The Socialist Education Movement (, abbreviated 社教运动 or 社教運動), also known as the Four Cleanups Movement () was a movement launched by Mao Zedong in 1963 in the People's Republic of China. Mao sought to remove reactionary elements within the bureaucracy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), saying that "governance is also a process of socialist education." Chinese researchers have pointed out the movement resulted in at least 77,560 deaths, with 5,327,350 people being persecuted. In the movement, the relationship between CCP Chairman Mao Zedong and Chinese President Liu Shaoqi, Chairman Mao's potential successor, deteriorated. The Socialist Education Movement is regarded as the precursor of the Cultural Revolution, during which President Liu was persecuted to death as a "traitor" and "capitalist roader". Goals The goal of the movement was to cleanse politics, economy, organization, and ideology (the four cleanups). It was to last until 1966. What this movement entailed was that intellectuals were sent to the countryside to be re-educated by peasants (see Down to the Countryside Movement). They still attended school, but also worked in factories and with peasants. Aftermath The campaign is described by Donald Klein in the Encyclopedia Americana 2007 (Grolier Online), as a "nearly complete failure." Mao's dissatisfaction over this program's inefficacy set the stage for the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). When the Cultural Revolution began, rural regions had not yet completed the Socialist Education Movement, and the committees in charge of it converted into Cultural Revolution leading groups. See also Thought reform in the People's Republic of China, 1951-1952 List of campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party List of massacres in China Seven Thousand Cadres Conference Taoyuan Experience References The Socialist Education Movement, People's Daily website, in Simplified Chinese Political repression in China Campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party Maoist terminology Cold War history of China Maoist China Persecution of intellectuals Liu Shaoqi