How did Maoism’s conceptual frames structure the individual's perception of self and society during the Cultural Revolution? Based on an analysis of three autobiographical texts or diaries of teenagers, this article explores how individuals cope with the permanent commitment required by the Maoist frame. Individual action is expected to have a large social impact, regardless of the costs to the individual or his/her own interests. Violent action can be understood as a way of relieving these negative feelings created by this perception of reality. Two case studies show violence in mass actions not as the result of obedience, but as a consequence of highly skeptical participation. The individual struggles to eliminate moral (humanistic) values, replacing these with moral societal gains and needs. Within the friend-foe dichotomy of Maoist thinking, where opting out is betrayal, violent action is an act of revolutionary purification of oneself and an effort to transform ideological dichotomies into reality, at the cost of the humiliation of others. Violent action focuses on the act (the individual’s own contribution to the movement) and not the object of violence (the victim). As a result, victims are numerous and arbitrary.