ABSTRACT
The Socialist Education Movement, launched in September 1962, was probably accepted in principle by both Party conservatives and Party radicals since very serious problems had arisen in the countryside. In 1963–1964 a number of established Communist parties also took a firm line against Soviet 'revisionism', among them those of New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Malaya, Thailand and Burma. In 1964, the Chinese had spelt out the relevance of the Sino-Soviet polemic for domestic politics. At the same time, China conducted her first nuclear test, signalling to the world that her foreign policy was now to be completely independent. It was to be in this rapidly changing environment that the Socialist Education Movement radicalised. Chou En-lai redefined the 'four clean-ups' as 'politics, economics, ideology and organisation', rather than narrower concentration on things like accounts, granaries, properties and work-points. The Socialist Education Movement was launched in the spirit of the Yenan model; the radicals were determined to keep it in that spirit.
