Proletarian revolutionary rebel group, unite!

This Cultural Revolution poster was created by the Jilin Luyi Great Revolutionary Rebel Army in 1967 during China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The work embodies the tumultuous period's revolutionary aesthetics with bold red colors and dynamic composition typical of propaganda art from this era. Produced at the Jilin People's Publishing House, this poster was designed to mobilize Red Guards and workers to participate in Mao's vision of purging "revisionist" elements from the Communist Party.

The poster features the powerful slogan "zaofan youli" (to rebel is justified), which Mao Zedong first used during the Yan'an period (1936-1945) and later revived to inspire revolutionary action. The background banner proclaims "geming zaofan jingshen wansui" (long live the spirit of revolutionary rebellion), reinforcing the central message that rebellion against perceived enemies of Mao's vision was not only permitted but glorified. The poster's aesthetics reject the cool neutrality and corporate minimalism of the International Style in favor of emotionally charged imagery and text. This integration of strong local cultural elements with revolutionary politics represents China's distinct path in global design discourse—one that prioritized cultural meaning and collective identity over the universalist claims of Western modernism. This work represents the intersection of art, politics, and social mobilization during a period when design served as a direct tool for ideological communication and cultural resistance to Western influences.