Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 18:26:42 +0100 (MET)
Subject: M-G: UNITE! Info #61en: {5/9} Reply on Cultural Revolution


NOTE: Hugh R.'s posting yesterday 03.02 'M-G: Germanic "democracy"'
touched on an interesting subject, that of early (North) European
democracy, and I believe he's right. If I had taken myself the
time to comment on it further, this would have gone under "M-G
Exile" to 'alt.society.revolution'. As it is, I'm giving prority
to other things, though I still have over 1 kB left of my day's
ration here at besieged M-G City. - RM

UNITE! Info #61en: {5/9} Reply on Cultural Revolution
[Posted to newsgroup 'alt.society.revolution' etc: 01.02.98;
this part of M-G siege version, <10 kB, to list on 04.02.98]

[Continued from part 4/7 of standard version]

13. ON THE EVENTS ON TIENANMEN SQUARE, BEIJING,
    ON 05.04.1976, HOW THEY WERE LIED ABOUT
    BY THE STILL SOCIALIST CHINA AT THE TIME
    AND WHAT THEY REALLY SHOWED

Your last question, Rob, on the "massacres" on Tienanmen in 1989
and 1976, was really in part wrongly put, since on the occasion
in 1976 you must be referring to, April 5th, there was no kil-
ling (as far as my information goes), as there was much later,
in 1989, when a revisionist clique was firmly in power; nor was
there any other massacre on that square in 1976. But what took
place on 05.04.1976 and what the CC of the CPC wrongly stated
about it was serious enough.

It was a case of a just demonstration by the people (which was
the main side of the April 5th events) being suppressed and vi-
lified by the then still socialist China and the still proleta-
rian party the CPC. This was a serious crime instigated above
all, the facts show, by the phony"left" 4-gang in China (led by
Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong's wife) under the pretext of combating
the other reactionary grouping, the openly-rightist one of Deng
Xiaoping, which then since some months was under massive public
criticism, while the 4-gang had so far only been criticized -
most severely too - by Mao Zedong at CPC party meetings.

On this matter, I shall quote at length from two earlier Infos
of mine, which each had 12 parts: #22en, "The 4-Gang in China,
1976", of 03.11.96, and #45en, "4-gang history '76, pal '97", of
26.07.97. (In both cases, most of the contents had been posted
earlier under slightly different headings.)

I'm starting with an eyewitness account - which to me seems
fairly reliable and which is supported by other reports too -
of what actually took place on the Tiananmen on 5 April 1976. 


13 A. CLARE HOLLINGWORTH, OF THE DAILY
      TELEGRAPH, UK, ON EVENTS 05.04.1976

{As reproduced by me in Info #22en, parts 4/12 - 5/12, where I
noted as an intro:}

[This posting above all contains some excerpts from a book by
Beijing foreign correspondent Clare Hollingworth entitled "Mao"
and published in 1985, with comments by me in brackets and with
some quotes also from the Peking Review, concerning the events
on Tiananmen Square in Beijing on 05.04.1976, which is one of
the two important points in the Chinese people's struggle
against the phoney"Left" one of those two groups which were
opposing Mao Zedong's correct line at that time, namely, the
"Gang of Four". The other important point is the great blow
against that Gang in October '76.]  

{Later, I shall also quote in full one completely mendacious
account of events, in Peking Review #15, 1976. It's instructive
not least for myself to note today that I did *not* at the time
clearly see that the PR, "normally" so thrustworthy, now *was*
lying, although that and other official reporting on this at the
time did give me a sort of "uneasy feeling" - which I didn't
follow up on. My much more experienced German comrades at the
time supported the official story (too). Here I first am quoting
Ms Hollingworth on some of the background to the April 5th
events. - RM, Feb 1998}

[From pages 291 ff:]

"*Chapter 16*"

"*The Power Struggle in the Open*"

"The death of premier Zhou Enlai on January 8th, 1976 was the
catalyst for the smouldering power struggle of 1974/5 to burst
into the open." [It's natural for a correspondent of the "Daily
T." to refer to "power struggle" instead of class struggle, of
course.] "Although his death at seventy-eight had long been ex-
pected the whole nation appeared grief-stricken. Jiang Qing took
enormous precautions to isolate the Chairman as Premier Zhou
lay dying," [again, caution - this was written in 1985, so it's
not clear whether this is one of the Deng clique's "It is now
known that..." lies or not] "in an effort to prevent the antici-
pated, automatic promotion of Deng, who had been effectively
filling the role of Premier for the last year."

[Yes, but who had also, at that time, already been under public
criticism for some months, although not mentioned by name yet,
as the target of the just struggle against the "Right deviatio-
nist wind to reverse correct judgements". So it was by no means
"automatic" that he would be appointed Premier. The "Daily T."
correspondent must have known this in 1976; she had "forgotten"
it in 1985.]

"Certainly the Chairman was ailing but the 'inside people'
claimed it was Jiang Qing who personally prevented him from at-
tending any of the sad celebrations that marked the Premier's
lying in state, cremation and the scattering of his ashes 'over
the country he loved'. In addition it was noted that Mao made
no public tribute to his 'old comrade' despite the fact he must
have seen hundreds of thousands of Chinese on his much-used te-
levision screen openly weeping with uncontrolled grief. Diplo-
mats and foreign correspondents were bewildered, too, by the
fact that the only representatives who accompanied the body to
the crematorium through the Avenue of Heavenly Peace were the
radical Wang Hongwen" [by no means a genuine radical but one of
the "Gang of Four" already criticized at party meetings by Mao
Zedong since 1974] "and Wang Dongxing, formerly Mao's bodyguard.
However, there was general relief when Deng Xiaoping read the
eulogy, as requested by the dead Premier, who had made no secret
of his desire that Deng should succeed him."

[Here Ms Hollingworth again "forgets" the correct criticism,
since autumn 1975, of Deng's renewed Right opportunism. She
slanders Zhou Enlai as being a supporter of Deng despite this.
Precisely the same thing had then already been maintained by the
"Gang of Four" propagandists Avakian and Lotta, USA, in their
books "Mao Tsetung's Immortal Contributions", 1978-79, respec-
tively "And Mao Makes 5", 1978.] {Two "RCP"-USA writers}

"Throughout the land, in small isolated communes as well as
large cities, memorial ceremonies were held but comparatively
little appeared in the radical-controlled press about the man
who had served the Chinese Communist Party and people for fifty-
four years. Foreigners were requested not to organise any public
ceremonies, and when national mourning was at its height, orders
were suddenly issued prohibiting any further expressions of
grief and people were told to take off their black armbands."

[Here Ms Hollingworth obviously is writing about something which
she herself observed at the time. She hardly can have invented
what she says in her last sentence above.]

"While foreigners living in Peking were concerned that Deng was
not named as Premier and did not appear in public, they appeared
to believe that in the end the Chairman would appoint him on the
grounds that he had been well trained by Zhou. By the end of Ja-
nuary I discovered almost by accident that Deng was already in
disgrace for a second time....."

"....Later that day I wrote a report saying Deng would not suc-
ceed Premier Zhou and that he was already in disgrace somwhere
in the countryside. (Unhappily, ths important piece of informa-
tion failed to attract the eye of the news editor and the piece
was drastically cut and used on an inside page where it passed
virtually unnoticed.)" [Since it was "bad news" to the "Daily
T."]

"During the last days of January Deng's disappearance was fol-
lowed by that of Ye Jianying, the Defence minister, and Li
Xiannan, the 'financial wizard=B4', both of whom were close
friends of Premier Zhou." [Or rather, popular with the "Daily
T".] "At the same time posters appeared in the university at-
tacking 'capitalist roaders' (some of them even mentioning Deng
by name) while the theoretical journal, *Red Flag*, reviled
'rightist elements'. The sensational power struggle resulted in
a compromise as Hua Guofeng, Minister for Public Security, the
agriculturist from Mao's home town, was named Acting Prime Mi-
nister on February 8th by the *People's Daily* in a report on
the reception of the new Venezuelan Ambassador." [Also in Pe-
king Review No. 7 / 1976, 13.02.76.]

{And here I commented that Hua's appointment, on Mao Zedong's
proposal, of course was not a "compromise" at all but was direc-
ted *against* *both* the Deng group *and* the 4-gang. The most
valuable part of this foreign correspondent's narrative comes
now; she saw much of what took place on 05.04.76 and immdiately
before. - RM}

[Continued in part {6/9}]



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