Lesson plan
Struggle session
, former president of China, who was persecuted to death during the Cultural Revolution. Red Guards were holding the "Little Red Book" containing quotations from Mao Zedong. Struggle sessions ( ), or denunciation rallies or struggle meetings, were public spectacles during the Cultural Revolution and in Maoist China, during which people accused of being "class enemies" were publicly humiliated, accused and criticized in public sometimes to the point of violence and even death often by people with whom they were close. The public rallies were most popular in the mass campaigns immediately before and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, and peaked during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), when they were used to instill a crusading spirit among crowds to promote Maoist thought reform. Struggle sessions were usually conducted at the workplace, classrooms and auditoriums, where "students were pitted against their teachers, friends and spouses were pressured to betray one another, [and] children were manipulated into exposing their parents", causing a breakdown in interpersonal relationships and social trust. Staging, scripts and agitators were prearranged by the Maoists to incite crowd support.…
Article summary
, former president of China, who was persecuted to death during the Cultural Revolution. Red Guards were holding the "Little Red Book" containing quotations from Mao Zedong. Struggle sessions ( ), or denunciation rallies or struggle meetings, were public spectacles during the Cultural Revolution and in Maoist China, during which people accused of being "class enemies" were publicly humiliated, accused and criticized in public sometimes to the point of violence and even death often by people with whom they were close. The public rallies were most popular in the mass campaigns immediately before and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, and peaked during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), when they were used to instill a crusading spirit among crowds to promote Maoist thought reform. Struggle sessions were usually conducted at the workplace, classrooms and auditoriums, where "students were pitted against their teachers, friends and spouses were pressured to betray one another, [and] children were manipulated into exposing their parents", causing a breakdown in interpersonal relationships and social trust. Staging, scripts and agitators were prearranged by the Maoists to incite crowd support.…
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
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