Struggle session

History

Struggle sessions developed from similar ideas of criticism and self-criticism in the Soviet Union from the 1920s. Chinese communists initially resisted the practice as it conflicted with the Chinese concept of saving face, but sessions became commonplace at CCP meetings during the 1930s due to public popularity. They emerged as a tactic to secure allegiance during the Land Reform Movement, which ended in 1953.

As early as the 1940s, in CCP-controlled areas during the Chinese Civil War, peasants were encouraged to criticize and struggle against land owners to shape class consciousness. This campaign mobilized masses through speak bitterness sessions, where peasants accused land owners, and the strongest accusations were incorporated into public mass accusation meetings. Cadre induced peasants to participate, sometimes resulting in violent acts against landlords and mass killings. Later, struggle sessions were adapted for use outside the CCP to consolidate control.

They were further employed during the Anti-Rightist Campaign launched by Mao Zedong in 1957, during which many people were labeled rightists and subjected to persecution and public criticism. Official CCP statistics released after Mao's death state the campaign resulted in political persecution of at least 550,000 people. After the Great Leap Forward, Mao leveraged his cult of personality to unleash the Cultural Revolution in 1966.

Etymology

The term pīdòu (批鬥) is a shortened form of pīpàn dòuzhēng, combining pīpàn (批判, meaning judgment) and dòuzhēng (鬥爭, meaning fighting). The full expression conveys the message of inciting the spirit of judgment and fighting. A struggle session refers to a session of pīdòu held in public, often attended by a large crowd, during which the target is publicly humiliated and subjected to verbal and physical abuse for having counter-revolutionary thinking or behavior.

Academic studies

Frederick T. C. Yu identified three categories of mass campaigns used by the CCP before and after the PRC's establishment: economic campaigns to improve conditions, ideological campaigns to change thinking and behavior, and struggle sessions, which focused on eliminating the power base or class position of enemy classes or groups. The process served multiple purposes: it demonstrated the party's determination to subdue opposition by violence, crushed potential rivals, and made attackers complicit in violence, thus investing them in the state. All three purposes consolidated party control, deemed necessary because party members were a small minority.

Both accusation meetings and mass trials were largely propaganda tools. Julia C. Strauss observed that public tribunals were the visible dénouement of a show many weeks in preparation. Anne F. Thurston described a struggle session for professor You Xiaoli, noting feelings that some in the audience were bad people, but many were ignorant and did not understand what was happening.

Depictions in media

The struggle session has become one of the most emblematic visuals from the Cultural Revolution, often used in film and TV to immediately place viewers in the era. Belinda Qian He describes these show trials as the period's iconic form of violence. Notable examples in Chinese cinema include The Last Emperor, Farewell My Concubine (1993), and To Live (1994), which achieved international acclaim but were censored in mainland China for critical depictions.

In 2024, Netflix's adaptation of The Three-Body Problem opened with a Cultural Revolution scene where Ye Wenjie watches her father beaten to death in a struggle session, possibly inspired by the true story of Ye Qisun. The portrayal was done with original author Liu Cixin's blessing; he stated the depiction did not deviate from his original work. Liu had originally intended to open the novel the same way but moved the scenes on advice from his Chinese publisher to avoid censorship.