exploiting classes and embrace the idea of serving the people, the Communist Party organized a wide range of studies and visiting activities among intellectuals.

This ideological remolding movement of intellectuals was first piloted in Beijing and Tianjin and then spread to the whole country. In September 1951, under the leadership of the Party, 20 institutions of higher education in Beijing and Tianjin began a learning movement aimed at transforming teachers' thinking and reforming higher education.

On September 29, Premier Zhou Enlai, appointed by the Central Government, made a report titled "On the Remoulding of Intellectuals" to the study sessions of teachers in colleges and universities of the two cities. He discussed his own experience on how intellectuals can develop revolutionary positions, views, and methods, and called on teachers to seriously carry out criticism and self-criticism and strive to become revolutionary fighters on the cultural front.

On October 23, at the Third Session of the First National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Mao Zedong called on intellectuals throughout the country to launch an extensive campaign of self-education and self-transformation.

The conference called on the democratic parties, people's organizations, and patriots from all walks of life to promote the ideological transformation of intellectuals and to systematically organize a study campaign for intellectuals on Mao Zedong Thought, which combines Marxism-Leninism with Chinese practice.

On November 30, the Central Committee of the Communist Party issued the “Directive on Ideological Reform and Organizational Clearance in Schools”, in which it called for a general study campaign among school staff and students above high school, urged them to study Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought seriously, relate to reality, carry out criticism and self-criticism, and educate and transform themselves; and pointing out that the main purpose of this campaign was to distinguish between revolution and counter-revolution and establish the idea of serving the people. Thereafter, the campaign had gradually expanded from education to the literary and artistic world and the intellectual world as a whole. The campaign was ended in the fall of 1952. 91% of the college and university staff, 80% of the college and university students, and 75% of high school teachers participated in the campaign. The ideological reform movement generally responded to the desire of intellectuals to re-learn and transform their thinking to meet the requirements of the new society. It raised their ideological consciousness and eliminated the remnants of the imperialist and feudal comprador class.