The following is an interview between The Guardian and Fang Zhou Muo, a former Red Guard and Mao supporter. The interview includes an account of Fang Zhou Muo's experience as a Red Guard and a reflection.
"But when the Cultural Revolution happened, and especially on the night of my mother's case this kind of family affection disappeared entirely." said Fang Zhou Muo (man in the video).
This interview between Fang and The Guardian provides insight into how far Mao's Red Guards were willing to go in order to appease his socialist desires. Fang, a former Red Guard, begins the interview with a song about Mao propaganda. He sings "Heaven and Earth are big, but not as big as the Party's kindness. Mother and Father are dear, but Chairman Mao is dearer."
Fang then goes into detail, accounting what happened the night he denounced his mother. "We started to denounce her [because she had attacked Mao], but in disapproval of our denouncing, she took down a painting of Mao and burned it." He said, with sorrow in his eyes.
At the end of the interview, he makes a moving statement: "After 43 years of reflection, I realize I was mistaken back then. Now I must apologize to my mother and express repentance."
We can see hints of what had influenced Fang to denounce his own mother in the video. From the start, Mao propaganda is shown. The song, images of him, even paintings hung in households. Mao and his propaganda are everywhere.
How and why Fang committed such acts can be simplified into three terms: Power, Propaganda, and Peer Pressure.
Power: People follow power. Whether it's in a business, an organization, and in monarchies, people often go to extremes to satisfy the ruler. In this case, the one who holds the most power is Mao. He has the power to control one of the largest mass of people; he controls what information goes into people's heads, which people are in his party and which are not. Mao set rules which people followed, and if they were not followed, death or isolation would be the result. Fang was part of the herd of sheep who would listen and act on all of Mao's beliefs. If Mao (whether indirectly or directly) was threatened, he was responsible to denounce and convict the source of criticism.
Propaganda: Ever since he was little, Fang was bombarded with propaganda. The song in the video proves that. Lyrics of the song ("A multitude of goodness is not as good as socialism") highlight how the Chinese Communist Party should almost be seen as God, as some christians say God is above all, red guards and nationalist supporters say Chairman Mao is above all. If Fang was taught Mao Propaganda all his life, especially during when he was an impressionable kid, he would truly believe in Maoist principles and strictly follow his "if I get criticized, don't reflect, instead remove the source of criticism" belief.
Peer Pressure: A study was conducted where a person who, in an elevator, faced towards the elevator back wall (instead of the elevator door). The study showed that most, almost always, other subjects in the elevator were extremely disturbed by the person facing the other way (not following the status quo). Peer pressure can work two ways: a group of people influencing an individual, or an individual disturbing a group by resisting peer pressure. Both ways were present with Fang's situation. His mother went against the crowd, so therefore she needed to be eliminated. If Fang were to not denounce his mother, he would receive disapproval from his father and those around him (which would cause an eventual denouncing of himself).
Fang after many years feels the guilt of his actions, even though it was the work of others influencing his actions in the end.
