Q: In the “May 16 Notice” issued by Mao, it was already implied that the target of his struggle was a “Khrushchev-type figure”, but Liu Shaoqi still presided over the daily work at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. Isn’t this a bit contradictory? A: The period from the drafting of the February Outline by Peng Zhen in 1966 to the drafting of the May 16 Circular by Mao himself was a crucial point in the development of the Cultural Revolution.
At that time, the party and government system headed by Liu Shaoqi, the so-called first line, the machine that handled daily state affairs, was still completely unaware of what Mao’s Cultural Revolution was actually going to do and how it was going to do it. But Mao had already decided in his heart to put this front line in a pot. Because he decided that this first line from the ideology to the organization are not the same as him. And with Mao’s suspicious mind and persecution paranoia, he decided that this party and political system would take away his power. And power is Mao’s “lifeblood”. We must not forget that Mao told the world long ago that he was Marx plus Qin Shi Huang.
Qin Shi Huang had read Han Feizi “lonely anger”, “five moths” of the text, said “contempt, the widow to see this person and the tour, die without hate”, and Han Feizi’s doctrine is to teach the monarch how to firmly grasp the power. As the saying goes, “A human sovereign is one who controls his subjects by punishment and virtue”. As the saying goes, “A bright ruler is worthy of the sole way of tolerance”. This set of principles is in the blood. We can see from the following account how Mao played this first-line party and political system in the palm of his hand.
On February 8, Peng Zhen flew to Wuhan with the drafted “February Outline” to report to Mao Zedong in person. Mao read the text and did not object at all. Because the “February Outline” was to follow the traditional Communist Party’s ideological struggle to carry out the Cultural Revolution, or to emphasize the critical struggle and policy, especially to distinguish Wu Han’s “Hai Rui’s dismissal” from the issue of Peng Dehuai, and Mao was precisely to hang these two issues together. But Mao said to Peng Zhen on the spot: “Wu Han will not be dismissed from office, but will remain as his mayor, so that tensions will not be created, so that he can be ‘released’. We know that the word “release” is a term used in the anti-rightist period, and Mao used this word to say that Peng Zhen must think that he would still be engaged in the same way as the anti-rightist. The fact that Mao did not oppose the “February Outline” gave Peng Zhen a piece of mind, and on February 12 he forwarded the document to the whole party, asking it to “carry out in accordance with this”. But he had no idea that on the same day, Mao told his trusted people that he would thoroughly criticize the “February Outline” and that Peng Zhen would have to step down.
Q: Mao was really very resourceful.
A: That’s right. In the power struggle within the Party, he was not in the same order of magnitude as the front-line people. He always digs a hole early and entices you to jump into it step by step. The first-line people also have to manage the national livelihood of a bunch of miscellaneous matters, Mao is two ears do not hear the people’s livelihood, a mind only to protect the power of the scriptures. Peng Zhen thought he understood the problem of how Mao engaged in the Cultural Revolution, so he immediately greeted Shanghai, said “February syllabus” Standing Committee discussed, Chairman Mao agreed, the future do not talk about Wu Han anti-Party anti-socialism, do not contact the Lushan meeting. But Peng Zhen was at a disadvantage because he was in the open and Mao was in the dark. He did not know that Yao Wenyuan’s article criticizing Hai Rui’s dismissal was personally arranged by Mao in early 1965. The person who carried out this matter was Jiang Qing, whom he trusted most.
Let’s see what Jiang Qing said about this: “The criticism of Hai Rui’s dismissal was also supported by Comrade Ke Qingshi. Comrade Zhang Chunqiao and Comrade Yao Wenyuan took a lot of risks for this, and kept it a secret. At that time, Peng Zhen desperately protect Wu Han, the President is very clear in his heart, but just do not say. The President allowed me to organize this article, which was kept secret for seven or eight months and changed many times. Mao knew about Peng Zhen’s attitude, but he deliberately let him chair the “five-member Cultural Revolution Group”. He put Kang Sheng in the group as a spy, Peng Zhen front stage activities, he was watching from behind. It is really a case of “the mantis catches the cicada, the yellow bird is behind it”. His purpose was clear: to lure the snake out of the hole.
Q: What is the key difference between Peng Zhen’s “February Outline” and Mao’s “May 16 Notice”?
A: The most important point in the “February Outline” is that “all people are equal before the truth, and academic discussions should be factual, not politicized in an arbitrary manner. We should not be like the school plutocrats who oppress others with their power”. To be honest, these are the most enlightened references since the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. When you think about what they did to intellectuals during the anti-rightist period, it was a complete attempt to add guilt to the crime. I deduce from this that Peng Zhen and his front-line cadres felt a threat, criticizing Wu Han today and not knowing who they would criticize tomorrow. The reason for this is the mention of “equality before truth”. On March 11, Zhang Chunqiao sent Yang Yongzhi, the propaganda minister of the Shanghai Municipal Committee, to Beijing to explore the military situation. Yang asked what kind of people were meant by the Scholarship, and whether there were any specific targets. Peng Zhen replied angrily: “There is no specific person, is Q, who has a sore on his head is who”. Zhang Chunqiao immediately concluded that the “February Outline” pointed to Yao Wenyuan, that is, to Chairman Mao.
He later further said: “The so-called learning valve, not Yao Wenyuan, nor the Shanghai Municipal Committee, but against Comrade Mao Zedong. The so-called oppressing people with power is not to say that Chairman Mao is oppressing people with power”. This judgment must be Mao’s judgment of the February Outline. In Mao’s mind, how could there be any room for “equality before the truth”? He was the embodiment of truth. A judgment, because the person who makes it belongs to the proletarian camp, is the truth. And since there is no objective criterion for a person to belong to a class, it is up to the will of those in power to decide, so to call a stag a horse can also be the truth, as long as Zhao Gao belongs to the proletariat.
Q: According to this theory, truth is actually abolished at all. To deny that everyone is equal before the truth means that the standard of truth becomes arbitrary.
A: Yes. Therefore, in the Cultural Revolution, fallacies were circulated, and truth and falsehood were not distinguished, so when Hu Deng Zhao wanted to promote reform and deny the Cultural Revolution, the first issue to be discussed was the standard of truth. Mao through the “February syllabus” chaired by Peng Zhen to get to the bottom of it, and immediately proceeded to the drafting of the “May 16 notice”, began to throw his ideas on the Cultural Revolution little by little. Although Peng Zhen hurried to make a review, but has become a dead tiger, Mao can pack him at any time. There is another important factor here. Jiang Qing told Mao about Peng Zhen, saying that Peng Zhen was suppressing her and bullying her. Mao immediately backed her up, saying that Peng Zhen is nothing, I can knock him down with just one finger. The nature of the Cultural Revolution as a husband and wife store is thus evident. The so-called Communist Party Politburo was like a gangster group.
Peng Zhen hurried back to Beijing to organize the criticism of the three villages, and wrote an editor’s note in the form of an infinitely superior criticism. But the Xinhua News Agency informed all newspapers nationwide that they were not allowed to reprint it. The “May 16 Notice” was being prepared under Mao’s personal guidance. Peng Zhen was called to Hangzhou for a meeting. He knew that something was wrong and tried to talk to Mao, but Mao simply ignored him.
Q: Does this mean that Peng Zhen was defeated at the Hangzhou meeting?
A: Yes. After this meeting, the CPC appointed Song Renmin and Li Xuefeng to escort Peng Zhen back to Beijing, and he lost his freedom. But Peng Zhen was not yet Mao’s real enemy to be defeated. Mao later told Kang Sheng: “People like Peng Zhen have nothing in their stomachs, and once they attack, their rules will be messed up, and they can be pushed down with one little finger. You tell the comrades in Shanghai that there is no need to worry endlessly. This kind of person can be pushed down with a little finger”. He also quoted the poem of Jia Island of Tang Dynasty: “The west wind blows the Wei Shui, the fallen leaves fill Chang’an”, expressing his happy mood that his whole situation is as good as broken. But his heart to plan the next step is Liu Shaoqi. Peng Zhen is Liu Shaoqi’s favorite general, cleaned up his is to break Liu’s arm. His characterization of Liu Shaoqi in the “May 16 notice” all written: “mixed into the party, the government, the army and various cultural sectors of the bourgeoisie representatives, is a group of counter-revolutionary revisionist elements …… these Some of these figures have already been recognized by us, others have not yet been recognized, and some are being credited to us and groomed as our successors, such as Khrushchev, who are now sleeping beside us”. Mao had already planned how to lead Liu step by step into the trap he had dug.
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