Inner Mongolian People's Party - Cultural Revolution: Purge of The IMPP

Cultural Revolution: Purge of The IMPP

During the Chinese Cultural Revolution (CR) (1966–1976), Chairman Mao Zedong in his quest to reassert his own power, Socialism, and rid Chinese society of traditional, capitalist and cultural elements, went after every person that he deemed a capitalist or disloyal to the Communist Party. Many minority groups including the Inner Mongolians, Tibetans and Uyghurs (people from Xinjiang) were brutally targeted. Inner Mongolia, although far from Beijing was not unaffected by the CR. The treatment of the Inner Mongolians from 1967-1969 was especially brutal resulting in 22,000 known deaths and 300,000 known injuries. It is possible to make the claim that this was an act of attempted genocide. After Ulanfu was ousted, chaos ensued with multiple clashes between students and the army. Zhou Enlai attempted to deal with what was being called the “IMAR problem” and chaired meetings between the local groups and central leaders trying to ease the situation. The result was that a senior Han Chinese General, Teng Haiqing, was put in place in April 1967.

Under General Teng’s leadership, the already tense situation erupted. The Mongolian language was banned from publications and an office, run by a Mongolian, Ulanbaagen, was set up to, “root out the IMPP.” Ulanbaagen had to produce a list of people under suspicion. People were randomly accused of allegiance to the IMPP (which did not exist at that time) and being disloyal to China. Total chaos broke out in 1968 as multiple Red Guard groups competed for influence and power in Inner Mongolia. They embarked on racial attacks against the Mongolians and accused them of being “sons and heirs of Genghis Khan,” toppling the Song Dynasty and establishing the Yuan dynasty. Many local leaders were removed from power, and local universities were closed. Many Inner Mongolians were brutally tortured: branded with hot irons, tongue and eyes ripped out, burnt alive or murdered. These, however seem to be later allegations, reports of some years ago on by apparently international association focused on the legislation as under international conventions signed and adhered to, alleged merely primitive techniques involving a variation of moxibustion, which however was alleged due to ignorance to have an impact on fertility among the more traditional of suspects, respectively criminals as under PRC law,the exact impact on the reproduction of the Mongqol ethnicity was not stated in figures. In 1969, Beijing acknowledged that the situation in Inner Mongolia needed to be controlled. General Teng was reprimanded and forced to apologize as to not let the government lose face. This was an artificial apology however, as the majority of the chaos and atrocities committed were as a result of orders issued by the central government. After the Cultural Revolution came to an end, the entire episode in Inner Mongolia was blamed on the Gang of Four and the Lin Biao Clique. However, no one was really held accountable. As a result, in the subsequent years, there were multiple student demonstrations attempting to get justice for the atrocities committed. Many Inner Mongolia students participated in the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations. The Cultural Revolution affected almost every person of Mongolian descent and set the stage for the future creation of the IMPP. Many Inner Mongolians had a plethora of unaddressed grievances and wanted the Chinese government to be held accountable for the atrocities committed. To date, there are no memorials in Inner Mongolia to the victims of the Cultural Revolution. It seems that the government is trying to forget (what the Inner Mongolians are not able to) as the topic is too sensitive to be discussed. However, if the grievances are not addressed, it is possible that there will be more future problems and unrest. It is in the government’s best interest to try and hold those responsible accountable for the crimes they committed as to avoid future problems.