Power Struggles After Mao
But First
Paper 1 PracticeOPVL
Introduction
• 1976, Mao dead– In charge of China since
1949
• Similar problems of economic stagnation
• Will be able to achieve growth without losing one-party rule
Mao• Closest political ally Zhou
Enlai• Had consolidated the power
of the CCP• Attempted to assert his
independence of the USSR• Various political and
economic actions– Five-year plan– Hundred Flowers– Anti-Rightist– Great Leap Forward– Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution
Great Leap Forward• Jan. 1958, attempt to
modernize agriculture and industry
• Grouped in communes• Initial successes, but
things go wrong, famine– 1959-61 Three Bitter Years– Some criticized Mao, led to
loss of influence• Liu Shaoqi took over as
president– Allowed private plots,
bonuses, recovery
Socialist Education and Rightist Deviations
• Mao concerned about creeping capitalism
• Corrected Rightist deviation with new movement, rallies, meetings
• May 1963, First Ten Points, set down socialist objectives– New versions by Deng
Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi, less firm
• Mao supported by Lin Biao, minister of defense, used PLA to publish Quotations
Intellectuals and Revolutionary Successors
• 1964, sent intellectuals away to learn from peasants
• Wanted education combined with productive labor
• Further concerns about capitalists– 1965, Twenty-three
Articles– Start of Cultural Revolution
• Liuists versus Maoists divided
Cultural Revolution
• 1966, seeking to eliminate capitalism and restore power– Relied on PLA and youth
• Became violent, 400,000 died• Called for Four Olds to be
destroyed– Ideas, culture, customs, habits
• Liu Shaoqi dismissed, Deng Xiaoping sent down to the countryside
• Red Guards fought with one another, Mao calls in PLA
• Production had been distracted, declined
• Mao did gain power
Power Struggle• Divisions growing• Liu had issued strong
warnings about US in Vietnam– Had wanted to revive Soviet
alliance• Lin Biao attacked Soviet and
US imperialism• Mao and Zhou saw USSR as
main threat• Lin and Mao vying for party
control– 1970, attached Zhou’s foreign
and domestic policies
571 Affair• Lin Biao with doubts
about Mao’s direction– Minister of defense– Mao tried to remove
supporters around him, ordered his troops away
• 1970, Mao announces Nixon can visit
• 1971, Lin vanished from public view– Purge of military and
civilian admin.
Rightists Versus Leftists
• Liuists and Maoists still divided• 1973, Zhou Enlai helps Deng
return to Beijing• Mao’s health deteriorating• Several rightists being
restored– Led by Zhao and Deng
• Leftists led by Jiang Qing, three radical party members– Gang of Four
• 1973, rightists victories in elections
Gang of Four
• Jiang had headed GPCR– Yao Wenyuan, chief
propagandist– Wang Hongwen, trade
union leader– Zhang Chunqiao, deputy
sec. of Shanghai’s Mun. Comm.
– All favored more revolutionary approach
– Power base with cultural or media organizations• Little support from military
or in party
Turn to the US
• 1972, Nixon visit– Resulted in Shanghai
Communique, normalization of Sino-American relations
• Rightists wanted to build wealthy China
• Leftists wanted to revolutionary line
Four Modernizations
• Economic plan between 1974-76
• Favored by Rightists – Deng and Zhou working
together– Modernizations of
agriculture, industry, science, technology defense
• Jiang continued demands of CR
• Mao dying, giving influence to nephew Mao Yuanxin– Gave Gang of Four an
advantage
Power Struggle 1976-81
• 1976, Zhou and Mao both die– Gang of Four still around– Leftists versus Rightists– Deng versus Jiang– Those in the middle,
centrist group led by Hua Guofeng• No serious objections to
him ascending after Mao’s death
Qingming Festival, 1976
• April 1976, followed Zhou’s death in January
• Paid respects to ancestors• Gang cut it short• Support for him was also
critical of Mao and the Gang
• Hua asks Mao what to do, uses force
• Accusations against Deng, removed from power
Mao’s Death
• September 9, 1976– Jiang tried to make it
look life she was Mao’s choice successor
• Hua and Jiang attack one another
• Gang tries a coup in October– Military informs Hua,
fails
Defeat of the Gang of Four• Hua works with Deng to
arrest Gang• Called emergency meeting
of Politburo– Zhang and Wang arrested
there– Yao and Jiang caught later– Portrayed as power hungry
• Mao untarnished• Tried in 1980 for offenses of
CR, Jiang said she only acted under Mao’s orders
• All given life sentences, Yao 20 years
Rise of Deng Xiaoping• Politburo gives Hua three
tasks– Replace Mao– Rehabilitate Deng– Modernize
• Deng quickly re-admittted to Politburo, Central Committee, State Council, Military Commission, Chief of Staff of PLA
• Deng put in charge of Four Modernizations
• Hua announced end of CR
Hua and Whateversists
• Uphold whatever Mao’s policies were and follow whatever his directions were
• But many wanted to move on from him
• Hua’s power being reduced by Deng– Challenge whatever approach– Criticized Lin Biao and Gang
• Hua resigns as premier in 1980, replaced by Deng’s man, Zhao Ziyang– April 1981, Deng’s supporter Hu
Yaobang, became GS of CCP• 1981, Hua resigns from all other
posts• End of Mao era
– Now modernization