Frederick C. Teiwes - Politics at Maos Court: Gao Gang and Party Factionalism in the Early 1950s

POLITICS AT MAO'S COURT

Studies on Contemporary China

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CHINA'S SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES
George T. Crane

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RECENT CHINESE WRITING AND ITS AUDIENCES
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CHINESE URBAN REFORM
WHAT MODEL NOW?
R. Yin-Wang Kwok, William L. Parish, and Anthony Gar-On Yeh with Xu Xueqiang, editors

REBELLION AND FACTIONALISM IN A CHINESE PROVINCE
ZHEJIANG, 1966-1976
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POLITICS AT MAO'S COURT
GAO GANG AND PARTY FACTIONALISM IN THE EARLY 1950s
Frederick C. Teiwes

Studies on Contemporary China

Gao Gang and Party Factionalism in the Early 1950s

Frederick C. Teiwes

An East Gate Book

First published 1990

by M.E. Sharpe

Published 2015

by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Teiwes, Frederick C.
Politics at Mao's court: Gao Gang and party factionalism in the early
1950s / Frederick C. Teiwes.
p. cm. (Studies on contemporary China)
Includes bibliographical references
ISBN 0-87332-590-7 ISBN 0-87332-709-8 (pbk.)
1. ChinaPolitics and government1949-1976. 2. Chung-kuo kung
ch'an tangPurges. 3. Kao, Kang. I. Title. II. Series.
DS777.75.T442 1990
951.05'5dc20 90-35927
CIP

ISBN 13: 9780873327091 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 9780873325905 (hbk)

THIS STUDY began as a relatively narrow reexamination of one of the most elusive cases of Chinese Communist leadership conflict, the 1953-54 Gao Gang-Rao Shushi affair, on the basis of substantial new information from the post-Mao period. While the present account remains very much a detailed analysis of and, indeed, something of a detective story about this obscure conflict, it soon became apparent that the investigation had broader implications concerning the nature of elite politics in the Maoist era. Basic questions of power, policy, ideology, factions, and patterns of leadership interaction generally are all central to the unfolding story. The illumination these issues receive in the context of the Gao-Rao case is relevant not only to the initial post-1949 period of comparativebut flawedParty unity, but also to the structural fault lines of the political system that were later to contribute so significantly to the Cultural Revolution. The ultimate aim of the book is to home in on these structural features of the Maoist system, which were to have such momentous consequences long after the Gao-Rao affair.

Coming back to the Gao-Rao case after a decade is in some ways a humbling experience. This is not particularly due to the fact that some of the main propositions offered in my 1979 analysis in Politics and Purges in China have proven considerably wide of the mark. Indeed, in a fundamental sense the basic theme of Mao's unchallenged position, which underlay the earlier analysis, has been strengthened and clarified by the new data available. Humility is rather engendered by the awareness that my previous interpretation was stated with a degree of certitude not justified by the information then available. It is further created by the realization that even with new, much more revealing post-Mao data, points that seemed clear in both draft form and several brief published accounts of the case have become problematic as further evidence has been unearthed. In fact, the very nature of the matter under investigation means many aspects of the present analysis lie beyond anything approaching definitive proof. The result, then, is an account that may have to be further amended as new evidence appears or particularly perplexing issues are thrashed out with Chinese scholars in the future.