Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign (1983)
정신오염 청소 운동 (1983)
The political campaign of October 1983 to January 1984 in which conservatives in the Communist Party sought to stem the inflow of Western liberal ideas and “bourgeois” culture. Led by propaganda chief Deng Liqun and Hu Qiaomu, it attacked Marxist humanism and the theory of alienation, but ended in effect within two months after Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang intervened out of concern for reform and foreign investment.
In depth
At the Twelfth Congress of 1982 Deng put forward the building of a “socialist spiritual civilisation” alongside modernisation, and in 1980–1982 intellectuals debated “alienation” and humanism. Wang Ruoshui, deputy editor of People’s Daily, wrote that “man is the starting point of Marxism”, and Zhou Yang also advanced a theory of alienation. On 4 June 1983 Deng Liqun first spoke of eliminating spiritual pollution at the Central Party School, and when Deng Xiaoping told the Second Plenum of the Twelfth Central Committee on 12 October that those on the ideological front must not spread spiritual pollution, the campaign began. Deng Xiaoping had spoken of “cleaning up” (清理) but Deng Liqun pressed for “eliminating” (清除), and his line dominated the press.
Local rules went as far as banning female staff from perms and make-up, and some criminals were executed for offences linked to “spiritual pollution”. Zhou Yang apologised publicly, and on 30 October Hu Qiaomu and Deng Liqun announced the resignations of People’s Daily editor Hu Jiwei and deputy editor Wang Ruoshui. From mid-November Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang and Wan Li kept the campaign out of the economy and the countryside, and on 13 December Hu said it must not go beyond the scope of Deng Xiaoping’s remarks. The campaign ended in January 1984, but its elements revived in the campaign against bourgeois liberalisation of 1986–1987.