“After Nikita Khrushchev was overthrown in a coup by his colleagues in October 1964, Mao, already concerned about underlings who did not wholeheartedly follow his wishes, talked more about cultivating successors and became even more insistent in his demands for total personal loyalty. In February 1965 Mao sent his wife Jiang Qing to stir up criticism of party officials not fully supporting Maos revolutionary views, and in mid-May 1966 he launched the Cultural Revolution attack on “those in authority pursuing the capitalist road.” For Mao a “capitalist roader” was someone who was thinking and acting independently, not fully following his leadership. Mao mobilized the Red Guards and older rebels to attack those in positions of authority. By skillfully splitting high officials from one another and relying on Lin Biao to control the army, Mao was able to remove vast numbers of senior officials from positions of leadership and to send them away for physical labor and reeducation.” “Officials who had suffered under Mao and who grieved over the disasters he had perpetrated understood that the cult of Mao was so powerful that the country would be thrown into even greater chaos if Mao were attacked directly. In December 1958, when his errors in charging ahead during the Great Leap Forward had become all too obvious, Mao had made policy concessions and granted other leaders more leeway to make decisions—even as he maneuvered to remain at the helm. After Lins death, Mao again made concessions in policies and gave others more decision-making authority, but remained in charge. Mao needed to move quickly to establish a new post-Lin party leadership and the 10th Party Congress was not scheduled until 1974—five years after the 9th Party Congress. Mao, however, put the new leadership structure in place in less than two years, enabling him to hold the 10th Party Congress in August 1973, one year ahead of the scheduled date. To make this happen, Mao had to reach beyond his closest inner circle, for although he could rely on his wife, Jiang Qing, and her associates to criticize others, they lacked the experience, good judgment, and[…]” Excerpt From: Vogel, Ezra F. “Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 06:49:35 +0000
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