Just as mainland watchers predicted a slowdown in the "socialist cultural revolution", a further bitter struggle erupted among top-echelon Chinese Communist leaders. The struggle centered around the power and internal policies of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Emerging as powerholders were Mao Tse-tung and Lin Piao, but they seemed to have been strongly challenged and to have suffered some setbacks.
Indications of this struggle at the top were found in the August 12 press communique of the 11th plenary session of the 8th CCPCC and in the "Decision on the Proletarian Cultural Great Revolution" adopted by the committee. Another indication came from the August 11 incident in which issues of the People's Daily of Peiping were called back and a reprinted edition issued that suppressed a report on Mao's appearance at a mass rally.
There were markedly different attitudes toward the cultural revolution. The communique of the plenum itself showed inconsistency. Every faction attending sought to make its voice heard. A few signs of moderation can be found in the communique. Fewer signs are contained in the "Decision" and none at all in the editorials of the Liberation Army Daily, mouthpiece of Lin Piao.
The communique cautions against "'left' opportunists" while calling for support for the "revolutionary leftists" and urging the party not to be "afraid of disorder" (caused by the violent actions of the leftists).
By contrast, the Liberation Army Daily said nothing about this.
The communique called for "having faith in the masses, relying on them, boldly arousing them and respecting their initiative. Do not be overlords or stand above the masses, blindly ordering them about." The "Decision" added that the leadership should not monopolize the activities of the masses.
The communique had a bleak passage on the cultural revolution: "The 11th Plenary Session ... calls on all to surmount the resistance coming from various directions, from the counter-revolutionary revisionists and the 'left' and right opportunists, overcome difficulties, shortcomings and mistakes, cleanse the dark sides in the party and society, carry the Proletarian Cultural Great Revolution to the end ... "
The Mao story suppression was interesting. Mao made an unexpected appearance on August 10 at a reception center near the headquarters of the CCPCC. Speaking to the crowd, Mao said: "You should pay attention to state affairs and carry the Proletarian Cultural Great Revolution through to the end!" He shook hands with members of the crowd and stayed for half an hour.
This was reported in a dispatch of the official "New China News Agency". The item said "Crowds of young people, singing and dancing, expressed their best love for the Central Committee of the Party and Chairman Mao Tse-tung."
About noon on August 11, delivery and newsstand sales of the People's Daily began. This was later than usual. Shortly after Radio Peiping had broadcast the NCNA report, the People's Daily was called back. The reprinted edition was issued shortly before 4 p.m.
The first edition of People's Daily carried the NCNA report on Mao's appearance and a photograph. In the reprint both were replaced with an editorial from Red Flag. No explanation was given. The Mao appearance also was dropped from the 4 p.m. news on Radio Peiping.
This incident took place one day before close of the 11th plenum. It affected a Communist newspaper in Hongkong and probably many provincial newspapers on the mainland. All act on orders from Peiping.
On August 11 the New Evening News, a Communist paper published in Hongkong, carried the NCNA report. About 3 p.m., staff members scurried through the city recalling unsold copies. A few hours later a, new edition was issued. The report on Mao had been replaced by an advertisement.
The following day, August 12, Communist papers in Peiping and in Hongkong again carried the report on Mao's appearance but without the photograph. The report by NCNA was the same as the earlier story except for omission of the statement that Mao stayed for half an hour and putting Mao ahead or the Committee in the last sentence.
Some mainland watchers gave this explanation: Red leaders have come to accept the "thoughts of Mao Tse-tung" as a symbol of party and national unity but to reject the personal leadership of Mao. The CCPCC chieftains exalt Mao on paper but prevent him from appealing to the masses. The 1958"great leap forward" showed the danger of letting Mao wield real power.
Lin Piao's Place
The August 12 communique paid tribute to Lin Piao. Only Lin and Mao were mentioned. This is indication that the military strong man has become the holder of principal power.
The communique twice exalted Lin Piao: (1) for his article of September 3, 1965, and (2) for his army campaign to study Mao's thoughts. It said in part: "The Plenary Session holds that '" the 'Proposal Concerning the General Line of the International Communist Movement' ... drawn up under the personal leadership of Comrade Mao Tse-tung and ... Comrade Lin Piao's 'Long Live the People's War' etc., give scientific Marxist-Leninist analysis of a series of important questions concerning the world revolution of our time, and are powerful ideological weapons against imperialism and modern revisionism."
Lin Piao's slogan, "Raise High the Great Red Banner of Mao Tse-tung's Thought", was used as subtitle for the third part of the communique which said: "The Plenary Session holds that Comrade Lin Piao's call on the People's Liberation Army to launch a mass movement in the army to study Comrade Mao Tse-tung's works has set a brilliant example for the whole party and the whole nation."
The communique also adopted Lin Piao's methods of studying Maoism: "The method of studying Comrade Mao Tse-tung's works with problems in mind, studying and applying his works in a creative way, combining study with practice, studying first what is urgently needed so as to get quick results, and of making great efforts in applying what one studies has proved effective and universally suitable and should be further popularized throughout the party and the country."
The communique mentioned "a new leap forward!" once and the third five-year plan twice. Peiping watchers could detect no genuine enthusiasm for even a small leap forward in economics. They believe the failure to put more emphasis on the third five-year results from the desperate power struggle, which has absorbed the energy and attention of the party leaders and people.
The communique rejected both "united action" with the Soviet Union over Vietnam and a "united front" with the Soviets against the United States. These were asked by the Japanese, North Korean, and North Vietnamese Communists in March.
Liu, Teng Downgraded
Liu Shao-chi and Teng Hsiao-ping have lost some of their power. They are officially placed not only behind Lin Piao and Chou En-lai but also Tao Chu and Chen Po-tao Mao Tse-tung still heads the list. Chen Yun has reappeared.
The new pecking order, as shown in the official list of party and state leadership broadcast by Radio Peiping August 18 at a mass rally of students is as follows:
Mao Tse-tung, Lin Piao, Chou En-lai, Tao Chu, Chen Po-ta, Teng Hsiao-ping, Kang Sheng, Liu Shao-chi, Chu Teh, Li Fu-chun, Chen Yun, Tung Pi-wu, Chen Yi, Ho Lung, Li Hsien-nien, Tan Chen-lin, Yeh Chieh-ying, Po I-po, Li Hsueh-feng, Hsieh Fu-chih, and Liu Ning-yi.
Another significant change is the promotion of Liu Ning-yi to be a member of the Central Secretariat of the party. This was disclosed in an NCNA dispatch of August 17.
Liu Ning-yi fills the vacancy in the Central Secrrtarist left by the unannounced dismissal of Peng Chen, just as Tao Chu and Yeh Chien-ying take the places of Lu Ting-yi and Lo Jui-chiang.
Although Teng Hsiao-ping was sixth on the list of the new CCP leadership, indications are that he has fallen into oblivion since his appearance at the mass rally of August 18.
Since August 23, Teng's duties as general secretary of CCPCC seemed to have been taken over by Kang Sheng. On that day it was Kang who received a delegation from France. Teng Hsiao-ping was absent.
It was Kang Sheng who entertained Jacques Grippa, secretary of the Central Committee of the Belgian Communist Party August 27. Teng Hsiao-ping was at the airport to meet the Belgian Communist leader on August 17 but not at the dinner. 'Teng did not take part in talks with the Belgian visitor.
The French delegation, which was composed of four members, three of whom are members of the Political Bureau and Secretariat of the French Communist Party, was important enough to the Chinese Communist Party to be received by Teng Hsiao-ping. If he were still general secretary of the Central Committee. It has been the duty of the secretary general to receive any Communist dignitary from a foreign country. On December 27, 1965, Teng received N. Sanmugathasan, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Ceylon. On December 12, 1965, Teng met E. F. Hill, chairman of the Communist Party of Australia, at the airport.
Both Liu Shao-chi and Teng were at the mass rally of August 18 but not close to Mao and Lin Piao. None of the group pictures showing Mao and Lin also included either Liu or Teng.
Teng's presumed fall came as a surprise. It was thought that he and Chou En-lai joined Lin Piao's faction as early as last May when the cultural revolution was beginning. Unlike Liu Shao-chi, who refrained from exalting Mao Tse-tung's thought, both Chou En-lai and Teng appeared to have fallen in with Lin Piao's tactic of praising Mao.
In a speech at Shanghai May 6 Teng lauded Mao's ideology and called on the people to look to it for constant guidance. Teng was seen in the picture of Mao with Lin Piao, Chou En-lai, and Mehmet Shehu from Albania after Mao's six-month disappearance.
Some observers pointed out that Teng was very powerful as general secretary, and that Lin Piao will not allow anyone other than a trusted subordinate to wield so much power. Teng had never been Lin's subordinate. He was the political commissar of the second field army. "Marshal Liu Po-cheng", now in Szechwan, was the army commander.
In his speech at the mass rally, Lin Piao vowed to "strike down authorities in power who have taken the road of capitalism, the bourgeois reactionaries and all bourgeois royalists". Liu Shao-chi could be classified as leader of the third category — "bourgeois royalists" — wife Teng Hsiao-ping would leader of the first group — "authorities in power".
Change of Tactics
The Chinese Communist Party has changed tactics in trying to crush the three categories of "reactionaries" at home and to eliminate old ideology, old culture, old customs, and old habits. The three categories and the "four olds" were mentioned by Lin Piao in his speech to the mass rally of August 18. The change in tactics may reflect tear that the violent actions of the Red Guards are too dangerous.
NCNA has not denied that eight Red Guards and one Young Pioneer were killed in Peiping. Nor has NCNA denied reports of resistance elsewhere on the mainland.
In an editorial of August 28, People's Daily urged the Red Guards "to be daring to carry out struggles and make revolution and to be good at carrying out struggles and making revolutions like the liberation army". It also urged the Guards to refrain from using force in fulfilling their missions.
The editorial made no reference to the "four olds", but emphasized the need to safeguard state property.