the information environment of the Cultural Revolution. A small but significant group of the Red Guard press focused on press criticism. This subset of Red Guard newspapers criticized pre-Cultural Revolution practices and proposed new modes of journalism. For example, a group of journalists from the prestigious newspaper Guangming Daily founded a rebel newspaper called Guangming Battle Bulletin (光明战报; Guangming zhanbao) in which they denounced the press theories of Liu Shaoqi and argued that the proletarian press should be a tool of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Rebel workers at Xinhua News Agency also published newspapers in which they commented and reported on press issues. Because of their grass roots nature and organic connection with the masses, the Red Guard press was able to exercise public oversight over the Party press. Factionalism within the Red Guards "Enveloped in a trance of excitement and change," all student Red Guards pledged their loyalty to Chairman Mao Zedong. Many worshipped Mao above everything and this was typical of a "pure and innocent generation," especially of a generation that was brought up under a marxist party, which discouraged religion altogether. Factions quickly formed based on individual interpretations of Mao's statements. All groups pledged loyalty to Mao and claimed to have his best interests in mind, yet they continually engaged in verbal and physical skirmishes throughout the Cultural Revolution, proving that there was no core political foundation at work. This domestic anarchy continued until the second half of the Cultural Revolution, when the 9th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party started civil policies. Youths from families with party-members and of revolutionary origin joined conservative factions. These factions focused on the socio-political status quo, keeping within their localities and working to challenge existing distributions of power and privilege. Those from the countryside and without ties to the CCP often joined radical groups who sought to change and uproot local government leadership. Among the disputes between Red Guard factions was the bloodline theory advocated by most conservative Red Guard groups in the early period of the Cultural Revolution. Under this political view, the issue of a good class background was a precondition for political participation. Students whose parents had been labeled right wing elements in 1957, for example, were not admitted in groups adhering to the bloodline theory. Although it was quickly politically discredited, the bloodline theory was highly influential and contentious among Red Guards in the