Chapter 65 Final Conversation with Liu Shaoqi 1967

Journalist: “Did you have a conversation with Liu Shaoqi?”

Mao: “Yes, I did. On the night of January 13, 1967, I sent a car to pick up Liu Shaoqi, and we met in Room 118 of the Great Hall of the People, my private palace. I casually asked him, as if nothing had happened, ‘Is your daughter Pingping’s leg better?’ Liu Shaoqi said, ‘There was no such thing at all. It was a deception.’ When we discussed the Cultural Revolution, Liu Shaoqi said that he bore the primary responsibility for the wrong line and that the old cadres were a precious asset of the party. He proposed resigning as the President of the country and going to Yan’an or his hometown to engage in farming with his wife and children, in order to bring the Cultural Revolution to an end sooner and minimize the damage to the country.”

Journalist: “How did Liu Shaoqi rise to power?”

Mao: “In the 1920s, Liu Shaoqi was involved in labor and student movements, underground party struggles, and had a significant presence and influence that surpassed mine. In 1929, he became the Secretary of the Underground Provincial Committee in Manchuria, becoming the earliest ‘Underground King of the Northeast.’ In 1931, he went to the Soviet Union for the second time to learn from their experiences, and in 1932, he was sent to Jiangxi Province on assignment. He often lectured me on Marxism-Leninism, while I had never seriously studied Marxist-Leninist books. He was calm, modest, and had strong organizational skills. From the Zunyi Conference in January 1935, he stood on my side.”

Journalist: “If Liu Shaoqi was willing to step down and retire, wouldn’t that have been a good solution?”

Mao: “Liu Shaoqi was essentially begging for mercy, but I couldn’t let him off so easily. I wanted to torment him slowly, until his death if necessary. I told him, ‘Read a few books seriously.’ I had my secretary bring two books written by foreigners: ‘Mechanical Materialism’ and ‘Robots,’ and I handed them to him to read. I thought that just by seeing the titles, he would understand that he shouldn’t be too mechanically rigid and should quickly bow his head and confess his sins. As per tradition, I saw him off and said, ‘Study hard and take care of your health.’”

Journalist: “What did you say to Liu Shaoqi during your last meeting?”

Mao: “In the late hours of January 1967, I sent a car to pick up Liu Shaoqi and bring him to my residence in the Great Hall of the People. I openly mocked him, saying, ‘You must regret it. During the three years of the Great Famine, you missed a great opportunity. At that time, if you had imprisoned me somewhere, you would have been justified. We would have had two Chairmans surnamed Liu. You lacked courage and foresight. If I were in your position, I would have done just that, to eliminate any future troubles. You were misguided by your ‘self-cultivation’ and trapped yourself in a cocoon.

You didn’t force me to abdicate, nor did you attempt a coup because you couldn’t mobilize the military. The military was under my control, and your trusted generals didn’t dare to revolt recklessly. I exposed his hidden agenda: you didn’t have the guts to stage a coup; you were hoping someone else would do the dirty work for you and send me into exile, while you would reap the benefits. Liu Shaoqi defended himself, claiming he never intended to plot against me. I truly wanted to see him kneel before me and kowtow. Gao Gang, Kang Sheng, and others had kowtowed to me, but he didn’t kneel.

He requested to go back to Yan’an or his hometown to work on the land, hoping to escape the predicament and make a comeback. But I wasn’t going to let him off so easily. I told him to read two books: ‘Robots’ and ‘Mechanical Materialism,’ in a mocking manner, waving my hand and telling him, ‘Study hard and take care of your health.’”

Journalist: “Did you think about replacing Liu Shaoqi with Gao Gang?”

Mao: “Yes, I had already planned to target Liu Shaoqi, but the question was who would take his place? Gao Gang came to mind again. I said to Zhou Enlai, ‘It would have been better if Gao Gang hadn’t died. He shouldn’t have committed suicide. My brother-in-law was driven to death by others.’ Zhou was taken aback by my words.”