In January 1945, the first issue of "Hope", a literary magazine organized by Chinese left-wing writer Hu Feng, was published. In the first issue, writer Shu Wu's philosophical essay, "On Subjectivity", was also published; this article in essence called for the liberation of individuality. Hu Feng himself wrote the article "Inside the Struggle for Democracy"; this echoed Shu Wu's essay, and elicited criticism at the time. Although Hu Feng was a Marxist, he was not a member of the Communist Party. His literary and artistic ideas had been in conflict with the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s literary and art circles for many years; he had openly criticized Mao Zedong's policy of emphasizing that literature and art must serve the political struggle. Later on, this would trigger a large-scale literary inquisition - the Case of the Hu Feng Counter-Revolutionary Clique.
Beginning in 1951, people sent letter after letter to the editorial office of "Wenyi Bao" ("Literature and Art Newspaper"), sponsored by the Chinese Writers' Association; the letters demanded criticism of Hu Feng's literary and artistic thought. In 1952, the Central Propaganda Department wrote a report to the Central Committee, labeling Hu Feng's literary and artistic ideas as "actually the replacement of proletarian literature and art with bourgeois and petty-bourgeois literature and art", and as "anti-Marxist literary and artistic thought". After this, more articles of condemnation continued to emerge. In 1954, Hu Feng wrote "A Report on the Practice of Literature and Art Since Liberation" (also called the "300,000-Word Book"), affirming his views on literary and art work to the Central Committee and denying criticism from others.
On January 20, 1955, the Central Propaganda Department submitted a "Report on the Open Criticism of Hu Feng's Thoughts" to the Central Committee. In February of that year, Mao Zedong demanded that literary and art circles "respond to Hu Feng's bourgeois idealism and his anti-Party and anti-people literary and art ideas, and conduct a thorough critique." A nationwide critique was launched. At the same time, Mao Zedong concluded that Hu Feng and others constituted an anti-Party clique, and instructed the Central Propaganda Department as well as the Ministry of Public Security to set up a Hu Feng Counter-Revolutionary Clique Task Force.
On May 17, Hu Feng was arrested; this embroiled dozens of people in the conflict. On July 21, 1980, the "Report on the Review of Hu Feng's Counter-Revolutionary Clique" was published; it concluded that, between 1955 and 1956, more than 2,100 people were investigated as part of the Hu Feng Case. 92 people were arrested, 62 people were quarantined, and 73 people were suspended from their jobs for 'self-reflection'. By 1956, 78 people had officially been designated as Hu Feng Clique Members. In May 1958, of those 78 people, 61 people had been dismissed from their jobs or were sentenced to re-education through labor. However, the real number was probably greater than reported.
On June 18, 1988, the CCP Central Committee officially withdrew the charges against Hu Feng, and the Hu Feng Counter-Revolutionary Clique Case was finally and completely acquitted.
References: "Hu Feng: When the Dead are Resurrected"; "The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution, 1945-1957"; 《20世紀中國知識分子精神史三部曲》("A Trilogy of the Spiritual History of Chinese Intellectuals in the 20th Century")(Chinese); 《人民公安》(Ministry of Public Security)(Chinese)