This chapter is a history of the first three and a half years of the Cultural Revolution, from its initial stirrings in late 1965 to the convocation of the Ninth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in April 1969. These three and a half years encompass several shorter periods. First, there was the growing confrontation between Mao Tse-tung and the Party establishment from the fall of 1965 to the summer of the following year. The second period, from the Eleventh Plenum through the end of 1966, was one in which Mao's assault on the Party establishment spread across the country, with the Red Guards now its major instrument. The Red Guard movement drew on many of the socioeconomic cleavages and grievances, particularly the tension between class background and academic performance as criteria for success in China's educational system. During the third period, from January 1967 until mid-1968, Mao ordered that political power be seized from the discredited Party establishment.