Cleansing the Class Ranks
Cleansing the Class Ranks, or Cleansing of Class Ranks Campaigns, is a massive political movement during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Starting from May 25, 1968, around 30 million people were persecuted, with an estimated death toll of 0.5-1.5 million. The primary purpose of the Cleansing movement was to clear "traitors, spies, capitalist roaders, counter-revolutionaries and members of the Five Black Categories". After the Cultural Revolution, the Communist Party of China as well as the Chinese government admitted that many of the cases in the Cleansing movement were "unjust, false, mistaken" cases.
On May 13, 1968, Yao Wenyuan submitted a document to Mao Zedong, in which Yao wrote "this document summarizes some of the policies in cleansing the class ranks". On May 19, Mao commented on the document, "Wenyuan: I suggest nationwide circulation and publication of this document; it is the best-written piece among all relevant files I have seen." As a result, the movement of Cleansing the Class Ranks began in China on May 25, 1968. Lynching such as the use of systematic torture, trial by suspicion, conviction by forced confessions, massacre/pogroms and other forms of mass killings all took place during the Cleansing.
