The World Turned Upside Down by Yang Jisheng

Author:Yang Jisheng
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

19

THE TWELFTH PLENUM OF THE EIGHTH CENTRAL COMMITTEE: ELIMINATING LIU SHAOQI

The party constitution passed by the Eighth National Party Congress in September 1956 stipulated that the party would hold a national congress once every five years. More than ten years later, on October 21, 1967, the CCP Central Committee and Central Cultural Revolution Small Group (CCRSG) issued a notice soliciting opinions regarding the Ninth Party Congress at Mao’s request. In autumn 1968, with revolutionary committees now established in every province, the twelfth plenum of the Eighth Central Committee was tasked with preparing for the Ninth Party Congress. Zhou Enlai organized the plenum meticulously in accordance with Mao’s intentions.

Mao presided over the twelfth plenum, which was held in Beijing from October 13 to 31, 1968. Ten of the ninety-seven members of the Eighth Central Committee had died, many had been stripped of their right to attend the plenum, and some of the forty who were able to attend had to be released from detention to do so. Lacking a quorum, Zhou Enlai announced that “the proletarian headquarters had decided after discussion” to select ten alternate members, including Huang Yongsheng, Xu Shiyou, and Chen Xilian, to become full Central Committee members. This brought attendance to fifty, producing a quorum. Extended to include people who took part in the CCRSG enlarged briefing meetings, members of the Central Military Commission Administrative Group, and leaders of provincial-level revolutionary committees and military regions, the plenum had 133 participants.1 Zhou Enlai announced an agenda of four items: (1) the guiding ideology and methods for appointing delegates to the Ninth Party Congress; (2) the new draft party constitution; (3) the international and domestic situations; and (4) special investigations, in particular of Liu Shaoqi.

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