Chapter 04 Not only did they purge Gao Gang, but they also suppressed Liu Shaoqi

Journalist: “How did you set up the whole Gao Gang?”

Mao: “I talked to Liu Shaoqi, expressing my continued trust in him, with no intention of changing his No. 2 position, and proposed that he preside over and convene the Fourth Plenary Session of the 7th Central Committee to resolve the Gao Rao issue. Liu Shaoqi reviewed his mistakes in changing from New Democracy to Socialism, especially on the issue of agricultural cooperativization, which could not keep up with me, made self-criticism of his historical work mistakes, and took the initiative to take responsibility for the mistakes of the Central Committee since the 7th Central Committee. I asked him to make a self-criticism after making a report at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Central Committee, and to have a confession at the Plenary Session of the Central Committee. Liu Shaoqi agreed.

Faced with a leadership crisis, I felt the need to first give Minister of Public Security Luo Ruiqing a call. When Luo Ruiqing came to Jinyi Garden, I said to him: ‘Do you know that someone is conspiring to organize an underground command in Beijing? The one who is doing the conspiracy and organizing the underground command is Gao Gang. He will not only bring down Liu Shaoqi, he will also bring down me, and he will also bring down Lin Biao.’”

Journalist: “Oh, you want Liu Shaoqi to do a review and hold him down?”

Mao: “Yes, I also summoned Peng Dehuai, Liu Bo Cheng, Chen Yi, He Long and Ye Jianying to the villa of Jing Yi Park, respectively, to greet several senior generals for the mistake of Gao Rao harboring personal ambitions, attacking Shaoqi and Enlai and splitting the Central Committee.

December 24, 1953, I chaired the Politburo meeting, I said: ‘Beijing has two commanders, one is the command headed by me, scraping the Yang wind, burning Yang fire; one is the command headed by others, scraping the Yin wind, burning Yin fire, a groundwater.’ Gao Gang actually did not hear that it was talking about him, took it for granted that it was talking about Liu Shaoqi, so when I announced that I was going to Hangzhou on leave and that Liu Shaoqi would temporarily preside over the daily work of the Central Committee, and Liu expressed modesty and suggested that the comrades of the Secretariat should take turns to preside over it, he said insensitively, ‘Take turns, it’s good to engage in turns.’

Two days after I arranged all this and rang Gao Gang’s death knell, on December 26, 1953, I celebrated my 60th birthday with my staff around me in a red glow. I drank more wine than usual, ate longevity noodles, and ate longevity peaches. As I ate, I listened to recordings of my favorite Peking Opera, humming along to the beat. I was in a very good mood. Looking back on this year, Stalin died, the military project was in hand, Liu Shaoqi was tamed, and Gao Gang was about to be solved. All things are going well, and people are living a good life.”

Journalist: “Oh, when Stalin is dead, you can do whatever you want?”

Mao: “Yes, there’s no big boss above anymore. The next day, I took Tian Jiaying, Hu Qiaomu, Chen Boda, and Luo Ruiqing to Hangzhou. We presided over the drafting of the first constitution at West Lake. In Hangzhou, one day while climbing up to a pavilion halfway up the mountain, I saw a grass house in the distance catching fire. The people inside the house ran out holding a few belongings, watching as the flames consumed their home. The photographer, Hou Bo, exclaimed, ‘Oh no, it’s on fire!’ I turned around, took a glance, and calmly said, ‘Good, let it burn. It’s good that it burns.’ Then I said, ‘If it doesn’t burn, they’ll keep living in grass houses.’

Hou Bo said, ‘If it burns, where will they live? People can’t afford to build tile-roofed houses, so they live in grass houses!’ I didn’t answer him, as if I hadn’t heard, and muttered to myself, ‘Ah, with a vast expanse of white land, how clean it is when everything is destroyed!’ I thought of the phrase from ‘Dream of the Red Chamber.’ I was expressing my love for destruction, my lifelong aspiration for destruction. As for how ordinary people handle their own affairs, that’s their business and not something I consider. Watching the grass house burn, I added, ‘This is called breaking before rebuilding.’

Journalist: “Oh, so you have no sympathy for the hardships of the common people?”

Mao: “In early January 1954, Liu Shaoqi ordered Yang Shangkun to make a special trip to Hangzhou to send me the ‘Resolution on Strengthening Party Unity’ drafted according to my instructions. On January 7, I wrote to Liu Shaoqi and his comrades in the Secretariat, giving specific instructions on the agenda of the Fourth Plenum and the writing of the political report. Also wrote a letter to Liu Shaoqi personally.

After Yang Shangkun returned to Beijing and handed my two letters to Liu Shaoqi, on January 12, Liu Shaoqi presided over an enlarged meeting of the Politburo, which was attended by Chen Yi, Liu Bo Cheng, He Long, Ye Jianying and other senior army generals and Deng Xiaoping, a senior Party and government leader, in addition to the Politburo members. The meeting adopted the Resolution on Enhancing Party Unity.

Gao Gang was very isolated at this meeting, and he felt that the participants were keeping their distance from him. He was anxious to see me to find out how the situation had changed and how he could turn this corner. He wrote a letter to me and asked Yang Shangkun to forward it.”

Journalist: “How do you deal with it?”

Mao: “Yang Shangkun came to Hangzhou again and submitted to me the political report and personal review prepared by Liu Shaoqi for review at the Fourth Plenum, as well as Gao Gang’s letter. After a few days of thinking, I sent a telegram back to Liu Shaoqi on January 22, mentioning that Gao Gang had said in his letter that he fully supported and agreed with the draft resolution on enhancing party unity, and that he had made mistakes and intended to do self-criticism at the Fourth Plenum and wanted to come here before the meeting to discuss the matter with me. I think Gao Gang is not suitable to come here, he wants to discuss the issue, please he and Zhou Enlai or add Deng Xiaoping and him to discuss it can be.

I sent this telegram to Liu Shaoqi incidentally reply to Gao Gang’s letter, to Gao Gang after reading, Gao Gang has a feeling of being used and abandoned. In the past, so many private conversations, said not to meet, not even a direct reply to the letter is not available, he learned what is called overturning clouds and rain.”

Journalist: “Gao Gang was abandoned by you, was he still playing stupidity?”

Mao: “Yes, on January 25, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping and Gao Gang talked. What Gao Gang wanted to say to me, of course, can not say to Liu Shaoqi and others; Gao Gang wanted to ask me things, it is not easy to ask Liu; moreover, I can not say those things I said alone with myself, those things shake out, can only take on themselves, which is the hope of turning over the book in the future. So Gao Gang felt that there is nothing to talk about, the cold field of a cigarette. Later Gao Gang said to do a decent self-criticism, then asked: is it written, or oral? He wanted it to be oral, not to be conveyed down, not to be filed. Liu Shaoqi said to be written. Gao Gang’s heart shuddered, he did not fully understand the play I directed, the heart was lucky. Out of the water to know two feet of mud. Wait out of the water, then than we both who have more mud on their legs.

February 6-10, 1954, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 7th Central Committee was held in Beijing. Liu Shaoqi’s first sentence is: ‘I am entrusted by the Politburo and Comrade Mao Zedong to make the following report to the Fourth Plenary Session of the 7th Central Committee of the Party.’ Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Chen Yun, Deng Xiaoping and 44 others spoke at the meeting. The speakers called for unity, opposed division, and exposed some of the things that happened during and after the National Financial and Economic Conference and the Organizational Work Conference, but following the tone I set, none of them dared to criticize Gao Gang and Rao Shushi by name.”

Journalist: “Oh, 44 people spoke according to your tone, and did not mention Gao Gang?”

Mao: “Yes, I also left a hand. In the Fourth Plenary Session, according to my instructions, Liu Shaoqi after making a report, and then made ‘my self-criticism.’ He reviewed eight problems:

1. In July 1951, ‘I criticized the document of the Shanxi Provincial Committee, ‘Raising the Mutual Aid Group in the Old Areas One Step Higher,’ and spoke of this criticism when I addressed the graduates of the first class of the Marxist-Leninist Institute, and it should be said that this criticism of mine was incorrect, while the opinions of the Shanxi Provincial Committee were basically correct.’

2. In 1948, many places in North China raised the question of how to deal with the development of Party members into rich peasants. I thought that ‘this question was not urgent at that time and could wait for a time to be answered. Although it was not too late for the Central Committee to issue the instruction of ‘unconditionally expelling from the Party membership those members who are unwilling to give up the exploitation of the rich peasants’ in June 1952, I ‘said something inappropriate’ and should cancel or correct it.

3. ‘Li Lisan made a lot of mistakes when he presided over the work of the All-China Federation… I should take some responsibility.’

4. ‘In June 1949, I criticized the document on profit-sharing of supply and marketing cooperatives as ‘basically advocating the capitalist line in’ This criticism was inappropriate and should be cancelled.’

5. In 1947, I presided over the National Land Conference and did not correct the ‘leftist’ mistakes. ‘This ‘leftist’ error killed too many people, infringed on the interests of the middle peasants, infringed on industry and commerce, and took a simple approach to deal with cadres with shortcomings and mistakes in the implementation of Party rectification.’

6. 1943 Yan’an review of cadres, ‘in the General Assembly to chase and rescue. I was the head of the Central General Academic Committee, and I was quite responsible for the mistakes made at that time.’

7. ‘On February 1, 1946, the Central Committee issued the instruction ‘China has since embarked on a new stage of peace and democracy;’ this instruction, which I had drafted, I had made a report based on it, and some things were said inappropriately and should be corrected.’

8. ‘In the spring of 1949 the Central Committee sent me to Tianjin to help the municipal committee, and I had criticized certain ‘left’ sentiments against the bourgeoisie at that time, and some words were not said properly.’

From Liu Shaoqi’s review, in fact, he did not have any serious mistakes, but I want to press him, do not think that after rectifying Gao Gang, he is right. I want to create an impression that both sides are wrong, only I am right.

In the Fourth Plenary Session, I was not allowed to name Gao Gang, for fear of diverting the attention of the participants to Liu Shaoqi’s review. The Fourth Plenum retained Liu Shaoqi’s position as the No. 2 person in politics, but politically demoted himself, and personally smashed the brand of “representative of the correct line” in the White Zone. From then on Liu Shaoqi was no longer one of the representatives of the correct line, but a senior cadre who made many mistakes and was used in my unity, laying the initial groundwork for his downfall later.”

Journalist: “You specifically asked Liu Shaoqi to review, to crush him?”

Mao: “Yes, after the Fourth Plenary Session of the Central Committee, I sent word back from Hangzhou: the problem of Gao Rao “thoroughly exposed.

On February 15, 1954, Zhou Enlai was entrusted by me to preside over a symposium on the Gao Gang issue. There were more than 40 people who were informed and relevant people attended. A total of 10 days, ending on February 25. The tone set by Zhou Enlai was agreed by me: ‘Gao Gang’s extreme individualistic mistakes have developed into conspiratorial activities to split the Party in an attempt to realize his personal ambition to seize the leadership of the Party and the state.’

Unable to withstand the revelations and criticisms, Gao Gang attempted suicide by shooting himself on February 17, and the Central Committee decided to put Gao Gang under isolation censorship, from then on Gao Gang lost his freedom.

I entrusted Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yi and Tan Zhenlin to host a symposium on Rao Shushi. The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of services and services to the public.”