Chapter 03 Five horses go to Beijing, Gao’s horse arrives first

Mao: “In order to solve the problem of Gao Gang’s independent kingdom in the northeast, I took the “five horses go to Beijing, Gao’s horse first” and transferred five regional leaders to work in the Central Committee: Deng Xiaoping in the southwest as Vice Premier of the State Council, Deng Zihui in the south as Minister of Rural Work, Gao Gang in the northeast as Chairman of the State Planning Commission, Rao Shushi in the east as Minister of Organization, and Xi Zhongxun in the northwest as Minister of Propaganda. Rao Shushi as Minister of Organization, and Xi Zhongxun to the northwest as Minister of Propaganda.”

Journalist: “Gao Gang is the first horse of the five horses?”

Mao: “Yes, but Gao Gang was very reluctant to go to Beijing. He is a veritable king of the Northeast. I face to allow him to transfer to the central government, the northeast part-time job remains unchanged, he was relieved, not to transfer the tiger away from the mountain, is that I think highly of him. When I arrived in Beijing, I became the chairman of the State Planning Commission, and I saw with my own eyes and ears that I was indeed increasingly dissatisfied with Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai, and I was increasingly distrustful, and I really wanted him to take the lead.
On November 16, 1952, I decided to set up the State Planning Commission, called the ‘Economic Cabinet.’

The State Planning Commission
Chairman: Gao Gang
Vice Chairman: Deng Zihui
Members: Chen Yun, Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, Deng Xiao Ping, Rao Shushi, Bo Yibo, Peng Zhen, Li Fuchun, Xi Zhongxun, Huang Kecheng, Liu Lantao, Zhang Xi, An Ziwen, Ma Hong, Xue Muqiao a strong line-up, the crown of party politics.
Ministry: Chen Yun, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao

Some of the personnel arrangements were not for the sake of work, but to bake the clouds to the moon and highlight Gao Gang. So, at the end of 1952, the rumor in the capital was ‘five horses in the capital, one horse in the lead.’

I abolished the party group of the State Council, so that Zhou Enlai had a position but no power. On May 15, 1953, I decided to divide the Council of State into five ports: industry, finance and trade, transportation, agriculture and forestry, and labor services, with the industrial port under the leadership of the State Planning Commission chaired by Gao Gang, the finance and trade port by Bo Yibo, the transportation port by Deng Xiaoping, the agriculture and forestry port by Deng Zihui, and the labor services port by Rao Shushi. Zhou Enlai, as Premier, could only lead the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission. Zhou Enlai’s position was in crisis.”

Journalist: “Your adjustment made Gao Gang surpass Zhou Enlai?”

Mao: “Yes, I accused Liu and Zhou of trespassing. on May 19, 1953, I accused them of issuing documents to the whole country without my review. And asked them to check and clean up and report to me.

I forwarded Gao Gang’s report, praising the good agricultural cooperation in the northeast, criticizing Liu Shaoqi’s idea of ‘establishing a new democratic order’ and the reference to ‘ensuring private property,’ and from then on Liu Shaoqi’s position of theoretical authority within the Party collapsed completely. Liu Shaoqi’s position as the number two person was also shaken. Who can replace Liu? The most promising is Gao Gang. Many people think so. Gao Gang was also full of confidence. To replace Zhou Enlai, but also to replace Liu Shaoqi.”

Journalist: “Did your adjustments make Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai feel dissatisfied?”

Mao: “Yes. Stalin died on March 5, 1953. The time had come to solve the problem of Gao Gang. Organization Minister Rao Shushi all changed his mind, betrayed Liu Shaoqi and joined Gao Gang. Rao Soushi was born in 1903, a native of Linchuan, Jiangxi, and became a member of the Party in 1925, elected to the Central Committee at the 7th Congress in 1945, and became the first secretary of the East China Bureau after the founding of the country.

At the National Conference on Financial and Economic Work (June 14 to August 12, 1953), Gao Gang seized on the issue of the new taxation system and ‘criticized Bo and shot Liu,’ explicitly criticizing Bo Yibo and implicitly naming Liu Shaoqi; and at the Organizational Work Conference (September /October 1953), he seized on the issue of Executive Vice Minister An Ziwen’s private list of Politburo members. The ‘crusade against An Zewen’ struggle An Zewen, chasing backstage Liu Shaoqi. Implying that Liu Shaoqi is no longer taken seriously by me, but also that I intend to let Liu Shaoqi to engage in the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Zhou Enlai as the chairman of the Council of Ministers, he will engage in the Politburo. He also wanted Chen Yun to convey his opinion to me, which was rejected by Chen Yun.

During October 1953, he was not in favor of having a general secretary and advocated having a few more vice chairmen. Had said to Chen Yun: ‘Get a few more vice chairmen, one for you and one for me.’”

Journalist: “Oh, Gao Gang was active to grab power?”

Mao: “Yes, I was sick, everyone advised me to pay more attention to rest. Gao Gang, however, gloated. He told his secretary: As soon as we received the news that the chairman was seriously ill, we had to return to Beijing immediately because no one in the party could hold up now. in December 1953, I had to take a leave of absence and proposed that Shaoqi temporarily preside over the leadership of the Central Committee. In fact, in the past I was away from Beijing, the work of the Central Committee was chaired by Shaoqi.

Liu Shaoqi humble, proposed by the Registry comrades take turns to take charge. The other comrades of the Registry agreed to be chaired by Liu Shaoqi.

Liu Shaoqi presided over, do not agree to take turns. Only Gao Gang said, ‘Rotation, it is good to have rotation.’ The intention was to demote Liu Shaoqi. He later reviewed, admitting that ‘attempted to pull down Comrade Shaoqi, making himself the Presidents only assistant, preparing himself to take over as leader.’”

Journalist: “Gao Gang wanted to take a parallel turn with Liu Shaoqi, what did you do?”

Mao: “I know very well that Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai are rare talents, but also difficult to manage, how to make them always loyal and do not have a tyrannical heart? The way is not to trust one person exclusively for a long time, to hold back, to ask them to monitor and secretly report each other’s disloyal words and actions, expose each other, and compete to show loyalty. Take advantage of the conflict and control them.”

Journalist: “You do not trust anyone, to hold each other and control them?”
Mao: “Yes, Gao Gang is an ambitious person. He used his status as the ‘King of the Northeast’ to overtake me and contact Stalin alone, becoming the Soviet Union’s agent in the Communist Party of China, going even further than Wang Ming. While Wang Ming raised the slogan of ‘defending the Soviet Union’ in the East China East Road Incident, Gao Gang proposed to designate the Northeast as the 17th Soviet republic. He supervised my internal and foreign affairs and constituted the main threat to me. At the same time, I think Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai have the suspicion of autocracy, endangering my dictatorship, I want to use Gao Gang to subdue Liu Zhou, after achieving this purpose, and then use Liu Zhou to overwhelm Gao Gang.”

Journalist: “You are using one to fight one, you are behind the manipulation?”

Mao: “Yes, Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping, based on their understanding of me, both thought that a person who advocated the allocation of the three eastern provinces to the Soviet Union would not be trusted and reappointed by me. They approached me in mid-December 1953 to propose a solution to Gao Gang, and I took good advice and deployed it immediately.”