Deng Xiaoping by Michael Dillon

Author:Michael Dillon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Deng Xiaoping, Asia, China, Politics, Biography: historical, political and military, Political leaders, Communism, Economics, Revolution, Globalization, Mao Zedong, Chinese Communist Party
Publisher: I.B.Tauris

Preparing for the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference (January–February 1962)

The CCP Central Committee held an ‘enlarged working conference’ in the Great Hall of the People between 11 January and 7 February 1962, ten days after the New Year celebrations and with a distinct chill in the air, meteorologically as well as politically, although the atmosphere was much warmer once the conference began. This conference, convened to entrench the political ascendancy of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, was enlarged to an unusual extent, even for an ‘enlarged’ meeting, a regular Party device for packing a conference hall to achieve agreement on difficult policies. Mao had been persuaded to extend what was originally intended as a working conference ‘to ensure that the spirit of the conference would be implemented’4 throughout the whole Party at all levels. It is usually referred to as the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference (qiqianren dahui): it was attended by 7,018 Party officials – there is a preference in China for large round numbers – representing provincial and local government and economic enterprises. In addition to its remarkable size, it lasted for a total of 28 days, a record at the time.

Wiser counsels were prevailing in the leadership of the CCP and there were regular meetings to discuss lessons to be learned from the failure of the Great Leap Forward. During 1961 the Central Committee had approved a long series of documents that one by one reversed the policies that Mao had espoused, although they were approved by Mao and retained some of his rhetoric. At working conferences of the Central Committee in May and June 1961, Mao had conceded that the country had paid a high price for ‘going counter to objective laws’ (weibei keguan guilű) but he tried to excuse the ‘three lean years for the land, the people and animals’, as mistakes on the road to socialism. The full Central Committee, meeting in ill-starred Lushan in September 1961, had decided on a period of economic retrenchment, reducing the targets for industrial and basic construction projects to give agriculture a chance to recover. In spite of the superficial consensus there was no unanimity within the Party – Mao did not approve of the changes.

Deng Xiaoping was given the responsibility of organising the enlarged conference. Wu Lengxi, the director of the Xinhua News Agency and editor-in-chief of People’s Daily, recalled that Deng worked closely with Liu Shaoqi on the preparations. They drafted reports setting out the errors of the previous four years and measures to ensure the recovery of the national economy. What might seem to outsiders sensible and practical measues were highly sensitive political issues. Although there was no intention of overthrowing Mao, it was essential – a matter of life and death for millions of Chinese suffering from famine – that these policies were approved. Even if Mao could not be won round, his opposition had to be neutralised.

In preparation for the conference, Deng and the Secretariat produced a situation report (xingshi baogao) based on documentation issued by the Central Committee since 1958.

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