Part Five:
"CLASS STRUGGLES IN CHINA"
A MARXIST-LENINIST ANALYSIS OF MAO-TSE TUNG,
BY W.B.BLAND


CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: THE TRIAL OF THE 'GANG OF FOUR' (November 1980 - January 1981)

Introduction

ALTHOUGH THE 'GANG OF FOUR' HAD BEEN ARRESTED IN OCTOBER 1976 (page 167),
IT WAS NOT UNTIL FOUR YEARS LATER - AFTER THE NATIONAL BOURGEOIS PARTY GROUPING AROUND TENG HSIAO-PING HAD SECURED DOMINANCE AND THE COMPRADOR PARTY GROUPING AROUND HUA KUO-FENG HAD BEEN OUSTED  - THAT THEY WERE PUT ON TRIAL.
THIS DELAY ENABLED CHARGES OF FOMENTING THE  'CULTURAL REVOLUTION'  IN
1966-69 TO BE INCLUDED IN THE INDICTMENT.

The Trial (November 1980 - January 1981)

 In  November 1980, the 'Gang of Four' (Chang Chun-chiao, Chiang Ching, Wang Hung-wen and Yao Wen-yuan), together with:

The other defendants included Chen Po-ta and General Huang Yung-cheng: However, Chiang Ching's main crimes: Among the 48 specific charges listed in the indictment were those of: The indictment gave further information concerning the 'Lin Piao Affair', charging that Lin Piao had planned: Most of the defendants admitted the charges, wholly or partially. Yao Wen-yuan: But Chiang Ching: In a two-hour speech in her defence on 24 December: Later in the proceedings: In January 1981, the court found: and the following sentences were passed: When the sentences were read out, Chiang Ching: Trials of alleged supporters of the 'Gang of Four': Postscript

In January 1983:

and journalists were officially informed: In 1984, Chiang Ching was released from prison to house imprisonment in a: And in June 1991, the death by suicide of Chiang Ching: to have taken place in May. In August 1992, Wang Hung-wen: and finally, in October 1996: CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE : THE REASSESSMENT OF MAO TSE-TUNG (January 1978 - September 1982)

Introduction
WITH THE DOMINANCE OF THE NATIONAL BOURGEOIS PARTY GROUPING AROUND TENG HSIAO-PING AND THE OUSTING OF THE COMPRADOR BOURGEOIS GROUPING AROUND HUA KUO-FENG -
 THE WAY WAS  OPEN TO REASSESS THE ROLE OF MAO TSE-TUNG IN A MANNER ACCEPTABLE TO THE NATIONAL BOURGEOISIE.

The Reassessment of Mao Tse-tung (January 1978 - December 1980)

Although  the  Party leadership continued to pay lip-service to Mao  Tsetung,

From June 1978 onwards: In an interview with a Japanese delegation in November 1978, Teng  Hsiao-ping, referring to the Political Bureau resolutions of April 1976 appointing Hua Prime Minister and removing Teng from all his posts: In March 1979, Teng told a meeting of Party theoretical workers: In September 1979: During the autumn of 1980, In December 1980, the 'People's Daily': The 6th Plenum of the 11th CC (June 1981)

 In  June  1981,  the 6th Plenum of the 11th CC adopted a  resolution 'On Questions of Party  History',  which summarised the view of the now dominant national  bourgeois  grouping of the Party,  headed  by  Teng  Hsiao-ping,  on the role of Mao Tse-tung. The resolution had been drafted:

It: It declared that, during the 'Great Leap Forward', It blamed the 'Great Leap Forward' for the economic crisis of  1959-61, saying: It alleged that Mao: It charged that: and that at the 10th Plenum of the CC in September 1962, Mao: The resolution declared during the period 1956-66, Mao's: In particular, it condemned the 'Cultural Revolution': The 9th National Congress of the Party: The 10th National Congress of the Party: The 12th National Congress of the CPC (September 1982)

 Among  the changes in the Party Constitution adopted by the 12th National Congress of the CPC in September 1982:

 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR THE 'ECONOMIC REFORMS' (summer 1978 - August 1993)

Introduction
 HAVING DEFEATED  THE POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVES OF  THE  COMPRADOR
BOURGEOISIE,   HEADED   BY  HUA KUO-FENG,   THE MAJORITY  OF THE POLITICAL
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NATIONAL BOURGEOISIE,  HEADED BY TENG HSIAO-PING, CAME TO THE CONCLUSION --
LIKE THE POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVES OF MANY OTHER NATIONAL
BOURGEOISIES OF COLONIAL-TYPE COUNTRIES --
THAT THEIR INTERESTS  WOULD NOW BEST BE SERVED BY ABANDONING THE AIM OF ESTABLISHING A NATIONALLY  INDEPENDENT CAPITALISM AND SEEKING  A  COMPROMISE AGREEMENT WITH THE REMNANTS  OF THE COMPRADOR  BOURGEOISIE  FOR ThE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COLONIAL-TYPE CAPITALIST
SYSTEM DEPENDENT UPON IMPERIALISM.

IN OTHER WORDS, THE CHINESE NATIONAL BOURGEOISIE TRANSFORMED ITSELF, FOR THE MOST PART, INTO A COMPRADOR BOURGEOISIE.

FURTHERMORE,  IT THREW OFF,  IN THE MAIN,  ITS PSEUDO-SOCIALIST MASK AND
EMBARKED ON A PROGRAMME OF ECONOMIC REFORMS WHICH WOULD ABOLISH CENTRALISED ECONOMIC PLANNING IN FAVOUR OF AN ENTERPRISE AUTONOMY IN WHICH PRODUCTION WAS DETERMINED BY PROFIT.

Thus, in the summer of 1978:

and began to seek foreign loans and investments.
The policy changes: and were known as 'Opening Up'.

Special Economic Zones

 At first,

The original inspiration for these Special Economic Zones: The SEZs: Later: By 1987: In April 1990: Thus: International Loans

 In April/May 1981,  China joined the International Monetary Fund and  the World Bank.
('Keesing's Contemprary Archives', Volume 26; p. 30,334).

In June 1982, it was announced that:

In November 1982, the World Bank announced: In May 1991: Foreign Loans and Investment

In the summer of 1978,

as well as to open the door to foreign investment. Virtually non-existent in 1978, Such investment was encouraged by preferential treatment: As a result, by the early 1990s China: Of total foreign direct investment in China of $33 billion in 1989, Foreign Indebtedness

At the end of 1995,

The World Bank: Joint Ventures

 Some  foreign  investment in China took the form of  'joint ventures' with Chinese companies. These also received preferential treatment.

 In July 1979:

 In December 1980, In February 1984, it was announced that: In May 1984: At a symposium on joint ventures held in Hong Kong in November 1984, a Deputy Minister for Foreign Economic Relations announced In April 1985,  an official of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade stated that: In April 1990: Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprises

Since 1979,

In this law: Enterprise Autonomy

A key feature of the 'economic reforms' introduced in December 1978 was the abolition of centralised economic planning, a process euphemistically called:

Under this system, production units: The regulation of production by centralised economic planning was replaced by regulation: through: In September 1980, the State Council approved: In January 1981, the 'New China News Agency' reported that: State controlled prices were replaced by prices determined by supply and demand, by the market,  The 3rd Plenum of the 14th CC of the CPC in  November 1993 decided that: At the 13th National Congress of the CPC in October 1987, Prime Minister Chao Tzu-yang: In place of the financing of the construction of new enterprises by means of state grants, in November 1979 the State Council decided: At the end of 1981: The remaining profits were: In 1986, the government: From late 1986: In October 1994, it was announced that: In 1986, the government introduced a programme of:  The 3rd Plenum of the 14th CC in November 1993 decided that: In November 1984, the State Economic Control Administration: In January 1994, the People's Bank decided that in future: Following the 'economic reforms': And in the 1990s: As a result of the  economic reforms', there was: In fact: so that by 1992, China had become: From 1978 onwards: This: In August 1980, the 'New China News Agency' reported: In March  1984, figures released by the State Council showed: Private enterprises: By 1994: To keep many of the ailing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) afloat: The subsidy programme has added to the growing central government budget deficit, the budget report in March 1991 revealing: In May 1985: In 1991: The 'Financial Times' of 12 March 1991 reported that as: The chief engine: and to establish and sustain: During 1984: and from mid-1986: This process: By July 1988, it had become clear: Thus, 'price reform': In consequence, the 3rd Plenum of the 13th CC in September 1988 decided: based on an: As a result, by September 1989: Following the opening of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in December 1990, in July 1991: With the 'reforms',  which amounted in reality to the establishment of an unplanned  capitalist society,  came the social evils traditionally associated with such a society: As early as 1978: In October 1979, the Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission: As early as July 1983, the Secretary of the Party's Central Commission for Inspecting Discipline stated: In October 1989: In August 1993, an assessment published by the Ministry of Labour: With the adoption of the 'economic reforms',  the pattern of a colonial-type economy dependent upon foreign imperialism was clearly evident in China. By 1980: In May 1981, the chief economic adviser to the State Planning Commission told Japanese economists that: Premier Chao Tzu-yang admitted to the National  People's Congress in November 1981 that this meant that priority would be: and in his report to the 12th National Congress of the CPC in September  1982, General Secretary Hu Yao-pang confirmed emphasis: In other words, development patterns shifted in 1979: In the 1990s, the government dismantled much of the mechanism designed to protect Chinese industry from the competition of more technologically advanced foreign industry.
For example, in 1992: In January 1994: In November 1995, the Chinese government: In the early 1980s: In March 1980: In April 1980, Peking: and the 'People's Daily': Also in April 1980: During the first half of the 1980s, Teng Hsiao-ping mapped out: and the period from April 1984, in particular: On the other hand, the total value of Sino-US trade: and a US State Department spokesman said in June 1981: In March 1982, Soviet President Leonid BREZHNEV*: with China.  In 1982, In August 1982, a US communique stated that it had been agreed: At the 12th National Congress of the CPC in September 1982, Party Chairman Hu Yao-pang stated that China: and in October 1982, the 'New China News Agency' declared that: Following a visit  to China in September 1983 by US Defence Secretary Caspar WEINBERGER*: In December 1983, China: The value of Sino-US trade in 1984: In January 1984,  Hu Yao-pang, General Secretary of the CPC,  in a press interview: In April/May 1984, US President Ronald REAGAN*: During his visit, Hu Yao-pang reiterated to Reagan: In June 1984, Chinese Defence Minister General CHANG Ai-ping* made a  15-day visit to the USA: During his visit, the US Defence Department: In June 1985: An associated agreement provided: In July 1985: In April 1986, US President Ronald Reagan notified Congress: In October 1986, US Vice-President George BUSH* paid a six-day visit  to China, during which he announced: In November 1986, three ships of the US navy visited China for: By 1988: while: while: In February 1989: In May 1989: In May 1991: In the Gulf War of 1991, although: China: In January 1992, China and the USA signed an agreement: In November 1993,  Russian Defence Minister Pavel GRACHEV* visited China, becoming: In January 1994, the USA and China signed: In May 1994, Russian Premier Viktor CHERNOMYRDIN*: In May 1994, US President Bill CLINTON* announced: In September 1994, Chinese: In May 1995, Russian President Boris Yeltsin said that the visit to Russia of Chinese President Chiang Tse-min: In June 1995, Chinese Premier LI Peng* visited Russia, delivering: In November 1995, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum conference, President Chiang Tse-min announced: In February 1996, the United States: In February 1996, the Chinese government: In April 1996: To the first of these new groupings, (ie the 'Radical reformers'): and had its principal strength in the student democracy movement.

The second of these new groupings (ie the Conservative Reformers') was headed by Teng Hsiao-ping who,  in a speech to the Central Advisory Commission of the CPC in October 1984:

This grouping took their stand on: In the spring of 1980, 'conservative reformers' in the military: In August 1980, Chao Tzu-yang, one of the leaders of the radical reformist' grouping of the Party, At the 12th National Congress of the CPC in September 1982, 'radical' reformers: and Hu Yao-pang, one of the leaders of the 'radical reform' grouping: of the Party. In June 1983, Li Hsien-nien: In spite of the ascendancy of the 'radical reformist' grouping of the Party at the 12th National Congress of the CPC in September 1983, the fight back of the 'conservative reformists' was not without its successes.

In June 1983, the National People's Congress:

and in July 1983, Nevertheless, as a result of advanced age and failing health, Teng Hsiaoping: Finally, at the National People's Congress in March 1990, Teng Hsiao-ping: At the end of 1986: on the initiative of the 'radical reformist' grouping of the Party,  headed by Hu Yao-pang and Chao Tzu-yang.

These demonstrations:

for the 'conservative reformers': In January 1987, therefore, Hu Yao-pang: At the 13th National Congress of the CPC in October 1987, Prime Minister Chao Tzu-yang openly raised the question of 'radical reform 'of the  one-party political system, declaring that it was: Nevertheless, the continuing influence of the 'conservative  reformers' was demonstrated by the fact that the congress: At the 1st Plenum of the 13th CC of the CPC in November 1987, Chao Tzu-yang: and at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the NPC later in the month, Chao announced: The death of Hu Yao-pang in April 1989: On 4 May 1989: The demonstrations started: The student demonstrations were supported by the 'radical  reformist' grouping, headed by Hu  Yao-pang and Chao  Tzu-yang, but opposed by the 'conservative reformist' grouping, headed by Teng Hsiao-ping and Li Peng.

The Party and government were:

For example, Chao, in an address to the Asian Development Bank on 4 May demanded that: while, in contrast, the 'People's Daily': On 13 May 1989: On 17 May 1989, Chao Tzu-yang: On 17 May 1989, the Politburo of the CC of the CPC: In addition, the grouping around Li and Teng placed Chao: On 20 May 1989, And: At midnight: After the news of the imposition of martial law had been broadcast: On the night of 3-4 June 1989, the PLA used: The second Tien An Men Square Incident of June 1989 was the reason  given for action: and at the Standing Committee of the NPC later in the month: July 1989 saw: and in June 1991 it was officially stated that Chao: The 9th Plenum of the 13th CC in October 1992 held that Chao Tzu-yang: The 14th National Congress of the CPC in October 1992 was: for the 'conservative reformers', headed by Teng Hsiao-ping, and the report to the congress of CPC general secretary Chiang Tse-min was: In October 1989, Chiang Tse-min, a prominent leader of the 'conservaruve reformist' grouping of the Party, In March 1993, Chiang Tse-min: The  communique of the 4th Plenum of the 14th CC of the CPC in  September 1994: Thus, by April 1995 Prime Minister Li Peng could officially state that: In an effort to maintain for as long as possible the pseudo-socialist facade of state capitalism against the efforts of the 'radical  reformist' grouping of the Party to replace it by multi-party free enterprise capitalism, in  the 1990s the dominant 'conservative reformist' Party grouping  instituted a series of repressive measures.

In June 1992:

In October 1993, a new law: In May 1994: In December 1995, draft legislation was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress: In January 1996, the State Council: