Strategies for proving a point about the Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) was an attempt to maintain socialism in China. Hence, we suggest three strategies: 1) What were the negative aspects of moving away from socialism in China after the Cultural Revolution? 2) What happened to countries that tried to stay "socialist" and did not have a Cultural Revolution? (See the Soviet Union.) What happened to the Soviet Union without socialism--a decline in life expectancy etc. 3) How did other countries as poor as China do without socialism in the 1966 to 1976 period in comparison?
How to refute the opponents of the Cultural Revolution.
1) They compare life in richer countries with life in poorer countries, but they should include the capitalist poor countries and conditions there.
2) They talk about lack of freedom, but the Cultural Revolution had more freedom, postering, divergence of views, take over of institutions etc. When does a free persyn willingly die before his or her time? So again, return to the overall measure of violence in a society, the life expectancy figure and show that socialist countries have more freedom.
3) They say there were acts of violence, but how do they measure and compare that violence with violence in capitalist societies if they measure or care at all?
In general, readers will find relevant material in the FAQ of this web page.