Explain why Mao introduced the Cultural Revolution

One reason Mao introduced the Cultural Revolution was the quest for permanent revolution. Mao felt that the final creation of a Communist China demanded an ongoing revolution to ensure the Chinese people did not fall back into capitalist ways, old customs and traditions. The cultural revolution attacked these old customs and traditions in the campaign against the four olds; old customs, old habits, old cultures and old ideas. Mao believed that in order to ensure the continuation of communism, each generation had to experience revolution as many people did not remember the struggles of the Civil War which ended in 1949. By the time the cultural revolution took place in 1966, there was a whole new generation that hadn't even experienced the civil war, Mao feared this meant they would not pledge their full allegiance to the communist movement. Therefore, Mao introduced the Cultural Revolution in order to ensure the survival of communism and his dictatorship. A second reason Mao introduced the Cultural Revolution was in order to remove his political opponents and establish his dominance. At the time of the revolution, there were stark divisions in the CCP between supporters and opponents of Mao. Mao's main supporters were Lin Biao, Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng and Chen Boda who all made up the Central Cultural Revolution Group. The CCRG believed that the government had become bureaucratised and these bureaucrats needed to be removed and replaced with committed radicals. Mao's opponents within the CCP were the pragmatists, such as Liu and Deng, who wanted a more rational approach. Mao could not just remove these opponents because they were so popular with the public and therefore he utilised the Cultural Revolution to attack his enemies. The 'Bombard the Headquarters' wall poster campaign was one method in which Mao attempted to undermine his opponents. Mao also undermined his enemies by removing the supporters of his opponents from the Party, such as when Mao rallied his supporters to remove Peng Zhen from his post, in order to undermine the position of Liu. Therefore, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in order to establish his dominance within the CCP, in light of the growing divisions within the CCP between his supporters and his rivals.