To defeat his critics and enemies in 1965 Mao started his scheme called the Cultural Revolution. It was a movement against the old culture and old customs and rituals. It gave more importance to ideological knowledge than professional knowledge. Instead of healthy debates, it gave prominence to slogans. He entrusted the job of making Cultural Revolution practical to the Red Guards which consisted of the army and students.
In the beginning, the CR was a failure. It weakened the Party. It ruined the economy and educational system. The entire country was in turmoil. But by the end of the 1960s, things began to change. In 1975 Deng Xiao Ping came to power and he ended the CR.
