A Brief History of the Communist Party of China, which has been described as a new version of the Communist Party’s history, downplays the decade of the Cultural Revolution and has sparked a huge public outcry since its publication. In recent times, there has been a wave of official reassessment of the Cultural Revolution on the mainland. An article by Tao Siliang, a second-generation member of the Communist Party, on the theme of “erasing the revenge of the Cultural Revolution” sparked controversy among the second generation, and Tao eventually deleted the article.
A Brief History of the Chinese Communist Party, published in February this year, combines the Cultural Revolution with the first 17 years of Mao’s rule, and not only does the Cultural Revolution no longer feature, but also the “anti-rightist struggle” of 1957 and the “Great Leap Forward” launched by Mao in 1958 to “catch up with Britain and surpass the United States. “In addition, the “People’s Commune Movement” which deprived the peasants of their land, and the gradual formation of the guiding ideology of “class struggle as the platform” are also not listed in the old Party history. The gradual formation of the guiding ideology of “class struggle as a platform” also no longer appears.
The new version of the Party history labels the brutal and massive criminal movement of the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao Zedong as “twists and turns” and uses the Chinese Communist Party’s phrase “problems in progress” to cover up a heinous evil that caused countless deaths. The repudiation of the Cultural Revolution and the vindication of Mao’s wrongdoings have been the hallmarks of the CCP’s so-called reform and opening up.
Tao Siliang, a second-generation Communist Party member, wrote an article in February this year recalling a gathering of the second-generation Communist Party members at the home of the late Communist Party patriarch Ye Jianying in 2007.
The title of the article is “Meeting in Meizhou”, which is the old home of Ye Jianying. The article recounts that in May 2007, the children of the Ye family invited more than 130 descendants of the so-called founding fathers, generals and former provincial and ministerial officials of the Communist Party of China to Meizhou to attend the 110th anniversary of Ye Jianying’s birth.
Those who went to the gathering included Mao Yuanxin (Mao Zedong’s nephew), Liu Yuan (Liu Shaoqi’s son), Deng Lin (Deng Xiaoping’s daughter) and Tao Siliang, as well as the children of Peng Zhen, Luo Ruiqing, Lu Dingyi, Yang Shangkun and many others. Many of their fathers were beaten down during the brutal struggle within the Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution. Some of them rose to great heights during the Cultural Revolution.
Tao Siliang claimed that there was only one theme for the gathering, “to smile at each other and die out the hatred” of the Cultural Revolution.
Tao Siliang spoke to the media at the time about how the Ye family used the opportunity to bring about a great reconciliation between the second generation of Reds.
After Tao Siliang sent the article to his WeChat circle of friends, the response was huge.
According to an article by veteran media personality Lv Yue, Zhang Jiuyue, daughter of Zhang Dingcheng, posted an article criticizing Tao Siliang’s perspective: enclosing himself in a small circle of “red aristocrats” to fatten himself up. She went to Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1966, and complained in front of Mao Zedong about the backwardness of the army’s Cultural Revolution, which made Lin Biao feel the pressure to quickly issue the “Urgent Instruction on the Cultural Revolution in the Army Colleges and Universities,” a document that gave backing to the rebels in the form of a policy for the first time. The author is the very main force of the rebel faction that seized the leadership of the General Queen.
“Zhang Jiuxue’s article has uncovered the old Cultural Revolution.”
Zhang Dingcheng was secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, political commissar of the provincial military region, and prosecutor general of the Supreme Procuratorate, reaching the rank of vice-president. He was also the second procurator-general of the CCP’s Supreme Procuratorate.
Ma Xiaoli and Luo Doudou, second-generation Communist Party members who advocate rethinking the Cultural Revolution, both wrote private letters to Tao Siliang. Ma Xiaoli believes that some people will never seriously reflect! If Mao Yuanxin and Li Ne (daughter of Mao Zedong) could take the lead to reflect a little, it would be a good education for the general public who believe in Mao. They will always remain in the lustful power of the emperor.
Ma Xiaoli criticized Tao Siliang: her confusion and inner entanglements are on the surface, she always wants to reconcile the enmity of the Red Two with her identity as a mason, always wants to turn the dry grievances into silk and the sword into a plow. In fact, the different experiences before and after the Cultural Revolution have long been divided, each on one end.
Under the left and right attack, Tao Siliang deleted his article.
Tao Siliang’s article not only created a storm among the second generation of Reds, but also almost a scolding on the Internet.
Tao Siliang is the daughter of Tao Cast, former Vice Premier of the Communist Party of China State Council. During the Cultural Revolution, Tao served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau and an advisor to the Central Committee on the Cultural Revolution, making him the number four leader of the CPC Central Committee after Mao Zedong, Lin Biao and Zhou Enlai.
In December 1978, Tao Siliang became nationally known for his publication “A Letter Finally Sent – To My Father Tao Cast”.
In 1987, he became the deputy director of the Sixth Bureau of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, and in 1991, he became the deputy secretary-general and secretary-general of the recently established China Mayors Association, as well as the vice president and president of the China Medical Foundation.
Tao Siliang is also a member of the 10th and 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
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