Familiar? 'The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution'- (1966-76 under Mao Tse Tung / Mao Zedong; its goal was to preserve Chinese Communism + ideologically, to impose 'Mao Thought') http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution - Wiki Launched by Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party of China (CPC), its stated goal was to preserve Chinese Communism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society, and to re-impose Mao Zedong Thought (known outside China as Maoism) as the dominant ideology in the CPC.  …  with the help of Cultural Revolution Group, soon calling on young people to "bombard the headquarters" and proclaiming that "to rebel is justified".  To eliminate his rivals within the CPC and in schools, factories, and government institutions, Mao charged that bourgeois elements had infiltrated the government and society [to] restore capitalism.  He insisted that revisionists be removed through violent class struggle.  China's youth as well as urban workers responded by forming Red Guards and "rebel groups" around the country, which began to hold struggle sessions regularly and grab power from local governments and communist party branches in 1967, eventually establishing the revolutionary committees.  … The Cultural Revolution damaged China's economy and traditional culture while tens of millions of people were persecuted, with an estimated death toll ranging from hundreds of thousands to 20 million. Starting from the Red August of Beijing, massacres took place across the country, such as the Guangxi Massacre (massive cannibalism also occurred …  … Millions were accused of being members of the Five Black Categories and were persecuted, suffering public humiliation, imprisonment, torture, hard labor, seizure of property, and sometimes execution or harassment into suicide.  Intellectuals were considered the "Stinking Old Ninth" and were widely persecuted; notable scholars and scientists … were killed or committed suicide.  Schools and universities were closed with the college entrance exams cancelled. Over 10 million urban intellectual youths were sent to the countryside in the Down to the Countryside Movement.  Red Guards also destroyed historical relics as well as artifacts, and ransacked cultural and religious sites. . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struggle_session  Struggle session - Wiki A struggle session was a form of public humiliation and torture that was used by the Communist Party of China (CPC) at various times in the Mao era, particularly years immediately before and after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China and during the Cultural Revolution.  The aim of a struggle session was to shape public opinion and humiliate, persecute, or execute political rivals and those deemed class enemies. In general, the victim of a struggle session was forced to admit various crimes before a crowd of people who would verbally and physically abuse the victim until he or she confessed.  Struggle sessions were often held at the workplace of the accused, but they were sometimes conducted in sports stadiums where large crowds would gather if the target was well-known. Origins and purpose Struggle sessions developed from similar ideas of criticism and self-criticism in the Soviet Union from the 1920s. The term refers to class struggle; the session is held, ostensibly, to benefit the target, by eliminating all traces of counterrevolutionary, reactionary thinking.  Chinese communists resisted this at first, because struggle sessions conflicted with the Chinese concept of saving face, but struggle sessions became commonplace at Communist Party meetings during the 1930s due to public popularity. Later struggle sessions were adapted to use outside the CPC as a means of consolidating its control of areas under its jurisdiction.  Frederick T. C. Yu identified three categories of mass campaigns—economic, ideological, and struggle—employed by the CPC in the years before and after the establishment of the PRC … Ideological campaigns sought to change people’s thinking.  Struggle campaigns were similar to ideological campaigns, but “their focus is on the elimination of the power base and/or class position of enemy classes or groups.” Tactics in early struggle sessions … [They] sought to mobilize the masses through intensive propaganda followed by “Speak Bitterness” (诉苦) sessions in which peasants were encouraged to accuse land owners.  The strongest accusations were incorporated into scripted and stage-managed public mass accusation meetings (控诉大会).  Cadres then cemented the peasants’ loyalty by inducing them to actively participate in violent acts against landowners.  … Both accusation meetings and mass trials were largely propaganda tools to accomplish the party’s aims.  Klaus Mühlhahn, professor of China Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, wrote: Carefully arranged and organized, the mass trials and accusatory meetings followed clear and meticulously prearranged patterns.  Dramatic devices such as staging, props, working scripts, agitators, and climactic moments were used to efficiently engage the emotions of the audience—to stir up resentment against the targeted groups, and mobilize the audience to support the [CCP] regime ...