By Harsh Thakor
In the proceedings of the trial even the
bourgeois constitutional norms were not applied which are manifest by
parliamentary constitutional democracy. The style of conduct resembled a
bourgeois dictatorship with charges trumped up or convicts framed. I would have
backed a bourgeois democratic state to release the prisoners in
It was the comrades of this group who combated
the capitalist roaders at their hardest point with relentless spirit and
tenacity. At the very root or base, it invested every ounce of its energy to
extinguish the poisonous weeds of the revisionists, reminiscent of a surgeon
performing an operation. In the deepest depths of despare it ressurected to
illuminate the spark of Chairman Mao and strike the enemy at its hardest point.
They played a major role in shaping the revolutionary committees, revolutionary
operas and many path breaking experiments. The painstaking work of the group
was instrumental in the Cultural revolution taking revolutionary democracy to
heights of glory. In every rung of society be it the fields, factories, army or
schools, their presence was felt.
I recommend readers to refer to the essays by Raymond
Lotta on the bios and contribution of the Gang of Four, the essay of Comrade Harbhajan
Sohi on the
return of revisionism in
WEAKNESSES AND ERRORS
No doubt the Gang of Four made major errors in
practice reflecting left sectarian tendencies. It failed to unite the maximum
number of people possible in the united front wrongly attacking many elements
who could have been incorporated. Bourgeois artists, poets, musicians,
scientists and writers were treated very harshly by them. Erroneously they
launched a vendetta against premier Zhou En Lai/周恩来in the 'anti-Lin Biao and anti-Confucius/孔子campaign. The revolutionary Committees were
hardly blossoming at their helm in the period of the Gang, only reviving
properly in 1975. Splitting was concurrent in their practice. The Gang was
unable to deliver a blow to the enemy at its hardest point or properly
implement the line of Chairman Mao, who often rebuked them for their errors.
The slogans they formulated and raised often had powerful sectarian currents.
William Hinton was critical of their mistakes. I feel the
Chairman Mao had often rebuked the gang of
being ‘splittist’ and not attacking the very enemy within the party. "You are making socialist revolution
and don't know where the bourgeoisie is its right in the Communist Party. The
capitalist roaders are still on the capitalist road." In
a letter Mao wrote to Chiang Ching "You have been wronged. Today we are separating into
two worlds. May each keep his peace. These few words may be my last message to
you. Human life is limited, but revolution knows no bounds. In the struggle of
the past ten years I have tried to reach the peak of revolution, but I was not
successful. But you could reach the top. If you fail, you will plunge into a
fathomless abyss. Your body will shatter. Your bones will break."18Among
his last words aimed squarely at the revisionist power holders who wanted to
create a rift between them, were "Help Chiang Ching raise the red
flag".
EVALUATION
Neverthless in my view the Gang was 70% correct
and 30% wrong. Their contribution could compare to the heights of the great
Marxist revolutionaries in light of a first revolutionary struggle in a
Socialist Society itself. Within a Socialist Society itself they were
architects of revolution. Remarkable strides were made in the power workers had
at the shopfloor level. The contribution of Chiang Ching and Chang Chun Chiao
would be written or inscribed in golden letters. At every juncture when the
revisionists gained ascendancy, they launched death defying counter
revolutionary blows. They displayed exemplary skill and courage when the
capitalist roaders unfurled their lag after the betrayal of Lin Biao.
The venom or dauntless spirit they displayed
when countering allegations in the trial was reminiscent of a ship surviving in
the stormiest of seas or a pot of water simmering at its boiling point. Their
very words aptly described the nature of the Social-Fascist Dengist regime in
The building of the Chaoyang Agricultural
Institute in Laoning in 1975 was a major step in incorporating study
in rural communes. It’s curriculum sowed the seeds of building a spiritually
new Socialist man, promoting the complete integration of teachers, students and
peasants in work and study.
With meticulous skill the four comrades handled
the crisis caused by the betrayal of Lin Biao through leading the ‘Anti Lin
Biao –anti Confucius campaign.
Their arrest in a coup in October 1976
illustrated the weakness of proletarian base or institutional power in
Socialist China and powerful factional tendencies within it. Immaturity of the
working class was instrumental in the setback in 1976 with even a demonstration
staged against the gang. It is ironic that within one month of the death of
Chairman Mao the Comrades were arrested and the revolutionary movement
sabotaged. A genuine Socialist state or Society would not permit such a phenomena.
The proof of the dedication of the Gang of Four
is that Chairman Mao on basis of merit selected them on the basis of their
outstanding work in the late 1960's.With the meticulous skill of a surgeon they
combated the peoples Liberation army from imposing command upon the people as
Lin Biao advocated.
ZHANG CHUN
QIAO(CHANG CHUN CHIAO)
Zhang Chunqiao (张春桥, 1917-2005) was born in
He served as deputy director of the
East China branch of the New China News Agency (1950),
managing director of the PLA Daily [Jiefangjun bao]
(1954), member of the Shanghai Party Secretariat (1958) and director of the
Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Party branch (1963) .
In October 1966, Zhang became deputy head of the Cultural Revolution Group, headed by Jiang Quingand Chen Boda/陈伯达 which directed the developments in the first half of the Cultural Rvolution.. Together with Jiang, Wang Hongwen/王洪文 and Yao Wenyuan/
姚文元, Zhang would form what became know as the Gang of four.
He was one of the initiators of the demonstrations that led to the founding of the Shanghai Commune of which he was the chairman and Wang Hongwen the second-in-command. The organization was reorganized into a revolutionary committee on Mao's orders, but Zhang remained in charge.
He was arrested along with the other members of the Gang of Four in October 1976, as part of a conspiracy by Ye Jianying/ 叶剑英. Ye and newly anointed party leader Hua Guofeng.
Chang resisted the trial in 1980 with
courage defending the revolutionary line like a boulder thwarting a bulldozer.
Few comrades in world history could have faced a court trial with such tenacity
and ideological commitment.
He virtually did not utter a word.
Zhang was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, together with Jiang Qing, in 1984,
but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, and in December 1997
the sentence was further reduced to eighteen years.
In 1998, Zhang was released from prison
to undergo medical treatment. He then lived in obscurity in
Zhang was one of the founding members and
principal leaders of the Shanghai Peoples Commune formed in January 1967.Later
it became known as the revolutionary committee. His guidance played a major
role in it’s successful functioning in accordance with the Maoist line.-the 1st
experiment in copying the Paris Commune.
He balanced the role of the party leadership
with the masses with mastery of Marxism –Leninism in the most innovative form of
economic development ever built in a Socialist Society and one of the most
creative forms in the history of mankind.
Never had such depth of proletarian
revolutionary control been ever developed. Chang displayed meticulous patience
and endurance in holding joint discussions at great personal risk.
In
He then persuaded the workers on the train to
return to
Although we were very busy and in a state of
chaos we thought that this kind of thing was liable to happen in a revolution
and this was the way of getting problems solved.”After the
His document on ‘The all round dictatorship of
the proletariat over the bourgeoisie was one of the most articulate documents
written by any Marxist-Leninist revolutionary.” It made a most incisive
analysis of the prevailing conditions and the root cause of revisionism.
Above all he vividly explained Mao’s
concept of continuing the dictatorship of the Proletariat and proved that it
was an extension of Leninism. It dug most deeply into every aspect from the
proletarian party to production, masswork and mass line. In that work he
defended the gains of the Cultural Revolution but also elaborated how
capitalist conditions still prevailed in the countryside with the need for
revolutionary changes and thus necessary continuation of the Cultural
Revolution.
He illustrated how figures like Deng Xiaoping
or Lin Biao could come back to power and the importance of consolidating the
gains of the Cultural Revolution. and how people in production had to undergo
continuous transformation.
Another notable fact is that he went into the
roots of the ideology of both Marx and Lenin and explained the relation of
their ideology with the present struggle. He explained how Lenin himself
advocated this very concept of combating the bourgeoisie within the party and
morally supported a cultural revolution. He elaborated Marx and Lenin’s
experience of stabling the dictatorship of the Proletariat.
CHIANG CHING(Compiled from tribute by journal
Revolutionary worker in 1991)
Chiang Ching was born in
For the next 40 years they would be
close comrades in arms, united by their common hatred of the enemy and love for
the people.
Mao was intensely interested in plays,
concerts, poetry and art. And he admired women artists and actresses who had
emancipated themselves. He knew they had to struggle against traditional views
that treated actresses as women of ``ill repute.'' And he united with their
recognition of the important role of art and literature in molding public
opinion.
Mao's line was that art should serve the
revolutionary cause. And it was on this common ground of art to serve the
people that Mao and Chiang Ching met and fell in love. Their marriage gave Mao
great happiness and a deeper understanding of the problems of art and
literature. And Chiang Ching was to influence him in this sphere throughout his
life.
Some of Mao's enemies inside the party
opposed Chiang Ching and her marriage to Mao from the very beginning. But Mao
and Chiang were determined to get married and the Political Bureau of the party
finally gave grudging consent -- but only on the outrageous condition that
Chiang not be given any position in the party and be kept out of politics. Even
within the revolutionary ranks there were men who held to feudal ideas and were
appalled at the idea of a strong revolutionary woman. And from this time on,
Chiang had to fight to be recognized as a leader in her own right. She became
the repeated target of vicious gossip. And many times when Mao's enemies wanted
to attack him but were afraid to do so openly, they would start some kind of
vicious rumor about her.
In 1949
For the first time, women in
STORMING THE CULTURAL MUMMIES
``In the world today all culture, all
literature and art belong to definite classes and are geared to definite
political lines. There is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake, art that
stands above classes or art that is detached from or independent of politics.''
This is a popular poster of Chiang Ching, with a quote from International Women's Day.
No comments:
Post a Comment