From the “Four Cleans” Movement to the Cultural Revolution: The Origins of Factional Conflicts

In this article, based on rich historical materials and data, the author argues that the pre-Cultural Revolution period, especially the Socialist Education Movement known as the “Four Cleans Movement”, had a significant impact on the Cultural Revolution. The article looks into the factions of a middle-sized state-owned enterprise textile factory in Yuci city, Shanxi province, and examines the role that faction leaders played during the entire movement. Analysing the rich and systematic historical factory investigation file (dangan) materials to trace the factory political activities on the eve of the Cultural Revolution, this article attempts to answer the following three research questions: how faction leaders came into being, what type of roles they played during the formation and development of factions and how they mobilised various resources in competition with other factions.