Chapter 6 - Consumerism in the Cultural Revolution

Summary

Chapters 6 and 7 reinterpret several high-profile events of the Cultural Revolution and argue that the longer-term result of the iconoclasm and destruction of the Cultural Revolution was the further elaboration of the self-expanding and compulsory consumerism of industrial capitalism. The activities of the Destroy the Four Olds movement examined in Chapter 6 did not build socialism; they negated the Revolution by expanding established forms of consumerism. This chapter first examines how Destroy activities specifically targeted visible manifestations of consumerism and reflected an undercurrent of anger at the CCP’s consistent prioritization of capital accumulation over a socialist transformation of relations of production. The chapter then demonstrate how, despite the stated aims of Red Guards, Destroy activities further spread consumption habits across China.