Ten Years Of Turbulence by Barnouin

Author:Barnouin [Barnouin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General, Ethnic Studies, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781136157868
Google: 6qgsBgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-11-12T03:41:08+00:00

6

The Lin Biao Affair

The Way to Lushan

The rise and fall of Lin Biao was one of the most dramatic developments of the CR. After Peng Dehuai′s fall, Mao entrusted Lin Biao with the army where he promoted its political indoctrination through intensified study of Mao Zedong Thought. Lin′s activities had two major results. First, they increased the role of the PLA in the ideological and political sphere, and second, they transformed the army into a revolutionary instrument which in turn allowed Mao to attack his political enemies without hesitation.

Lin was capable of grasping Mao′s changing objectives and of playing the role of the major spokesman for the CR. With the exception of Mao himself, Lin delivered the most important speeches elucidating the necessity, the purpose and the achievements of the CR. With varying success he performed the ungrateful and contradictory task of supporting the troublesome left wingers and of maintaining order and stability within the army during the chaotic phase of the CR. But at the same time, he worked for his own prestige and was able to establish his own power centre within the Party. He reached the summit of his career at the 9th Party Congress in April 1969 when his status as Mao′s successor was officially proclaimed and consecrated in the new Party constitution which declared that ′Comrade Lin Biao has consistently held high the great banner of Mao Zedong Thought and has most loyally and resolutely carried out and defended Comrade Mao Zedong′s proletarian revolutionary line. Comrade Lin Biao is Comrade Mao Zedong′s close comrade-in-arms and successor.′1

But little more than a year later, the relationship between Mao and Lin ended with a severe confrontation at the Lushan conference in August 1970. And in the aftermath of the conference, the conflict between them became so acute that it ended in a struggle from which Mao emerged as the stronger of the two, and in which Lin perished. What were the factors which led to such a dramatic conclusion? How did it happen that Lin Biao – a formal successor of Mao – locked horns with Mao and finally disappeared from the political scene?

In order to answer this question, it is necessary to examine Lin Biao′s status within the Chinese power structure at that time. This is particularly important, since different interpretations regarding the cause of the controversies between the two leaders have been brought forward. It has been argued that Lin Biao and the PLA dominated the 9th Party Congress at a time when Mao wanted to restore the supremacy of the Party over the army in order to ensure that the CCP did not ′take the same road as the KMT′.2 Also, it has been suggested that ′the Lin Biao affair has been in essence a struggle for control of the political apparatus between Mao and his designated successor′;3 or that the confrontation between the two erupted due to the unexpected surprise attack that Lin had launched at the Lushan conference challenging Mao′s authority.4 Most of

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