Page 396 - SELECTED WORKS OF DENG XIAOPING Volume III

394 DENG XIAOPING
Henan Field Army and Second Deputy Commander of the Central Plains Military Command.
After the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, he served for a long time as
Vice-Premier of the State Council and Minister of Finance. In 1983 he became President of
the People’s Republic. In 1988 he was elected Chairman of the National Committee of the
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. pp. 288, 330
108 After the death of Hu Yaobang on April 15, 1989, vast numbers of people expressed
their grief in various ways. During the period of mourning a handful of ill-disposed persons
availed themselves of the opportunity to fabricate rumours, make demagogic speeches and put
up posters slandering and attacking the Party and state leaders. They called for opposition to
leadership by the Communist Party and to the socialist system. On April 26 People’s Daily
published an editorial entitled “We Must Take a Clear-cut Stand Against Disturbances”.
However, Zhao Ziyang, then General Secretary of the CPC, supported and connived at the
disturbances, thus aggravating them. On May 13 the Federation of Self-Governing Student
Unions of Universities and Colleges in Beijing, an illegal organization, incited a number of
people to stage a hunger strike and occupy Tian’anmen Square. On May 20, to ensure social
stability and restore normal public order, the State Council instituted martial law in some
areas of Beijing. However, taking advantage of the forbearance on the part of the government
and the troops who were enforcing martial law, the instigators of the disturbances continued
their occupation of the square and organized all sorts of illegal activities, culminating in a
counter-revolutionary rebellion. On June 4 the Party and the government, relying on the
support of the people, took decisive measures to put it down. pp. 288, 302, 306, 333, 335,
344, 356, 359
109 Xiang Zhongfa (1880-1931), a native of Hanchuan, Hubei Province, joined the CPC
in 1922. After the failure of the Great Revolution in July 1927, he became a CPC
representative to the Communist International. He was elected General Secretary of the
Communist Party at its Sixth National Congress in 1928. On June 22, 1931, he was arrested
by the Kuomintang and betrayed the revolution. He was shot by the Kuomintang on June
24. pp. 290, 300
110 In the spring of 1933 the “Left” leaders of the Provisional Central Committee of
the CPC excluded Mao Zedong from leading posts in the Party and the army. Proceeding
from realities, Deng Xiaoping, Mao Zetan, Xie Weijun, Gu Bai and other leaders of local
administrations in the Central Revolutionary Base Area in Jiangxi Province nevertheless
approved of Mao’s line of active defence, which had been shaped in the campaigns against
the enemy’s “encirclement and suppression”. They also supported the land policy, the
economic policy and other correct policies proposed by Mao in the Central Soviet Area and
resisted the wrong decisions of the “Left” deviationists. Deng and the others were attacked
as taking part in factional activities connected with Mao Zedong and following the line of
retreat and flight advocated by Right opportunists who were pessimistic about the revolution.
Deng was dismissed from his posts as secretary of the Central Party Committee of Huichang,
Xunwu and Anyuan counties and head of the Propaganda Department of the Jiangxi
Provincial Party Committee, and inner-Party disciplinary measures were also taken against
him. These unjustified attacks continued until the Central Red Army began the Long March
in October 1934. p. 292
111 Deng had listed four things to be done in the 1980s: 1) keep to the Party’s political
line, 2) maintain political stability and unity, 3) maintain the pioneering spirit of hard
struggle, and 4) build a contingent of cadres who were dedicated to socialism and had
technical expertise. p. 297
112 Qu Qiubai (1899-1935), a native of Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, joined the CPC
in 1922 and was one of its principal leaders in the early period. After the August 7 Meeting
of the Party in 1927, he became a member of the Provisional Standing Committee of the
Political Bureau and took charge of the work of the provisional central leading body. He made