Chen Boda

Chen Boda
陈伯达
Left to right: Mao Zedong, Lin Biao, Zhou Enlai and Chen Boda during the Cultural Revolution in Beijing, 1966.
Member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
In office 1966–1970
Personal details
Born	Chen Shangyu 29 July 1904 (1904-07-29) Hui'an, Fujian, Qing China
Died	20 September 1989 (1989-09-21) (aged 85) Beijing, China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party (1927–1973)
Children	4[1]
Alma mater	Sun Yat-sen University

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Theoretical works Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan (1927) On Contradiction (1937) On Practice (1937) On Guerrilla Warfare (1937) On Protracted War (1938) On the Ten Major Relationships (1956) On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (1957) A Critique of Soviet Economics (1960) Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (1964) Historic Eight Documents (1965—1966) Bombard the Headquarters (1966) Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat (1983)
History Chinese Soviet Republic Jiangxi Soviet Long March Chinese Communist Revolution People's Republic of China 1949–1976 1976–1989 1989–2002 2002–present Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries Korean War Sino-Soviet split Great Leap Forward Black Power movement Cultural Revolution 16 May Notification Red August January Storm Down to the Countryside Movement New Communist movement Cambodian Civil War Naxalite–Maoist insurgency Naxalbari uprising New People's Army rebellion Sino-Albanian split Maoist insurgency in Turkey Death and funeral of Mao Cambodian–Vietnamese War Two Whatevers Internal conflict in Peru Nepalese Civil War Chongqing model
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Chen Boda (simplified Chinese: 陈伯达; traditional Chinese: 陳伯達; Wade–Giles: Ch'en Po-ta; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Peh-ta̍t; 29 July 1904 – 20 September 1989), was a Chinese Communist journalist, professor and political theorist who rose to power as the chief interpreter of Maoism (or "Mao Zedong Thought") in the first 20 years of the People's Republic of China.^[2] Chen became a close associate of Mao Zedong in Yan'an, during the late 1930s, drafting speeches and theoretical essays and directing propaganda.^[3]

After 1949, Chen played a leading role in overseeing mass media and ideology; at the start of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, Mao named him Chairman of the Cultural Revolution Group, entrusting him with the task of guiding the new mass movement. However, his ultra-radical line and close ties with Lin Biao eventually led to his downfall in 1970.^[2][3]