1. Who won the power struggle after the Cultural Revolution? L/O – To identify the factional rivalries in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution and evaluate the reasons for the fall of the Gang of Four

2. ‘A Great and Decisive Victory’ The 9 th Party Congress in April 1969 declared that the Cultural Revolution was over. However Mao was nearing the end of his life and the question of the succession led to factional rivalry again. The CCP was divided between ‘survivors’ of the Cultural Revolution who tended to be moderate and pragmatic and ‘beneficiaries’ who favoured radical politics. The main factions after the Cultural Revolution were: Lin Biao and the PLA; Jiang Qing and the Shanghai Radicals; Zhou Enlai and the bureaucracy.

3. Lin Biao and the People’s Liberation Army The PLA emerged greatly strengthened from the Cultural Revolution. It played a key role in restoring order and was rewarded. PLA members made up 45% of the new 1968 Central Committee and 2/3 of all members at the 1969 Party Conference were from the PLA. Armed clashes with the USSR in 1969 further raised the prestige of the army. It’s leader Lin Biao exercised enormous power. He was Commander- in-Chief of the PLA, Defence Minister and a member of the CCP Politburo’s Standing Committee – and Mao’s chosen successor.

4. 1969 – ‘The Chinese PLA is the great school of Mao Zedong Thought’

5. Jiang Qing and the Shanghai Radicals Jiang Qing gained power during the Cultural Revolution through her leadership over arts and culture. Along with Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyan and Wang Hongwen, she formed the so called ‘Gang of Four’ which exercised power through the Cultural Revolution Group (CRG) The Red Guards provide Jiang and her allies with mass support which allowed them to pursue their radical policies. In 1969, they were promoted to the CCP Politburo.

6. 1969 – ‘The invincible thought of Mao Zedong illuminates the stage of revolutionary art!’

7. Jiang Qing and the Shanghai Radicals Jiang and her allies were given control by Mao over the Central Committee’s Organisation and Propaganda Department in November 1970. This enabled them to exercise power by shaping the political discourse with their radical policies. Despite this, the relationship between Jiang and Lin Biao became strained after the CR. Whilst they agreed on policies, both tried to outmanoeuvre each other in a power struggle.

8. Zhou Enlai and the Bureacracy As State Premier, Zhou was responsible for the government bureaucracy. Zhou was a pragmatic and quiet politician, preferring to behind-the- scenes negotiations. He favoured stability and economic growth over ideological concerns. Zhou was known as the ‘Great Survivor’. He was adept at predicting Mao’s thoughts and was often willing to abandon allies if he believed they were out of favour. He approach was the total opposite of Jiang Qing who stressed the need for ideological purity in government policy.

9. The Fall of Lin Biao From the 9 th Party Congress in 1969, Mao began to distrust Lin Biao and the power he had amassed. He feared Lin could be a ‘Chinese Bonaparte’. In March 1970 the Central Committee met to discuss proposals to abolish the position of State Chairman, vacant since the fall of Liu Shaoqi. Mao characteristically refrained from stating his position. Lin on the other hand was enthusiastic about keeping the post. Mao became suspicious of this, fearing that Lin wanted to become State Chairman himself.

10. The Fall of Lin Biao Lin Biao had also enlisted the support of Mao’s political secretary, Chen Boda. When Chen attacked Jiang Qing’s ally – Zhang Chunqiao – Mao denounced this as factionalism. Chen was arrested. By the end of 1970, Mao had decided to move against Lin. Mao called his policy ‘throwing stones, mixing in sand and digging up the cornerstone’. Mao forced Lin’s allies to make self-criticisms (throwing stones), added Mao loyalists to the Military Affairs Commission (mixing in sand) and reorganised the Beijing military region to ensure troops were loyal to him (digging up the cornerstone).

11. The Fall of Lin Biao By February 1971 it was clear to Lin that his position was threatened. With his support, his son Lin Liguo began making preparations for a coup, planning a possible assassination. In August-September 1971, Mao held urgent talks with senior military advisors. Fearing Mao, Lin decided to flee to the South to set up a rival regime in Guangdong. Word reached Zhou Enlai who tried to prevent Lin’s plane from taking off. Although he failed, the aircraft was prevented from fully refuelling. Lin and his son decided to fly to the USSR, however the plane crashed in Outer Mongolia. Lin was denounced as a ‘traitor’.

12. The Impact of Lin’s Fall Senior military commanders and friends of Lin and his son were purged from the PLA. Mao’s was personally affected, becoming bed ridden for two months. His health never fully recovered. Mao’s reputation suffered as his chosen successor had plotted his assassination! The whole affair undermined the faith many had in the system and Mao himself. Mao’s judgement was brought into question.

13. The Rise of the Gang of Four With the death of Lin, the debate of the succession increased. There were no obvious candidates for Mao, telling the Politburo in 1974 that Jiang Qing: ‘does not represent me, she only represents herself.’ Zhou Enlai’s position seemed secure. He had used his position to restore industrial production and growth. He had even argued for greater trade relations with the West as part of his ‘four modernisations’. He was involved in the negotiations to invite US President Richard Nixon to China in 1972. He also rebuilt the education system, reintroducing university entrance examinations in 1973.

14. The Rise of the Gang of Four However Zhou was unable to remove the radicals from power. Zhang Chunqiao was chosen over Zhou to host the farewell banquet for Nixon. Mao had even claimed that Zhou was wrong to criticise Lin Biao as an ‘ultra-leftist’ – thereby exonerating the radicals. By the 10 th Party Congress in August 1973, the radicals had consolidated their position within the Party hierarchy. They had 3 of their supporters in the newly appointed Standing Committee, and controlled the media and propaganda departments.

15. The Rise of the Gang of Four At the 10 th Party Congress, Mao also unveiled his new choice of successor. Wang Hongwen rose to power in Shanghai during the CR and had a peasant, soldier and worker background. He was given the position of Vice-Chairman of the Party with a seat on the Politburo Standing Committee and a position of no. 3 behind Zhou Enlai. Deng Xiaoping was also rehabilitated by Mao to work alongside Zhou and Wang to ensure that the leadership had a balance of moderates and radicals.

16. The Rise of the Gang of Four This compromise angered Jiang Qing and the Gang of Four who in 1973 launched an attack on Zhou Enlai and the moderates. Jiang launched the ‘Anti-Confucius Campaign’ which was presented in the media as a struggle between those that wanted to go forward with Communism and those that were against. The real target was Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. She accused Zhou of treason and being ‘too impatient to wait to replace Mao’.

17. 1974 – ‘The working class is the main force in the campaign to denounce Lin Biao and Confucius ’

18. 1975 – ‘Intensify the campaign critising Lin Biao and Confucius to vigorously promote industrial production’

19. The Rise of the Gang of Four Zhou’s reforms of education, his ‘four modernisations’ of the economy and increasing contacts with the West were branded by Jiang as ‘threating the ideological legacy of the Cultural Revolution’. The radicals instead pushed for the expansion of the communes, removal of incentive payments and an end to ‘technology transfer’ from the West. ‘Learn from Dazhai’ became a slogan that summarised their policies. Dazhai was a production brigade from Shanxi that was held as a model of Maoist policies. However after Mao’s death, it was revealed that production figures there had been falsified!

21. The Rise of the Gang of Four Mao was concerned with protecting the achievements of the Cultural Revolution and preventing revisionism. He was therefore sympathetic to the radicals’ campaign. However Mao was angered by Jiang’s attempt to hijack the campaign for her own ends and began to support Zhou Enlai. In October 1974, Jiang attacked Zhou at a Politburo meeting and persuaded Wang Hongwen to side with her. Wang went to Mao warning him that Zhou and Deng were plotting to seize power – Mao in turn criticised Wang for plotting! The succession was now unclear again!

22. The ‘Second’ Rise of Deng Xiaoping By 1975 Mao’s health was serious deteriorating. He was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and was unable to stand, slurring his speech. He withdrew from public life yet still kept abreast of developments. Zhou Enlai was also suffering – he was terminal ill, making his last public appearance in January 1975. With Zhou terminally ill and Jiang Qing and her allies out of favour, Deng Xiaoping was able to rise in the Party. He was promoted to the position of second Vice-Premier behind Zhou.

23. The ‘Second’ Rise of Deng Xiaoping In January 1975 he assumed political control over the PLA and won a place on the Party Politburo. He was therefore in key positions within the Party, State and Military. Pursuing the moderate policies of Zhou, Deng began to tackle inefficiency and factionalism within the army. In the economy, he carried on with Zhou’s four modernisations and quelled labour unrest. He also continued to cultivate contacts with Western nations.

24. The ‘Second’ Fall of Deng Xiaoping By the summer of 1975, Jiang Qing and her allies were forced to make self-criticisms within the Politburo. Despite this, they still openly criticised Deng and Zhou. Mao was caught between the two groups. He still viewed the Gang of Four as the best champions of the aims of the Cultural Revolution. Deng was accused of wanting to ‘reverse the verdict’ of the Cultural Revolution. In October-November 1975, Mao made clear his opposition to Deng’s reforms which deprived Deng of his power.

25. 1976 – ‘Deepen the criticism of Deng Xiaoping, strike against the right deviationis t wind of reversing verdicts’

26. The ‘Second’ Fall of Deng Xiaoping With the death of Zhou Enlai in January 1976 from lung cancer, a new phase in the power struggle began. One million people attended the route of his funeral procession in Beijing however the Gang of Four used their control of the media to prevent news of this outpouring being published. In March 1976, a Shanghai newspaper on the order of Zhang Chunqiao published an article calling Zhou a ‘capitalist-roader’. This triggered public outrage and a wave of support for Zhou.

27. The ‘Second’ Fall of Deng Xiaoping It began with student protests in Nanjing but moved to Beijing when slogans on train carriages arrived in the city. In April 1976, at a Festival of the Dead ceremony in Tiananmen Square, over 2 million arrived to lay wreaths for Zhou. It turned into a political protest with posters attacking Jiang Qing as the ‘mad empress’ appearing. Despite the police removing the wreaths, over 100,000 protested the next day, demanding they be returned. Many were summarily executed for taking part – but it appeared the Party was beginning to lose control.

29. The ‘Second’ Fall of Deng Xiaoping At an emergency meeting of the Politburo, Deng was held responsible for the ‘counter- revolutionary incident’. Mao signalled his agreement with the verdict. Deng was dismissed from all his posts but allowed to keep his Party membership. Deng went into hiding in Guangzhou with the support of military commanders. Mao had no choice but to appoint Hua Guofeng as his successor. Already appointed as Premier to replace Zhou Enlai, Hua was now promoted to first Vice-Chairman of the Party.

30. The Rise of Hua Guofeng In May 1976, Mao suffered the first heart attack and was no longer capable of leading. Factional rivalry intensified. The Gang of Four began to target Hua Guofeng. They attempted to undermine Hua however he began to seek alliances with military commanders. The Gang of Four in response placed the 100,000 strong Shanghai militia on alert in August 1976. It seemed as if armed confrontation would erupt between the different factions. However Mao’s death on 9 th September 1976 changed things.

31. The Rise of Hua Guofeng Hua immediately succeeded Mao to all the top positions within the Party, State and military bodies. Having remained in Beijing after Mao’s death, the Gang of Four were cut off from their power-base in Shanghai. On 6 th October 1976, they were arrested by Hua. The factional rivalry was over. Deng Xiaoping was rehabilitated again (!) in 1978 and would succeed Hua as Chairman and supreme leader in 1980. The ‘capitalist- roader’ had won.

32. 1976 – ‘Resolute ly overthro w the anti- Party clique of Wang, Zhang, Jiang and Yao

33. The ‘Third’ Rise of Deng Xiaoping After Mao’s death, Hua Guofeng became de facto leader. He had the 3 roles of: Chairman of the Central Committee of the CCP, Premier of the PRC and Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission. However he was unpopular with moderate reformers. His February 1977 ‘two whatevers’ policy called for people to follow: ‘whatever policy decisions Chairman Mao made… and whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave.’ In July 1977, Deng Xiaoping resumed his role as CCP General Secretary. He immediately clashed with Hua’s policies. Many CCP members favoured the market-based reforms that Deng was calling for.

34. ‘Closely unite around the Party Central Committee with Chairman Hua at the head to strive for’

35. The ‘Third’ Rise of Deng Xiaoping Matters came to a head at the Third Plenum of the Central Committee of the CCP in December 1978. The Plenum accepted Deng’s ‘four modernisations’ as the basis of economic development, rehabilitated those wrongly condemned in the 1960s-70s and appointed Deng as Chairman of the People’s Political Consultative Conference (PPCC) which had responsibility for economic reform. The CCP even conferred on Deng the honorary title of ‘paramount leader’.

36. What happened to Hua Guofeng? Despite the fact that Hua Guofeng was the official leader of the Party, State and Army, he was unable to defeat the leadership challenge by Deng. For many, Hua was too much of a ‘Maoist’ – Deng represented a clear break from the past and had the backing of the CCP. Hua was replaced as State Premier by Zhao Ziyang in 1980, as Party Chairman by Hu Yaobang and as Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission by Deng in 1981.

37. What happened to Hua Guofeng? Hua was demoted to junior Vice-Chairman of the CCP and when this post was abolished in 1982, he became an ordinary member of the Central Committee which he held until 2002. The ousting of Hua was a significant turning point from the Mao era as it showed that official titles had become meaningless. His ousting also established the norm that political leaders who lost in power struggles didn’t have to be physical harmed or jailed!