/u/bonjour-croissant

It seems to me you are missing the political situation in the early years of the PRC. The traditional Chinese social order was being challenged, and while there were many ideas for reform, the implementation of reform in education ended up being a difficult, long, and expensive road. As a result, the government had to rely on many bureaucrats who had come from the privileged, educated class, including former collaborators of the KMT. On one hand, they were pressured to show loyalty to the new regime. On the other hand, there was genuine eagerness to build a new, working government of the PRC, under the auspices of the CCP. The CCP itself took a largely pragmatist approach and allowed former KMT bureaucrats to stay in their positions. However, many of them were sent to "revolutionary boot camps" to ensure their loyalty.

Over time, many of these educated bureaucrats and intellectuals ended up criticizing the government at all levels, from its apparent "crude sociology and poor judgement of art" to more comprehensive critique of the Five-Year Plan. So there came to be two views. The first is that a united front is necessary, which is to say that loyalty and critique are two separate things and that open-ness is necessary to ensure the CCP and intellectuals can work together. The second is that political unity of the CCP itself was paramount and therefore criticism only weakens the CCP, and thus the PRC itself.

This was the period in which Krushchev had started to critique Stalin's ideology, and when the Hungarian uprising broke out. So there was some real concern a similar uprising could break out in the PRC. What is the best way to mitigate this? The arguments also fall along the two lines of thought.

At this time, Mao Zedong pushed for the Hundred Flowers campaign in a series of speeches, believing that it would gain him the support of the educated class, implicitly believing that they would agree with him on most or all issues. Thus, it would further empower him relative to his rivals in the CCP. When this turned out to be false, he turned around the suppressed it.

The CCP saw the Hundred Flowers campaign as a way to provide an outlet for the intellectual class and to continue to have their collaboration in a united front with the CCP. When Mao changed his stance, so did most of the CCP.

Did it start with good intentions? You decide. Was it an intentional attempt to rid China of non-communists? No.

Want to know more? Check out Spencer's The search for modern China.