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In the People's Republic Of China since 1967 , the terms "Ultra-Left ('''极左派''')" and "'''left communist''' ('''共产主义左翼''')" refer to political theory and practice self-defined as further " Left " than that of the central Maoist leaders at the height of the GPCR (" Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution "). The terms are also used retro-actively to describe some early 20th century Chinese Anarchist orientations. As a slur, the CCP ( Chinese Communist Party ) has used the term "ultra-left" more broadly to denounce any orientation it considers further "left" than the Party Line at a given moment. According to the latter usage, in 1978 the CCP Central Committee denounced as "ultra-left" the line of Mao Zedong from 1956 until his death in 1976 . This article refers only to 1) the self-defined Ultra-Left of the GPCR, and 2) more recent theoretical trends drawing inspiration from the GPCR Ultra-Left, China's anarchist legacy, and international " Left Communist " traditions. THE GPCR ULTRA-LEFT "Ultra-Left" refers to those GPCR rebel positions that diverged from the central type." This meant that mass delegates subject to immediate recall and a universal salary would take over all the tasks necessary for organizing production and distribution, and all other bureaucratic posts would be abolished, including the military and police, which would give way to an armed citizenry. This revolution would necessarily involve General Strikes , Mutinies , Weapons Seizures , and, ultimately, the merging of the Chinese revolution with a Global Communist Revolution . When the central Maoist leaders launched the GPCR in the spring of 1966, they launched a campaign for students and academics to criticize " Bourgeois " or otherwise " Counter-revolutionary " ''ideas'' within China's " Superstructural " apparatus. As the Central Committee 's ''16 Points on the GPCR'' put it in August: :Although the bourgeoisie has been overthrown, it is still trying to use the old ideas, culture, customs and habits of the exploiting classes to corrupt the masses, capture their minds and endeavour to stage a comeback. The field and use the new ideas, culture, customs and habits of the proletariat to change the mental outlook of the whole of society. At present, our objective is to struggle against and overthrow those persons in authority who are taking the Capitalist Road , to criticize and repudiate the Reactionary bourgeois academic 'authorities' and the ideology of the bourgeoisie and all other Exploiting Class es and to transform education, literature and art and all other parts of the Superstructure not in correspondence with the Socialist Economic Base , so as to facilitate the consolidation and development of the socialist system. Although the ''16 Points'' called on not only students but also "the masses of the workers, peasants, soldiers, revolutionary intellectuals, and revolutionary cadres" to carry out this struggle, and although it encouraged activists to "institute a system of general elections, like that of the Paris Commune, for electing members to the Cultural Revolutionary groups and committees and delegates to the Cultural Revolutionary congresses," this and other pronouncements of the central Maoist leaders made clear that this was to be "''wen'' (文)" struggle rather than a "''wu'' (武)" struggle. The leaders used these terms to emphasize that "martial" (wu) or physical violence should be avoided in favor of "verbal" (wen) struggle (" rather than " Political " or Social . The rationale was that China's Economic Structure or " Base " had already completed its transition to socialist Productive Relations (Mao had announced this good news in 1956), so now the next logical step before full Communization was to complete the ''superstructural'' transformation. When, in late 1966, over a million workers in Shanghai extended their activism into a ." It was out of this momentary radicalization of GPCR mass politics and its sudden suppression and redirection that the Ultra-Left currents were born, first independently within rebel groups scattered throughout China, then, by late 1967, in increasing dialogue until their suppression during the following years. The earliest record GPCR scholar Wang Shaoguang has found of something like an Ultra-Left position is an open letter from two highschool students to Lin Biao , published under the pseudonym "Yilin-Dixi" in November 1966.Wang Shaoguang. 1999. "'New Trends of Thought' on China's Cultural Revolution" . ''Journal of Contemporary China'', 8:21, 3. Whereas Lin had recently sought to curb Red Guard rebellion by interpreting Mao's " Bombard the Headquarters! " to mean "bombard a few capitalist roaders" as opposed to "bombard our proletarian headquarters," Yilin-Dixi argued that it was the so-called "proletarian headquarters" itself that had "become obsolete" and needed to be "reformed": "We must create a whole new state machinery to replace the old one" (3). NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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