Chapter 56 Crackdown on Peng (Zhen), Luo (Ruiqing), Lu (Dingyi), Yang (Shangkun) 1966

Journalist: “How did you create the incident, knocking down Peng Zhen?”

Mao: “I turned the report into an article. On February 8, 1966, Peng Zhen led a five-person group of the Cultural Revolution and went to Wuhan to report to me about the ‘Report Outline.’ Peng Zhen, Lu Dingyi, Zhou Yang, and Wu Lengxi all expressed their agreement with the report outline on the spot, while Kang Sheng remained silent. Everyone believed that the discussion on ‘The Dismissal of Hai Rui from Office’ was an academic debate and did not involve politics. I also stated that I had no objections to the ‘Report Outline.’

On February 9, 1966, Peng Zhen returned to Beijing and reported to the Standing Committee members Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Chen Yun, and Deng Xiaoping about the meeting with me. Liu and Deng approved it, and on February 12, it was issued as a central document to the entire Party.”

The Journalist: “Report Outline was agreed by you, what is wrong that Liu Shaoqi sent it to the whole party?”

Mao: “There was nothing wrong, I was deliberately looking for fault.”

On March 30, 1966, I called and angrily rebuked Zhou Enlai, saying: ‘Which emperor decided that Peng Zhen’s ‘Report Outline’ was sent to the whole party in a central document? Zhou reported to me that the Standing Committee discussed the decision, and made a review, I instructed him to keep it secret first, how to deal with listen to my greetings.

I took advantage of Liu Shaoqi’s absence from the country and acted swiftly to address the situation. I deployed Kang Sheng, Wei Wenbo, Zhao Yimin, Jiang Qing, and Zhang Chunqiao in Shanghai from March 28 to 30, 1966. We had two intense discussions, fiercely criticizing the ‘February Outline’ and Peng Zhen and Lu Dingyi. I mentioned that the Beijing Municipal Committee was impenetrable and the Central Propaganda Department was like the realm of the King of Hell. I also referred to Deng Tuo, Wu Han, and Liao Mosha’s play “The Village of Three Houses” as a dangerous weed.”

Journalist: “Oh, you took the opportunity of Liu Shaoqi’s visit to a foreign country to cut off his right and left hands at once?”

Mao: “Yes, on March 31, 1966, Kang Sheng was ordered to return to Beijing and convey my latest instructions to Zhou Enlai, Peng Zhen, saying that the February Syllabus mixed class boundaries, did not distinguish between right and wrong, that the Central Propaganda Unit was the Hall of Hades, criticizing Peng Zhen for harboring bad people and suppressing the leftists, that the Central Propaganda Unit should be disbanded, and that the 5-member group should be disbanded.

From April 9 to 12, 1966, Kang Sheng again conveyed in the Secretariat, Peng Zhen presided over the meeting, and the Central Committee notified the withdrawal of the 5-member group and the February Outline.”

Journalist: “Your series of actions, are they all coup methods, happening so quickly?”

Mao: “Yes, the document that replaced the February Outline was the ‘Record of Cultural and Artistic Symposium Entrusted by Lin Biao to Jiang Qing.’

As early as January 1966, following my instructions, Jiang Qing went to Suzhou to meet with Lin Biao and work on the document, criticizing the anti-party cultural and artistic black line. I reviewed the document and made 11 modifications, adding Lin Biao’s name to the title to give it more weight. In March 1966, I reviewed it again and felt it was ready. On April 10, 1966, it was issued as a central document to the entire Party, to be implemented. The document did not go through Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.

Journalist: “Your series of actions, carrying out small maneuvers behind Liu Shaoqi’s back, isn’t that abnormal?”

Mao: “Yes, it was not until April 16 to 24, 1966, that I held an expanded Political Bureau meeting in Hangzhou, primarily targeting Peng Zhen. I announced the revocation of the February Outline, dissolved the five-person group, and established a new Cultural Revolution group. I criticized Peng Zhen, accusing him of hiding for 30 years.”

Journalist: “Liu Shaoqi has been visiting abroad?”

Mao: “Yes. On April 19, 1966, Liu Shaoqi returned from his overseas visit to Kunming, and immediately went to Hangzhou for a meeting as instructed. He had no choice but to acknowledge the existing reality: Peng Zhen and Lu Dingyi were overthrown, the five-person group of the Cultural Revolution was disbanded, and a new Cultural Revolution group was formed with Chen Boda as the leader, Kang Sheng as the advisor, and Jiang Qing as the deputy leader. The core was Jiang Qing, with me behind the scenes, and Chen Boda followed orders. The Cultural Revolution group soon replaced the Central Secretariat and the Political Bureau, becoming the command center of the nationwide Cultural Revolution, dominated by Jiang Qing, myself, and Lin Biao.”

Journalist: “Is your younger brother Mao Zemin a martyr or a traitor?”

Mao: “In April 1966, when Liu Shaoqi returned from his overseas visit and traveled to Xinjiang, one of the important gains was obtaining the ‘top-secret information’ about Mao Zemin before he was killed by Sheng Shicai in 1943. Zemin begged for mercy and confessed, revealing a large amount of intelligence about the party and the military. He even provided a detailed confession, including an incident when I, at the age of 13 in Shaoshan, sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl, and I was locked up in a shrine as a punishment. Zemin was eventually killed. The confession materials were preserved in their entirety, and after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, I declared him a martyr, but in reality, he was a turncoat. In 1925, in Qing Shuitang in Changsha, I sexually assaulted Li Lisan’s wife, who was already married to Yang Kaihui and had a child. Over the years, I have manipulated numerous young women. At least I could form a women’s army unit with those I played with; I would play with one and then discard her. Several major military logistical compounds raised my illegitimate children, but they were not allowed to carry the Mao surname. They say I am a rogue emperor, and there is some truth to it.”

Journalist: “You cut off all of Liu Shaoqi’s left and right hands, he had nothing to say?”