The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution Podcast

Епизоди

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  Episode 33 - THE 9.13 INCIDENT, PROJECT 571, AND THE FALL OF LIN BIAO (AUG-DEC 1971) 23.08.2026 1ч 9мин

  Despite the relative success of the Zhou-Kissinger meetings, Mao and the radicals within the Party Center find themselves faced with an unprecedented betrayal from within: from the Vice-Chairman of the Party himself. But is the story that straight forward? Join us as we discuss one of the most shocking chapters in the story of the Cultural Revolution.
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  Episode 32 - PING-PONG DIPLOMACY AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE SINO-AMERICAN THAW (JAN-JUL 1971) 01.04.2026 1ч 13мин

  Despite no military engagements with the Soviets for 2 years, continued pressure on the northern border and US stepping up attacks on Laos and Cambodia make Mao and company consider a new tactic: partially opening up the country to engagement with the West via sports competitions and friendship tours. This culminates in a secret meeting that, months prior, would be unthinkable: the meeting of Premier Zhou Enlai and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
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  Episode 31 - THE "INTERLUDE" AND THE SECOND LUSHAN CONFERENCE (1970) 30.11.2025 1ч 16мин

  As China marches into a new decade, class struggle goes down to a low point compared to the prior three years. However, a swift and harsh “One Strike Three Antis” Campaign causes shockwaves across Chinese political life, and Mao & Lin Biao go toe-to-toe at the Lushan Conference causing an irreparable schism between the two.
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  Episode 30 - COMRADES IN ARMS: CHINA-ALBANIA RELATIONS DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION 06.10.2025 43мин

  During the Cultural Revolution, China experienced its greatest period of diplomatic isolation with one very notable exception: the People's Socialist Republic of Albania led by Enver Hoxha. This tiny nation, despite being thousands of miles away from China, was its closest comrade-in-arms. In this episode, we'll dive into one of the most interesting and unique stories of Cold War international relations: Sino-Albanian friendship during the Cultural Revolution.
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  Episode 29 - THE SINO-SOVIET BORDER CONFLICT PART 2 (MAY-DEC 1969) 31.07.2025 48мин

  Despite the afterglow of the 9th Congress, Mao and the Chinese leadership still find themselves in a tit for tat fight against the Soviets on the northeastern border that could quickly escalate into nuclear war. Meanwhile, the American ruling class on Capitol Hill begins ruminating over the possibility of using this moment to reach out to the "Red Chinese." Can China stands its ground in between the two superpowers in the midst of the Cultural Revolution?
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  Episode 28 - THE 9TH CONGRESS & THE SINO-SOVIET BORDER CONFLICT PART 1 (JAN-APR 1969) 30.04.2025 46мин

  The Communist Party of China holds its first congress since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution with great pomp and fanfare. The Maoists use the congress as a time to declare victory over the Rightists, but trouble at the Soviet border nearly brings China and the USSR to the brink of nuclear war...
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  Episode 27 - ABOUT THE AUTHOR Q&A 03.04.2025 58мин

  By popular demand, this is a special episode where I answer your questions about WHO IS DREW? How did he become a communist and a Sinophile? What was his time in the RCPUSA and RCYB like? Enjoy some wild stories with your (not so) humble host!
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  Episode 26 - GUANGZHOU DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION 08.03.2025 46мин

  Guangzhou: China's third largest city and the birthplace of Cantonese culture. Known as the "City of Flowers," the city of Guangzhou was, much like Shanghai and Beijing, a hotbed of class struggle during the Cultural Revolution. Join Drew as he dives into a revolutionary dim sum delight and sums up the experience of the GPCR there!
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  Episode 25 - CLEANSING OF THE CLASS RANKS (SEP-DEC 1968) 28.11.2024 50мин

  With the end of the Red Guard & rebel movements and the deployment of the Mao Zedong Thought Workers Propaganda Teams, the class struggle across China seems to have calmed down. The last of the revolutionary committees are elected and founded. Things seem good- but a brutal new campaign initiated by the leadership of the provincial revolutionary committees sends many former rebels to prison or to their death. Young comrades are sent to the countryside to work among the peasants, and Liu Shaoqi is finally expelled permanently from the Party.
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  Episode 24 - MAO BADGES BY THE BILLIONS 17.10.2024 34мин

  Chairman Mao badges were an ubiquitous symbol of the Cultural Revolution, with every Chinese person (and millions of people around the world) wearing them on their chest to show devotion to Chairman Mao and communist revolution. Dive into the deeper meanings and social impact of these small but iconic pieces of metal with Drew- an avid collector and researcher of them!
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  Episode 23 - THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION'S DARKEST HOUR (JUL-AUG 1968) 29.08.2024 1ч 5мин

  The Hundred Day War at Qinghua University continues to rage on. Reports of a massacre in Guangxi Province involving cannibalism reach Beijing. Mass killings of civilians is reported in rural Guangdong Province. Ideological splits begin appearing in factory and collective-level revolutionary committees. Mao calls a meeting with rebel leaders to put an end to the Red Guard movement completely. Can Mao save his Cultural Revolution, or is it too late?....
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  Episode 22 - THE 100 DAY WAR (MAY-JUN 1968) 05.07.2024 32мин

  The Red Guard movement disintegrates and the Cultural Revolution goes off the rails as the "all-around civil war" between rebel movements reaches a violent shrieking crescendo when the two factions at Qinghua University, the "Harvard of China," go to war. Suicides and vigilante killings skyrocket across the nation. Can Mao save his revolution within a revolution, or have things gone too far?...
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  Episode 21 - INNER MONGOLIA DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION 07.06.2024 57мин

  In this episode, we'll be traveling to the vast steppes of Inner Mongolia to see how the Cultural Revolution played out in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region- and why it ended in brutal excess and with such sharp contradictions. A fascinating contrast to the examples of Tibet and Xinjiang that are worth summing up for their historical lessons.
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  Episode 20 - "BLOOD FOR BLOOD" (FEB-APR 1968) 23.04.2024 54мин

  Mao and the Party Center try to bring the Cultural Revolution back to focus by establishing a series of new provincial revolutionary committees and order Red Guards to attend Marxist theory study sessions. But the Red Guards are still out for blood, and are quickly turning the all-around civil war into a war of total annihilation as the rebel movement becomes intent on destroying itself rather than the revisionist headquarters within the Party.
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  Episode 19 - INTERVIEW WITH TWO RED GUARDS 11.04.2024 22мин

  AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with two comrades, "Mr. & Mrs. Wang," who were revolutionary Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution in the city of Baoji, Shaanxi Province. A truly great experience for all listeners!
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  Episode 18 - WHAT WAS THE "LITTLE RED BOOK"? 22.02.2024 49мин

  The "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung" or "The Little Red Book" is one of the best selling and most controversial books ever written. It is also one of the quintessential symbols of the Cultural Revolution, radical leftist ideology, and the general zeitgeist of the Global Sixties. This month's thematic episode will have us dive into the history, development, and spread of the Little Red Book that was called a "spiritual atom bomb" by the Chinese people.
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  Episode 17 - THE ULTRA-LEFT PROLIFERATES AND THE PARTY APPARATUS COLLAPSES (NOV 1967-JAN 1968) 26.01.2024 1ч 2мин

  As the factional fighting grows bloodier and the mass movements grow exceedingly more and more radical, the Party apparatus in the provinces begins to collapse. Mao and the CCRG find themselves struggling to curtail the surge of chaos, as the Cultural Revolution begins to come apart at the seams.
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  [REUPLOAD] Episode 10: SEX & SEXUALITY DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION 26.01.2024 50мин

  [REUPLOADED] How did people have sex and fall in love during the Cultural Revolution? How did dating and marriage work in China in the 1960's and 1970's? What was queer culture like during this time? What was permitted and what was forbidden? The answers to this may surprise you- so join us today for a deep dive into sex during the GPCR!
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  [REUPLOAD] Episode 08: "SEIZE POWER!" PART II: SHANGHAI & OTHER COMMUNES: A PANEL DISCUSSION (FEB 1967) 26.01.2024 57мин

  [REUPLOADED] Drew is joined by Dr. Han Dongping of Warren-Wilson College (and author of "The Unknown Cultural Revolution") as well as two other History majors/independent scholars for a roundtable/panel discussion about the Shanghai Commune and its place in the history of the broader Cultural Revolution.
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  Episode 16 - HOLIDAY SPECIAL: FOOD & COOKING DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION 30.11.2023 32мин

  How did the Cultural Revolution affect Chinese cuisine and how people cooked? What kinds of foods were popular at the time? Enjoy our holiday special and dig into how and what people ate during the Cultural Revolution!