Cultural Revolution Chairman Mao during his last decade in power (1966-76) in an attempt to renew the spirit of the Chinese revolution set in place the Cultural Revolution of which there were four goals and that include replacing his designated successors with leaders more faithful to his current thinking; rectifying the Chinese Communist Party; providing China's youths with a revolutionary experience; and achieving some specific policy changes so as to make the educational, health care, and cultural systems less elitist. To set in motion the propaganda, Mao recruited large number of youths, who came to be known as the Red Guards, a coalition of associates and also help from his wife Jiang Qing. Other characters include Defense Minister Lin Biao, Mao's longtime assistant Chen Boda, security men Kang Sheng and Wang Dongxing were task to carry out Mao's directives concerning ideology and security. Not forgettin! g Premier Zhou Enlai who played an essential role in keeping the country running, even during periods of extraordinary chaos. Mao formally launched the Cultural Revolution at the Eleventh Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee in August 1966, encouraging Red Guards to attack all traditional values and "bourgeois" things and to test party officials by publicly criticizing them. The movement quickly escalated; many elderly people and intellectuals were not only verbally attacked but were physically abused. Many died. The Red Guards splintered into zealous rival factions, each purporting to be the true representative of Maoist thought. Mao's own personality cult, encouraged so as to provide momentum to the movement, assumed religious proportions. The resulting anarchy, terror, and paralysis completely disrupted the urban economy. Industrial production for 1968 dipped 12 percent below that of 1966. During the earliest part of the Red Guard phase, key Politburo leaders were removed from power--most notably President Liu Shaoqi, Mao's designated successor until that time, and Party General Secretary Deng Xiaoping. With the death of Mao and the end of the Cultural Revolution (the Cultural Revolution was officially ended by the Eleventh Party Congress in August 1977, but it in fact concluded with Mao's death and the purge of the Gang of Four in the fall of 1976), nearly three million party members and countless wrongfully purged citizens awaited reinstatement. Bold measures were taken in the late 1970s to confront these immediate problems, but the Cultural Revolution left a legacy that continued to trouble China. The resulting damage to that system was profound, and the goals that Mao sought to achieve ultimately remained elusive.