Power Struggle in Peking

...Accordingly, it is only a matter of time before Lin succeeds Mao and takes effective control of the country...

...That Mao has not come to Liu's rescue may, on the one hand, be an indication that he is too weak physically to intervene in the struggle...

...and by uniting Lin and Teng-the Premier's former classmate-Chou has taken an important step in the lights against Peng Chen and Liu Shao-chi, who together with Mao, Lo Jui-ching and Lu Ting-yi form a faction within the Party...

...They were purged, it seems, not because of their anti-Party activities, as alleged by their accusers, but because of a battle for power now going on in Peking...

...Little is known about Lin outside Communist China...

...While Peng himself was an important target, the real target of the purge was Liu Shao-chi, long favored by Mao as his successor...

...None of these three men was an intellectual or directly involved in antiParty cultural activities...

...he is the author of the well-known article published last September advocating people's wars against the captitalist countries...

...Chou has never revealed his ambition to take over from Mao...

...The current power struggle emerged into public view in April, and it is known that several high-ranking Chinese Party officials have been purged, including Peng Chen, Mayor of Peking and a member of the Politburo who once was regarded as having a strong chance of succeeding Mao Tse-tung...

...In support of this view, the following facts are generally cited: Lin controls the Army...

...His militant statements on the Vietnam war and the confrontation of Communist China with the United States "imperialists,"and his Bucharest speech attacking the anti-Party anti-Socialist elements, are clear indications of this shift...

...And the prevailing view among Western analysts of Chinese affairs is that Lin Piao appears to be winning it, if he has not already won...

...The first involved the Kao Kang incident of 1953, in which Kao, administrator of the Northeast region, was purged for resisting Mao's authority...

...In this context it is important to note that Chou is not onlycalm and calculating but one of the cleverest men in Peking...

...Without such control, Liu ran do little to cope with the ChouLin-Teng alliance-unless Mao is able and willing to render his full support to Liu against it...

...The main cutting edge of this cultural revolution," Chou continued, "is turned against a handful of bad elements that are waging dirty anti-Communist activities under the cover of a false Communism against a handful of antiParty, anti-Socialist and counterrevolutionary bourgeois intellectuals...

...But even if this occurs, it will be a long time before such policy changes can be implemented...

...In any event, the purge has demonstrated that Mao is no longer in actual control of the Party or the government, even though nominally he is still Chairman of the Party...

...The fourth region belonged to Lin Piao, who has been gaining confidence and favor from Mao in recent years...

...its field commander was Foreign Minister Chen Yi...

...Long before the success of the Revolution in 1949, the Communist Armed Forces were divided into four regions...

...Whatever the case, in the immediate contest between Chou and Liu, Lin Piao holds the decisive position -one similar to that which Marshal Zhukov held in the power struggle between Khrushchev and the antiParty elements in the summer of 1957...

...Lin Piao, who does not seem to have the ability to compete with Chou and Liu, was a former student of Chou at Huang-pu Military Academy and has great respect for the Premier...

...If Chou is the victor, there is at least a possibility of adjustments in China's present intransigence-particularly toward the United States and the Soviet Union and toward world revolution...

...As for the ultimate effect of the present purge on Communist China's domestic and foreign policies, that depends largely on who finally emerges as Party Chairman...

...Without Lin's support, it would be difficult for Chou to win the contest...

...This brings us back to the issue on which the Western and TaiwanHong Kong experts disagree: Is it Lin Piao or Chou En-lai who is now in the strongest position to succeed Mao...

...Since three of Peng's deputies in the Peking municipal Party branch, Wu Han, Teng To and Liao Mosha, had published some works which could be interpreted as being anti-Party, the Mayor was vulnerable...

...Significantly, with the start of the latest purge Chou has shifted from lis hitherto flexible position to a iogmatic one...

...Of the four prominent contenders to Mao's position, Lin and Teng have long been the strongest proponents of the hard line, Liu has been regarded as a quiet organization man inclined to the hard line too, and Chou has been regarded as the representative of a group opposed to dogmatism and in favor of a more practical and flexible approach...

...As a typical Army man without any extensive understanding of or experience in international affairs, Lin professes to believe strongly in the doctrines of world revolution by force, uncompromising opposition to the imperialists and modern revisionists, and drastic measures designed to achieve the earliest possible socialization and communization of China...

...He appears to be quite ambitious, particularly in the way he has been asserting himself as interpreter of Mao's doctrines...

...his Chieh-jang-chung Pao (Liberation Army Daily) initiated the attack on Peking Deputy Mayor Wu Han and Teng To, a member of the Peking municipal Party secretariat and formerly the chief editor of Jen-min Jih-pao-the attack which resulted in the downfall of Peng Chen...

...and he has recentlybeen regarded as a favorite of Mao and the most authoritative interpreter of Mao's thought...

...And the present power relations among the leading figures in the Party should remain unchanged when Mao dies...

...My own feeling, however, is that given Chou's skill and experience in power politics, he should be able to retain Lin's support for a long time and hold on to the top position himself...

...and Teng Hsiao-ping has sided with them against Peng Chen...

...The second region was headed by Chu Teh and one of its prominent figures was Liu Po-cheng, neither of whom play an important role any longer in the ruling hierarchy...

...Chou, their theory goes, is machinating behind the scenes...

...This battle centers around the relationship between Mao Tse-tung, State Chairman Liu Shao-chi, Premier Chou En-lai, Defense Minister Lin Piao, Party Secretary General Teng Hsiao-ping, and the purged Mayor Peng Chen...

...One important clue has been provided by Premier Chou En-lai, a major contender for Mao's mantle and one of those directly involved in carrying out the purge...

...Chou's speech indicated that this "handful" of anti-Party, anti-Socialist and anti-revolutionary intellectuals was influential enough to resist and even threaten the hard-line position of Mao and the majority of Peking's leaders...

...All three studied in France together and have been close associates ever since...

...on the other hand, he may see no reason to actively oppose Lin and Teng, who are also loyal to him...

...The first belonged to Mao, with Liu Shao-chi as his chief deputy...

...The alliance between Chou, Lin and Teng, consequently, is not so much based on a common position as on expediency dictated by their common interest vis-a-vis their common rival, Liu...

...The current "struggle," the paper noted, was the third one of its kind since 1949...

...Nevertheless, he has been careful not to reveal his personal plans...

...Or, are the two merely working together at the moment against a common adversary...

...The third region was controlled by Chou En-lai...

...Such warnings are familiar and primarily directed against "American imperialism" and "Soviet revisionism.' There is no evidence that Mao has shifted his endorsement from Liu, long a loyal follower and like himself a native of Hunan Province, to Lin Piao...

...But for how long...

...On July 1, Jenmin Jih-pao, the official Party organ, further disclosed that these "subversive" elements had penetrated important positions in the Party, the government, the Army and the cultural front...

...True, like the other top Party leaders...

...Will Lin support Chou to the end, without himself contending for the highest position...

...The Chou-Lin-Teng "alliance" chose Mayor Peng as its first target in a campaign ultimately aimed at purging Liu because it would have been much more difficult and risky to attack Liu directly...

...among their followers were Peng Teh-huai, the Defense Minister, and his associate Huang Ko-cheng, both purged in 1959, and Peng Chen, Lo Jui-ching and Lu Ting Li, all purged this year...

...Should Lin be the final winner, it seems almost certain that he will pursue a hard line-at least as hard as Mao's-in Communist China's domestic and foreign policies...

...Yet while the emergence of "antiParty" intellectuals explains why a "Socialist cultural revolution" is necessary for upholding Peking's hard line, it does not explain why Mayor Peng Chen, Lo Jui-ching, chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, and Lu Ting-yi, director of the Party's Propaganda Department-all ardent supporters of the hard line-have been purged...

...We want to create the new ideas, the new culture, the new habits and customs of the proletariat...

...But the remarks Mao is reported to have made at that meeting, as well as the slogans invoked by the Chinese press to endorse various accusations, are of a general nature, warning against the danger of anti-Party, anti-Socialist, bourgeois and revisionist elements, and stressing the need for eliminating all "poison grasses...

...with Lin's supporting Chou, there is virtually no hope for Liu...

...Lin Piao is merely acting in his behalf...

...Speaking to his Rumanian hosts at Bucharest on June 18, Chou said: "We want to liquidate entirely by this great cultural revolution all the old ideas, the entire old culture, all the old habits and customs created by the exploiting classes to poison the people...

...Virtually all the specialists agree that the purge of Peng, Lo and Lu was planned and accomplished by a "surface alliance" of Chou, Lin and Teng...

...But little is known about what is actually behind the present "revolution"whether it is essentially a matter of cultural repression, or whether it is a full-blown, cold-blooded fight among those jockeying to succeed the 72-year-old and ailing Mao...

...Chou En-lai, the theory goes, is content with preserving his present position and Teng Hsiao-ping and Liu Shao-chi are virtually out of the picture...

...After Mao's death and Liu's complete defeat, there could be a power struggle between Chou and Lin...

...But it is apparent that he has carefully prepared for the present purge by allying himself with Lin Piao and Teng Hsiao-ping and to insure his control of the government, the Army and the Party...

...The present alignment and the personal relationships of the leaders reflect the Chinese Communist system of military regions...

...and its political commissar was Teng Hsiao-ping...

...The answer, I think, requires a brief examination of power relations among the high-ranking Party figures...

...Still, some observers have pointed to repeated hints in the Communist Chinese newspapers that the present "cultural revolution" was "ordered" and "directed" by Mao himself at last September's Central Committee meeting...

...THE DRIVE AGAINST LIU SHAO-CHI Power Struggle in Peking By Fu-shun Lin Political upheavals in a totalitarian state are usually surrounded by mystery, and this is especially true in the case of what Peking refers to as its "socialist cultural revolution...

...and the second was the 1959 purge of the then Defense Minister, Peng Teh-huai, and other "Rightists" accused of opposing the radical socialization of the economy and agriculture and maintaining a pro-Soviet stance...

...Most analysts in Taiwan and Hong Kong, however, who see the current power struggle not merely in terms of recent developments but from the long term perspective of the history of the Chinese Communist party leadership, consider the real winner of the battle to be Chou En-lai...

...The main arguments offered in support of this view are: Among the high ranking leaders in the Party, only Chou En-lai and Liu Shaochi have enough prestige and power to contend for Mao's position...