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Rise and Fall of Deng Xiaoping
(1975)
Revival of Deng Xiaoping
In the early year of 1975, Deng Xiaoping was elected to the most important position in the party, government, and military. The reason was, of course, concerned with his excellent talents. But the historical background was also a decisive factor. First, because Zhou was ill in bed in those days, it was necessary to elect another person who could take over from him. And although Mao had some complaints about Deng, he valued him highly on the whole. Therefore Deng came back again. The news gave hope to a lot of people and party's members, and it was a light barely seen in the long night of the CR.
On January 13-17 in 1975, the Fourth National People's Congress was held in Beijing. In this congress, there was personal change that put Zhou and Deng on the core of position. And the grand goal, the establishment of "a powerful modern socialist country" was suggested. This congress was also influenced by the leftists, but it made a great advance towards the "modernisation of agriculture, industry, national defence and science and technology", which as a goal had a great impact on the "Gang of Four" and made the masses more active.
In less than one year after Deng began to work in the CCP, good results began to appear in each sector including industry and agriculture. Because of the great efforts of Deng and some support for Deng by Mao, the people made an effort to produce. As a result, the condition of 1975 was clearly improved. In most areas, the social order began to go forward and the national economy was also improved. The total output of industry and agriculture was 11.9% greater than in 1974. Of course there were some problems around the financial deficit and workers increases, but the national economy began to recover and develop gradually.
The fall of Deng Xiaoping
But there was a great contradiction between the modernisation in each sector and the policies being carried out during the CR. Indeed it was indispensable to correct the false policies in the CR, but if the mistakes of the CR were corrected, it could not avoid the harsh objection of not only the "Gang of Four", but also Mao. Such severe contradictions finally exploded in November 1975 with the "criticise Deng Xiaoping and counterattack the powers of the rightists" movement. This movement was started under the instructions of Mao. He heard bad rumours about Deng from his liaison officer, Mao Yuanxin, and believed them blindly.
In February 1976, the CCP gathered persons in charge of each province and city, and gave them "important instructions". In these instructions, Mao criticised him harshly as Deng was neglecting an important aspect, the battle with the class enemy. In March, this "important instruction" was spread all over the China.
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