Jiang Qing, the fourth wife of former Communist Party leader Mao Zedong and one of the key leaders of the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao, was arrested in a military coup by Hua Guofeng and Ye Jianying after Mao’s death in 1976, and Jiang Qing was listed at the head of the Gang of Four.
In 1981, a special court set up by the Supreme Court of the Communist Party of China held a so-called public trial of the Gang of Four and found them all to be members of the “Lin Biao Jiang Qing counter-revolutionary group”, blaming them for the Cultural Revolution and sentencing them to appropriate penalties. Jiang Qing was given a suspended death sentence, later changed to life imprisonment, and committed suicide on May 14, 1991, at the age of 77.
Jiang Qing refused to obey the verdict of the Communist Party’s Supreme Court. In response to the prosecutor’s indictment, Jiang Qing defended himself in court, accusing him of “reversing right and wrong, confusing black and white, distorting and falsifying history, and concealing and fabricating facts”. Although her statement was interrupted several times, we can still learn some truths from her questioning, and we can understand that this trial of the CCP is indeed “distorting and falsifying history”.
Who should be held accountable for the Cultural Revolution?
Jiang Qing said in her statement that she had “no agenda of her own” from the start of the Cultural Revolution in 1966 until Mao’s death, and that everything she did was to carry out the instructions and policies of Mao’s Central Committee. Jiang Qing questioned, “Do you recognize the Ninth Congress and the Tenth Congress? If you don’t admit it, you are leaving a major historical background and concealing a major historical event …….”
Jiang Qing’s disobedience was indeed justified. The Cultural Revolution was initiated by Mao, and everything Jiang Qing did was in accordance with Mao’s instructions.
The term “Gang of Four” came about after the Cultural Revolution, and it came from Mao, who said at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on July 17, 1974, “She (Jiang Qing) is considered the Shanghai Gang. You have to pay attention to it, don’t make it a small sect of four people.” In late December, Mao again told Wang Hongwen, “You should not engage in the Gang of Four.”
Among the Gang of Four as defined by Mao, Jiang Qing was the deputy head of the infamous Central Leading Group of the Cultural Revolution and was elected to the Politburo after the Ninth Congress of the Communist Party of China; Zhang Chunqiao, the leader of the Shanghai Commune during the Cultural Revolution and deputy head of the Central Leading Group of the Cultural Revolution, was elected to the Politburo Standing Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council; Wang Hongwen, the largest Wang Hongwen, the leader of the largest workers’ rebel group in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution, became the vice president of the state and a member of the Politburo Standing Committee at the time of the Tenth Congress, and was Mao’s intended successor; Yao Wenyuan, whose famous article announced the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, was later elected as a member of the Politburo. These four men were totally dependent on Mao’s promotion and patronage, and their loyalty to Mao is obvious.
It is obvious that the Gang of Four was formed after the Tenth Congress of the Communist Party of China (1973). They were not primarily responsible for the start of the Cultural Revolution, although they relied on it to climb to the top of the political stage and did a lot of bad things. As Jiang Qing said in the trial, she was just a dog of Mao, biting whomever Mao told her to bite. Her persecution of Liu Shaoqi and his wife would not have been possible without Mao’s permission.
The Communist Party also officially admitted that the Gang of Four was Mao’s main assistant in implementing his political ideas during the late Cultural Revolution. Since they were assistants, they undoubtedly had to listen to their masters. It was at the behest of Mao that the Gang of Four launched the “Criticism of Lin and Confucius Campaign” in early 1974, and at the same time, with Mao’s tacit approval, the Gang of Four directed the campaign at Zhou Enlai, who was seriously ill and hospitalized that year. At the same time, the Gang of Four, with Mao’s acquiescence, directed the campaign at Zhou Enlai, who was seriously ill and hospitalized.
In 1975, again under Mao’s direction, the Gang of Four launched another discussion on social inequality and political power and addressed such issues as the overall strategy for economic development, educational policies, the introduction of foreign technology, and the reinstatement of old cadres. The “Gang of Four” criticized the bourgeois power and proposed to restrict it, but to carry out a dictatorship. Without Mao as the backstage, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping would not have taken the Gang of Four seriously.
Obviously, there was a reason and purpose for the CCP to blame the Gang of Four for starting the Cultural Revolution. For the Cultural Revolution, which killed countless Chinese people and caused a huge disaster to China, someone must take the blame, but if the blame is put on Mao, it is obviously a big question whether the CCP can be preserved. It is because in order to extend the life of the CCP, the CCP deliberately shifts the blame to Mao and controls the reflection on the Cultural Revolution, with the purpose of hiding the evil nature of the CCP and allowing it to continue to harm China.
Lin Biao and Jiang Qing were close comrades?
The CCP’s indictment categorizes Lin Biao and Jiang Qing as the “Lin Biao-Jiang Qing counter-revolutionary group,” to which Jiang Qing retorted: “Your indictment categorizes Lin Biao, the person who wanted to kill me, as a member of my so-called group, how can you put the murderer and the murdered together? ” “I had a struggle with Lin Biao to kill you and me, and you didn’t know where I was when I was struggling with this traitor!”
As Jiang Qing said, during the Cultural Revolution, Lin Biao and the Gang of Four had never had a truly cooperative relationship. On the contrary, there was a lot of conflict between the two. It is said that Lin Biao rejected Jiang Qing’s Central Leading Group of the Cultural Revolution and supported Huang Yongsheng in thwarting Jiang Qing’s attempts to gain access to the army, while Jiang Qing also hated Lin Biao to the bone.
Moreover, the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution had nothing to do with Lin Biao, it was Mao himself who was able to defeat Liu Shaoqi and promote Lin Biao. On the one hand, Lin Biao openly expressed his support for Mao, but on the other hand, he personally issued the eight articles of the military commission, advocating that the army should “not intervene” in the Cultural Revolution and that “a bowl of water should be level”, showing his true attitude.
In 1969, after Lin Biao became Mao’s successor, he began to disagree with Mao on relations with the United States and on how to rebuild the power structure of the Communist Party, such as whether to establish the post of State President. The suspicious Mao began to suspect that Lin Biao wanted to bring him down and that he wanted to seize power from himself. This made Mao even more suspicious and set up a conspiracy to overthrow Lin Biao, and Zhou once again chose to act as Mao’s accomplice until the Lin Biao family died without bones and The family died without a trace and in vain.
On September 13, 1971, the plane Lin Biao was on crashed in Mongolia. After that, Mao began a new round of purges. More than 20 senior officers who supported Lin Biao were arrested on their way to Hong Kong, 11 of the 21 Politburo members were dismissed from their posts, and Lin Biao was charged with a long list of crimes such as plotting to kill Mao and establishing a military dictatorship of the “extreme left”.
Therefore, the Chinese Communist Party lambasted Lin Biao and the Gang of Four together with the sole purpose of distorting history and covering up the sins of the Chinese Communist Party.
Denying that “Deng Xiaoping is a traitor”
In her defense statement, Jiang Qing pointed out that the indictment had fabricated some “unfounded charges”, such as saying that she had said that Deng Xiaoping was a traitor. “The charge of traitor has to be based on facts, I have no material to say that he is a traitor. When did I ever say that? No, I never said that. It’s just another rumor.” “I have a struggle with Deng Xiaoping, I never deny this, but how can I admit what I did not say?”
The claim that “Deng Xiaoping was a traitor” is not mentioned in the history of the Communist Party, and some overseas media have confirmed that the claim is not an empty one based on Soviet archives. Deng Xiaoping’s daughter Deng Rong recalled that Deng Xiaoping never mentioned his own father in front of his children. What is Deng Xiaoping deliberately avoiding?
Deng Xiaoping’s father, Deng Wenming, was a popular figure in Guang’an in the early 20th century and had married four wives, Deng Xiaoping’s birth mother being his second wife; Deng Wenming had been the director of the Guang’an County Regiment and later became the boss of the Xiexing Township Branch of the Brotherhood, suppressing several communist-inspired riots and killing many communist bandits; one day in 1936, he was killed by bandits or enemies on his way home from worshipping Buddha. Deng Xiaoping later recalled that his childhood was all about a very free and rich life as a noble son, and Deng’s father served as the chief security officer of Guang’an County.
Outside analysis, his own father was killed in his hometown, perhaps the people who killed Deng Xiaoping’s father is the Communist Party, himself and a major leader of the Communist Party, such a hometown if you go back, Deng Xiaoping feelings how embarrassed?
What responsibility do other senior party officials bear?
In response to the indictment, which points the finger of blame at the Gang of Four, Jiang Qing asked Deng Xiaoping and other senior officials: “After the Party Central Committee granted me a certain amount of leadership, I have always carried out my work within the scope of this power, how can I say I am illegal? In this way, where exactly do you put the Party Central Committee, headed by Mao × × ×,? Do you still recognize the political reports adopted by the Ninth and Tenth Congresses and the series of important documents of the Party Central Committee and the speeches and instructions of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai?”
“How do you explain your actions back then when all this I did, which Deng Xiaoping and Hua Guofeng, including the vast majority of you now on the stage, once embraced and participated in with one voice? ……”
“That so-called false accusation of the 8th Central Committee members and alternate Central Committee members that you are talking about is simply the most bizarre story ever told. During the Cultural Revolution, the masses raised many questions about the leaders of organs and departments at all levels and uncovered many scandals in history. As the first deputy head of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, I asked Kang Lao for a list of people with problems, and it became evidence of the so-called false accusation. Could it be that all those problems uncovered by the revolutionary masses were concocted by me, Jiang? Is it possible that the material uncovered against Peng Dehuai and others at the Lushan meeting was also planned by someone from Jiang? It is obvious that the Party Central Committee set the case for them, and when I read the materials and tell people about it, it becomes a false accusation by me, Jiang, can this convince history and future generations?”
“According to you, all the capitalists and traitors, secret agents and all the evil spirits and snakes that were uncovered during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution, the movement in which hundreds of millions of people participated, were all false, all unjust, false and wrong cases, and all planned by me, Jiang, is this possible? Wouldn’t this wipe out all your abilities and talents? If I, Jiang, were really so capable, how would I have come to sit in this dock?”
“Did I make up Liu Shaoqi’s traitorous material, which he wrote out from his own three arrests and prison sentences? How did he get out of prison, even during the Yan’an rectification, you now in the central government have raised doubts, there are uncovered ……”
True as Jiang Qing said, although its adhering to Mao’s will to do many bad things, but other high ranking CCP officials who follow Mao such as Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Hua Guofeng, etc. are not also aiding and abetting the evil? What responsibility should they bear?
Conclusion
Jiang Qing’s crimes during the Cultural Revolution are indisputable, and although her defense is partly self-exculpatory, the facts it reveals cannot be ignored. In my opinion, the Chinese Communist Party has mixed Lin Biao and the Gang of Four together and whipped them with one purpose: to distort history and cover up the sins of the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese Communist Party also knows very well that the day it peels away Mao’s skin is the moment when it collapses.
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