Rehabilitation

The fall of Lin Biao, one of the main architects of the CR, put decision-makers in Beijing in a quandary: they had to rehabilitate Lin's victims, but they could not reverse official decisions made during the CR, decisions that usually originated from Lin Biao and were endorsed by Mao. It proved extremely difficult to distinguish Lin's decisions from those made by others during the CR. Many purged cadres demanded rehabilitation on the grounds that they had been his innocent victims.^[48] According to the Gang of Four's charge, Deng Xiaoping, with tears in his eyes, declared in one of his self-criticism sessions that he was "the arch enemy of Lin Biao" and consequently Lin had wanted to "put him in a death situation."^[49] Moreover, the Zhou Enlai and the Jiang Qing groups disagreed about who should be rehabilitated.

According to a Taiwanese source, Wang Dongxing, vice chairman of the CCP at this time, sent a list of ten types of cadres to be liberated and ten types not to be liberated to a specially convened work conference. He ended his instructions by remarking, "This is party 'policy.' If there are any errors, I request comrades to point

[44] Joan Mahoney, "Problems in China's Party Rebuilding," Current Scene 15(3) (March 1977); Robert Martin, Party Recruitment in China: Pattern and Prospect (New York: Columbia University, Occasional Papers of the East Asian Institute); Renmin Ribao , 27 June 1973.

[45] Renmin Ribao , 6 October 1973.

[46] NCNA (Beijing), January 21, 1975; Beijing Review , no. 22, May 31, 1974, 20.

[47] Ibid.

[48] Daily Report , 7 November 1978.

[49] Xuexi Yu Pipan , no. 5, 1976, 18–20.

them out. I personally assume responsibility."^[50] This blunt statment implies how sensitive the issue was.

Official policy granted rehabilitation to all cadres who had been purged because of their opposition to Lin Biao's line and to his rise within the party. All those who had been purged for errors in "supporting the left" during the CR were exonerated. As noted, many cadres had supported conservative mass organizations during the CR, and for that reason they were rejected by the radicals. Now all cadres who were active in the CR for either conservative or radical organizations became eligible for rehabilitation. Another category included those who were dismissed from office for their lack of "enough revolutionary drive," one of the criteria advanced by Lin Biao for evaluating cadres.^[51]

Official policy also declared that "renegades, enemy spies, and alien classes" should not be rehabilitated even if they had opposed Lin Biao in the past. It also made a distinction between decisions made with Mao's approval and decisions made by Lin Biao alone. Decisions not to be reversed included those made "in accordance with conclusions drawn by our organization after Lin Biao and Chen Boda had reported to the central authority for intructions and obtained approval." Another point reads:

During the great proletarian CR the central authority, acting on Mao's instruction or his approval, made certain resolutions pursuant to the comments submitted by the central departments and provinces. Except for some individual cases which were not properly handled because Lin and Chen had furnished wrong information or issued false orders and directives in Mao's name, which are now being further studied, the overwhelming majority of cases were correctly handled. This should be affirmed and no reversal of the verdict on any of these cases should be allowed.^[52]

Regardless of how these ambiguous and somewhat contradictory policy lines were actually applied to an individual cadre, many high-ranking cadres purged during the CR reappeared, not in a group, but one by one, after Lin Biao's fall. On 1 August 1972, the founding day of the army, such old cadres as Chen Yun, Wang

[50] Daily Report , 24 March 1975, E5.

[51] Ibid.

[52] Ibid.

Zhen, and Zheng Daiyuan appeared. At every important occasion thereafter, Zhou Enlai brought some more old cadres forward. For instance, Chen Zaidao, the commander responsible for the open challenge to the central authorities by the Wuhan workers in 1967, made his first public reappearance on Army Day, in 1972.

The most surprising comeback was that of Deng Xiaoping, who made his first public appearance in March 1973 escorted by Wang Hairong, Mao's niece. According to a Chinese source, Deng wrote a letter to Mao exposing Lin Biao in August 1972. Commenting on the letter, Mao said,

He does not have historical problems. In the Soviet period he was rectified by leftist opportunist Wang Ming. . . . During the liberation war, he helped Liu Bocheng to make a great contribution [to the final victory]. Besides, after [the CCP] entered cities, he did some good things. For example, he led our delegation to Moscow, and he did not surrender to the pressure of the Soviet Union.^[53]

Later Deng Xiaoping acknowledged his indebtedness to Mao. "Before my second fall in the CR, Chairman Mao wanted to protect me, but did not succeed. The main reason was that Lin Biao and the Gang of Four hated me very much. Their hatred toward me was not as deep as toward Liu Shaoqi, but they did not want to be soft on me. They sent me to Jiangxi to labor. In 1973, Chairman Mao transferred me to Beijing."^[54] Deng acceded to the position of vice premier on 3 March 1973.

In addition, Mao personally rehabilitated many other high-level leaders. In November 1971, he exonerated those involved in the "February Adverse Current."^[55] On 6 January 1971 he personally attended the funeral of Chen Yi.^[56] Sensing that Mao was burying old grudges against some veteran cadres, Zhou Enlai had Renmin Ribao publish an editorial entitled "Punish for Future Use, and Cure the

[53] Mao acknowledged that Deng had made many contributions to the revolutionary struggle as early as 1972: "I have said it before and I want to say it once again." Zhongguo Gongchandang Lishi Jianyi (Jilin: Jilin Chubanshe, 1982), 2:2.

[54] Qixi Niandai , no. 10, 1980, 54.

[55] The term "February Adverse Current" refers to top leaders' opposition to Mao's radical policy of allowing Red Guards to seize power. Rongzhen, Nie Rongzhen Huiyilu (Beijing: Jiefangjun Chubanshe, 1984), 3:859.

[56] Zhou Enlai instinctively realized the significance of Mao's attendance and told Chen Yi's relatives to transmit the news to other cadres. Zhang Tianyi, Zhonggong Dangshi (Shenyang: Liaoning Renmin Chubanshe, 1985), 345.

Disease to Save the Patient," which boldly declared that "the old cadres steeled in long revolutionary struggles are the party's greatest treasure."^[57] After that, Zhou continued to liberate some cadres and intellectuals, while improving jail conditions and banning physical torture of disgraced cadres.

While the disgraced cadres reappeared one by one, the media renewed the discussion of cadre liberation at the lower level—a theme that had been absent from public news since 1969. This time public discussion went further than before in several ways. First, discussion now focused on the cadres' rich experience of political and functional work, a characteristic of cadres that would have been denounced as counterrevolutionary. By contrast, revolutionary zeal was no longer mentioned as a necessary trait of cadres. Numerous articles describe how experienced older cadres corrected wrong decisions (presumably initiated by inexperienced young cadres), thus avoiding waste.^[58] The phrase "bourgeois reactionary line" was dropped from official use, and the nature of the mistakes made during the CR—the central theme in 1969 discussions—was ignored. When the issue came up, it was only used to argue that cadres who had made mistakes once would be less likely to do so in the future.^[59]

Second, primary emphasis was now given to the "bold and proper use of cadres' work ability" rather than to simple liberation. Clearly the new campaign was aimed at reinstating most of the old cadres in their jobs or in equivalent positions. One provincial newspaper declared,

Those who have already been liberated and who are capable of normal work must quickly be given suitable work. For those who have not been properly assigned, the necessary adjustments must be made after proper investigation and study. Those who are incapacitated must be taken care of according to party policy and actual circumstances. As for those who have not been liberated, their cases must be handled without delay so that appropriate decisions can be reached.^[60]

[57] Renmin Ribao , 24 April 1972.

[58] Survey of China Minland Press (supplement), no. 302, 8 June 1972, 9–11.

[59] Daily Report , 25 April 1972, B2.

[60] Ibid., 3 March 1972, D3; 22 March 1972, E2.

Numerous sources reported that more than 90 percent of all old cadres had regained their positions of leadership in either party committees or revolutionary committees.^[61] For the sake of properly utilizing the cadres' manpower, transferring across functional lines was officially prohibited.^[62]

Third, the work of liberation was carried out by party committees, which by this time had regained their dominant position over other mass organizations including revolutionary committees. Lower-level party committees played a leading role; they set up special sections to handle cadre liberation, organized numerous work conferences to educate cadres on the "party's cadre policy," and on many occasions sent out special investigation teams to check that old cadres were appropriately employed at the basic level.^[63] They arranged for work for those who were unemployed and made readjustments for those who had not been assigned to jobs suitable to their experience.^[64] The official slogan at the time was, "if there is even one cadre who has not been treated in accordance with party policy, the party's cadre policy cannot be considered to have been thoroughly implemented."^[65] Some party committees even organized mobile reportage teams to publicize the good results of carrying out party cadre policy. Discussions of cadre liberation seldom mentioned mass participation.

It seems that virtually all cadres at and below the county level and in basic production units had been liberated by the end of 1972. Some county committees had arranged suitable work for the "few cadres who made serious mistakes and who are not fit to carry out leadership work any more in accordance with party policy." Even the treatment of those with historical problems was changed. Special investigation teams were organized to clear up their problems as speedily as possible, and those whose cases were not yet settled were given temporary assignments.^[66] Only "old and physically feeble cadres" failed to regain employment, and they were treated as retired cadres, not as purged ones. Due respect was given

[61] Ibid., 30 May 1972, C1.

[62] Ibid., 18 January 1973, D9.

[63] Ibid., 28 April 1972, C2; 3 May 1972; 30 November 1972.

[64] Ibid., 3 April 1972.

[65] Ibid., 4 April 1972, C5.

[66] Ibid., February 1972, D4.

to retired cadres. To make use of their experience, old cadres were allowed to take part in party committee meetings dealing with their specialties.^[67]