In October 1952, Luo Ruiqing (second from left, front row) accompanied Mao Zedong on an inspection of the Yellow River.
The criticism of Luo Ruiqing began at an expanded meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee in Shanghai from December 8-15, 1965, and the following May at an expanded meeting of the Politburo in Beijing Luo Ruiqing was characterized as a member of an anti-Party group, and the famous “May 16 Notice” was issued at the same time, thus inaugurating the Cultural Revolution. Most researchers believe that the incident of the reversal of Luo Ruiqing was a prelude to the Cultural Revolution, but it is still difficult to fully uncover the real cause and process of the reversal of Luo’s incident, which is explained in this article from one aspect.
One
Fifty years ago, on March 4, 1966, a meeting was held in Beijing to expose and criticize Luo Ruiqing, which lasted until April 8 (in the middle of which Luo Ruiqing jumped off a building on March 18), with more than 80 official speeches, and on April 30, the Central Working Group, which chaired the meeting, submitted a report on Comrade Luo Ruiqing’s mistakes, which was approved for transmission during the expanded meeting of the Politburo on May 16.
“In order to educate cadres, learn a lesson, and purge Comrade Luo Ruiqing’s wrong influence, the Central Committee decided to send the report of the Central Working Group and the Central Committee’s approval to county and regiment-level party committees, the four main speeches of Comrades Ye Jianying, Xie Fuzhi, Xiao Hua, Yang Chengwu and others attached to this report, Comrade Luo Ruiqing’s inspection of March 12, as well as Ye Jianying, Xiao Hua, Yang Chengwu, and Comrade Liu Zhijian’s report of April 24 to the Chairman and the Central Committee were sent to the local and divisional Party committees and orally disseminated to the Party cadres at the county and regiment levels.”
Central working group that Mao Zedong designated Deng Xiaoping, Peng Zhen, Ye Jianying three, Deng Xiaoping left Beijing after the opening ceremony of the meeting to go to the field, Peng Zhen’s role is ridiculous – one of the six attachments mentioned in the central criticism Ye Xiao Yang Liu letter to the Central Committee is about “Peng Zhen in the process of criticizing Luo Ruiqing meeting Therefore, the criticism meeting was actually chaired by Ye Jianying, together with Xie Fuzhi, Xiao Hua, Yang Chengwu and Liu Zhijian, who were mentioned in the central criticism, which was the backbone of the Beijing criticism meeting.
The previous meeting in Shanghai to criticize Luo was chaired by Mao Zedong, and Ye Jianying, Xie Fuzhi, Xiao Hua, and Yang Chengwu were also the main speakers.
Lin Biao and Ye Qun were not present at the Beijing meeting. Lin Biao was not present at the group meeting when the Shanghai meeting was held, Ye Qun had a long speech at the meeting, and before the meeting Ye Qun went to Hangzhou with Lin Biao’s letter to meet Mao Zedong from Suzhou. Lin Biao’s letter of November 30 reads.
“There is an important situation that needs to be reported to you, and several important comrades in charge have long proposed that I report to you. I did not do so for fear of hindering the Chairman’s health. Now that I know about Yang Shangkun’s situation, I feel compelled to report to you. In order to give the President time to read the material first, now send Ye Qun to submit the material, and make a preliminary oral report to the President. If the President seeks an interview with me, I can come at any time.”
Lin Biao said “several important comrades in charge have long proposed that I report to you”, “now contacted to know the situation of Yang Shangkun”, very attentively indicate their own passive involvement in the criticism of Luo. Who were the “important comrades in charge”? What was said? It may always be difficult to know exactly, but Ye Jianying, Xie Fuzhi, Xiao Hua, Yang Chengwu, Liu Zhijian and others are very likely, they can have this action, either from the instructions of others, or heard some kind of wind. It can be seen that Ye Qun’s visit to Hangzhou to meet Mao Zedong and his speech at the Shanghai meeting were just one of the many pawns of Mao Zedong’s efforts to overthrow Luo, and there is no good reason to consider it as the main factor to overthrow Luo Ruiqing.
According to Zhang Yaozhi’s recollection, Yang Chengwu and Zhang Yaozhi were aware of Ye Qun’s visit to Hangzhou to meet Mao Zedong on November 30 and had mutual communication.
II
From the Shanghai Bailuo Conference to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Ye Jianying, Xie Fuzhi, Xiao Hua, Yang Chengwu, and Liu Zhijian were
Xiao Hua became the deputy secretary-general soon after the establishment of the Military Commission in 1959, the director of the General Political Department in 1964, and had chaired the Army-wide Cultural Revolution Group in 1967.
Yang Chengwu became Deputy Secretary General of the Military Commission in June 1965. After the Shanghai Conference, Luo Ruiqing’s military duties ceased, and Yang Chengwu became Acting Chief of General Staff, a member of the Central Committee’s Cultural Revolution Meeting since 1967, and head of the Military Commission’s Office Group in September.
Liu Zhijian became the deputy director of the General Political Department in 1957 (the oldest deputy director after Fu Zhong, Xiao Hua and Gan Siqi), and the deputy head of the Central Cultural Revolution and the head of the All-Army Cultural Revolution Group in May 1966.
Ye Jianying was added as Vice Chairman of the Military Commission in January 1966 at the same time as Liu Bo Cheng, Chen Yi and Xu Qianqian, and became Secretary of the Secretariat and Secretary General of the Military Commission (two positions Luo Ruiqing had) on May 23, and became a member of the Politburo in August.
Xie Fuzhi is Vice Premier and Minister of Public Security, in August 1966, he became an alternate member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Secretariat, a member of the Central Cultural Revolution meeting.
After the Shanghai Bailuo Conference, He Long was no longer allowed to preside over the day-to-day work of the Military Commission. The expanded Politburo meeting in May made it clear that Ye Jianying, Yang Chengwu and Xiao Hua were responsible for handling the day-to-day affairs of the Military Commission.
The expanded Politburo meeting in May marked the unveiling of the Cultural Revolution, but Lin Biao was still convalescing, and it was another move by Mao Zedong that pushed him to the forefront of the Cultural Revolution more than two months later.
III
Liu Zhijian fell in early 1967, followed by Xiao Hua and Yang Chengwu in early 1968.
At the end of 1973, Luo Ruiqing was released from prison, and in September 1974, Liu Zhijian, Yang Chengwu and Xiao Hua were released from detention and censorship.
In November 1974, Yang Chengwu became the first ranking deputy chief of general staff, the post of chief of general staff had been vacant for more than three years, and Deng Xiaoping became the chief of general staff in January 1975.
After the September 13 incident set up Ye Jianying headed by the military commission office meeting to replace the military commission office group, February 5, 1975 set up the military commission standing committee to replace the military commission office meeting, the military commission standing committee members are dealing with the day-to-day work of the Nansha combat six-person team Ye Jianying, Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Xilian, Su Zhenhua, plus Liu Bocheng, Xu Qianqian, Nie Rongzhen, Su Yu, Wang Dongxing a total of 11 people.
At Deng Xiaoping’s urging, Mao Zedong approved Luo Ruiqing as an advisor to the military commission in August 1975. Deng Xiaoping had hoped that Luo Ruiqing would complement his military work, but in April of the following year, he was removed from his post, and the post of Chief of General Staff was vacant again.
In June 1977, Deng Xiaoping was reinstated, and in August the 11th Congress was held, Luo Ruiqing then became the Secretary General of the new Military Commission (there had been no Secretary General position in the Military Commission since the 9th Congress in April 1969), and Yang Chengwu was still the first ranking Deputy Chief of General Staff.
At this time Deng Xiaoping also served as Vice Chairman of the Central Committee, Vice Premier and Vice Chairman of the Military Commission, focusing on more important matters. According to Luo Ruiqing descendants recall Deng Xiaoping originally proposed to restore Luo Ruiqing’s original position (mainly the Secretary General of the Military Commission and Chief of General Staff), but could not pass at the top, and finally reached a compromise Luo Ruiqing as Secretary General, Deng Xiaoping hanging on to the Chief of General Staff. Deng Xiaoping explained that the head of the three headquarters of the Military Commission, the daily work of Luo Ruiqing is responsible for coordination.
In September, Yang Chengwu left Beijing to become the commander of the Fuzhou Military Region (hanging deputy chief of general staff until January 1980), while Yang Yong, commander of the Xinjiang Military Region, was appointed as the first ranking deputy chief of general staff and a member of the Standing Committee of the Military Commission (Yang Yong became a member of the Standing Committee of the Military Commission and deputy secretary-general in January 1980). 1978 Luo Ruiqing died, Geng Biao succeeded as secretary-general of the Military Commission, Deng Xiaoping was still chief of general staff, and only in 1980 was he replaced by Yang Dezhi took over the post in 1980. Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping were surprisingly unanimous in rejecting Yang Chengwu and activating Luo Ruiqing, which must have been influenced by the incident of the fall of Luo.
Liu Zhijian became the second political commissar of the Academy of Military Sciences after his comeback, and was transferred to the political commissar of the Kunming Military Region on August 30, 1975, when the chief officers of the army were adjusted and equipped under the auspices of Ye Jianying and Deng Xiaoping.
Xiao Hua took over as the second political commissar of the Academy of Military Sciences after his comeback, and was transferred to the second political commissar of Lanzhou Military Region in February 1977.
Deng Xiaoping enabled the disabled Luo Ruiqing in a distinctive manner. Xiao Hua, Yang Chengwu and Liu Zhijian were all placed outside Beijing and did not return to Beijing until 1983, when they retired from active service, and never regained their previous prominence.
Four
The history of Gao Gang, Rao Shushi anti-Party group and Peng Dehuai, Huang Kecheng, Zhang Wentian, Zhou Xiaozhou anti-Party group are one-time end, Peng Zhen, Luo Ruiqing, Lu Dingyi, Yang Shangkun anti-Party group is one by one caught out.
On November 10, 1965, Yang Shangkun was removed from his position as director of the General Office of the Central Committee and sent to Guangzhou as secretary of the provincial party committee (later lowered to secretary of the local party committee). Almost at the same time, Xiao Xiangrong, Deputy Secretary General of the Military Commission and Director of the General Office, was removed from his post, and Yang Chengwu was appointed concurrently.
Peng Zhen was excluded from the Shanghai criticism meeting (Wu Fa Xian recalled that Zhou Enlai asked him not to answer Peng Zhen’s phone calls from Beijing). Beijing criticism of Luo meeting Peng Zhen is one of the moderators, Mao Zedong at this time, but in Hangzhou criticism of Peng Zhen’s “February Outline”, the wind Peng Zhen has problems (Wu Fa Xian recalls, midway through the meeting Mao Zedong summoned Xie Fuzhi to Hangzhou, told him not to speak jointly with Peng Zhen). After the Beijing criticism of Luo meeting, Ye Jianying Xiao Hua Yang Chengwu Liu Zhijian wrote to Mao Zedong to expose Peng Zhen’s “poor performance in the process of criticizing Luo Ruiqing meeting”.
In March 1966, Mao Zedong also denounced Lu Dingyi’s Central Propaganda Department in Hangzhou as the “Hall of Hell”. In April, Lu Dingyi, who was in the field at the time, was asked not to return to Beijing.
On April 24, Ye Xiao Yang Liu reported to the Central Committee on “Peng Zhen’s poor performance in the process of criticizing Luo Ruiqing’s meeting”, May 4 Liu Shaoqi presided over the expanded Politburo meeting held in Beijing (Mao Zedong was still in the field), Peng Zhen and Lu Dingyi still attended the meeting, but midway through the meeting was suspended, by the end of the meeting on the 26th Peng Luo Lu Yang’s anti-Party group had already formed.
The arrest of Peng, Luo and Yang one by one showed that the fall of Luo Ruiqing was a step that Mao Zedong had carefully planned and operated with ease, while Lin Biao could not have imagined that the fall of Luo Ruiqing would develop into the seizure of a group like Peng, Luo and Yang, and then a large number of “personal ambitious and conspiratorial people like Khrushchev”, and that it would be closely related to his own rise to deputy commander. The first time I saw the film, I was very interested in it.
V
The reason why the incident of Luo Ruiqing became a hot topic and difficult to clarify is because of the existence of the mystery of Lin Biao. Peng Zhen rose to the seventh Politburo during the Yan’an rectification and was called deputy general secretary in the eighth secretary’s office. Yang Shangkun was a very old man, a political commissar of the Third Army Corps at the Zunyi Conference, and secretary of the North China Bureau during the war. How come their downfall did not attract so much attention?
The first thing is that Lin Biao is recovering from an illness, Vice Chairman He Long presides over the Military Commission, Luo Ruiqing and He Long are close, even if a little slack Lin Biao is not abnormal, the key is Luo He and Liu Deng close relationship. Mao Zedong to achieve its big goal, is bound to look for a breakthrough point, clear the periphery, of course, there must be military representatives, if not move Luo Ruiqing is also moving other people. Lin Biao’s desire to bring down Luo Ruiqing is limited to personal grudges, and success is not very sure. In comparison, Mao Zedong’s initiative to attack Luo Ruiqing should be much more likely.
After Luo’s resurgence, Ye Jianying, Xiao Hua, Yang Chengwu, Liu Zhijian (Xie Fuji died before the September 13 incident), the key figures in the Shanghai and Beijing meetings to overthrow Luo Ruiqing, would avoid the background and truth of the overthrow of Luo, and on December 21, 1973, when Mao Zedong met with the military commission, he said, “He had listened to Lin Biao’s one-sided words, and had mistakenly made whole He Long, Luo Ruiqing, Yang, Yu and Fu. “This indicates that Mao admitted that he had made Luo Ruiqing whole, but whether he had “listened to Lin Biao’s one-sided words” can be said to be a dead giveaway.
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